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Central Minnesota

What type of circumference are we looking for in these things? Most of my keepers are in that 16-19 inch range now but are young.

Also, once you pick one to weigh, are you setting another or done?

7/25/2014 10:02:38 AM

Allentown, PA

Howdy,

It depends on the shape of the tomato. Last year my 4.03 Mega Marv measured over 24 inches around and was at approx. the same as my 4.46 LB Big Zac but both were very different in terms of shape.

Godzilla is flashing color at 22.5 inches but because of his shape he is going to go heavy and in my opinion will surpass my personal best of 4.46 LBS.

As a general rule I, myself pay particular attention to any tomato regardless of it DAP count that measures 20 inches and above.

I hope that helped. I have seen your diary and keep up with yours and everyone elses growing tomatoes and I have to say everyone is growing some fine looking potential monsters and yours looks great!

7/25/2014 10:39:45 AM

Buffalo, MN (Billsbigpumpkins@hotmail.com)

15" = 1 lb
16=1.5
17=1.5-2
18=2+
19=2.5
20=3
21=3.5
22=4
23=4.5
24=5
25=5.5
26=6

7/26/2014 7:32:04 PM

East Carbon, Utah

Geometry of individual tomatoes can make this chart off by a pound or more, as noted by Julia. My largest measured to just over 23" but weighed less than 3.5 lbs.

Pumpkin growers measure along 3 axes and have a reasonably good formula for estimating weights.

Shapes of tomatoes (crevices, weird shaped lobes, flattening, hollow seed locules, etc.) make weight estimation more difficult for tomatoes; but there are formulas available which account for some of these oddities and can yield better predictions.

In it's most simplified form, if you are measuring in decimal inches (i.e. 23-1/4" = 23.25") in all 3 perpendicular circumferences (CC's), weight in pounds (W) is estimated as:

W = 0.00056*CC1*CC2*CC3

This takes into account that large tomatoes are less dense than water. Formula development explained at:

http://delectationoftomatoes.wordpress.com/2012/08/28/predicting-and-estimating-tomato-weights/

In most cases, this should get you within 10%.

In Minnesota you probably only have one shot per plant. Where I'm located, summers are fairly hot. I can manage to get a few tomatoes to pollinate between 15 June - 01 July for harvest around 01-15 August. Then another batch between 30 August - 15 September for harvest in late October to early November. Most of my larger tomatoes have been harvested in October. They just ripen so fast in 95° plus heat, day after day.

7/26/2014 11:58:15 PM