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Minnesota(dw447@fastmail.fm)

I have a hypothetical question. The current world record tomato is 8.61 lbs. What weight do you think that tomato would have been, if the plant wasn't pruned, and all tomatoes on the plant were allowed to set naturally?

The reason I'm asking, is to try and gauge approximately how much special growing techniques aid in the size of the fruit. Lets say someone grows an heirloom beefsteak tomato variety and gets a 3+lb. tomato off of it, without pruning the plant, or culling tomato sets. Would this tomato have possibly gotten to double it's weight with the specific growing techniques of giant tomato growers?

3/3/2017 5:23:57 PM

Buffalo, MN (Billsbigpumpkins@hotmail.com)

Doug I grew them years without pruning either the fruit or vines. the biggest I was getting was in the 1 pound range with about 20 tomatoes on a plant. I then started to do a limited prune of the vines and tried to select large single blossoms or double blossoms. That got me to several in the 3 lb range. Only when I got very selective picking mega blossoms and drastic pruning did I see 5-7lb tomatoes. I also ended up with plants with no tomatoes and some very late in the season that came in at the 3 and 4 pound range. That would of been much larger if grown earlier.

3/3/2017 5:42:50 PM

Central NY

agree...3lbs on an unpruned plant is a giant...

3/3/2017 6:16:33 PM

Georgetown, Ontario

I usually grow a couple BigZac plants just for eating so I don't prune anything and usually get 4 or 5 fruit in the 1.5 pound range and 10-15 smaller. This is compared to 4.5 to 5.5 for my competition plants, same genetics same soil but different care.

3/3/2017 6:25:16 PM

Lebanon, Oregon

I grew the Russian Oxhearts for eating. Single tomatoes weighed about 1-1.5 lbs at the largest. I grew 2 for competition. Used the growing techniques like chopping the top and all other growth, and grew a 4.66 lbs. Otherwise that 4.66 would have been probably been 1.5 lbs if grown normally.

3/4/2017 12:47:21 AM

Minnesota(dw447@fastmail.fm)

Thanks for the replies. These are the answers I was looking for. There are a couple heirloom varieties that I've grown, that I think could be good competition candidates. I may give them a try this year.

3/4/2017 3:04:11 PM

Owensboro, Ky.

14, good luck w/growing heirloom's for record size, no disrespect meant here, but I don't think it will happen...these tough guy's (giant breeder's/growers) ...IMHO, will crush any heirloom, even w/equal growing skills & techniques! They have been after this quest...WWT (World Record Tomato) for a while! Peace, Wayne
PS...can I get some seeds from your giant heirloom's in the fall? Seriously!!

3/5/2017 1:32:28 AM

Minnesota(dw447@fastmail.fm)

Wayne,
You may be right. As a senior in H.S. I was voted the class non-conformist(on the male side). So maybe it's the non-conformist in me, wanting to try something different.
I've been growing heirlooms tomatoes for around 25 years. So I think I have a decent idea of which varieties have good size potential. I've just never grown tomatoes for competition before. I think the tomato world record that stood for many years was grown off the variety Delicious, which might qualify as an heirloom variety. If you're still interested in the fall, contact me regarding seeds, and we'll see what I have available.

3/6/2017 1:31:41 AM

50 Acres

Afew years back I grew Sicilian saucer tomatoes. The circumference was 23 inches on my largest. Aslice filled a whole slice of bread. I don't understand pruning , but I think given a chance, the Sicilian could produce in the 5 lb range. Jim

3/6/2017 8:40:09 AM

Wixom MI.

I plan on trying a few heirloom tomatoes this year because of potential.i think that we need to try other tomatoes occasionaly because you never know for sure witch one can suprize you. For me i never had much luck with the delicious veriety most of my heirlooms did better than the delicious veriety but since the world record was with a delicious tomato for 25 years everyone thought that was the veriety to grow.i think that growers are like sheep in a way.they always grow the latest big tomato and forget about the rest !!! I my opinion i feel that we only got interested in gaint tomatoes since harp grew his 7.18 lb tomato and then the next year it was followed up by the 7.33 hunt. So in my opion we are only now learning how to grow 5-6-7 pound tomatoes consistently and we have only used these new practices on a few verieties, mainly bigzac and delicious. So i think it is a good idea to try a few new verieties on the side and you never know you may find a good one to grow.

3/6/2017 10:09:01 AM

Owensboro, Ky.

Doug, 26, chris & all other giant tomato growers...Grow em BIG!!! New ideas combined w/new techniques might get someone to the first 10# tomato!!
PS...Doug did you marry the non-conformist on the female side? Peace, Wayne
PPS...if so, I want updates on your kids!!! LOL

3/7/2017 12:53:36 AM

Minnesota(dw447@fastmail.fm)

Wayne,
No I didn't marry or court her LOL. I didn't have my first girlfriend until I was 21. I've never been married and I have no children.

3/7/2017 5:07:18 PM