Member discussion regarding the methods, varieties and merits of growing tomatoes.
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April 2, 2015 | #1 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Mar 2015
Location: Mississippi
Posts: 339
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Megablooms!!!
The first three major blooms on any of my plants are all megablooms...
Cherokee Purple Plant #1 Cherokee Purple #1 - MegaBlossom - 4 2 2015.jpg Better Boy Better Boy MegaBlossom - 4 2 2015.jpg Cherokee Purple Plant #2 Cherokee Purple #2 - MegaBlossom - 4 2 2015.JPG |
April 3, 2015 | #2 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Jul 2009
Location: Ontario, Canada
Posts: 692
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I find Megablooms to be annoying and pull them off. They seem to take forever to ripen, create ugly looking toms and also seem to hold the plant back, as if all the growth is concentrated in that one blossom. Yuck!!!
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April 3, 2015 | #3 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Mar 2015
Location: Mississippi
Posts: 339
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Respect your opinion, but to me they are kinda fun. Obviously if it becomes apparent they are not going to produce an edible tomato I will pull them, but they're interesting to me.
I am not really one to aggressively alter my plants. My dad was certainly no horticulturist, but he grew lots of tomatoes over 60 years of gardening and he was always very hesitant to pull anything off a plant that had a chance of making a mater. |
April 3, 2015 | #4 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Jan 2013
Location: Jacksonville, FL
Posts: 1,413
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I agree, they are fun and interesting to watch them develop.
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April 3, 2015 | #5 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Northern Minnesota - zone 3
Posts: 3,222
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I think mega blossoms are beautiful! As far as the catfacing, you only look at a tomato before you eat it. Once you dice it for salsa, or cook it into sauce your stomach doesn't know the difference. Not every tomato is going to be sliced for perfect presentation on a platter.
And those few who grow competition sized giant tomatoes only want megablossums on their plants.
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Dee ************** |
April 3, 2015 | #6 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: Princeton, Ky Zone 7A
Posts: 2,208
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My main focus is giant tomato growing. You can't have tomatoes of any decent size without megablooms. Here is my largest mega bloom from last season. Using a magnifying glass I counted a total of seven fused blooms. This is on a particular strain of Delicious called Hunts Strain. The seed was a descendant of the tomato that holds the Pennsylvania state record at 6.51 LBS. This grew into a 4.37 LB tomato. Not my personal best but of decent size nonetheless.. This year I have seeds from my friend and fellow giant grower Dan Mac Coy out of Minnesota. Last year he shattered the world record for tomato weight with a Big Zac that produced an eight bloom mega bloom. It grew to 8.41 LBS.
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Personal Best- 4.46 LB Big Zac 2013 Last edited by PA_Julia; April 3, 2015 at 03:59 PM. |
April 3, 2015 | #7 | |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Mar 2015
Location: Mississippi
Posts: 339
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Quote:
That bloom is massive. Do you have a pic of the final tomato? Once you get a bloom like that what kind of pruning do you do to the plant? Last edited by JohnJones; April 3, 2015 at 05:01 PM. |
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April 3, 2015 | #8 | |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Jan 2013
Location: Jacksonville, FL
Posts: 1,413
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Quote:
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April 3, 2015 | #9 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Feb 2015
Location: NC - zone 8a - heat zone 7
Posts: 4,915
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Some mega blooms do not survive. Of the ones that do, become cat faced. In my experience those won't ripened properly.
Cherokee purple had been the first with mega bloom in my garden. Though an interesting thing to observe, I would remove them, as I consider them mishaps. Gardeneer |
April 4, 2015 | #10 | |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: Princeton, Ky Zone 7A
Posts: 2,208
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Quote:
Yes I do have a photo of that tomato and here it is; It is flashing color on the bottom portion of the tomato so it was done growing.
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Personal Best- 4.46 LB Big Zac 2013 |
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April 4, 2015 | #11 | |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: Princeton, Ky Zone 7A
Posts: 2,208
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Quote:
For my friend Dan Mac Coy who grow the world record last season at 8.41 LBS, not only is he holding that record , after all prize money and continuing endorsements he's sitting at over ten thousand dollars from growing that tomato. That's certainly not a "" Yucky"" payoff to coin your word.
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Personal Best- 4.46 LB Big Zac 2013 Last edited by PA_Julia; April 4, 2015 at 06:58 AM. |
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April 4, 2015 | #12 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Alabama
Posts: 7,068
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I don't mind the mega-blooms too much but they tend to ripen very unevenly most of the time so that part of the fruit is overripe while other parts are still green. Since I'm not growing for size I try to cull most of them out.
Bill |
April 4, 2015 | #13 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: May 2013
Location: glendora ca
Posts: 2,560
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That thing is a beast. Do you grow them organically or with a whole lot of super thrive?
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“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." |
April 5, 2015 | #14 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Jan 2015
Location: AL
Posts: 1,993
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What is the difference between a regular bloom and a megabloom and how do you know what to look for or if you happen to have one?
Nice looking plants there John Jones. Pa_Julie... That's one big tomato!!!!!!!!! Whew! |
April 5, 2015 | #15 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Mar 2015
Location: Mississippi
Posts: 339
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Thanks Starlight!
A megabloom is just a popular name for a fused blossom of 2 or more blossoms. It will result in a typically odd looking combination of two or more tomatoes into one, often larger than average, tomato. The blossom will likely appear abnormally large next to the others in the cluster (See Cherokee Purple #2 above). Once the tomato shows itself, if the pistils (the tubes extending from the blossom end of the tomato) are still present there may be more than one as in the Better Boy pic above. Look for large blossoms and then watch their development closely. |
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