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Old August 9, 2011   #1
kath
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Default Scary Big Tomatoes

Today I picked the two biggest tomatoes I've ever grown- or seen. They are fused and lumpy and ripening unevenly, but here they are:

The first pic shows the first Slankard from a plant set out on 5/13. There are other biggies not yet ripe.

The second pic is from a Church plant set out on the same date. I've already harvested a 9.7 oz and a 20.8 oz fruit from this plant.
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File Type: jpg Church.jpg (143.3 KB, 275 views)
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Old August 9, 2011   #2
husker nana
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Kath
Very nice! Looks like your having a fantastic season. Don't hurt yourself lifting and carrying those monsters around. You might have to get some big Texas Toast to go with them tomatoes.

P.S. Some of the Northern Lights have ripened and they are beauties. We love the taste and this one is going to be a regular in our garden. Thank you so so much for the seeds.
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Old August 10, 2011   #3
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Wow!!!




..........
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Old August 10, 2011   #4
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Is that correct ? over 3 lbs? If so unbelivable Kathy, you beat me this year, but now lets see the beautiful ones here? My Brad Black Hearts are going to be beauties, and huge. And a only 2 inch of rain last night, which out, my huge fruits or growing more?
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Old August 10, 2011   #5
feldon30
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I saw some gargantuan Slankard tomatoes in DeerPark's garden.

kath, I hope those ripen up for you and have lots of usable tomato.
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Old August 10, 2011   #6
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Husker nana, our season here is as good as last year when it comes to production, I think. The disease, bugs, etc. are not taking a noticeable toll.

Glad to hear that you are enjoying the Northern Lights- not sure yet which ones might be returning here for a repeat performance yet. Still have dozens of later planted varieties which are just about to begin ripening, so it's still anyone's guess.

FILMNET, yes, the Slankard's is a hair over 3 lbs. and Church is 2 lb. 5.9 oz. I've been trying to post the first one of each variety as they ripen on another thread, as well as some of the bigger ones- sometimes they're beautiful, but sometimes not.

I have 2 plants of Brad's Black Heart. The early plant had one big flush and then a big lull- heat induced maybe. The fruits were all between 13.8 to 15.5 oz. and very pretty- they are the fave so far of one of the neighbors.

I tend to panic when it rains and harvest everything that's gone past breaker stage for fear of splitting. We only got 0.6" yesterday but the same amount a few days ago caused splits even in some of the breakers I had left on the vines.
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Old August 10, 2011   #7
kath
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Quote:
Originally Posted by feldon30 View Post
I saw some gargantuan Slankard tomatoes in DeerPark's garden.

kath, I hope those ripen up for you and have lots of usable tomato.
Yeah, I just read an old thread last night that someone recommended Slankard's as a variety to try for giant tomatoes.

We'll see how they continue to ripen inside- I just got a Victorio tomato strainer thanks to reading another thread here and I have trays full of tomatoes ripening up for my first test run of this new toy. Knowing how time consuming it is to skin and deseed by hand, I'm really excited about trying it out. So even if the tomatoes wind up with parts that can't turn into nice slices, they'll wind up puree. I feel bad photographing/displaying their ugly bottoms for all the world to see.
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Old August 10, 2011   #8
b54red
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How's the flavor?
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Old August 10, 2011   #9
kath
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Quote:
Originally Posted by b54red View Post
How's the flavor?
Will try to post on that tomorrow- not quite ripe enough tonight.

Did pick another one today that was from a single blossom but still weighed 29.5 oz.

Last edited by kath; August 10, 2011 at 08:39 PM. Reason: double post
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Old August 15, 2011   #10
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Default 8/15

Two more ridiculously big tomatoes I thought I'd share- the Butler Skinner on the left weighs 48.9 oz and the Work Release Paste 35.2. The grandchildren were really impressed with the large tomatoes that appeared while they were here last week and got a kick out of weighing them. Sungolds are still their faves for eating, though.
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Old August 17, 2011   #11
remy
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I was so impressed with my big tomato, but over 3lbs. Oh my! Slankards won for biggest tomato one year at the Buffalo~Niagara party.
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Old August 17, 2011   #12
kath
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Quote:
Originally Posted by remy View Post
I was so impressed with my big tomato, but over 3lbs. Oh my! Slankards won for biggest tomato one year at the Buffalo~Niagara party.
Remy
Remy,

Last year I tried over 150 varieties but never got anything the size of what's showing up this year. This year I did make an effort to choose varieties that are considered "large" beefsteaks and hearts because last year many were smaller than I would have liked, but this is crazy!

The plants are about 1 ft. apart with pairs about 3' apart on center and I've been able to keep most of them to a single vine. They got 1/4 c. of a granular organic fertilizer at plant out but nothing since. I guess it's just a combination of weather and genetics.

It's amazing to find these big things but they seem to ripen unevenly, get holes poked in them when you're trying to detach them from the plant, develop rot spots, etc. and usually don't make nice slices that you'd get from a smaller fruit. I don't have any contests to enter locally so I thought I'd share the pics with other Tomatovillians.

Kath
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Old August 20, 2011   #13
lakelady
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holy cow Kath, those are gargantuan tomatoes! What are you putting in that Pennsylvania soil?

You're all inspiring me to do more, grow more, and get more tomatoes next year!

After I get through this season, and test out my winter indoor tomato project. I can only dream of having tomatoes even close to those sizes...haha
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Old August 20, 2011   #14
kath
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lakelady,

just a bit of organic fertilizer at planting is all- funny, I don't care if I never have tomatoes over a pound again!

Kath
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Old August 20, 2011   #15
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Those 10 - 12 oz. tomatoes are just about perfect - what do you think?

Quote:
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lakelady,

just a bit of organic fertilizer at planting is all- funny, I don't care if I never have tomatoes over a pound again!

Kath
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