What are the largest plants you have grown?

[tomatoguy]

I realize that we aren't growing plants for plant size but I think it would be good to see what plants get really, really big. I started thinking about this subject when I realized that I had probably made a mistake by putting Belgian Farmer's Beefsteak in a container this year. It looks like it is going to be huge. So, without further ado, here is my list of the largest varieties I have grown in the past. Please share yours.

1. Granny Cantrell's German Red - 15 1/2' monster plant was the largest I have ever grown.

2. Polish C - This one got huge too with the largest leaves I have ever seen.

3. Ashleigh - The variety that has produced the largest tomatoes on average also came from a sizeable plant.

4. 4th of July (hybrid) - While not an imposing, massive plant, this one always tended to really stretch out for me, especially when I used trellises. When they other plants would wane in the heat, this baby would take over their turf.

5. Rose - Not to be confused with Russian Rose or Rose de Berne, this one grew tall and set tomatoes high. I haven't seen too many beefsteaks hanging 8 feet in the air but Rose is capable of this.

mater

[Tomstrees]

Toms Yellow Wonder always turns into a beast of a plant for us.
Some other notables: Dr. Lyle, Akers West Virginia, & Polish C (RL) (have all been monsters).

~ Tom

[dice]

Pink Oxheart. 12' easy in a year when it rained half the summer.
This has thin leaves, but it is not a wispy plant. First cluster
had 17 flowers.

I had a huge Black Prince, too, but I think it was simply in the
freshest horse manure (higher nitrogen than the others).

[Ruth_10]

Black Cherry has always been large for me in total volume. Dr. Lyle is another big'un.

[gssgarden]

Goliath and Big Bite. I was sorry I put these two next to each other. Yeesh what a mess. Don't know the hieght but my biggest by far. Right now it looks like my Italian Purple will be big. It's leading the way in hieght and tiny tomatoes.

Greg

[matereater]

My largest (longest) is Sungold, 13 feet, up one side of an 8 foot trellis and part way down the other.

[barkeater]

Black Cherry and Yellow Brandywine come to mind right away. Large Pink Bulgarian and Polish were also huge.

[Earl]

Mexico Midget. Small fruit but very branchy.

[carolyn137]

I can grow the same variety in different seasons and/or at different places and get different sizes, so I'm no help at all.

In addition I grew almost all my plants by sprawling and haven't the faintest idea of how tall they might have grown. So again, I'm no help here at all.

My point being that different folks in different locations growing the same variety are sure to have different size plants just b'c there are so many variables that go into determining plant size in any one growing season.

[piegirl]

Brandywines have always been huge in girth and maybe 6 foot tall. I tried a pink accordian several years back that was enormous in girth, about 5-6 foot - no fruit. BW would take over anything nearby. Piegirl

[violet0996]

I let my plants sprawl so I don't know how tall they get, but I had a spring planted German Head that started off as a slow grower and didn't produce in the spring. It managed to live through the summer and by fall it took up enough space for three plants and did very well as a fall producer. It was huge.

[tomatoguy]

"My point being that different folks in different locations growing the same variety are sure to have different size plants just b'c there are so many variables that go into determining plant size in any one growing season."

Carolyn,

While "your mileage may vary" is always the standard disclaimer here, I think it would be safe to say that if this thread had been posted last year and a large number of people listed BFB as a huge plant, it might have prevented me from putting it in a container.

I think we can safely conclude some things from a consensus of opinion without it being authoritative or scientific. For example, Earl's Faux is a tasty tomato. Rose Quartz Multi-Flora is productive. Gregori's Altai has a tendency toward splitting. As the founding fathers said, "We hold these truths to be self evident".

So, while you obviously don't find this thread to be useful, perhaps others of us with less rigorous standards will.

mater

[carolyn137]

So, while you obviously don't find this thread to be useful, perhaps others of us with less rigorous standards will.

****

Wrong. I do find the thread useful in terms of seeing what others are saying.

Having a large plant is not all that important to me, that's true, for I'm much more interested in taste and production, for example.

I don't have any standards at all re plant size, so no rigorous standards from me.

All I've been saying is that with the huge number of OP varieties now accessible to everyone, that differences in plant size for a given variety will and does occur.

And that's b'c of all the variables I've mentioned.

Nothing controversial at all b'c I do think that folks recognize that soils and amendments and the way a plant is grown as to sprawling, caging, trellising, etc., do differ and weather in any given season also differs as well.

And those who stake or cage or trellis plants aren't seeing the same, re plant size for a given variety, that those who sprawl their plants see.

I apologize if I upset you with my comments for I certainly didn't mean to. I was just expressing my own opinion about plant size and the variables that can influence it that are far from standard for everyone.

[Zana]

All of mine are grown in containers. The largest plant I grew I knew ahead that it would be a monster, but I had no idea just how much it really would be. I put it into a container that is approximately 150L(about 42.85U.S. gallons) and trained it up over a trellis made of galvanised 1"dia. pipe that was anchored against the upright for an old 3m springboard diving board. I had been warned that the variety would produce some seriously big brutes, so make sure to have a sturdy support system. Well....it bent....and by October a few sections actually snapped under the weight. However the divingboard base is still there...hehehe. The diving board was not in use that year, because by August you couldn't see it! The vines had grown up and over the trellis and the board, over the railings (another metre higher) and down the other side. It was a job cleaning it up in the fall.

The variety? African Vining Tomato. A green when ripe that averaged 2 to 3lbs.(.896-1.344kg) with the largest getting close to 3.5lbs(1.568kg.)! I'll have to grow it again sometime, because I ended up sharing what seed I saved, and have little left.

[TZ-OH6]

In order to uncover several other plants and the adjacent woodpile, I pruned off about 40 ft of vine from one Hawaiian Currant last September. The plant was still big after pruning, and I had to cut it back again several weeks later. Some of our other cherries had rampant growth as well, so I don't think I'd put them in the same catagory as big fruited varieties when talking about big plants. And I'll never again plant them in the best spots.