Maters

[Eric J]

Got me a good-en growing this year
left 12ft 6" drinking 4 gal water a day
right 8ft

[Cal]

How big is the fruit ya got?

[Eric J]

well the left one was sa-post to be a red cherry tomato bought from lows and it turned out to be a yellow pair tomato (cherry tomato size) and they have been large for what they are.
this is a pic of what they were a month ago


the one on the right is a better boy lemon tomato
and they at best get to a base ball size I have had 3 that were close to soft ball size but they are a very productive plant I have had as many as a good 150 on one plant before this plant has about 90 or so on it now.

[thewiz]

What the heck are they growing up against?
We'll hope no big winds till after they are through having toms.

[Cal]

What the heck are they growing up against?
We'll hope no big winds till after they are through having toms.

My thought also?

[Eric J]

well when I put them in I generally put a 4 ft piece of 1/2" re-bar right next to it and zip tie the main stem to that re-bar as it grows then I made cages out of concrete wire think I counted 12 squares and cut it and brazed them together, that made a about a 24"cage 5ft tall looks like this.......




and I made some that were shorter like this......


I put that one on the right plant today

I zip tie the cages together with about 6 zip ties and use 2 to 3 or 4 fence stakes right on the sides with 3 zip ties on each stake I have not ever went over 15 foot (3 cages)
I have been through a small tornado before that took the tree tops off the trees around my house before (lasted 1 min 30 sec) of 90 plus MPH winds, I had 2 plants that were 11 feet tall and all it did was rip a few limbs off them, I had sticks ran through the walls of the house and 14 trees down.....dang things never lost a mater and I know what you thinkin but that's the way it was.

I do have to go up ever day to push the limbs in the cage tho kinda a pain to keep up with.


this is what the maters average for size I only got a few like the one on the left, most of them are like the one on the right.


this is what the yellow pair looks like or what ever it is?

found this cantaloupe that was growing on the back side, I have trouble ever gettin these to grow

here's a pic of the cumbers I got off a cage behind the maters

[thewiz]

Amazing.
When we go to Quartzsite in the Winter some of the people grow toms and cukes and squash in 5 gallon containers while we rv in the desert.
I believe I have never seen toms this tall, you must have a world record.
Where do you live? Is there a lot of rain? Special soil?
Lots of fertilizer? Lots of sun?
Mine get about 3 to 4 feet high and then our growing season is pretty much over.

[Eric J]

well I dont know what the world record would be? but you can turn one into a actual tree if hydroponics were to be used in a place that you can grow all 12 months?
I could tell ya what my record is to beet? But I doubt any won would believe me I have fun with it tho and at the same time it is every day work to keep up with it, in more ways than one would think?

I live 25 miles west of Nashville tn off I-40 in a small town of Kingston springs, if ya ever out this way feel free to stop in and plug up for a nite, and of course try one

as far as how its done? well .....it can be done with any tomato plant
the dirt I use is pure river silt from a river in the area, that when I am able to find somebody digging some and a way to get it here. this dirt is on it 5th year and is worn down purdy good.
how its done......
to really get one rocking and rollin its best to (with the climate I have) to start one inside under grow lights and get it as tall as possible, then 24 hr before planting, drown the plant so the stem will now be very flexible, till up the planting area a good 4 feet around the spot, till in some 6 month granular plant food as well then dig a trench as deep as possible throw in more granular plant food and cover that with 2" of dirt than take a razor blade and trim all the limbs off but the head of the plant and lay the root ball in one end of the trench and all the stem in the rest of trench and curve the head of the plant up (however if the plant had not been drowned for 24 hr the stem may brake when making it curve up) and drive a stake next to it and put a zip tie around it to hold it there. the more stem that is in the ground the bigger the plant can get, for the stem will grow roots the more root that their is to feed the plant the more plant it will be. the tricky part.... when one gets large is the amount of water the plant must get, it really needs to be on a separate timer and dripper, so the times can be changed and the amount of time it is dripping can be changed, I had one a few years back that required a 24 hr drip to keep up with it. what ever it was I did this year was lucky, I did not start it in side, it was small when I put it in, we had a 500 to 1000 year flood back in may I think it was? and it about drowned and died, I have only had 2 rains in the past 3 months and it is sooooooo dry and hot, yesterday was 99 degrees and it hit 13 feet this morn I also do use miracle grow by the box I might add.

[siberian]

I'm impressed. I love the yellow pear tomatoes, but haven't been able to grow them in my garden. I will definatley try your method next year.

[Eric J]

i,m not sure just what yellow pair this one is? but its a fairly good tasting mater, I grew a yellow pair a few years back and it was not a very flavorful mater, but it was a larger yellow pair tomato. the lemon boy yellow mater that is on the right has always seemed to be a good tasting mater and very productive, I picked 21 off it last nite and a good 25 or so before that and it still has many, many more.
I think the left is at 14 plus ft now and the right is around 10ft
we are having temps 96 to 100 degrees with heat index today of 115 and its starting to ruff em up a lil bit

[Eric J]

We'll hope no big winds till after they are through having toms.

dang it Wiz!! I thinks ya jinks me, we got one hard 15min rain with some tree rippin winds today, came home and it looked the the leaning tower of pizza I got it back up again tho....mus-ta caught a bad down draft

[thewiz]

Well, I am The Wiz and I just cast a spell to stop the wind just for you.
Have you set up a roadside stand to sell your crop yet?

[Eric J]

nope, I tried to get lil john john to do that but he thinks its just to easy to ask ol dad for money instead of workin for it out in the hot weather

[thewiz]

I believe he is correct.
My kids and now my grandkids learned that Grandma is an easy touch.
Grandpa is just no fun at all.................

[Eric J]

shew wee this fourm dead..... so I recon i,ll give a up date on me maters.....
picked 300 one time, 400 another time another 300 today threw away over a 100 each time I picked due to not picking when I should, johnner and shorty have been keeping up with how many have been picked by giving away 50 in a bag to nabors. so that would be about 1,300 so far and i,m a touch bit over the 1/2 point, had another bad storm and the 2nd cage broke all the zip ties and it fell over on to the cumber cage behind it, last time it was measured it was close to 16 ft and that was a good 3 weekes ago, I had to make up some 2x4 supports to help hold it up, it never did brake any vines but the vines are really streched very tight and it is so compack with vines I cant hardly get my hand through them to pick them so now vines are starting to grow back down tourd the ground. which is good much Ez-er pickins