The Tallest Tomato Plant you Have Had.

PA_Julia · March 31, 2015

Hi!!!

Anyone who knows me knows that I grow giant tomatoes for competition.
I'm curious however about the height of the tallest plant you have had in your garden.

For me it was last season. I had a Costoluto Genovese that grew to approx eleven feet.
It required me to make three more stakes for it.

I was picking tomatoes from a height of seven feet before the frost killed the plant.

So tell me, what was the tallest plant you had.

FarmerShawn · March 31, 2015

Black Cherry in the greenhouse is the winner of that contest for me. I plant in the ground,prune to two stems, and train to strings dropped from purlins going the length of the GH about 7 feet high. for those that hit the top of those strings, I then run strings across the greenhouse to the other side, and train them to go across the "ceiling." For the last two years, the Black Cherries have gone up the seven-foot vertical and across anywhere between 10-14 feet more, with the fruit hanging like grapes, looking real cool! I don't always get that many ripe ones from the cross vines before real cold weather sets in, but I do get some, and even if I didn't, the look alone is worth it.
Sungolds can come close, but they so far haven't surpassed the Black Cherries. Oh, and last year my Costoluto Genovese plants also made a horizontal run for it right at the end, but couldn't catch the Black Cherries.
Out in the field, they don't grow near as tall/long.

Father'sDaughter · March 31, 2015

Mine get to the top of the stakes and then flop all over each other, so no telling how tall they are. I can say that the paste varieties do outgrow the slicers by several feet, and the one cherry I grow is always the first to completely fall over.

matereater · March 31, 2015

Sungold - 13 ft

Stvrob · March 31, 2015

I grow cherry tomatoes from the ground up to a second floor balcony, about 15 feet altogether. I prune it so it can get up there quickly though.

shelleybean · March 31, 2015

It was a Juliet plant. Grew up a six foot cage, flopped over and back down the outside of the cage, and then a few more feet along the ground. The tomatoes were hard and bland. It was a shame because I think I had a million of them.

heirloomtomaguy · March 31, 2015

Last year i had 2 green zebra plants that took off on me. They went up a 6 ft florida weave back down 6 ft and along the ground about 4 ft. Not to mention i topped these plants at 7 ft. It was the suckers that took of and continued to grow. I eventually quit trying to prune it and let it go.

Salsacharley · March 31, 2015

Last year I had a Jan's plant from J & L Gardens that I stacked 3 sets of 6 ft Ultimato stakes on top of each other to support. The top two stakes overlapped each other by about a foot held together with zip ties, and the bottom stake was in the ground about a foot, so that makes a net of 15 feet of vertical stakes which the plant overgrew by about a foot. I used a ladder to harvest fruit from. I had about 6 guy wires holding it stable.

Worth1 · March 31, 2015

One year we had a Black Cherry growing on a 500 foot radio tower.
They wouldn't permit us to climb the tower to the top to pick tomatoes.
So we had to get an old world war one artillery spotting balloon to pick the fruits.

Worth

snugglekitten · March 31, 2015

To my knowledge, a tomato plant will grow out until killed by frost or disease, the one in epcott center looks alot more than 20 feet long....

Fortunately for us, most cultivars are grown to maximize inflorescences and not foliage.

tnpeppers · March 31, 2015

My tallest came from J & L, as well...I had three Starfire Isis plants in Earth Boxes, fed weekly with Texas Tomato Food. One made it to twelve feet (staked to the top of a cattle panel), both of the others were a bit over eleven feet. Jan's is in this year's rotation, so we will see how that one performs.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Salsacharley

Last year I had a Jan's plant from J & L Gardens that I stacked 3 sets of 6 ft Ultimato stakes on top of each other to support. The top two stakes overlapped each other by about a foot held together with zip ties, and the bottom stake was in the ground about a foot, so that makes a net of 15 feet of vertical stakes which the plant overgrew by about a foot. I used a ladder to harvest fruit from. I had about 6 guy wires holding it stable.

b54red · March 31, 2015

I had a Limbaugh's Legacy last year that was well over 20 ft. I was growing on a drop line from 7 ft up and it ran along the ground for over 15 ft then went all the way over the top of the 7 ft off the ground horizontal line support pole. I also had several others that were around 20 ft. The plants lasted from the first of April til the middle of November when an early freeze killed them. All of the plants were limited to two stems so that helps with the length.

The largest plant I ever grew was a Gary O' Sena. I allowed many stems and grew it on a 7 ft tall trellis. It grew 16 ft wide and about 10 ft tall. When I pulled it up the older stems were around 15 ft long. It stayed alive from early March til early December.

Bill

kath · March 31, 2015

Matt's Wild Cherry had the longest vines of any tomato I've grown yet...don't know the measurement but they were WAY longer than Sungold, which exceeds 12' for me every year.

kath

Gardeneer · March 31, 2015

Well, mine once they reach a height of 5 -6ft, I let the drape.
I dislike aggressively growing tomatoes. I rather plant determinants and dwarfs.
But back to question: I remember once I grew Juliet. They were unmanageable. Sun Gold was not that bad.

Zana · March 31, 2015

Probably my record was an African Vining Tomato that I grew back about 2005. I had it growing on a trellis beside the 3m diving board tower in the backyard. It outgrew the 8' trellis, up and over the 3m diving board tower (and I jury rigged a tunnel trellis over it, that stood at least 6' above the handrails on the diving board, so that the board was still usable), and down the other side. So at a guess, almost 11m to 12m in total. The plant was also about 3m wide up and over. And because the container it was in was sitting on concrete beside the pool, we had a micro climate....with a very late hard frost that year that was about November 16th, I harvested at least 4.5 full bushels off that one plant! And used about 2 bushels' worth pulled before the hard frost (ripened inside) to can about 15 to 20 L jars.

March 31, 2015	#1
PA_Julia Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Mar 2012 Location: Princeton, Ky Zone 7A Posts: 2,208	The Tallest Tomato Plant you Have Had. Hi!!! Anyone who knows me knows that I grow giant tomatoes for competition. I'm curious however about the height of the tallest plant you have had in your garden. For me it was last season. I had a Costoluto Genovese that grew to approx eleven feet. It required me to make three more stakes for it. I was picking tomatoes from a height of seven feet before the frost killed the plant. So tell me, what was the tallest plant you had. __________________ Personal Best- 4.46 LB Big Zac 2013

March 31, 2015	#2
FarmerShawn Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Dec 2011 Location: Vermont Posts: 1,001	Black Cherry in the greenhouse is the winner of that contest for me. I plant in the ground,prune to two stems, and train to strings dropped from purlins going the length of the GH about 7 feet high. for those that hit the top of those strings, I then run strings across the greenhouse to the other side, and train them to go across the "ceiling." For the last two years, the Black Cherries have gone up the seven-foot vertical and across anywhere between 10-14 feet more, with the fruit hanging like grapes, looking real cool! I don't always get that many ripe ones from the cross vines before real cold weather sets in, but I do get some, and even if I didn't, the look alone is worth it. Sungolds can come close, but they so far haven't surpassed the Black Cherries. Oh, and last year my Costoluto Genovese plants also made a horizontal run for it right at the end, but couldn't catch the Black Cherries. Out in the field, they don't grow near as tall/long. __________________ "Red meat is NOT bad for you. Now blue-green meat, THAT'S bad for you!" -- Tommy Smothers

March 31, 2015	#4
matereater Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: S.E. Michigan (Livonia) Posts: 1,264	Sungold - 13 ft __________________ Steve Cleverly disguised as a responsible adult

March 31, 2015	#6
shelleybean Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Virginia Beach Posts: 2,648	It was a Juliet plant. Grew up a six foot cage, flopped over and back down the outside of the cage, and then a few more feet along the ground. The tomatoes were hard and bland. It was a shame because I think I had a million of them. __________________ Michele

March 31, 2015	#7
heirloomtomaguy Tomatovillian™ Join Date: May 2013 Location: glendora ca Posts: 2,560	Last year i had 2 green zebra plants that took off on me. They went up a 6 ft florida weave back down 6 ft and along the ground about 4 ft. Not to mention i topped these plants at 7 ft. It was the suckers that took of and continued to grow. I eventually quit trying to prune it and let it go. __________________ “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it."

March 31, 2015	#3
Father'sDaughter Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Nov 2011 Location: MA/NH Border Posts: 4,917	Mine get to the top of the stakes and then flop all over each other, so no telling how tall they are. I can say that the paste varieties do outgrow the slicers by several feet, and the one cherry I grow is always the first to completely fall over.

March 31, 2015	#5
Stvrob Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2013 Location: Jacksonville, FL Posts: 1,413	I grow cherry tomatoes from the ground up to a second floor balcony, about 15 feet altogether. I prune it so it can get up there quickly though.

March 31, 2015	#8
Salsacharley Tomatovillian™ Join Date: May 2013 Location: New Mexico Posts: 2,052	Last year I had a Jan's plant from J & L Gardens that I stacked 3 sets of 6 ft Ultimato stakes on top of each other to support. The top two stakes overlapped each other by about a foot held together with zip ties, and the bottom stake was in the ground about a foot, so that makes a net of 15 feet of vertical stakes which the plant overgrew by about a foot. I used a ladder to harvest fruit from. I had about 6 guy wires holding it stable.

March 31, 2015	#9
Worth1 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Den of Drunken Fools Posts: 38,539	One year we had a Black Cherry growing on a 500 foot radio tower. They wouldn't permit us to climb the tower to the top to pick tomatoes. So we had to get an old world war one artillery spotting balloon to pick the fruits. Worth

March 31, 2015	#10
snugglekitten BANNED Join Date: Jan 2012 Location: Land of the White Eagle Posts: 341	To my knowledge, a tomato plant will grow out until killed by frost or disease, the one in epcott center looks alot more than 20 feet long.... Fortunately for us, most cultivars are grown to maximize inflorescences and not foliage.

March 31, 2015	#12
b54red Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Alabama Posts: 7,068	I had a Limbaugh's Legacy last year that was well over 20 ft. I was growing on a drop line from 7 ft up and it ran along the ground for over 15 ft then went all the way over the top of the 7 ft off the ground horizontal line support pole. I also had several others that were around 20 ft. The plants lasted from the first of April til the middle of November when an early freeze killed them. All of the plants were limited to two stems so that helps with the length. The largest plant I ever grew was a Gary O' Sena. I allowed many stems and grew it on a 7 ft tall trellis. It grew 16 ft wide and about 10 ft tall. When I pulled it up the older stems were around 15 ft long. It stayed alive from early March til early December. Bill

March 31, 2015	#13
kath Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: zone 6b, PA Posts: 5,664	Matt's Wild Cherry had the longest vines of any tomato I've grown yet...don't know the measurement but they were WAY longer than Sungold, which exceeds 12' for me every year. kath

March 31, 2015	#14
Gardeneer Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2015 Location: NC - zone 8a - heat zone 7 Posts: 4,915	Well, mine once they reach a height of 5 -6ft, I let the drape. I dislike aggressively growing tomatoes. I rather plant determinants and dwarfs. But back to question: I remember once I grew Juliet. They were unmanageable. Sun Gold was not that bad.

March 31, 2015	#15
Zana Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Southwestern Ontario, Canada Posts: 4,521	Probably my record was an African Vining Tomato that I grew back about 2005. I had it growing on a trellis beside the 3m diving board tower in the backyard. It outgrew the 8' trellis, up and over the 3m diving board tower (and I jury rigged a tunnel trellis over it, that stood at least 6' above the handrails on the diving board, so that the board was still usable), and down the other side. So at a guess, almost 11m to 12m in total. The plant was also about 3m wide up and over. And because the container it was in was sitting on concrete beside the pool, we had a micro climate....with a very late hard frost that year that was about November 16th, I harvested at least 4.5 full bushels off that one plant! And used about 2 bushels' worth pulled before the hard frost (ripened inside) to can about 15 to 20 L jars. __________________ Zana ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ There is a fine line between genius and crazy. I like to use that line as a jump rope. ~Anonymous (but I totally agree with this! LOL) Forgive and Forget? I'm neither Jesus or nor do I have Alzheimers. ~ Anonymous Until he extends his circle of compassion to include all living things, man will not himself find peace. -- Dr. Albert Schweitzer