I'm out

The first frost caught me by surprise last night. The overnight low in my backyard was 35 degrees, but that was cold enough to produce a nice coating of frost on my plants. So I went out and harvested what I could. There was one jumbo left on the vines.

This came from the same Big Zac that produced a 2.7# tomato a few days ago. At one point, I had 4 large tomatoes on this vine. I'm looking forward to seeing what this plant can do if I narrow it down to just one tomato.

So that's it. The giant growing season is officially over for me. Time to start prepping and planning for next year. Does anybody else have any large tomatoes lurking in their patch, or can we put a nail in the 2015 season?

Big Zac

Ok, so I'm not very good at eyeballing the weight of tomatoes. I thought this one might be ~2 lbs. Baby pictures included.

 

New CO State Record

My goal for next year had been to grow a 4 lb tomato. My goal now is to grow a 4.66 lb tomato.

http://www.bigpumpkins.com/Diary/DiaryViewOne.asp?eid=247747

Sleeping Giant

Farmer McGregor has been sandbagging us. Lurking in his vine jungle was a tomato just .01 lbs shy of the old (pre-2015) Colorado State record. Greg thinks it's a Big Zac, but he's going to have sort out the vines to be sure which plant it came from. Well done, Greg!

With this tomato, the leaderboard now consists entirely of tomatoes over 2 lbs. Who would have predicted that at the start of the season?

The key to growing a giant?

What does it take to grow a giant tomato? Genetics? Fertilization? Good soil? In an attempt to answer this question, I did some data mining on Fred's Giant Tomato Contest. It turns out that the number one factor in determining success is the first name of the gardener. Growers with first names "Aaron" or "Mark" grew 10 out of 11 of the top tomatoes, while growers with the first name "Fred" failed to bring a single tomato to the scale. Statistics are a powerful tool when applied correctly. I hope this analysis has been helpful.

The Gardener Strikes Back

Rodents have had the upper hand in my garden for weeks. Now, I'll find out if I'm dealing with mice, squirrels, or, as I've been assuming, raccoons. I figure mice and squirrels will be helped by these cages, while raccoons will be hindered.

Almost...

In a late push to make the podium I clipped this guy off yesterday. Geometrically, there is still a bigger one on the vine but this one seemed awfully dense for it's size. Hoping the other is just as dense and it may push the extra 0.2 lbs needed to squeeze into 3rd. BTW this one, the aforementioned "bigger one", and the one in my last post below were all on the same cluster. All single-lobe, non-magablooms. There are a couple young multi-lobers growing on that plant so I'm still hoping for greatness!

As Ted always says...

I encourage you all to enviously admire Big Dog's picture parade of ridiculous basketball size tomatoes, then blissfully ignore them and resolve yourself to the world the rest of us live in. I just clipped and weighed my #3 tomato and it checked in at just under half the size of Big Dog's #3. Yes, i still have 2-3 other promising fruits on my plants but only "promising" in the world of us checker players. 

And as Ted always says...to sum up the way this competition is going...I submit to you the following analogy:

Big Dog:

The rest of us:

Plenty of Season Left

Raccoons got my #3 tomato last night. A nice multi-lobed Big Zac that was somewhere in the 1.5-2 lb range. They didn't get my #2 tomato though. This same Mega Marv plant produced a 1.94 lb tomato earlier in the season. It's definitely getting a spot in next year's lineup.

Jumbo Container Mater

This should provide some inspiration for the container growers among us. A 4.20 lb monster grown on a 16" plant, in a container about as small as the plant.

http://www.bigpumpkins.com/Diary/DiaryViewOne.asp?eid=247392
I wonder if that guy's son is going to be mad at him someday for posting a picture of him on the internet in his underwear?

Not giving up

Well, after my one promising tomato turned out not to be enough to compete with you insane growers, I sort of got lazy and let my big zacs go wild. But through some encouragement from Big Dog about plants making it well into October and possibly even November, I took another good look at my plants. There are a 2-3 promising tomatoes in the works. So I lavishly clipped off what would have been several decent meals or pots of spaghetti sauce. I've had good luck ripening some of the previous sacrificial fruit in the window sill so hopefully all are not wasted.

I'm just banging the Big Dog drum and telling everyone to keep after it!

Leaderboard Update

Aaron was laying low, hiding the fact that he had three tomatoes totaling over 5 lbs on a single vine, the biggest just over 2 lbs. Well done!

It will now take ~ 1 2/3 lbs to make the podium. Can we get that number up to 2 lbs by the end of the season?

Sadly my "shotgun approach" (growing several dozen plants of various varieties and hoping for the best) wasn't up to the challenge presented by the more scientific horticulturalists, here. Nonetheless, I'll show my best effort - a "measly" 0.9 pounder.

This one was my pride and joy all season. It even came from my first plant to germinate and my best looking seedling when I hand picked the three plants to be my giant growers. It got blossom rot almost immediately after fruiting and as you can see by the second picture, I never got it under control. And I think my giving it a heavy drink two to three times a day the last few days may have caused it to split. Still, I'm happy with it being my first try. I'll make the podium, if only briefly. I have others also showing promise...we'll see.

Leaderboard update

Paul entered the fray with his nice 1.642# Big Zac, jumping into 2nd place. Let's keep those tomatoes coming!

Today I paid Aaron the $32 winner-takes-all prize for guessing the weight of the winning tomato. Based on scouting reports, I didn't see the point in hanging on to the money any longer. I hope that proves to be a premature decision!

 

When to pick your giant

People have been asking me if I picked my tomato too early. I honestly don't know. On one hand, raccoons have been tearing up my garden, so I'm relieved to not have to worry about my tomato any longer. On the other hand, I think I might have been able to eke out a couple more ounces if I waited.

Read the following excerpt from Dale Thurber's blog at https://delectationoftomatoes.wordpress.com/2012/08/28/predicting-and-estimating-tomato-weights/

Many growers have noted a slight shrinkage of tomatoes as they ripen, so they recommend picking “at first blush”.  I’ve also measured this shrinkage several times, but have found that it is compensated for, at least, by higher fruit density.  So I suggest picking tomatoes when they appear to be at least 25% ripe.  In my experience, measurable shrinkage rarely occurs until tomatoes are at least 80% ripe.

So if you want your prize tomato to be as heavy as possible, harvest it when its approximately 75% ripe in the early morning after a heavy rain or watering.

New Record

It's official, my big tomato was certified as the new state record:

http://www.bigpumpkins.com/DisplayPhoto.asp?pid=7536&gid=-32842

If I'm still in the top 3 in the state by the end of the year, I'll get my name on a plaque, and if it's still the top tomato, I'll get to hold the plaque for a year. Kind of like the Stanley Cup of tomatoes.

Decent Tomato

'Nuff said.

New Life for the Giant Tomato Contest

Just when I thought a podium sweep was possible, Travis threw a wrench into my plans for world tomato domination. He pointed out this rule on Fred's tomato contest poster:

So the leaderboard was all wrong, and contest is once again wide open. Ted pounced on the opportunity with a gnarly looking Porterhouse, and is now sitting in second place.

Captain Marvel

I had written this one off, because it wasn't growing very fast or looking impressive. It looked bigger once it came out of its hammock. More importantly, this one is solid. I haven't cut it open yet, but I'm guessing I won't find air pockets like the Domingo had.

 

 

Full of air

Something didn't seem quite right with the Domingo that I weighed last Thursday. In addition to looking funky, it felt light for its size. The Zaczilla that I weighed today was much smaller than the Domingo, but only weighed a couple of ounces less.

Tonight, I cut up the Domingo to remove its seeds. The seed pockets were hollow! And some of them had mold growing in them, like outside air was able to enter, perhaps through cracks around the stem. So there was definitely something strange going on with that tomato. Perhaps too little water? Now I understand why the raccoon that started eating it left the rest.

Leaderboard update

A couple more big tomatoes found their way from the tomato patch to the scale today. Way to go Aaron, for his 1.246 lb Porterhouse. And a pat on my own back for a 1.488 lb Zaczilla.

I've got 2 more biggies that should finish in the next week or so, then I've got another round of golf ball sized tomatoes that should ripen sometime in October with proper care. There's plenty of season left, so don't give up on your plants just yet!

A raccoon attacked my baby!

I went out to harvest my #2 tomato last night, and found that a raccoon had beaten me to it. This poor tomato had previously survived multiple raccoon attacks, but this time the raccoon decided to have a snack. Fortunately, it left most of the tomato. I'm sure in the friendly spirit of this competition, you guys will credit me with a couple ounces for the missing portion of the tomato. Hello? Guys? Oh well. The remaining portion of the tomato is still big enough for a new personal best.

 

Paul's Big Zac

I'm posting this on Paul's behalf, because he doesn't have a Google account. Not what you'd call an early adopter, I think he's waiting to see if Google is a passing fad.

Nice looking tomato, Paul. If there were a prize for gnarliest looking tomato, I think you'd have a lock.

Alright, Big Dog. Per your prodding, I will add a photo of my best contender. I don't know any measurements nor dubious math weight of this guy but it seems to gain a few millimieters of circumference each day. I just yesterday picked off its companion from the same clump. I let her accompany this giant for several weeks so as not to have him split. He doesn't feel all that heavy yet but I think he's got a couple solid weeks to go. I actually have a regular round mater in the next door plant that is giving him a run for his money. This guy is still juvenile in tomato years. Barring any natural disasters, i have big hopes for this one!