Tomato Tree

[Chief Longwind Of The North]

Has anyone seen the comercials for the tomato tree? It's not really a tree but appears to be a climbing vine. The picture shows it supported by a trellis, standing 6 foot high, or more. Acording to the hype, it's supposed to produce bushels of large, grapefruit sized tomatoes with great flavor.

Does anyone have any experience with this tomato plant? I sure would purchase it if I knew that the plant produced as advertized. What a space saver.

Seeeeeeeya; Goodweed of the North

 

[QSis]

Is it this one, GW? Giant Tree Tomato - V30010

There's a You Tube clip at this link, too.

I've not tried it, but it LOOKS as if it produces way more tomatoes than I could use or give away!

Lee

 

[Constance]

I used to have customers come in the greenhouse asking for that "tree tomato".
Having never tried it, I can't say it isn't something special, but...any indeterminate tomato plant can be trained to a trellis, and if you pinch out the suckers as it grows, the tomatoes will be larger. A beefsteak tomato could easily give you fruits as large as a grapefruit.

*note: An indeterminate tomato is one that keeps on growing all summer.
Suckers are the little branches that sprout out between the stem and a main branch.

 

[auntdot]

Went to the web site. Am a sucker, as usual, and figured seven bucks for two plants would not bust our budget.

Found it the most confusing site. Normally they show something and there is a box or something that says buy it. No, on this they give you a set of directions.

Phooey.

I may just be getting addled in my old age but if you want to sell me something make it easy for me.

 

[Uncle Bob]

I've seen the commercial GW...It has alot of visual appeal...In reality, I am skeptical of their claims....Bushels of tomatoes?...Then they say up to 60 pounds from one plant (A US bushel of tomatoes is 53 lbs I think) So maybe 1 bushel under optimum growing conditions would be impressive up against an avergae of 20 to 40 + or - pounds for the average plant. Like Miss Connie said any indeterminate plant can be put on a trellis...6' tall towards the end of the growing season would not be unusal....








EDit....Grrrrrr! I can't spell

 

[Jeekinz]

Looks promising. But "bushels" of the same variety of anything would be bad for me. I recently planted about 5 or 6 different variety tomatoes for different recipes and such.

 

[mcnerd]

The only way I've seen "bushels" from plants is when its grown by hydroponics and gets pure nutrients 24/7.

Right now I'm trying one of those "upside down" tomato planters, which also is supposed to produce more tomatoes. We shall see.

 

[buckytom]

like connie said, there's 2 types of tomatoes, all technically vines.

there's determinate, or a plant that grows to a fairly specific size or number of branches while fruiting then dies, and the indeterminate tomatoes, or plants that continue to grow and fruit throughtout a season.

most people just train their tomatoes upwards to make harvesting easier, and to save space, but all tomatoes will grow as vines or short, hanging bushes along the ground if left alone

i haven't seen the "tree tomato" around yet, gw. but i'm guessing it's just a hybrid indeterminate that grows a thick stem. (therefore requiring a lot more nitrogen). if it says vfn resistant, it's a hybrid and not an heirloom. not that one is better over the other, so long as the tomatoes taste good. hth.

 

[expatgirl]

I'd like to know what zones it's ideally suited for

 

[Maverick2272]

like connie said, there's 2 types of tomatoes, all technically vines.

there's determinate, or a plant that grows to a fairly specific size or number of branches while fruiting then dies, and the indeterminate tomatoes, or plants that continue to grow and fruit throughtout a season.

most people just train their tomatoes upwards to make harvesting easier, and to save space, but all tomatoes will grow as vines or short, hanging bushes along the ground if left alone

i haven't seen the "tree tomato" around yet, gw. but i'm guessing it's just a hybrid indeterminate that grows a thick stem. (therefore requiring a lot more nitrogen). if it says vfn resistant, it's a hybrid and not an heirloom. not that one is better over the other, so long as the tomatoes taste good. hth.

DW has tons of cages for stuff like this, but never got them out last year and the tomato plants ran all over the place. This year we have a better planned out veggie garden so I will be training them up, can't afford to let them crawl all over the place as I need the room for other things especially the peppers!
I remember growing up we planted them in a coffee container with the top and bottom removed, then put the cage over that. When it came to watering, we just filled the can and left it be. We always got plants at least 4' tall (starting to go over the tops of the cages) and lots of tomatoes. Thinking of doing that as well, as DW does have some of the taller cages to use.
We also have a sunny spot along the garage where I could put a trellis up and try this out. We can always give the extras away at the church.

 

[mcnerd]

I remember growing up we planted them in a coffee container with the top and bottom removed, then put the cage over that. When it came to watering, we just filled the can and left it be.

Great Idea! I'm amazed I never thought of doing that.

 

[Chief Longwind Of The North]

I knew I could count on you. I just learned more about tomatoes in ten minutes worth of reading than I ever knew from several years of trying to grow them in the house, or in the garden. Now I know why some of the plants only lived to a specific age, producing a set amount of fruit, and then died, while others continued fruiting through the winter. Now I just need to learn which varieties do which. Thanks a bunch. I will now have better tomatoes.

Seeeeeeya; Goodweed of the North

 

[Constance]

Since you are located in Michigan, I'd suggest you choose a fairly short-season tomato.
Park's Whopper, a tasty beefsteak type, bears fruit only 65 days from time of transplanting out, while the old fashioned beefsteak takes 80 days. That's just an example...look through a seed cataloge (there are many on line) for more information. Also talk to other gardeners in your area. What works for me in southern Illinois might not be the best for you.

 

[DaveSoMD]

Goodweed,
If the seed packets don't tell you if it is determinant or inderterminant, try Totally Tomatoes - Home . They have every type of tomato you can think of and on the detail page for each variety it tell you which of the two it is.

 

[Chief Longwind Of The North]

You guys are the best, you know that don't you, the best.

Seeeeeeya; Goodweed of the North