has always amassed me but some how the big ones hang in there yes a few break now and then but for the most part the plants are pretty tough.

If your plants are staked, all you need to worry about is whether the limbs that have tomatoes are supported -- support will keep the weight of the tomatoes from dragging the plant downward. The limbs will bear the weight of the fruit. Some people tie their plants to supports above and below flower/fruit clusters to keep the stems upright.

The limbs haven't broken on my Supersteak yet, however,
the hay mulch keeps disappearing.

Oi...took me over a minute to figure out what was up...

I think you're using too much cow manure...

tylenol

Ha! Clever!

Pepperguy,

What were you thinking of doing? Putting them in slings?

Here's a Big Beef cluster of three:

{{gwi:119776}}

And another cluster of four:

Pretty, aren't they? I don't plan on doing anything except pick them when ripe!

We love growing tomatoes and eating them. After the danger of frost is over with, We till the ground, then use 4"x4"x 8' treated poles to stick our tomatoes. We dig holes with our posthole diggers deep enough (about 2' foot deep), and put the post about 4' feet apart, down in rows. After seting and tamping the dirt around the posts (it's very important that you get the post deep enough, and use good strong post, because heavy tomatoe plants can pull your post over), we put lawn border plastic (circling the post about 3' in diameter around the posts (The border is used to keep the water you pour on the tomatoes from running into the middle of the tomatoes rows). We dig small holes beside the posts and use Miracle-Gro potting soil and plant early girl, big boy, and tommy toe tomatoes. We use tomatoes plants that are pre-grown in buckets, or, grow our own plants in seed beds. My wife and I, learned along time ago, never use plants that are bunched up together with rubber bands, pulling them apart and planting them. (We never had any luck with these kind of plants). After taking the plants out of the buckets, or, from the seed bed, we put the plants, one at a time in the holes and mixed one scoop of Miracle-Gro mix with a gallon of water and poured about a quart with each plant (to get the plant growing fast), then putting the soil up around the plant. So far, we have had good luck with our tomatoes. We use wood chips to put around our plants (soaking the chips very well with water after putting around the tomatoes), to keep the soil wet around the plants during droughts and it helps keep weeds down to. We mix Miracle-Gro mix (about two scoops for every two gallons of water)to pour on our tomatoes about once a week and use plain water on them the rest of the week. Our tommy toe tomatoes gets around 5' to 6' high and our early girl and our big boys gets between 8' to 10' feet high. We tear old sheets in 1" inch wide x 4' to 6' long strips to tie around the tomatoes plants to support the limbs (we start tying our tomatoes early, when limbs start getting long). Sometime we have to tie one end of the strip on just one limb and tie the other end on the post to hold up the limb. They get heavy sometimes, and to keep them from breaking off, we have to do it this way. To control pests, we check our tomatoes every day (killing bugs early, when they start getting on the plants).

Anney........ I was thinking of just standing there while they grow 24/7, holding them in each of my 20 hands ;)
I just could'nt find many pics online showing almost ripe Supersteak Tomatoes on the vine and was curious what the plants look like.

This is turning into a big problem for me, too. I have three huge clusters that are touching the ground. The stakes have been coming out of the ground and lurching under the weight. I have them propped up on bricks, for right now.

pepperguy

LOL!

Seriously, I wish I could find you a picture -- I understand why you'd like to see one, just to estimate the pull on the plant, if any.

Doof

Next year, you need something more than stakes for large determinate tomato plants! Not those dinky cages from Home Depot, either. There are lots of posts about "tomato cages" and supports on GardenWeb with pictures you can see.

If you keep the tomatoes off the ground, they'll probably be alright. Of course, if the tomatoes are green, you can always put them in the freezer. That's what we do, if too many tomatoes get on the plant. Ripe or green, there're always good eating.