What are the largest plants you have grown?

[PaulF]

Oh no! Another piece of information I am going to start gathering. I have always cautioned the folks I give my tomatoes to about growth habits. Most are used to the tiny, scrawny store bought varieties and are not prepared for the monsters I give them. For example, this weekend visiting my brother who was given five OP's (often called heirlooms) had them planted two feet apart in a 2'x4' raised bed. When he asked how big the plants got, I guessed and explained the size of the plant, he was an unbeliever.

One more column in my statistics for accuracy (in my ..... caveat added) to add to the descriptive. I always explained the size, but can't back anything up with examples. My gooselike memory says last year Wes was the hugest of the huge.

[gardenmama]

Originally Posted by PaulF

. My gooselike memory says last year Wes was the hugest of the huge.

<<running outside to replace the 3.5ft cage with a 6ft one over the Wes plant>>

[FlipTX]

Brandywines have always been huge in girth and maybe 6 foot tall.

That was my experience with Brandywine, too. It wasn't terribly tall, but it was huge in diameter. It looked like a green woolly mammoth was taking a nap in my garden.

I try to stay away from plants that tend to get really tall, so I don't have any stories of 15-footers to share, but I do have a Marglobe out there right now that looks like it's trying to match the Brandywine for girth.

[GIZZARDFARM]

I had a 15 footer a few years back and for the life of me i cant remember the variety. I planted it in an old whole whiskey barrell half full of cow manure and composted horse manure and alfafa hay. man did that thing take off looked like a christmas tree with red balls....Gizz

[b54red]

I had a huge Omars' Lebanese this spring (over 13' with 5 main stems with 3 over 12') and a couple of giant Giant Belgiums. I had a couple of Marianna's Peace,1st Prize and one Paul Robeson that were also huge. I am using trellises of 1' conduit approximately 6.5 feet tall that run the entire length of my beds. I have gone to spacing my indeterminates (unless I know they are smaller) 6' ft apart and have found it is not enough for some of the larger varieties. I will try 10 ft next year that will give them 5ft in each direction before they become a jumble of indistinguishable foliage and vines.

[Barbee]

Had a Lucky Cross pull a Texas Tomato Cage over this year. Not an easy thing for a tomato to do This year, that was the only tomato that got gigantic for me.
Big ones for me usually are Marianna's Peace, Kelloggs Breakfast, Brandywine OTV, ARGG, Earl's Faux

[piegirl]

Hungarian Heart has been a monster for me - huge plant with huge fruit. She grew over and down and around 3 CRW tomato cages. This year my "compost baby' project - as big as HH with monster fruit - again 3 CRW cages. Jet Stars are always in the 8-12 foot range often growing over other plants. piegirl

[icelord]

By biggest were giant german gold and giant belgium I use wires between poles and got to 7 feet and just let them fall over so I would say all were fourteen feet or better!!

Dean

[camochef]

most years I'd have to say some of the Brandywines, especially the Cowlick's... but two years ago I had one of my Sun-Golds go berserk and try to take over the entire northeast corner of one garden. It grew over to and into every tomato that surrounded it. I had those little orange tomatoes everywhere!
Camo

[b54red]

Originally Posted by camochef

most years I'd have to say some of the Brandywines, especially the Cowlick's... but two years ago I had one of my Sun-Golds go berserk and try to take over the entire northeast corner of one garden. It grew over to and into every tomato that surrounded it. I had those little orange tomatoes everywhere!
Camo

A friend of mine had a Juliet grow out of its' cage and sprawl in all directions covering nearby peppers. The thing was at least 15 ft across. It took over a whole section of his garden. Mine that year did the same thing but only about 10 ft. across. Of course I found that I didn't care for the taste so I pulled mine up before it could completely take over.

[igarden]

the biggest i've grown was Belgian Farmer's Beefsteak this year who's stalks alone were almost 2 plus inches thick!

[b54red]

Originally Posted by igarden

the biggest i've grown was Belgian Farmer's Beefsteak this year who's stalks alone were almost 2 plus inches thick!

How big were the tomatoes on that thing?
This is really good information when planning your planting because I had some disasters putting some really big ones too close to each other and found I could have planted some of my smaller indeterminates much closer and not wasted space.

[igarden]

see, i planted them too close together! they still did very well and produced probably a pound to one and three quarters, i didbn't weigh them, but they were a handful each. next year, when i give them more space, i think i could get 3, maybe 4 pounders!