Scary Big Tomatoes

kath · August 9, 2011

Today I picked the two biggest tomatoes I've ever grown- or seen. They are fused and lumpy and ripening unevenly, but here they are:

The first pic shows the first Slankard from a plant set out on 5/13. There are other biggies not yet ripe.

The second pic is from a Church plant set out on the same date. I've already harvested a 9.7 oz and a 20.8 oz fruit from this plant.

husker nana · August 9, 2011

Kath
Very nice! Looks like your having a fantastic season. Don't hurt yourself lifting and carrying those monsters around. You might have to get some big Texas Toast to go with them tomatoes.

P.S. Some of the Northern Lights have ripened and they are beauties. We love the taste and this one is going to be a regular in our garden. Thank you so so much for the seeds.

DiggingDogFarm · August 10, 2011

Wow!!!

..........

FILMNET · August 10, 2011

Is that correct ? over 3 lbs? If so unbelivable Kathy, you beat me this year, but now lets see the beautiful ones here? My Brad Black Hearts are going to be beauties, and huge. And a only 2 inch of rain last night, which out, my huge fruits or growing more?

feldon30 · August 10, 2011

I saw some gargantuan Slankard tomatoes in DeerPark's garden.

kath, I hope those ripen up for you and have lots of usable tomato.

kath · August 10, 2011

Husker nana, our season here is as good as last year when it comes to production, I think. The disease, bugs, etc. are not taking a noticeable toll.

Glad to hear that you are enjoying the Northern Lights- not sure yet which ones might be returning here for a repeat performance yet. Still have dozens of later planted varieties which are just about to begin ripening, so it's still anyone's guess.

FILMNET, yes, the Slankard's is a hair over 3 lbs. and Church is 2 lb. 5.9 oz. I've been trying to post the first one of each variety as they ripen on another thread, as well as some of the bigger ones- sometimes they're beautiful, but sometimes not.

I have 2 plants of Brad's Black Heart. The early plant had one big flush and then a big lull- heat induced maybe. The fruits were all between 13.8 to 15.5 oz. and very pretty- they are the fave so far of one of the neighbors.

I tend to panic when it rains and harvest everything that's gone past breaker stage for fear of splitting. We only got 0.6" yesterday but the same amount a few days ago caused splits even in some of the breakers I had left on the vines.

kath · August 10, 2011

Quote:

Originally Posted by feldon30

I saw some gargantuan Slankard tomatoes in DeerPark's garden.

kath, I hope those ripen up for you and have lots of usable tomato.

Yeah, I just read an old thread last night that someone recommended Slankard's as a variety to try for giant tomatoes.

We'll see how they continue to ripen inside- I just got a Victorio tomato strainer thanks to reading another thread here and I have trays full of tomatoes ripening up for my first test run of this new toy. Knowing how time consuming it is to skin and deseed by hand, I'm really excited about trying it out. So even if the tomatoes wind up with parts that can't turn into nice slices, they'll wind up puree.

I feel bad photographing/displaying their ugly bottoms for all the world to see.

b54red · August 10, 2011

How's the flavor?

kath · August 10, 2011

Quote:

Originally Posted by b54red

How's the flavor?

Will try to post on that tomorrow- not quite ripe enough tonight.

Did pick another one today that was from a single blossom but still weighed 29.5 oz.

kath · August 15, 2011

Two more ridiculously big tomatoes I thought I'd share- the Butler Skinner on the left weighs 48.9 oz and the Work Release Paste 35.2. The grandchildren were really impressed with the large tomatoes that appeared while they were here last week and got a kick out of weighing them. Sungolds are still their faves for eating, though.

remy · August 17, 2011

I was so impressed with my big tomato, but over 3lbs. Oh my! Slankards won for biggest tomato one year at the Buffalo~Niagara party.
Remy

kath · August 17, 2011

Quote:

Originally Posted by remy

I was so impressed with my big tomato, but over 3lbs. Oh my! Slankards won for biggest tomato one year at the Buffalo~Niagara party.
Remy

Remy,

Last year I tried over 150 varieties but never got anything the size of what's showing up this year. This year I did make an effort to choose varieties that are considered "large" beefsteaks and hearts because last year many were smaller than I would have liked, but this is crazy!

The plants are about 1 ft. apart with pairs about 3' apart on center and I've been able to keep most of them to a single vine. They got 1/4 c. of a granular organic fertilizer at plant out but nothing since. I guess it's just a combination of weather and genetics.

It's amazing to find these big things but they seem to ripen unevenly, get holes poked in them when you're trying to detach them from the plant, develop rot spots, etc. and usually don't make nice slices that you'd get from a smaller fruit. I don't have any contests to enter locally so I thought I'd share the pics with other Tomatovillians.

Kath

lakelady · August 20, 2011

holy cow Kath, those are gargantuan tomatoes! What are you putting in that Pennsylvania soil?

You're all inspiring me to do more, grow more, and get more tomatoes next year!

After I get through this season, and test out my winter indoor tomato project. I can only dream of having tomatoes even close to those sizes...haha

kath · August 20, 2011

lakelady,

just a bit of organic fertilizer at planting is all- funny, I don't care if I never have tomatoes over a pound again!

Kath

fortyonenorth · August 20, 2011

Those 10 - 12 oz. tomatoes are just about perfect - what do you think?

Quote:

Originally Posted by kath

lakelady,

just a bit of organic fertilizer at planting is all- funny, I don't care if I never have tomatoes over a pound again!

Kath

August 10, 2011	#3
DiggingDogFarm Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: New York State Posts: 286	Wow!!! .......... __________________ "The best thing about a vegetable garden is all the meat you can shoot and trap out of it!"

August 10, 2011	#5
feldon30 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: May 2006 Location: Rock Hill, SC Posts: 5,346	I saw some gargantuan Slankard tomatoes in DeerPark's garden. kath, I hope those ripen up for you and have lots of usable tomato. __________________ [SIZE="3"]I've relaunched my gardening website -- [B]TheUnconventionalTomato.com[/B][/SIZE] * [I][SIZE="1"]*I'm not allowed to post weblinks so you'll have to copy-paste it manually.[/SIZE][/I]

August 17, 2011	#11
remy Buffalo-Niagara Tomato TasteFest™ Coordinator Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Z6 WNY Posts: 2,354	I was so impressed with my big tomato, but over 3lbs. Oh my! Slankards won for biggest tomato one year at the Buffalo~Niagara party. Remy __________________ "I wake to sleep and take my waking slow" -Theodore Roethke Yes, we have a great party for WNY/Ontario tomato growers every year on Grand Island! Owner of The Sample Seed Shop

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August 9, 2011	#2
husker nana Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2011 Location: Wisc. 5A Posts: 197	Kath Very nice! Looks like your having a fantastic season. Don't hurt yourself lifting and carrying those monsters around. You might have to get some big Texas Toast to go with them tomatoes. P.S. Some of the Northern Lights have ripened and they are beauties. We love the taste and this one is going to be a regular in our garden. Thank you so so much for the seeds.

August 10, 2011	#4
FILMNET Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: North Charleston,South Carolina, USA Posts: 1,803	Is that correct ? over 3 lbs? If so unbelivable Kathy, you beat me this year, but now lets see the beautiful ones here? My Brad Black Hearts are going to be beauties, and huge. And a only 2 inch of rain last night, which out, my huge fruits or growing more?

August 10, 2011	#6
kath Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: zone 6b, PA Posts: 5,664	Husker nana, our season here is as good as last year when it comes to production, I think. The disease, bugs, etc. are not taking a noticeable toll. Glad to hear that you are enjoying the Northern Lights- not sure yet which ones might be returning here for a repeat performance yet. Still have dozens of later planted varieties which are just about to begin ripening, so it's still anyone's guess. FILMNET, yes, the Slankard's is a hair over 3 lbs. and Church is 2 lb. 5.9 oz. I've been trying to post the first one of each variety as they ripen on another thread, as well as some of the bigger ones- sometimes they're beautiful, but sometimes not. I have 2 plants of Brad's Black Heart. The early plant had one big flush and then a big lull- heat induced maybe. The fruits were all between 13.8 to 15.5 oz. and very pretty- they are the fave so far of one of the neighbors. I tend to panic when it rains and harvest everything that's gone past breaker stage for fear of splitting. We only got 0.6" yesterday but the same amount a few days ago caused splits even in some of the breakers I had left on the vines.

August 10, 2011	#8
b54red Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Alabama Posts: 7,068	How's the flavor?

August 20, 2011	#13
lakelady Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Aug 2011 Location: northern NJ zone 6b Posts: 1,862	holy cow Kath, those are gargantuan tomatoes! What are you putting in that Pennsylvania soil? You're all inspiring me to do more, grow more, and get more tomatoes next year! After I get through this season, and test out my winter indoor tomato project. I can only dream of having tomatoes even close to those sizes...haha