Growing the worlds biggest tomato

[chillithyme]

Has anybody grown the worlds biggest tomatoe before?
I bought some healthy plants,reduced to a £1 in Wyevale,claims to grow up to an impressive 3lb,and 2 metres tall
Any tips? I’ve got one for my planter,one for the allotment and one for a large pot,or half or maybe a whole growbag to itself?
Any ideas on how many litres of compost I should go for?

[veggiechicken]

Is that Gigantomo? https://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gr...ato_83399.html

[Mikey]

Are you sure that it's not suggesting the plant will produce about 3lb of fruit rather than one fruit of 3lb. I've grown large beefsteak varieties which get to about 12cm diameter easily but 3lb seems a little ambitious.

I grow for flavour mind not size, 'cuore di bue' is my preferred beefsteak variety.

[Mikey]

I grow some toms in large mfb's and some in a fixed bed 2ft wide and about 18 inches deep of fresh compost, the latter are always stronger and easier to look after. So I would say give them the biggest and best you can manage they will return it with interest.

[chillithyme]

Thanks for getting back to me

thanks for the link vc, I've just double checked the label, it doesn't say the variety, it's the worlds largest tomatoe on the label, not the worlds biggest as I stated by mistake,ooops. Sounds like it could be gigantamo.

Mikey the label says that each fruit grows to 3lb, beefsteak variety, 2 metres tall. But I'm guessing that it needs perfect growing conditions, and restricted the plant to growing a single fruit so that all the energy goes into that.

I bought one and then got another two just to have a bit of an experiment in different conditions to see whether I could get anything even closes to the weight on there.

Perhaps I will need a half or even an entire growbag for just one plant?others to be in the ground and planter.

[chillithyme]

I grow some toms in large mfb's and some in a fixed bed 2ft wide and about 18 inches deep of fresh compost, the latter are always stronger and easier to look after. So I would say give them the biggest and best you can manage they will return it with interest.

thankyou mikey, I think I'm going to have to spoil these tomatoe plants this year, the plants look very healthy and a decent size, il have to get them planted in the next few days i hope, and give them more compost, feed and care than I normally would, exciting stuff
What is mfb by the way?

[Mikey]

If it's just one plant I'd give it a whole tomato bag to itself they are roughly £2 each from memory. How tall is it now?

TBH It's quite late for starting one off as beefsteaks are slow to produce fruit generally, but you should have a decent harvest come the end of September if the weather holds out.

I've got some beefsteaks I grew from seed early May so are only about 18 inches now but, they will come given time.

[Mikey]

Morrison Flower Bucket.

Save some seeds if you like the flavour and pop them in an old jam jar with water for about two weeks. Rinse in a sieve and dry on a paper towel. Store for next years seed. Who knows what you might produce with an extended season.

[veggiechicken]

MFBs are Morrison's Flower Buckets - other supermarkets are available. Morries sometimes sell them 8 for 99p but Mikey used his charm to gather a stack of them which he kindly shared with me.

Snap Mikey.

[Mikey]

MFBs are Morrison's Flower Buckets - other supermarkets are available. Morries sometimes sell them 8 for 99p but Mikey used his charm to gather a stack of them which he kindly shared with me.

Snap Mikey.

I'd forgotten about that, that was a while ago now. My kindly neighbour picked me up another 10 AFB's from work the other day. It'll cost me a punnet or two but, ain't that what life is all about.

I've never come away from yours empty handed mind VC.

[chillithyme]

I've got a spare growbag which I can use, bought it from the split bag reduced section.
should I use it upright, rather than flat as normal?
Plants have a thick stem and are about a foot and a half tall, with flowers on.
Any ideas as to whether I should remove flowers on planting, or leave them on?
If I get any decent tomatoes I will save the seeds, hopng for a long summer as I don't have a greenhouse

[chillithyme]

MFBs are Morrison's Flower Buckets - other supermarkets are available. Morries sometimes sell them 8 for 99p but Mikey used his charm to gather a stack of them which he kindly shared with me.

Snap Mikey.

I had some free coop flower buckets somewhere but got rid as I began hoarding, il have to get some more now

[veggiechicken]

Slight digression but I've been collecting the plastic onion/mushroom trays from L1dl and the corner shop. I'm sure they would make good salad leaf/seedling planters and, because they stack on top of each other, you could start several batches of seeds without taking up too much space.

Back to the toms and MFBs. My GHs are on solid bases and I have a bed about 4 " deep around the sides. I cut the bottoms off the buckets and sit them on the soil to give a bit of extra depth and grow my toms in those. You can fill several MFBs from one grow bag.

[Mikey]

Upright will be better for the roots but make sure there are some drainage holes at the bottom. You'll probably struggle to get good fruit outdoors unless we have a summer like this week.

let the flowers set fruit and remove all but a handful. If we get a cold spell towards the end of August you might need to forego some of the green smaller fruit so the plant can concentrate its efforts on a couple of larger ripening fruits.

You'll need a good supportive structure to grow it against, and something to support the fruits weight as it's likely to snap the truss at 3 lb. check out some articles on how people support melons when growing as they can get too heavy also, so tend to be hung in a mesh cradle.

I'm not the competitive veg type but, I can see the allure. I grew some ghost chillies a few years ago without knowing what they were, I was too scared to try it TBH, the wood lice had them in the end.

[chillithyme]

Vc being a hoarder I always have empty mushroom trays in the house along with empty containers and bottles etc

I haven't got a greenhouse, so il have to chance it outside in a very sheltered sunny position, I hope this weeks hot weather isn't giving me too much false hope, I'm holding out for a hot summer as I do every year, if I get a couple of largish toms from my plants I will be happy.
If I remember correctly I'm sure that tights or similar are used to support heavy fruit, il search for melon plant supports to confirm.
I also grow ghost chillis, and I have to say sensible of you not to try it mikey, I can eat chillis, but even I wouldn't chance that chilli, ouch. I once made a few bottles of chilli sauce from one ghost/naga, and even that was too hot