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Holy Crap! How big can tomato plants get?

 
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julymom
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Joined: 28 Dec 2002
Posts: 1200
Location: Wherever the Army sends us
PostPosted: Wed Jun 08, 2005 1:27 pm    Post subject: Holy Crap! How big can tomato plants get? Reply with quote
I have 2 tomatoe plants (1 Roma, 1 Grape) that were about 6" tall when I planted them. Now (2 months later) they're HUGE! The grape tomato plant is about 4 feet tall! I had no idea! I may have used too much Miracle Gro! Laughing
Seriously though, how big can they get?
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MedeaNJ
Noticably Flawed


Joined: 26 Apr 2005
Posts: 607
Location: Joisey, baby!
PostPosted: Wed Jun 08, 2005 1:49 pm    Post subject: Holy Crap! How big can tomato plants get? Reply with quote
There are so many varieties that I cannot give a direct answer. However I did some checking and found that some varieties can grow to about 5 feet tall.

Nice job, green thumb mama!
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Scout
Queen of Imperfection


Joined: 20 Dec 2002
Posts: 3390
Location: home of the blues
PostPosted: Wed Jun 08, 2005 5:45 pm    Post subject: Holy Crap! How big can tomato plants get? Reply with quote
The kinds you planted don't usually get more than 3-4 feet tall, but they can get very long branches. The Italian method has you do them like grape vines, only allowing 4 or five branches on each side, which you train onto a fence, wall, or twine strung between stakes.
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MedeaNJ
Noticably Flawed


Joined: 26 Apr 2005
Posts: 607
Location: Joisey, baby!
PostPosted: Mon Jul 11, 2005 8:26 am    Post subject: Re: Holy Crap! How big can tomato plants get? Reply with quote
MedeaNJ wrote:
There are so many varieties that I cannot give a direct answer. However I did some checking and found that some varieties can grow to about 5 feet tall.

Nice job, green thumb mama!


OK, so my FIL gives me an heirloom tomato called 'Grandma's Rainbow.' I asked if this was a bush or vine variety and he said, bush type. As a few weeks pass I noticed that the tomato cage was looking awfully crowded and was beginning to tip over.

The tomato was of a rare variety called 'oxheart' and did some looking up on it.

Great. Not only is this not a bush type (which grows to 2-3 feet on average), this vine variety is so vigorous that in extreme cases it has been known to grow up to 18 to 25 feet! Greenhouse vines can get up to 50ft! My first reaction was how many 'suckers' I had to deal with. Suckers are the little vines between the main stem and outerstem. These need to be pruned as soon as they appear to no more than 3 or 4 inches, any longer than that and the whole plant will be prone to disease if snipped; in which case you bite the bullet and let it grow. Upon a very tedious removal of the cage we found 4 large vines extending from the main stem that was so heavy that some damage may have been sustained when stringing back up. Hopefully we did not tie the string too tight at the base. At last check the largest vine is over 6ft long.

We comprised 6ft poles to wrap deer fence around the oak barrel that opens at the top. When the vines reach the top a second set of strings will be set to the rafters to continue growing.

Even if it does not produce fruit, it will sure look pretty until the fall.
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Sewingsiren
Celebrating Imperfection


Joined: 12 Nov 2004
Posts: 838
Location: the land of cotton
PostPosted: Tue Jul 12, 2005 6:46 am    Post subject: Holy Crap! How big can tomato plants get? Reply with quote
Is anybody eating tomatoes yet? I have had about 6 ripe ones so far, but I have tons of green ones on the vine. In previous years we have had a big problem with squirrels and birds getting the tomatoes before they are ripe . Ever since we got Heck (dog) our squirrel/bird problem has been reduced dramatically Wink .
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MedeaNJ
Noticably Flawed


Joined: 26 Apr 2005
Posts: 607
Location: Joisey, baby!
PostPosted: Tue Jul 12, 2005 9:18 am    Post subject: Holy Crap! How big can tomato plants get? Reply with quote
No ripening tomatoes yet. My batch is a bumper crop this year but growing very slowly due to having less than 6 hours of direct sun.
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