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Post by daylilydude on May 13, 2017 18:53:52 GMT -5
This is what it says at Reimer's Seeds description of Big Zac: "good yields of very large 4 to 6 lb size tomatoes... Tomatoes turn glossy red when mature... " We could all be winning state fair contests and setting state records... what's wrong with us??
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Post by paulf on May 14, 2017 9:39:45 GMT -5
Others have raved about BZ, but I need to see proof of the four to six pounders. Maybe one per plant in a controlled situation? I keep thinking I will grow it. Maybe next year.
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Post by Laura_in_FL on May 16, 2017 13:04:56 GMT -5
Getting that kind of size takes very controlled conditions. Top-notch soil, lots of water and fertilizer, only letting the plant develop one tomato at a time - they literally pick one megabloom and then "buzz" it or otherwise aid pollination. They support the chosen tomato so its stem so it doesn't develop a droop or kink; a bend or kink in the stem reduces water and nutrients to the fruit so it ends up smaller. And they baby the plants in probably all sorts of other ways I can't remember right off.
Also, heat tends to spur earlier ripening, so folks down South are never going to be competing for tomato world records. Up North where they have long summer days without too much heat it is much easier to grow a champion tomato.
Even up in giant tomato growing areas, growers often construct little shades or roofs just over their growing tomato (not over the whole plant, literally just over the tomato) to keep the sun off so the heat and UV won't trigger premature ripening.
When people grow those champion tomato seeds in a normal garden using normal gardening techniques, they get maybe one or two pounders - but the good news is that they get several of them instead of just one per plant.
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Post by pepperhead212 on May 16, 2017 22:00:59 GMT -5
I grew Big Zac one season, and didn't even get one 16 tomato. Not too productive, even in the SIP.
My largest tomato ever was a KBX, just over 2 lbs. And I never pull flowers from these plants to get just one or two larger ones. This one had a bunch of fruits, almost all over 20 oz., and very flavorful and none of the large, woody core, often found in large tomatoes. The only reasons that I didn't keep growing them was the lack of disease resistance and heat resistance.
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Post by Laura_in_FL on May 17, 2017 9:45:51 GMT -5
Reminds me of my experience with "Delicious" - actually that was even worse. I got 2-4 oz fruits, and not many of those! I thought maybe I had gotten bad seed, so I tried again with seed from a different source and the plant just up and died on me without producing. I came to the conclusion that variety just doesn't like my garden, or maybe doesn't like Earthboxes. Maybe I was just unlucky twice, but I'm not inclined to try again when I have so many other tomato varieties yet to try.
My biggest tomato, ironically, was an Amish Paste that had a megabloom. That one was 24 oz. (Most of the other fruits from that plant was 6-8 oz.) Most of my tomatoes top out around a pound, probably due to the early heat here.
That's okay by me. I actually find 6-12 oz to be a good multipurpose size, and I get a lot in that range.
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Post by paulf on May 17, 2017 11:13:41 GMT -5
There have been several varieties producing 2 to 3 pounders here with no special treatment except luck. I will compile a list when we get home this weekend.
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Post by ladymarmalade on May 17, 2017 13:11:20 GMT -5
Meh.
I've tried a few of the giant varieties. I did not grow them with the intentions of capturing a monster tomato, but to see what would happen if the plants were not pampered and raised in the garden like every other tomato plant. I've grown Mega Marv, Big Zac, and Wellington's Big Zac. There was nothing special about any of them, to be honest. Production was on par with other plants and the taste was only so-so. Good enough to toss in the sauce pot, but nothing to write home about.
I had been hopeful that some of the giant tomatoes could produce excessively for a home grower, but that wasn't the case for me.
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