Megablooms

My giants are now 2-3' tall and well into their second truss, or cluster of blossoms.

The majority of my plants have a megabloom. Here's a nice one. Note how much pollen there is in the bowl. The blossoms were really giving it up today when I buzzed them.

Here's the previous megabloom, post-emasculation and dusted with pollen. I tried using a Q-tip because I had pollen to waste, and I thought the soft cotton might get more pollen into uneven pistils.

If the definition of a megabloom is 10 or more sepals, then I have 2 megablooms on the same truss! I think this is a Big Zac.

The mega in back is the better of the two.

Here's the best mega of the bunch. I couldn't get a good frontal shot, so the posterior view will have to do. I love that thick fused stem. Thanks for bringing in the scale, Ted. I'm going to need it to weigh this brute.

New Kid on the Block

Today Tim told me he had a tomato to weigh. I chuckled, figuring he had a golf ball sized ripe tomato. Sure, why not? Take the top rung for a while because nobody else has anything close to ripe.

Not the case at all. This is a bona fide monster. It would have been good enough for a podium finish each of the last 2 years. Well done! It's definitely one of the gnarlier tomatoes we've seen on the scale. The variety is Berkeley Tie Dye, which Tim says is a mighty fine eating tomato as well.

End of June Update on the Berkeley Pink Tie Dye

 
 

I added some support before we went on vacation last week.  It doesn't seem to need it, but wanted to be safe.

Here is one of the Big Zac's (fail spelling on the tag) with it's first bloom of the season.

Update on the first Monster tomato of the season

It's a gnarly mess.

First Megabloom of the season

Berkeley Tie-Dye tomato being grown in a 40 gallon grow pot from saved seeds last year. I thought it was an heirloom variety, but that appears to be incorrect.  Hopefully whatever it ends up being is tasty and huge.

Let the season of monster tomatoes begin!

Are you kidding me

Ted pretty much shut the door on this year's competition. I have a couple mediocre tomatoes that I was going to bring in, but I'm afraid now that they might accidentally get crushed by Ted's 3.22# behemoth. The first place tomato is now more than twice the size of it's nearest competitor!

Ted also had a nice 1kg wagon wheel that damaged its stem and never lived up to its full potential. It's interesting in that it's shaped like it's grandparent, the 8.41# former world record.

Big Weekend

A number of big tomatoes came in this weekend.

Paul had a cool looking C-shaped tomato.

Bob produced what I'm guessing is a new PR for him.

Ted's was the biggest of the three, and now sits in first place.