Indeterminate tomatoes can grow very tall although not as big as the one at Epcot Center. I’ve seen pictures of a twenty foot tomato plant but I believe it was grown somewhere warm in the south. Indeterminates will grow continuously unless killed by frost or disease.
The world’s largest tomato tree was grown in the experimental greenhouse at Walt Disney World Resort. It produced over 32,000 tomatoes in the first 16 months after it was planted, and holds the record for the most tomatoes in a single year, according to the Guinness Book of World Records. Huang, from Shenyang, China, discovered the plants in Beijing, China, and after meeting with scientists responsible for those plants he brought the seeds to Epcot. The plant’s single vine grows tens of thousands of golf ball-sized tomatoes which are harvested and served at restaurants across Walt Disney World Resort. According to what I’ve read, It is grown conventionally in a container not hydroponically. Remember too, that it is grown in a greenhouse with constant attention and lots of fertilizer, most likely beyond the scope of the home gardener, even with a greenhouse.
In 1984 12.5 million tomato seeds (Rutgers California Supreme), were sent into space where they circled the earth for 6 years aboard a satellite, until the crew of the Columbia retrieved them. Back on earth they were distributed to more than 3 million school children, 64,000 teachers and others around the world. When planted, no significant differences were found between them and their terrestrial counterparts. Although there were no worrisome mutations, there were however, casualties.
“Dear Nasa,” wrote one participant, “My name is Matt. I am in grade 2. I really enjoy growing my plants. Here are my results. My earth seed did not grow. My space seed grew but it fell off my desk. It died.”
Hmmm…these tomato seeds have traveled more than I have!
Is it a fruit or vegetable?
In 1887, the US Supreme Court ruled that tomatoes were vegetables even though they are specialized reproductive structures that contain seeds. They said:
“Botanically speaking tomatoes are the fruit of a vine, just as are cucumbers, squashes, beans and peas. But in the common knowledge of the people…all these are vegetables, which are grown in kitchen gardens, and…are usually served at dinner in, with or after the soup, fish or meats…and not like fruits generally as dessert.”
Black Prince
They were once called a love apple and were thought to be poisonous
Tomatoes are native to the coastal highlands of western South America. The early American colonists brought them to America but most people still viewed them with suspicion. Thomas Jefferson mentions planting them in 1809 but they weren’t widely cultivated until after 1830 when tomatoes started popping up in American cookbooks and gardening manuals. America has had a love affair with tomatoes ever since.
Baby, it’s cold out there. In my neck of the woods it is 22 degrees and there is frost everywhere. I was perusing my pictures and found this one and it made remember the dog days of summer when it was so, so hot. Let me see if I can remember which ones these were, from top right, Nebraska Wedding, Cougar Red, Willamette, Fiorentino, Glacier, Oaxacan, Blush and Honeybunch. The red ones are harder to identify
I must admit, this was a tough year for my garden. I am the Tomato Lady and should have beautiful tomatoes and to be honest, I thought about questioning my calling. Slugs, flea beetles, aphids, early blight, late blight, splitting, cat facing, you name it, I had it. The weather was cold and rainy in June, then it got really hot for a long time, then it rained. All of my tomatoes split. You expect most of the cherries to split with their thin skins, (juliet is a fine tasting tomato with thicker skins that don’t usually split) but no the larger ones. The Black from Tula, which I adore, split exactly around the middle, the Sungolds and Honeybunch split stem to stern and the Oxacans, (which I won’t ever grow again, mealy texture, small) split without out the rain. Every last one of them. The only ones that didn’t split were the Nebraska Wedding, Old Fashioned Goliath, Joe’s Pink Oxheart and Mountain Gold.
At the end of the season, we picked all the green ones and left them on the porch to ripen. because of the slug bites and splitting, they rotted before they ripened so i just threw them all in the compost pile and shut the door behind on of the worst seasons ever.
My peppers did not do well either. The heirloom shelling beans, all 7 varieties, had some sort of issue from the moment they came up.
Hope springs eternal though, there is always next year.
Note: the plants themselves were glorious and I’ve talked with many of my customers who said they had great success with their tomatoes and gardens. Below is an Aussie that one of my customers has grown. It was the first of the season. Isn’t it lovely? And big? I can tell you they are tasty.
Floating row covers, shade cloth, tarps, plastic , sheets and blankets are an easy way to protect crops from chilly nights and light frosts. Anchor to the ground on each side and the ends; use garden staples, rocks, or boards to hold covers in place. Covering your plants will keep plants 2 to 5°F warmer than the air outside temperature—enough to protect plants from a light overnight frosts.
I am most concerned with keeping my tomatoes from freezing. If light frost is predicted, I will cover with one of our many blue tarps and drag them off in the daytime so they don’t bake. The whole idea is to protect the tomatoes from frostbite. If that happens, instead of ripening, they will usually rot.
It ain’t pretty but it works!
I rec’d an interesting question from one of my customers. He asked me how my garden was growing and what was my favorite red variety. Every year I grow different tomato varieties, not all of them red. This year, I am loving the Marbella, Red Pear, Willamette and Giant Tree Tomato, all of which are red and very prolific. I won a grand prize at the fair for my Willamettes, an aspiring early heirloom from Oregon.
As for how my garden is doing, I’ve had the worst season ever. Every slug, every flea beetle, aphid and spider mite for miles afround has attacked my vegetable and flower garden. Powdery mildew, early blight, physiological damage (ie curly leaves) from the hot/cold/wet/dry weather we’ve had this summer, has blessed my plants too. Aaaagh!
These are more pictures of the Indigo Rose in our garden
This is a picture from one of our customers. He grew it in a pot and it is enormous! They look like giant blueberries.
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Notes From The Tomato Lady 