seed description

[TightenUp]

when a seed packet describes a tomato to be a certain size do you usually get tomatoes that size or are they always a little smaller?

the desciption for cher purple---"average 1 lb"

my early season ones are going to average 8-10 ounces. i have noticed this with all tomatoes except for cherries which i find are described accurately.

btw i am growing in ground in 3 locations and also in SWC and regular containers

[PA_Julia]

Hi!

It seems thus far the heirloom varieties that I'm growing minus the fused bloom tomatoes are growing pretty much true to description if not a bit larger.

What I'm growing this year in the heirloom category are;

White Queen
Paul Robeson
Uncle Mark Bagby
Grandfather Ashlock
Tartar Of Mongolistan


Julia

[Tania]

I think it depends on the area where you grow it and how rich is the soil and how much water they get. More fertile soil + lots of water + warm temps --> larger fruits. Also, if you prune your plants, you may get larger fruits on average, or so I've heard (as I do not prune my plants, and still occasionally get some large ones )

Having said that, it also greatly depend on who writes the original description. Some people do not weigh the fruits, they kinda 'guess' the weigh, and more often than not they guess incorrectly and tend to give higher weight in their description. After looking very carefully through SSE Yearbooks since 2006, I pretty much know who the folks are by now Some seed catalog descriptions could also error on higher weight side, especially for larger fruited varieties - it never hurts to impress customers... Or perhaps they just grow for size!

I personally find quite a bit of weight discrepancy when growing the same variety in different years. I think in my garden it boils down to how much I feed them and how warm the season is. I weigh each fruit that I pick, and often I end up with a very wide range - i.e., from 4 oz to 18 oz for the same variety from the same plant over the season.

[ddsack]

often I end up with a very wide range - i.e., from 4 oz to 18 oz for the same variety from the same plant over the season.

Yes to the above, and I agree with everything Tania has said. For me, the larger fruit normally appear in the first half of the production season, and after that they get smaller as they are set on suckers further away from the main stem. Also, indet plants grown in smaller pots, hardly ever get fruit as large as plants that have plenty of room to spread their roots. I suspect the seed companies generously call the best possible outcomes as average.

[TightenUp]

Originally Posted by ddsack

I suspect the seed companies generously call the best possible outcomes as average.

kinda what i was thinking. i know the variables make a big difference just thought i'd see if this was happening to most of us or just me. i hope i dont come off sounding as if i am complaining. the tomatoes taste unreal and i personally dont grow for size, just taste

[Worth1]

I have seen where 2 totally different sized tomatoes are described as large.

I would suggest that if you dont know how big the tomato gets on average you can ask people who have grown it.

There is a wonderful place to find out information like this.
It is called Tomatoville, you might have heard of it.

Worth

[feldon30]

I've never grown a 1 lb (454g) Cherokee Purple. Mine seem to be 10-12 oz (280-340g). I usually get 1 or 2 Earl's Faux, Brandywine and of course Stump of the World over 1 lb, with the rest being a bit smaller.

[ContainerTed]

I think the seed companies are really telling you that those sizes can be "up to" a certain weight. Then, add in that you'll get different sizes, including largest and smallest in a certain year, in different locations and in different growing mediums.

I always use their size statements as meaning that if I raise a couple hundred plants under extremely perfect conditions that I might ...... "might" get one that size.

Mostly, I think about tomato sizes as cherrys (from ground cherry to large red cherry), saladette (up thru about 3 or 4 ounces), slicers (up thru about 8 ounces), sandwich (thru about a pound), and "gee-golly-whiz". All of my size ratings can end up being "juicers". And, I can vary and modify a given tomato's rating at my leisure, convenience, and sole discretion.

Of course, your results may be different.

Almost all of my forty two varieties this year exceeded my expectations in size and production. The only varieties that did not meet or exceed expectations were in containers. The problem presented by a year like this is my expectations for next year have been raised. I will think I've had a bad year when my expectations are not met.

Ted

[lakelady]

I give up trying to figure the almighty tomato out.

Tightenup, what varieties are you growing that taste amazing?

I have Pink Boars in an earthtainer that are bigger weight than they should be, and other varieties that are smaller than expected.

I have ONE Gildo Pietroboni on the vine now (the rest of blossoms fell off) and new blooms, but that one tomato is easily over a lb!! It's getting huge! All those nutrients are going into one tomato lol...greedy little guy he is. Hope I get more. My sister has the same plant at her house loaded with blooms, much smaller, but her fruits will very likely be much smaller as well.

It's interesting to see what surprises come our way. Although, I've got a few surprises I did not expect it would seem. One Legend has huge fruits, t he other legend has smaller fruits, that are now developing a little point at the bottom. My Flamme is not Flamme, and I have no idea what it is. I doubt I'll get a Provenzano thanks to the worms that chewed it to bits. My Bulgarian Rosa Riese is by far the latest of all, with one teeny tiny fruit, lots of fertilized blooms and new blooms, but I wonder if I 'll get to taste it before the season ends at this rate. And it is a 7' tall plant. But most of the others are doing quite well.

[carolyn137]

Few are the seed companies that produce all or most of their own seed from plants that they've grown and for other companies that don't do that many of them they get size and all else from looking at SSE listings for a variety, b'c most of them are unlisted SSE members, some are listed members as well. And some kind of "prune" their info from other seed sites. And these days I bet most know about Tania's T-base and "kind of" lift data from there as well.

And I think Tania said above that if you look at any ONE variety where there are several folks SSE listing it there can be a huge range of DTM's sizes, etc., for all of the listings for just that one variety. I agree.

Some seed companies that don't do their own seed production will buy seed wholesale off the shelf and some will subcontract out as well and here I'm speaking of OP's only.

My summary? I think it's enough to know if a variety is det or indet and if it's an early, midseason or late season variety. Sure, know what color and shape the fruits should be but don't pay that much attention to sizes mentioned.

[TightenUp]

Originally Posted by lakelady

Tightenup, what varieties are you growing that taste amazing?

two tomatoes i love so far-

cherokee purple. i have had this tomato in the past but this is my first season growing on my own. the ones i've tasted were always late season from a farmers market and never "did it" for me. i kept seeing it in peoples grow again list and decided even though i had bad experience i would try it for myself. this season i have only eaten this variety from large SWCs. i was very skeptical of the whole SWC thing and taste and texture but i was wrong. it was delicious

2nd tomato was a RL seedling out of a PL pack of seeds. it was a seed mix up so i dont know the variety but its a 8-12 ounce pink variety. it came from a green while ripe pack of seeds. this tomato tastes nothing like the cher purple. its very sweet and delicate. this is grown in a regular container

neither tomato had any mealiness at all which is one thing i hate.

[lakelady]

I hate mealy tomatoes too, and all my tomatoes this year are new for me, so I wait with bated breath for the first taste of each of them. I have a JD's Special CTex, a Legend, and a Vorlon sitting on the counter almost ripe that I was afraid critters would get before me so I picked them. I can't wait. Tomorrow I'm going to get a nice loaf of Bastone for that long awaited tomato sandwich. A little olive oil, balsamic, basil and I'll be all set!

The only variety I've grown that is consistently mealy is Black Krim. I've tried to be kind to the variety in the past when someone corrected me and called it buttery instead of mealy. I now call it buttery. The truth is if eaten before fully ripe, it is not buttery. It is firm and tastes very good. If allowed to fully ripen, it seems to fall apart in the same manner a stick of butter melts when left out of the refrigerator to long.

I also noticed this year that I don't like dry tomatoes. A few varieties that ripened on the vine in high heat were like dry paper when I started slicing them. They had no moisture in them and were as bad to eat as the buttery varieties.

Ted

[stonysoilseeds]

i found the black krim to be excellemt tasting quality last yr i picked them while the shoulders were still green and they had sweet slty taste i guess it depemds on the region where it is grown but they were also very heavy yielding for me