Any giant tomato growers in Here?

Mark G · December 23, 2014

Hello, I'm new to the site. Just wondering what type of tomatoes people are growing if size/ weight is the main priority?

Thanks,
Mark G

Cole_Robbie · December 23, 2014

German Giant was my biggest last summer:
http://i.imgur.com/1aHgtFX.jpg

**carolyn137** · December 23, 2014

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cole_Robbie

German Giant was my biggest last summer:
http://i.imgur.com/1aHgtFX.jpg

I think Mark means those who grow special varieties and strains for competitions, and yes Mark there are and I know there are two threads where Marv Meissner and PA Julia participated but I don't have the time to go searching for them now, but hopefully some who posted in those two threads will see this thread.

Carolyn

Salsacharley · December 23, 2014

There are certainly giant tomato growers here including Marv Meisner. PA_Julia is a very successful giant grower.

By the way, welcome to T'Ville.

**carolyn137** · December 23, 2014

Quote:

Originally Posted by Salsacharley

There are certainly giant tomato growers here including Marv Meisner. PA_Julia is a very successful giant grower.

By the way, welcome to T'Ville.

I just mentioned the same as you did in the post above this one and also mentioned the two threads I would look for.

Carolyn

Salsacharley · December 23, 2014

Woops....I guess Carolyn posted as I was compiling my post #4. I searched "giant" and found this thread from Julia which should begin a nice giant tomato thread pulling.

http://www.tomatoville.com/showthrea...ghlight=giants

RainCoast · December 23, 2014

Maybe these are the threads Carolyn mentioned

Growing Giants

started by Tomatovillian user Growing Giants

at

http://tomatoville.com/showthread.php?t=31287&page=1

and

New largest tomato world record

started by Tomatovillian user ginger2778

at

http://tomatoville.com/showthread.php?t=33720&page=1

The Tomatoville users that Carolyn referred to are PA_Julia (NOTE WELL the underscore in the user name)

and Tomatoville user lubadub (Marv Meissner).

Cole_Robbie · December 23, 2014

Yeah, I figured. That's just the variety that produced the biggest tomatoes from what I grew last year. I will probably grow some for the state fair, which is not a biggest tomato competition, but the judges seem to like them big. They don't get to taste them, so they can only go on looks.

AlittleSalt · December 23, 2014

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cole_Robbie

Yeah, I figured. That's just the variety that produced the biggest tomatoes from what I grew last year. I will probably grow some for the state fair, which is not a biggest tomato competition, but the judges seem to like them big. They don't get to taste them, so they can only go on looks.

Made me think: Spray paint a basketball red.

**carolyn137** · December 24, 2014

Quote:

Originally Posted by RainCoast

Maybe these are the threads Carolyn mentioned

Growing Giants

started by Tomatovillian user Growing Giants

at

http://tomatoville.com/showthread.php?t=31287&page=1

and

New largest tomato world record

started by Tomatovillian user ginger2778

at

http://tomatoville.com/showthread.php?t=33720&page=1

The Tomatoville users that Carolyn referred to are PA_Julia (NOTE WELL the underscore in the user name)

and Tomatoville user lubadub (Marv Meissner).

They probably are some links I was referring to but since right now I have floating in space what I found, which was this one and in post 19 I referred to another one.

http://tomatoville.com/showthread.ph...giant+tomatoes

Sorry I didn't take the time to read what you put up but it's past my bedtime already, but was watching a new episode of Chopped on the Food Channel.

Carolyn

**carolyn137** · December 24, 2014

http://tomatoville.com/showthread.php?t=31287

Above is another thread about 7 pages long dealing with growing giants.

Carolyn

joseph · December 24, 2014

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mark G

Hello, I'm new to the site. Just wondering what type of tomatoes people are growing if size/ weight is the main priority?

I select against large tomatoes. I aim for tomatoes that weigh 3 to 10 ounces. Rarely larger than that. Because I have a super-short tomato growing season, and larger tomatoes take longer to ripen after flowering. I've planted plenty of tomatoes that produced large fruits that were still very immature when the plants were killed by frost, so I don't save seeds from those plants. I'm not purposefully selecting for smaller fruits, but it's a trade-off that I am more than willing to make if it means I can harvest vine ripened tomatoes from my garden.

PaulF · December 24, 2014

Most of the varieties grown in my garden are large sized but I have not as yet tried for record size. Maybe I will search for the right variety for this area and give it a go. A few years back I tried to grow a giant pumpkin. It quit growing a a couple hundred pounds. The seed came from a 1500 pounder. Too much work for me. Some like PA_Julia and her friends make giant tomato growing sound fun and easy.

camochef · January 2, 2015

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mark G

Hello, I'm new to the site. Just wondering what type of tomatoes people are growing if size/ weight is the main priority?

Thanks,
Mark G

Mark,
I like large tomatoes, but its not my priority. Taste and production are. many of my favorites go between 1 and 2 lbs each, some close to 3 lbs. I think everyone of them rates a 10 as far as taste, and a 9 or a 10 for production.
This year my German Johnson-Benton Strain and an unknown Black, which I strongly suspect to have been Bear Creek was the best tasting. Purple Dog Creek and Tarasenko6 were the largest and Red Brandywine-P.L. was the most productive. These statistics vary every year here in my gardens, who knows elsewhere.
Enjoy!
Camo

harleysilo · January 6, 2015

I bought seeds from http://www.gianttomatoseeds.com/ last year, i bought the 5 varieties that they sold. I gave half the seeds to my Dad and we had a contest. I'm not a super serious person so i grew a few of the varieties to seedlings and set two out. I'm not sure which ones i grew, but i had almost a dozen in the 1lb range that were actually very good. A few were larger that were really two fused into one. They also didn't ripen all at once and were very catfaced. One of the plants the tom's took really long to rippen, and the day i was going to pick was the day a bird got thirsty. This happened to several of them.

I had to concede defeat when my Dad sent me this picture....this year i shall be more serious....

December 23, 2014	#1
Mark G Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Oct 2014 Location: Indiana Posts: 1	Any giant tomato growers in Here? Hello, I'm new to the site. Just wondering what type of tomatoes people are growing if size/ weight is the main priority? Thanks, Mark G

December 23, 2014	#7
RainCoast Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Dec 2014 Location: B.C. Canada Posts: 21	Giant tomato growers Maybe these are the threads Carolyn mentioned Growing Giants started by Tomatovillian user Growing Giants at http://tomatoville.com/showthread.php?t=31287&page=1 and New largest tomato world record started by Tomatovillian user ginger2778 at http://tomatoville.com/showthread.php?t=33720&page=1 The Tomatoville users that Carolyn referred to are PA_Julia (NOTE WELL the underscore in the user name) and Tomatoville user lubadub (Marv Meissner).

December 24, 2014	#11
carolyn137 Moderator Emeritus Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Upstate NY, zone 4b/5a Posts: 21,169	http://tomatoville.com/showthread.php?t=31287 Above is another thread about 7 pages long dealing with growing giants. Carolyn __________________ Carolyn

December 24, 2014	#13
PaulF Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Brownville, Ne Posts: 3,296	Most of the varieties grown in my garden are large sized but I have not as yet tried for record size. Maybe I will search for the right variety for this area and give it a go. A few years back I tried to grow a giant pumpkin. It quit growing a a couple hundred pounds. The seed came from a 1500 pounder. Too much work for me. Some like PA_Julia and her friends make giant tomato growing sound fun and easy. __________________ there's two things money can't buy; true love and home grown tomatoes.

December 23, 2014	#2
Cole_Robbie Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jun 2012 Location: Illinois, zone 6 Posts: 8,407	German Giant was my biggest last summer: http://i.imgur.com/1aHgtFX.jpg

December 23, 2014	#4
Salsacharley Tomatovillian™ Join Date: May 2013 Location: New Mexico Posts: 2,052	There are certainly giant tomato growers here including Marv Meisner. PA_Julia is a very successful giant grower. By the way, welcome to T'Ville.

January 6, 2015	#15
harleysilo Tomatovillian™ Join Date: May 2007 Location: Woodstock GA Posts: 418	I bought seeds from http://www.gianttomatoseeds.com/ last year, i bought the 5 varieties that they sold. I gave half the seeds to my Dad and we had a contest. I'm not a super serious person so i grew a few of the varieties to seedlings and set two out. I'm not sure which ones i grew, but i had almost a dozen in the 1lb range that were actually very good. A few were larger that were really two fused into one. They also didn't ripen all at once and were very catfaced. One of the plants the tom's took really long to rippen, and the day i was going to pick was the day a bird got thirsty. This happened to several of them. I had to concede defeat when my Dad sent me this picture....this year i shall be more serious....