Giant tomato diary

[MontyJ]

UPDATE:

The plants have made the turn and are growing vertically now. I'll be staking them in a few days.

 

[MontyJ]

The plants are looking very good. I put weed block fabric over the beds and mulched them. I also got the stakes in before the vines start rooting.

 

[catjac1975]

What a jungle that will be. My kind of gardening!

 

[MontyJ]

Weekly (or somewhere thereabouts) update:
The giant tomatoes are growing like crazy! They are already as tall as the other tomatoes and have main vines twice a big. They are solid like little trees. I am very happy with the color and growth so far. They have started to bloom, but I haven't decided whether I will let them set yet or not. I'm hoping for a double or triple bloom.

 

[Jared77]

Holy canoli! That's nuts! Other than the initial amendments have you done anything for them?

 

[MontyJ]

They haven't shown any signs of needing anything, so they are still on their own. With the way they are looking right now, I don't think I'm going to have to do anything for them as far a feed goes. They will get a fungicide application tomorrow evening. It's hard to see, but the lower branches are lying directly on the ground. I'll remove them later, but for now, they are helping feed the plants. Blight season is upon us so I have to be very careful.

 

[Jared77]

That's even more impressive that they've grown like that without supplementing since the beginning. Keep us posted!

 

[NwMtGardener]

Holy canoli! That's nuts! Other than the initial amendments have you done anything for them?

Don't believe him, jared, he's feeding them BIG K cola, thats why they're so huge!!

 

[dewdropsinwv]

LOL BIG K cola!!!! that's great! I wont touch these ones, but the other maters, he has a hard time keeping me out of..... I just LOVE fried green tomatoes.

 

[so lucky]

That would be impressive put Burger King out of Business!!!
Do you use home made fertilizer or what and how often do you fertilize?

I'm not sure what you mean by home made. I never use a balanced fertilizer such as 10-10-10. I prefer to add the macros individually at different stages of plant developement. For tomatoes, I feed small amounts of N via Alaska Fish as well as P and K in small amounts. P helps build strong roots and K stimulates growth by helping water and nutrients move through the plant. When the flowers start to form, I stop all applications. By now there is plenty in the soil to carry the plant through. If the weather is unusually hot, I may feed a little more K to keep the water flowing through the plant. If I'm not happy with bloom production, I may add a little more P.

...waiting for Bay to crack about me p'ing on the maters...

Every season is different as far as plants go.

Mary, yes I grew these from seed. I start everything from seed. These four look big because they were crowded together in the hoophouse and actually got leggy. Normally I wouldn't prefer to see them like that, but in this instance, it's actually a good thing

Hey Monty, what is the reason for stopping all fert. applications when they start to blossom? Do you find they just don't need any more at that point?