I harvested my largest tomato ever this morning

14 years ago

Granted, I have only been growing them for about 10 years, but still this one is really awesome to me. Last year I had a few at about 22-24 oz. Today I picked a Cherokee Purple that is 26oz, give or take an oz. It was in the middle bottom of the plant, in the middle of the bed, and I never even saw it until today. As did all of the large ones I am harvesting now, it set the fruit before I put it into the ground or just after.

This evening I will try to get a picture. It is not a pretty tomato, but is typical of a cherokee purple shape for this time of year. It is a day or two later (too ripe) for when I prefer to pick them so it won't last long.

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Comments (11)

Okiedawn OK Zone 7
14 years ago
Scott,

That's pretty amazing. Even more amazing is that it 'hid' from you and you didn't see it until it was almost too ripe. I have that happen every now and then.

Congrats on the big tomato. I don't grow a lot of varieties that produce big ones, but every now and then I'll get one that is a pound or two and it is fun to show it to everyone. I do like it when it only takes one slice to cover a piece of bread....and to have that slice actually be larger than the slice of bread. We had a lot of big tomatoes in 2007 when we had a foot of rain in June, but they got so big so fast that their flavor watered down considerably. That doesn't seem to happen as much with a tomato that was a slow, steady gainer.

Dawn
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elkwc
14 years ago
Scott,
That is an large CP. Did you buy the plant or start it. I would be interested to know the source of the seeds. Here it is hard to raise large ones except in the fall. It seems my largest tomatoes are always in late Sept and early Oct. During the summer with the heat and wind they tend to be a few ounces smaller here. Right now any tomato would be great. Jay
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gldno1
14 years ago
Scott, that is one big tomato. I believe I would save some seeds from that one. I will be looking forward to seeing it.

Nary a tomato at my house...........
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soonergrandmom
14 years ago
That beats my 6 Tess's Land Race currants and 4 Yellow Tumbling Toms, but my time will come.
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scottokla
Original Author
14 years ago
OK, here are the pictures (hopefully).

I was out of town every day except one from May 28 through June 6. When I got back I found lots of weeds and tomato diseases, but lots of tomatoes starting to ripen. (I also found ripe blueberries out the wazzoo, but that is for another thread.)

The second picture includes a golf ball, baseball, and grapefruit for comparison. In the picture are another CP, a Goliath Hybrid, a Brandy Boy, a Mr Stripey, and the little Sweet Million and Juliet.
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gldno1
14 years ago
Scott, I couldn't see the tomato for looking at that adorable little boy! What a cutie.

The tomatoes make me drool. I almost bought an Arkansas tomato yesterday for $1.39 a pound!
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Okiedawn OK Zone 7
14 years ago
Scott,

What a cutie pie! The tomato is good-looking too! I've had an occasional larger-than-usual CP, especially early in the season, but nothing close to that one in size.

I read your blueberry thread. What amazing production you're having.

Glenda,

I believe I would have bought that Arkansas tomato assuming it was at a farmer's market type place or was stored and shipped without refrigeration and, thus, likely to actually taste like a tomato should. It would have been worth every penny.

Dawn
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scottokla
Original Author
14 years ago
He's cute, but very spoiled. The other 5 kids were all gathered around him telling him how cute he was while we took the picture. What a great life, being the baby of the family. They all share everything with him, but will fight to the death to not have to share with each other.

We ate the tomato tonight. I turned it upside down and carved it like a turkey. It was good but not great as far as taste goes. It was beautiful inside and very juicy, though.
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mulberryknob
14 years ago
Well, I'm impressed. Not only because it's so big but because it's so early. For years I felt good to get the first tomato by July 1st. Have done better since I started buying started Early Girl plants.

Today was our first tomatoes. Two Early Girls and one Big Bite which wasn't quite ripe but had to be picked because it had a bad spot that was starting to rot. Still tasted pretty good though.
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scottokla
Original Author
14 years ago
The reason I got these so early is that I bought the plants the first week of March and let them grow in 4 inch pots in the sunroom under lights until mid-April. By the time I put them in the ground they were a foot or more tall and had set a few tiny tomaotes. They didn't set any more for a few weeks so those early ones got really big. The Cherokee Purple and Brandy Boy especially seemed to all set a few that are now large and turning ripe. Very few others on the plants, though.
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susanlynne48
14 years ago
Today I picked two Rutgers and one Jet Star. Not quite ripe yet, though they were turning orangish on the vines. One had some fruit worm damage near the top, but I got the bugger and will just cut out the bad part of it.

I can't believe I actually harvested 3 tomatos! Am I dreaming or not? Can't wait to taste them and two should be ready tomorrow or the next day. They went from gold to orange in 1 day!!

Scott, that is one oversized softball your little one has there! Does he like tomatos? So many kids today don't because they are used to the flavorless ones they experience on a flavorless Mickey D hamburger.

Even I don't really know what to expect when I take that first bite of a fresh, grown my me, hopefully flavorFUL tomato. But, I'll be sure to let you know.

We also had our first blueberry pancakes yesterday morning with our very own blueberries, Scott! Kenna enjoyed picking them and eating them.

Susan
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I harvested my largest tomato ever this morning

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I harvested my largest tomato ever this morning

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