I Read somewhere pretty recently (It may have been on this forum) that Gordon Graham's 7lb. 12oz. Tomato was grown on a gigantic vine, That it reached over 50 feet in length/height. So would this mean that the bigger a plant is, the larger the tomatoes in can support? If so, I'm gonna be growing some Huge plants next season. =)

*****

I don't think any length for Graham's plant has ever been mentioned b'c the plant was on the ground and it was very weedy there and he only accidentally found the fruit that was reported.

The size of a fruit is determined by the genetics of the variety so I don't think I'd say that a larger plant grows larger fruits.

You can have a huge plant that has cherry tomatoes on it and they're going to give you cherry tomatoes.

You can disbud and remove fruits from a variety that has the genetic capacity to grow large ones and the remaining few fruits will be larger and this is something that those growing for contests might do.

But in general plant size is not correlated with fruit size.

There is a new book out by Dr. Marvin Meissner on how to grow large fruits and you might consider buying that if it's your wish to grow super size tomatoes for contests.

Carolyn

the length of the plant was 53 foot according to Marvin Meisner book.

I have found that a healthy huge ABC variety will have larger fruit on average than a smaller ABC variety will. For instance, my two Porterhouse and two Big Zac plants I'm growing this year are only about half the size and health as my BZ's and PH's in the past and the fruit on average are much smaller than normal years. All 4 plants bothered by earlier than usual disease this year which cut back on plant size and health. I am used to getting 2 plus pounders of these varieties every year but this year not even close. So I think size DOES matter.

Carolyn, I get your point about Beefsteaks producing Beefsteaks and cherries producing cherries, But it would seem to me, as bigdaddyj's experience brought out, that: Bigger plant = more leaves/roots = more energy and suger = more nutrients available to put into fruit. It would be difficult for a one-foot-tall plant to produce a 3 pound tomato. So general size is determined by genetics, but the size will vary depending on conditions and plant size. (That's my hypothesis, anyway.)

So general size is determined by genetics, but the size will vary depending on conditions and plant size. (That's my hypothesis, anyway.)

****

And with that I'll agree. Fruit size on any one plant can vary a lot depending on all sorts of factors such as the way the plants are grown, amendments, weather, seed source, etc.

I've never grown a plant of variety X that's a huge indet vs the same variety with a puny plant so I can't compare huge and small plants of the same variety as to fruit size.

Larger plants will also have more blossoms and more fruit set than puny plants of the same variety and those fruits couldn't be supported unless the plant were larger.

yes, the more foliage the greater amount of energy via photosynthesis but that greater energy also has to support a larger plant with more fruits.

Am I making sense here? LOL

Carolyn

Yes you're making sense. :) I guess you would get more fruits, but they would be about the same size since the huge plant has to support itself. So if you cropped all of the fruit to two per giant plant, then conditions would be right for a giant tomato I'll bet.