The very large tomato thread

[AKmark]

Originally Posted by biscuitridge

All I'm asking is, do you prune to one or two main stems,or do you let it grow however it wants. Have you measured the circumference yet,you can take all three measurements X x Y xZand then multiply by .00055 and that will give you a good estimate of its weight.

I grow two stems then prune to one. I only do that to increase my chances of getting the fused blossom I am after. I also think the extra foliage may help the root ball form in the early stages, then when it's pruned back the energy is diverted to the remaining portion of the plant.

It is in a 10 gallon container of pro mix, is getting feed 1700+ ppm 2.3 ec, pH 6.2

[biscuitridge]

Sounds good, keep us posted as to the progress, what kinda Temps are you able to maintain in the greenhouse, and any idea 9g your soil temp.?

[Spartanburg123]

Originally Posted by AKmark

Here is my first chosen one out of my Terhune seeds from my 5.42lb. It is at least 4 tomatoes fused together. We will see.

Nice Mark!! The jury is still out on my Terhune 5.42. My plants got scattered on the ground during a thunderstorm while still in Jiffy pots. So I had 5 RL possibilities: Not Purple Strawberry, Dotson's Lebanese Heart, GGWT, Bear Creek, and Terhune 5.42.

One RL plant had to be pulled as it was a mule. As of today, I am only confident of GGWT- I can see the stripes already on the growing fruit. I don't know if Terhune has made the cut- but I can tell you that I have no megablooms on ANY of my plants this year- weird!

[AKmark]

Originally Posted by biscuitridge

Sounds good, keep us posted as to the progress, what kinda Temps are you able to maintain in the greenhouse, and any idea 9g your soil temp.?

I can keep it under 80 during the day, most days. I keep my night temps at 64. I will get a soil temp reading, forgot to do that for you. I am guessing low 60's

[AKmark]

Originally Posted by Spartanburg123

Nice Mark!! The jury is still out on my Terhune 5.42. My plants got scattered on the ground during a thunderstorm while still in Jiffy pots. So I had 5 RL possibilities: Not Purple Strawberry, Dotson's Lebanese Heart, GGWT, Bear Creek, and Terhune 5.42.

One RL plant had to be pulled as it was a mule. As of today, I am only confident of GGWT- I can see the stripes already on the growing fruit. I don't know if Terhune has made the cut- but I can tell you that I have no megablooms on ANY of my plants this year- weird!

I get several megablooms on that variety, thinking of doing a cross with Big Zac f1 and doing some segregating. I have some stable BZ seeds too. My Terhune tomato I chose is growing like crazy, should make a decent size tomato.

I did let one sucker come out from the bottom, sometimes those can throw massive MB's, and this one did. I will be able to see something soon, it does look promising, so I may hack the chosen one for another. LOL

I also have another one I am going to be picky with, passed on several 3's and a 4. I also have two BZ F1 going, nothing exciting yet.

[b54red]

I don't grow for size; but occasionally get a two pound tomato on some varieties. Last week I pulled a 33.8 oz tomato from a cluster of four fruits on one of my Omar's Lebanese plants. There is no telling how big that thing would have gotten had I been using some of the techniques to grow large fruit. It wasn't even from a fused blossom which made it more amazing to get that large in a cluster with other decent sized fruits.

Bill

[efisakov]

In 2014 I grew Claude Brown’s Y. Giant. On one cluster I had two tomatoes that I let ripen completely before picking: 34 and 29.5 ounces. I keep on growing this variety since (love the taste and shellfire is amazing as well, can stay in refrigerator for a month). Never saw on this variety a single fused blossom. But considering the size of the fruits it may be a good candidate for crossing.

[carolyn137]

Originally Posted by b54red

I don't grow for size; but occasionally get a two pound tomato on some varieties. Last week I pulled a 33.8 oz tomato from a cluster of four fruits on one of my Omar's Lebanese plants. There is no telling how big that thing would have gotten had I been using some of the techniques to grow large fruit. It wasn't even from a fused blossom which made it more amazing to get that large in a cluster with other decent sized fruits.

Bill

Bill, I know the variety very well as I think you already know. And yes I grew it a lot for SSE listings and seed offers and I too got huge fruits, especially if a summer was very wet and then I got fruits for many varieties larger than I'd gotten before.

So where is Omar Saab now, the person who gave me the seeds? He's still teaching, as he always has.I first met him when he was an adjunct at a place where I was also teaching at the same time. He moved to Norway,married a Norwegian lady, and is still teaching from there,online courses, but goes back to Lebanon frequently to visit family members, etc.

It's been great being back in touch with him since he's been able to describe the various hill towns above Beirut where his family had a summer home and where he got the seeds he gave to me when he got back to the US. And yes, we named it together.

I think the only other variety that I would consistently get huge fruit from is one called Couilles de Tareau, also Coustralee well maybe a few more as well. And again, I did nothing at all to TRY to grow large fruits.

My main reason for growing tomatoes, aside from what we grew on our farm for commercial purposes has always been Taste first,followed by yield, and there are, as always,plenty of variables that go into both of those as well.

Carolyn

[b54red]

Originally Posted by carolyn137

Bill, I know the variety very well as I think you already know. And yes I grew it a lot for SSE listings and seed offers and I too got huge fruits, especially if a summer was very wet and then I got fruits for many varieties larger than I'd gotten before.

So where is Omar Saab now, the person who gave me the seeds? He's still teaching, as he always has.I first met him when he was an adjunct at a place where I was also teaching at the same time. He moved to Norway,married a Norwegian lady, and is still teaching from there,online courses, but goes back to Lebanon frequently to visit family members, etc.

It's been great being back in touch with him since he's been able to describe the various hill towns above Beirut where his family had a summer home and where he got the seeds he gave to me when he got back to the US. And yes, we named it together.

I think the only other variety that I would consistently get huge fruit from is one called Couilles de Tareau, also Coustralee well maybe a few more as well. And again, I did nothing at all to TRY to grow large fruits.

My main reason for growing tomatoes, aside from what we grew on our farm for commercial purposes has always been Taste first,followed by yield, and there are, as always,plenty of variables that go into both of those as well.

Carolyn

I grow Couilles every year also and it does produce some really big beautiful fruits. It is a great tomato and usually much tastier than Omar's which at times can be bland but for some reason this year they have been exceptionally tasty. I rarely get a misshapen fruit from either of these varieties.

I grow first for taste and second for taste and then consider production. I have enough room to grow a fair number of plants so I don't need great yield from most of them but I do want great taste. It seems the older I get the more important taste is over quantity. When I was a young man quantity usually took precedence when it came to eating.

Bill

[zipcode]

The biggest I grew was a heart (no fused blossom) at 2.2 lbs, years ago. It was the only fruit on a very scrawny plant, not sure how it ended so big.
I do (or at least did) have a determinate big cherry type produce a mutation which produces only fused blooms. Those seeds are now more than 10 years old and not sure how they would germinate. Would have been interesting to cross it with something big and try to make a megablooming beefsteak.

[carolyn137]

Originally Posted by zipcode

The biggest I grew was a heart (no fused blossom) at 2.2 lbs, years ago. It was the only fruit on a very scrawny plant, not sure how it ended so big.
I do (or at least did) have a determinate big cherry type produce a mutation which produces only fused blooms. Those seeds are now more than 10 years old and not sure how they would germinate. Would have been interesting to cross it with something big and try to make a megablooming beefsteak.

see post I think 77 or close to it

http://www.tomatoville.com/showthread.php?t=34658

a picture Ilex in Spain posted.

More to the story here but yes, a megablooming ,aka Multiflora, Beefsteak is certainly possible IMO if we equate megablooming with multiflora and some do and some don't..

Carolyn

[korney19]

Originally Posted by carolyn137

see post I think 77 or close to it

http://www.tomatoville.com/showthread.php?t=34658

a picture Ilex in Spain posted.

More to the story here but yes, a megablooming ,aka Multiflora, Beefsteak is certainly possible IMO if we equate megablooming with multiflora and some do and some don't..

Carolyn

Are you talking about the Old Man pic? I couldn't find anything around post 77...

[zipcode]

Originally Posted by carolyn137

see post I think 77 or close to it

http://www.tomatoville.com/showthread.php?t=34658

a picture Ilex in Spain posted.

More to the story here but yes, a megablooming ,aka Multiflora, Beefsteak is certainly possible IMO if we equate megablooming with multiflora and some do and some don't..

Carolyn

By megablooming I meant it makes only megablooms (fasciated blooms, like usually those first one on the truss, especially the very first flower).

[carolyn137]

Originally Posted by korney19

Are you talking about the Old Man pic? I couldn't find anything around post 77...

Yes, I was referring to the picture you show, perhaps bad memory on post 77,I apologize and we've been round and around about what is being shown as well. But that was clarified by Paco in Spain several years ago.

Mark, do you remember the thread you put up in WANTED,looking for multiflora varieties,I do,and all of this was discussed back then.

Carolyn



Carolyn

[korney19]

Originally Posted by carolyn137

Yes, I was referring to the picture you show, perhaps bad memory on post 77,I apologize and we've been round and around about what is being shown as well. But that was clarified by Paco in Spain several years ago.

Mark, do you remember the thread you put up in WANTED,looking for multiflora varieties,I do,and all of this was discussed back then.

Carolyn



Carolyn

YES, how could I forget? I hope the ones pictured, at least one, preferably the fasciated one, is Colgar 100.

The problem getting big MF's is most crosses would involve a small fruited variety, and small fruit is dominant. But I think zipcode is thinking megabloom = King flowers. I'll have to see if I am growing anything with the f gene... I remember about 10 years ago growing Early Santa Clara, which either preceded Santa Clara Canner, or was SCC with the f gene. I just checked SCC/ESC and:

ESC = Cultivar probably originated in Italy, since 1890. Large, indeterminate plant, fruit very large, oblate, multiloculed, soft. Improvements by Canners League, UCD, Ferry Morse Seed Co. 3/2006: accession seg.s for anthocyanin deficiency.
.........................
"f" is a recessive gene, there were 15 accessions last time I checked, HOWEVER, there is also a version with a DOMINANT allele!

"Fruits many-loculed; phenotype more extreme than original allele of f; carpels unfused; dominant allele."
.......................
It showed up in at least a Guatamalan variety.

My money is on Riestomate!