The Best Tips for Growing Giant Tomato

Growing giant tomato plants is a new challenge as compare to growing tomato plants that most gardeners have done at some time. When growing giant tomato you will find the fruit to be less flavorful and more watery than a regular tomato.

You need to begin with a large sized tomato variety, reduce how many tomatoes are on the vine, care for the plant well and you might end up with some competition-winning produce.

Which Tomato Variety to Use

If you are interested in growing big tomato you should use Giant Belgium, Delicious, Burpee Supersteak or Big Zac.

Caring for Giant Tomatoes

Plenty of fertilizer is a good idea and giant tomato plants need lots of water too. Heavy feeding is necessary to keep the vine healthy and vigorous. Soluble fertilizers work well for the tomato. Seaweed emulsion, fish emulsion and commercial plant foods all work well.

You might like to stake your plant. Fruit close to the ground is at risk of damage from pests and rot. Staking also helps to support the plants as they grow heavier fruit.

Tomatoes are self-pollinating, which means the flower contains male and female parts. The act of vibrating brings them close enough to transfer pollen. This process is more difficult for extra large blossoms though, so you can help the process by picking a flower in the middle of the day and rubbing the cone against the stigma of another blossom. You can use a small paint brush, your finger or a vibrating toothbrush. This step is not necessary for normal size tomato production, only for growing giant tomato.

Watch out for megablooms. A megabloom is a single blossom made from multiple blossoms which have fused together. Each blossom makes a fruit so a megabloom can potentially make the tomato. Let the fruit set in June and July but take smaller blossoms off from each cluster. Remove all the fruit by August except the biggest.

You should prune when growing giant tomato, either to a single vine or a main stem with a secondary branch. Do this in July or August. You might also want to remove foliage from the bottom foot of the vine to reduce the likelihood of disease.

When tomatoes are attacked by pests or disease, they can recover, but you will need to remove any damaged parts of the plant.

Harvesting and Storing Giant Tomatoes

This tomato can increase its size up to half an inch a day at the height of growth. When the fruit stops growing it can rapidly ripen and then start to deteriorate, so measure your extra large tomatoes regularly and when they stop growing you can pick them.

Tomatoes keep ripening at room temperature so pick them before they are fully ripe. You can store tomatoes in a refrigerator set at 50 degrees F for up to three weeks. Do not keep them in a normal refrigerator because it is too cold. You can use a special refrigerator for this purpose.

Growing giant tomato is similar to growing normal tomato plants and if you follow the above tips you should be able to produce a huge and impressive specimen.

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