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On top of Brush Mountain, Pa.

Okay. Here is the first of several tomato tips I will be posting. I would appreciate any comments you might have. I don't expect everyone to agree with everything I post and would appreciate any criticism you might have.

1.    Many of the megablossoms on your tomato plants will be among the first blossoms to appear and will be 24 to 36 inches from the ground. The majority of these will be on the plant by the time it is 24 inches tall and almost all by the time it is 36 inches tall. If no megablossoms are present on your tomato plant by the time it is 36 inches tall, then you should consider using that plant to grow tomatoes for consumption.

2/28/2011 10:33:33 AM

Owensboro, Ky.

Great, idea...the tips thing!!! Hopefully the 7#+ growers from the last couple years (Harp's & Hunt's) will let us know how far up their megablooms were!!!! & awl others, of course!!! Peace, Wayne
PS...if true...36" or lower, do you eliminate awl suckers above that set fruit?

3/1/2011 1:52:47 AM

Denmark

What if you remove the first 1-3 clusters of flowers as soon as the form. Do you still have a good chance of megablossoms from the following clusters you allow to form? Or does the megablossoms mostly form on the first clusters so you lose the chance of mega blossoms if you remove them?

3/1/2011 8:16:55 AM

On top of Brush Mountain, Pa.

It would seem that megablossoms tend to appear below the the 36 inch level I mentioned above and also toward the top of the plant. Those coming on the top usually don't have the amount of time required to grow a big tomato. The frost gets them. Minnie has had only one big tomato higher on the plant in all the years she has grown and that was at about 4 feet. If you remove all of the lower clusters you reduce your chances of getting the big tomato you desire but I would assume you are looking at these blossoms before you cut them off and are not removing any megablossoms. As far as suckers above the big tomato, they should be removed. There should at most be only two main vines, meaning that you would have allowed only one sucker to develop into a vine and that should have been the one below the first fruit cluster.If your plant produces no megablossom then it doesn't matter a lot what you do with the top of the plant as you will be eating any tomatoes you get since they will be smaller.

3/1/2011 8:32:09 AM

Waynesboro, Virginia

http://www.bdb.co.za/shackle/articles/gordon_graham.htm Gordon Graham's world record tomato was set far out on the vine, I am assuming.

3/1/2011 8:56:28 AM

On top of Brush Mountain, Pa.

There is a lot of controversy surrounding Gordon Graham's record tomato. If you have read his instruction booklet that was handed out by him when he gave talks for Miracle Grow, he recommends that you vigorously prune the tomato plants as follows:"Pruning means pinching off the suckers or shoots that grow from the stem, in the crotch right after each leaf branch. Pruning keeps the energy of the plant directed at 2 or 3 main stems and should be done twice a week." He also says that his plant that grew the big tomato was 15 feet tall when it fell over and that at that point it had no tomatoes on it at all. Later he saw a tomato on the plant that grew to be huge. He says it was the only tomato on the entire plant. Do you think it is a possibility that a plant that big could have only one tomato on it. And why, in his instruction booklet does he instruct growers to prune vigorously? Here is another article about Gordon and his tomato.
http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=uGMaAAAAIBAJ&sjid=BisEAAAAIBAJ&pg=6740,4414628&dq=clarence+dailey+world+record+tomato&hl=en

3/1/2011 11:08:53 AM

Corbin, KY

I have found what your saying to be very true. The first cluster is where it happens. After that the very best I have done have been double blooms at the top at four to five feet. I also cut off all suckers unless I miss one. This year I will trim to one fruit on the cluster as well.
Thanks for the tomato tips. I am looking forward to the next one.

3/1/2011 11:59:21 AM

Massachusetts

last year my big zacs did very well, lots of giant tomatos, but sadly the only mega bloom that showed up out of 2 plants was around the 3rd week in october, wish it showed up in early july.....scott.

3/1/2011 12:22:07 PM

Waynesboro, Virginia

I agree also.Every large tomato I ever grew was about 3 feet up.But then again, I never had a tomato plant 50 feet long.I'm sure he pruned and suckered that plant to one vine to get it that big.He was experimenting trying to get the plant large so I would think NO tomato blossoms up to 15 feet when it fell over.Then I'm sure it was shocked a little from the fall.Then, he says,he did not care for it after that (I guess, no fertilizer).One tomato?? Maybe. It was a crazy plant for sure, so who knows.Also, it was a long time ago and you know how stories change.

3/1/2011 12:32:22 PM

Hamilton Nj

wayne u got to remove all suckers i had them up to a foot long at one point last year ,the more removed the better!!!

marv,i have found that my megablooms were about 3 foot off the groung last year had 2 that were maybe 4 foot up but were to late in the season, i think most of your megablooms wil come out by 4th, of july i also had one pop up in sept. lol got to be about a pound 4 segments in all i had to save those seeds lol !!!

marley,if u want to increase your chances of a megabloom u got to grow alot of plants im doing 40 big zacs this year hopeing 10-15 have megablooms lol !!!

also i found that when last week of june comes around i back off the fertilizer a little bit for a few weeks i found too much fertilizer is bad my buddie uses miracle grow all spring and always complains that he has huge plants but no tomatos lol i tryed to tell him let off the ferts. for 2 weeks and give the tomatos a chance to bloom!!!

goodluck to all contestants in the gtg contest !!! pizza

3/1/2011 4:51:00 PM

Hamilton Nj

almost forgot all the people i tlaked to that grew the 7.18 harp last year only grew 3-4+ ponders the big one came from a timm seed (deliciuos) variety ,i really like theese big zacs but im starting to like the delicous variety more lol pizza

3/1/2011 4:56:21 PM

Massachusetts

pizza, 40 plants! you are about 5 hours from my house, you have extra room for my 40 plants? lol......scott...:]

3/1/2011 5:00:35 PM

Hamilton Nj

i just looked up the gpc tomatos weighed last year most were from the 5.58 timm seeds , hear are a few from the list 5.64(5.58 timm) 7.33 hunt (5.58 timm) 5.35 (3.9 capentano) 5.18 (7.18 harp) 4.16 (megamarv) if u check out the list most were grown from the timm seeds pizza

3/1/2011 5:09:47 PM

Massachusetts

pizza , i think the 7.33 hunt was from the 5.0 timm, your right about the timm seed, it is the way to go. i'm trying the 5.58 timm
the 5.0 timm and the 7.33 hunt...

3/1/2011 7:23:16 PM

On top of Brush Mountain, Pa.

Please try to stay on the topic guys. Marv

3/1/2011 7:32:44 PM