Targeting a super tall tomato plant

[IdahoTee]

There was a post on the internet from the Zamzow's site a few years ago that has been since taken down titled "Growing the Tallest Tomato Plant". I am sad I never saved a copy because I found it interesting that someone would attempt to target massive growth in a tomato plant.

From what I recall, Jim Zamzow dug down about 5 feet into an 8x8 bed, filled it with soil and lot's of compost the previous fall.

Then he planted a mature tomato start deeply (removing most of the leaves), more compost, fertilizer and weekly applications of their Thrive product and something called "magic mineral". Unfortunately I can't remember the details precisely.

I think he was able to get it trellised to 17 feet high. If memory also serves, I believe Jim created a re bar cage with one sucker per vertical bar.

Here is a photo I found on the internet of that monster.

Is this something that growers target or more for fun/display?

[Spartanburg123]

I don't usually grow for height, but I do tend to pinch off suckers pretty high up the plants. Here are a few from last year- a 12 ft Cherokee Purple at season end, and left to right: Early Girl, Early Girl, Brandywine OTV, and the same Cherokee Purple in mid-season.

[jmsieglaff]

nice $&@?ing maters! And I thought my 6.5 ft tall ones were good! What do you feed your soil and/ or plants?

[Spartanburg123]

Originally Posted by jmsieglaff

nice $&@?ing maters! And I thought my 6.5 ft tall ones were good! What do you feed your soil and/ or plants?

Thanks! Just a little Tomato Tone every now and then, and Miracle Grow Tomato food every 1-2 weeks. My plants are always over 8 feet tall on the green Vigoro stakes. I tend to keep them extended and open, for good circulation and bee movement.

[jmsieglaff]

Originally Posted by Spartanburg123

Thanks! Just a little Tomato Tone every now and then, and Miracle Grow Tomato food every 1-2 weeks. My plants are always over 8 feet tall on the green Vigoro stakes. I tend to keep them extended and open, for good circulation and bee movement.

Definitely something to be proud of. And to keep them happy through the long, humid SC summer is a feat in itself.

[Spartanburg123]

Originally Posted by jmsieglaff

Definitely something to be proud of. And to keep them happy through the long, humid SC summer is a feat in itself.

Thanks man! I'll need lots of luck and prayers this summer- I have 24 of these in the ground, quite a step up from 4!!!

[IdahoTee]

Those plants are YUGE! Very nice!

How is your production on a plant of that size? Does the increase in foliage take away from fruit production or are these big and productive?

[Cole_Robbie]

Nice pics!

After having struggled with supporting a lot of plants for years, my new favorite varieties are the ones I can grow on a single stake. 6-ft stakes are about a dollar. The cheapest support I have been able to build is ripping a 2x4 into two 2x2s and attaching them at the top, but that's about 4-5 bucks per plant. Growing compact varieties cuts my trellising costs dramatically.

I have heard about greenhouse plants that were overwintered for a couples years having vines reaching up to 30 feet. If I were going to go for a huge plant record, I would overwinter a hydroponic plant that already had a huge root mass. I bet you could hit 20 feet by the end of the second season.

[PureHarvest]

Look for the book Guiness World Record Tomatoes by Charles Wilbur. That is where the website you mentioned basically "borrowed" the exact concept you mentioned.
I think he grew a 24' tall cherry tomato. There is a pic in the book with him standing on a second story scaffold to reach the top of the plant.
The book details the exact process he used and is an easy read.
I think he also had the record for most pounds per plant.

[zipcode]

There's actually a pretty easy way. Cut all the fruit. You'll get a massive plant.
Not sure if it's cheating, but it will work.
To get a massive plant that is also producing well you need to be blessed with an incredibly balanced soil (not easy) or go hydroponics.

[HudsonValley]

I grew a 9-10' New Girl in 2015 with no special treatment; I fed it with Mater Magic here and there, and it produced about 350 tomatoes. New Girl is supposed to taste better than Early Girl, but I've never grown Early Girl...

[Spartanburg123]

It's my wife's favorite tomato, Hudson. She likes 'em tart, and tart they are! Early Girl is a great plant, and super productive- disease tolerant too. It's probably the most acidic tomato

[Gardeneer]

Unless you are growing just a few plants for sports, I see no advantage of growing supertall tomato varieties.
Most INDET varieties, given good care in a long growing season can grow upward of 20ft.

[IdahoTee]

I was able to locate the Zamzows page "Growing the Tallest Tomato Plant" via the Internet Wayback machine. (That is a great resource BTW, as it takes snapshots of websites over several years so you can search old, no longer published web pages)

Here is what Jim did:

It’s just not a matter of what products Jim used; it’s how he grew it!

First, you plant one tomato plant in an 8’ by 8’ square so it had the room needed for the roots to spread. The entire area was then covered with a 4” mulch of alfalfa hay.

The soil in the entire area was conditioned the previous fall with plenty of Gandma Z’s Premium Compost and Zamzows THRIVE.

The tomato was planted in the middle of the 8’x8’ square and was fed with one ounce of Thrive in 1 gallon of water (which was repeated every two weeks throughout the season}.

The plant was also foliar-fed with Zamzows Thrive Boom and Magic Mineral (an experimental mineral and Complex Compound Fertilizer).

Jim built a special 30 inch diameter frame to hold the plant made from concrete reinforcing wire and anchored securely with 30” rebar with a “hook” at the end.

The plant was trained to grow with one sucker per vertical wire…and then tied weekly. All other suckers were removed.

My memory was off a bit but this clarifies things. Sounds like the use of hay mulch was a consistent method between Zamzow and Wilbur.