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British Columbia, Canada

http://www.bigpumpkins.com/Diary/DiaryViewOne.asp?eid=228733

I think that's what we need to reach 10 pounds!

9/19/2014 12:53:31 PM

Lexington, Ky

I've had several of these "king" megablooms and they have all been on a "ribbon" and none of them have ever gone big. I'd like to see someone grow a big one off a ribbon vine, that would give me some hope.

9/19/2014 2:38:49 PM

United Kingdom

Most of the big ones are grown on a flat ribbon stem, that joins all the megabloom tomatoes together on that bloom, some of the ribbon flat stems are nearly an inch wide-if you are lucky enough to get some, so far I have only had four ribbon stem tomatoes on different varieties and all produced tomatoes over four pounds + in weight, on those that did not have the flat ribbon stems only produced big tomatoes less than four pounds.

9/19/2014 8:16:13 PM

valparaiso, in

All of my flat ribbon stem tomatoes have failed to do anything remarkable so far. I hope this one works out. That one looks nice.

9/19/2014 11:27:16 PM

East Carbon, Utah

Several of my vines, including MegaMarv, are producing an amazing number of these "King" megablooms recently, though none as impressive as this! Too bad it's not in a greenhouse or such so you could keep it going another 6 weeks or so.

Is this growing off the main stem or a sucker? Very often my best megablooms emerge from suckers rather than the main stem. But they generally don't get quite as large as those off the main stem, even with massive pruning and thinning.

I have some relatively impressive tomatoes growing on "ribbon" pedicles. I've seen a couple of them approach 3 lbs. or so. But my largest, so far, have been on pedicles that are round in cross section.

My impression is that many of these massive "horseshoe" shaped tomatoes emerge from flattened pedicles. The fused blossoms line up all in a row, similar in size, looking like basically a straight line when the set fruit is very small. Then the sections push against each other as the growing tomato gradually forms a U, then a horseshoe, then eventually virtually a complete circle - or rather a doughnut shape with the two ends pressed but of course not fused, and a whole in the middle where the stem is. Very much like Dan's 8.41. Don't know if his grew from a flattened pedicle?

I have a Delicious (6.51 Meisner 2011) growing now that follows this pattern exactly. Unfortunately, it emerged on a sucker and is only growing at a rate of about 0.65 lbs. per day. Will post pics soon which will show the progression.

9/20/2014 1:37:31 AM

Western PA

Seamsfaster, unfortunately this one is growing from a sucker. It is a big, strong sucker, but way too high in my opinion.
I have a bigger one growing about 1 foot below that i am planning on keeping for an Oct 11th weigh off. If you look in my diary , I have a pic with both together,
It is a beauty for sure, but way too late.
Question ...
This big mega is only the size of a raquetball. Will it hurt the growth rate of the bigger one very much ?
The plant is large. I am thinking about wrapping plastic around ithe plant and maybe putting a small heater in, and throw a few blankets over the top every night.
Will that speed up growth ? Only have 3 weeks.

9/20/2014 9:16:12 AM

East Carbon, Utah

I've saved tomato plants through weeks of cool late Fall weather with tarps, supplemental lights and even heaters. Regrettably, the only thing I've seen get bigger is the electrical bill.

I think the soil all around the root system would have to be heated as well and this would take some advance planning. Or maybe not! Perhaps some heating probes, placed every 12" or so in a grid pattern - something akin to aquarium heaters.

Who ever said we giant vegetable growers are not extremists?

After reading what others have said about growing multiple 3+ pounders on a single plant, I would be inclined to keep both of them. Later in the season when the root system is more developed, I'm thinking the plant can better support 2 or 3 fast growing tomatoes with minimal impact on the others.

It seems to me that it's all the little suckers, especially coming up from lower down, that suck nutrients away from fruits. Also letting multiple clusters with multiple small fruits grow can really suppress growth of the big ones.

Sometimes when I have two tomatoes that are a toss-up, I will measure them both every day with precision calipers to see which is growing faster. If the one higher up (and therefore younger) is growing faster, I prune off the lower one.

I believe some 5+ pound tomatoes have been grown above 5' off the ground, but I'm not sure. Anyone?

9/23/2014 6:39:18 PM