Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 226 Entries. Thursday, February 20 View Page Welcome to my 2014 giant tomato growing diary. Like last season, I will attempt to detail my growing of giant tomatoes as the main focus of this diary. I'm building on what I've learned last season. My seed selection for this season is excellent which I will document beginning in approx. a month from now. I purchased a new, high quality portable greenhouse which will serve as a transitional home between the warm lights of my growing room and being planted in ground in their permanent location.   Thursday, March 6 View Page For this season my line up is as follows; 5.80 Osmala 6.57 Boudyo 5.11 Daho 4.50 Evans-2013/Mega Marv from the 4.23 Wahl X self. (This is the current West Virgina state record holder). 4.43 Diehl-2013/Big Zac 4.03 Diehl-2013/Mega Marv The Bouydo,Daho and Osmala I obtained at auction. The Evans I traded my 4.43 Diehl Big Zac for. The Diehl lines are my own.   Tuesday, March 11 View Page Here's my personal best from last year. My 4.46 LB Big Zac. This is what I have to beat. I have excellent seed, an ever expanding knowledge base and materials necessary in which to best my best. The countdown to germination is underway.   Sunday, March 23 View Page Today is seed planting day!! The official start to my season.   Sunday, March 23 View Page Everything is now planted and sitting on the heating mat in the growing chamber.   Thursday, March 27 View Page Extremely rapid germination for two out of my four Diehl 4.46 seeds. Only three days in the germination chamber. At the time of this writing there is just bit over half of my lineup that have germinated including all Boudyo and Osmala seeds.   Saturday, March 29 View Page All but one strain has been moved under the lights and that strain, a seed from the Meisner 6.25 line has germinated and is close to being moved as well. All seeds have germinated in a total of six days. I began roto tilling my tomato areas yesterday morning before the rain came.   Monday, March 31 View Page On their diary page Frank & Tina noted that the 4.50 Evans seed that is off the 4.2 Wahl, Which is off the 5.51 Mega Marv was quite aggressive and I fully agree with that assessment. Comparatively to the other seeds that germinated at the same time the Evans seed is notably larger. Impressive.   Monday, March 31 View Page To add to my last comment; The Evans seed's stem seems to also be thicker as compared to the other seedlings in my lineup.   Friday, April 4 View Page Today is a rainy day and it came at a perfect time due to it being pot-up day. I spent the previous three days tilling the soil so it gave me a nice break. Tomorrow my neighbor and I will be going to pick up bags of manure for our individual needs. Everyone have a great Friday!!   Friday, April 4 View Page It would also be helpful to add the photo of the now potted-up seedlings that should have been entered with the previous entry.   Saturday, April 5 View Page I'm back from buying and unloading the manure for this season. Black Kow is great stuff.   Tuesday, April 8 View Page Here is a photo of the plants as of this evening 04/08. I've been running a fan on the plants on the same schedule as the lights which is 16 on 8 off. Yesterday I gave them a dilution of Dunkels Tomato Turbo.   Tuesday, April 8 View Page Here's another photo showing a closeup of some of the plants. Again the 4.50 The Evans 4.50 plants are taller with slightly thicker stems than most of the other lines. I'm very happy to have this in my lineup this season.   Monday, April 14 View Page All the plants are extremely healthy as we march towards a May transplant date. I am aiming for May 6th but this winter and spring has been rather unpredictable so it is entirely possible that I might have to extend that date outwards. I've been keeping a close eye on the long term forecast models so we shall see.   Wednesday, April 16 View Page Three days ago it was 81 F. Yesterday we were under high wind warnings and flood watches. This morning as you can see there are reminders that this spring is very difficult to predict as it pertains to a transplant date.   Thursday, April 17 View Page Yesterday I picked up a 40 LB bag of gypsum to put in the planting trenches to prevent blossom end rot. A benefit is that this is PH neutral so it won't throw off the soils balance. Last season due to extended periods of heavy rain followed by mini heat waves really caused a notable amount of stress that resulted in some blossom end rot despite my efforts to the contrary. This year we will use gypsum in order to remedy the issue before it becomes one.   Sunday, April 20 View Page Happy Easter everyone!!!!!   Tuesday, April 22 View Page Other than two plants that I started approx two weeks ago the majority are maturing rapidly and are approx. five inches tall. I've been using a fan set on low speed for the past three weeks to strengthen the main stems of the plants and the result has been very thick main stems that will give the plant strength and resiliency when the time comes for transplanting.   Tuesday, April 22 View Page I just finished tilling the soil for the planting area. I plant in a very long and narrow planting "" L "" shaped area. It takes approx. 2 to 3 weeks to till the soil due to taking it in steps and taking in account rain, snow. etc. The next step is to take the manure, compost and other amendments and till them into the soil. After that I will lay weed fabric down over the entire area. Here is the first photo showing the planting strip for the giants. I can fit seventeen plants spaced approx 3 feet apart in a zig zag pattern in this area.   Tuesday, April 22 View Page Here is photo # 2 showing the other smaller planting strip that makes up the "" L "" pattern. I will be planting four plants here to make a total of 21 plants for this season. Sadly I've been getting the "" Syntax Error from the website after a few attempts to upload the photo so you'll just have to take my word for it. LOL!!   Friday, April 25 View Page The first day of the hardening off process for the plants. I'm leaving them out on the patio for 45:00 minutes today followed by an hour tomorrow and so forth until they are outside daily until their transplanting date   Friday, April 25 View Page The tomato plants respond very well to Gary Numan being played to them, especially tracks from the album "" SONGS FROM A BROKEN MIND"" album.   Friday, April 25 View Page Here's some of the Sunflowers in my mini greenhouse enjoying some sun this morning before clouds and rain take over later this afternoon.   Friday, April 25 View Page Here's what I will be using as a surfactant (wetting agent) The product is called Wilt Stop made by Bonide. I will mix a few teaspoons of this per gallon of liquid fertilizer in order to have the fertilizer adhere to the leaves of the tomato plant. The absorption takes place through the stomata of the leaves and also through the epidermis. Movement of elements is usually faster through the stomata, but the total absorption may be as great through the epidermis hence the reason why I mostly foliar feed the tomato plants.   Friday, April 25 View Page The product I was talking about in the last entry is again called Wilt Stop and is made by Bonide. It's available in a 40 OZ spray bottle available at most upper tier garden centers.   Monday, April 28 View Page We are going to receive a large amount of rain tomorrow and Wednesday, today however is picture perfect. I took the opportunity to move the fifty pound bags of manure to the planting areas.   Monday, April 28 View Page This is one of my beautiful cats. His name is Jack. I'm using Jack's photo as a test due to some issue I'm having uploading photo's here.   Tuesday, April 29 View Page Here' a photo of the manure bags in place ready to be cut open and the manure tilled in.   Wednesday, April 30 View Page Here's a photo of my new rain barrel I purchased last fall. I'm cutting a section of one of the down spouting on the back of the house and routing it to the rain barrel.   Wednesday, April 30 View Page A few days ago I purchased 2 large 2 cubic foot bags of Bumper Crop soil amendment for a total of 4 cubic feet to add to my planting trenches. This can be a side dressing and or to be placed in planting holes or trenches. The product contains shell fish, worm castings, ecto and endo mycorrhizae, poultry manure as well as a host of other ingredients. I'm going to mix this in my planting trench soil when I'm horizontally planting my tomato plants.   Thursday, May 1 View Page It's a foggy May 1st morning here in the Lehigh Valley of PA. The weather system that was responsible for spawning deadly tornadoes in the Midwest and South brought flooding here. Here at my house my rain gauges have recorded approx. 3.75 inches of rain in the last 48 hours. I can't till any amendments into the soil for a few days because of this, it has to dry first.   Thursday, May 1 View Page A foggy May 1st morning after receiving approx. 3.75 inches of rain in the lat 48 hours.   Friday, May 2 View Page Just waiting for the soil to be dry enough so I am able to till in the composted manure.   Sunday, May 4 View Page Today is a breezy heavily overcast day with no rain so I took advantage of that and tilled in the manure.   Sunday, May 4 View Page All finished tilling. Tomorrow or Tuesday I will level everything then pin down weed fabric.   Monday, May 5 View Page This afternoon is very nice with sunny skies and a bit of a stiff breeze with temp's in the upper sixties. An excellent day to roll out and pin down weed barrier over the freshly tilled tomato growing areas.   Monday, May 5 View Page If you have never used weed barrier before you tack it down into the soil using a large pin like this.   Monday, May 5 View Page Here is the long growing area with weed barrier tacked down. I use the bricks as guides to know where my digging edges are.   Monday, May 5 View Page Here is the smaller addition with weed barrier tacked down. In 2012 I used this area for growing corn, now it is permanently assigned to growing giant tomatoes.   Wednesday, May 7 View Page If any of you wondered what PA_J looks like, this is me as of today. Grow big or go home!!   Saturday, May 10 View Page Yesterday I began the process of transplanting the giants into their permanent in ground home. It was a rainless overcast day with temperatures hovering in the upper sixties which made it perfect for planting.   Saturday, May 10 View Page Here is a photo of the weed barrier cut and the planting trench dug.   Saturday, May 10 View Page Here is a shot of my mixing tub with the soil that was removed removed from the trench. Here I mix amendments with the soil prior to refilling the trench with the plant laying horizontally.   Saturday, May 10 View Page Here we have the first plant to be planted, the 4.50 Evans.   Saturday, May 10 View Page Here I am removing the lower branches from the plant.   Saturday, May 10 View Page The 4.50 Evans is now planted and tied loosely to it's temporary bamboo support.   Saturday, May 10 View Page Final item on the checklist for each plant is the Identification placard.   Saturday, May 10 View Page Yesterday I was able to plant approx. half of my giant lineup. Today I finished the remaining plants ready to go. I still have three plants that have been either sickly or stragglers but through some intensive care they are close to being planted as well. Most likely next week. So far eighteen plants are in the ground.   Saturday, May 10 View Page My personal best, the 4.46 Diehl which is a Big Zac from the 2013 season. I have three out of four of these planted so far.   Tuesday, May 13 View Page Yesterday I planted six out of seemingly a million sunflower seedlings. Sometime between dusk and dawn what I believe is a very bad bunny came and ate the top off of one of my Mammoth strains.   Tuesday, May 13 View Page Here is what was the sunflower seedling.   Tuesday, May 13 View Page I planted another Sunflower in it's place, a Giant strain.   Tuesday, May 13 View Page I should have broke this out a bit earlier. Liquid Fence does an excellent job repelling all sorts of unwanted living beings from your growing areas, including rabbits. A cool thing about this brand of repellent is that it's made approx 18 miles north of here.   Wednesday, May 14 View Page I'm toiling tirelessly in the lab to make this happen.MEOW!!!   Saturday, May 17 View Page Two inches of rain fell yesterday. It's always good to be in a moisture surplus as long as it's not detrimental to giant growing and the health of the plants.   Monday, May 19 View Page I bottom fed the plants 10-52-10. This is the first time that I have fertilized them since transplanting on the 10th and 11th of this month. I bottom fed instead of foliar feeding them due to the current small size of the plants.   Monday, May 19 View Page Since transplant time the plants have been doing great. Here is one of my 4.03 Diehl plants that has grown quite rapidly.   Monday, May 19 View Page Here is a 6.51 Boudyo and is also growing well and looking extremely healthy.   Monday, May 19 View Page As you can see in the photos I have temporary bamboo stakes currently supporting the plants. Here is a photo of the permanent stakes I use. I will install these in a couple of days.   Friday, May 23 View Page Severe weather blew through the region yesterday afternoon. Here is a shot of a car in the Reading PA area which is approx. 34 miles south of me. The hail in that area destroyed a large amount of property including breaking out car windows, sometimes breaking out the front, rear and the side windows facing the hail. Here at the house, I received some dime sized hail for less then a minute then stopped not to return thank GOD!!! We did receive 1.50 inches of rain yesterday. I'll take that over the damage you see in this photo any day of the week. I checked my plants this morning and all is well   Sunday, May 25 View Page Hi ya's everybody! Happy Memorial Day weekend. This morning I put in the permanent stakes in for the season. These are seven foot stakes that I hammer into the ground approx. 12 inches.   Sunday, May 25 View Page Here's another photo of the stakes installed.   Sunday, May 25 View Page A photo of the stakes in the extension plot.   Sunday, May 25 View Page In this diary as well as the last two seasons you can see the small pond that I have. It's a plastic pond that was installed by the previous home owners approx. ten years ago. Frogs come to the pond every spring. In this photo you can see the result of having frogs in the pond. I'd say there's at least a couple of hundred tadpoles. Here's a photo of some of them at the edge of the pond hanging out.   Monday, May 26 View Page Happy Memorial Day everyone. With that being said I bottom fed 10-52-10 to the plants this morning. This should be the last time I bottom feed for this season as the plants will be large enough to be foliar fed. We shall see next week.   Tuesday, May 27 View Page This morning I began my proactive fungicide application schedule. I will apply fungicide approx every week to week and a half. I do this to all plants that are being grown for giants. Since I do not consume any tomatoes grown on those plants I'm free to apply whats needed when needed. I have only one tomato plant I'm growing for consumption and that's a Costoluto Genovese that I'm going to make salsa with. This plant only receives the bare minimum amount of fungicide and insecticide and those products being as organic as possible compared to the plants for giant growing.   Friday, May 30 View Page This morning I bottom fed Fish and seaweed emulsion to the plants.   Saturday, May 31 View Page Well what do we have here? A mega bloom consisting of two blooms on one of my 4.46 Diehl plants. I found this this morning while watering. This is the first out of I hope many to come.   Saturday, May 31 View Page Here is the photo of the mega bloom on my 4.46 Diehl plant.   Tuesday, June 3 View Page Good morning and Yabba Dabba just do it!! I finished foliar feeding 10-52-10 to the tomato plants. Many are developing their first and a couple their second trusses which will hold hopefully more than a few mega blooms.   Tuesday, June 3 View Page Here is Fred again. This time he's standing next to one of the many Mammoth and giant strains of sunflowers I have growing. Fred is twelve inches tall to give you a reference. Last night Fred was up puking from drinking a wee bit too much Jack. Sorry Fred I win!!   Wednesday, June 4 View Page Dang!!!! Whew!!!! Yesterday it climbed to 88 F with a dew point in the upper 60's. It felt like a jungle out in the garden. Because of the heat I did something I don't normally do, I watered in the evening. I always water in the early morning but because of the heat I made an exception. The heat and humidity are making the plants as well as everything else grow quickly.   Saturday, June 7 View Page I did think outside the bun and as a result of feeding my plants burrito supremes I'm very pleased to announce the formation of a five blossom mega bloom on one of the 6.57 Boudyo plants. A photo of the bloom will be coming shortly.   Sunday, June 8 View Page This morning I watered and foliar fed 10-52-10 to the plants. Currently there are six mega blooms at various stages of maturity on the 4.46 Diehl, 6.57 Boudyo, 5.80 Osmala and a VERY special massive bloom on the 3.01 Christensen which was grown from the 6.51 Meisner. The 6.51 Meisner is the current Pennsylvania state record holder. Great things are happening.   Sunday, June 8 View Page The massive mega bloom on the 3.01 Christensen plant I had mentioned in the last entry has not yet opened to reveal the total amount of fused blooms. I have an idea but we will have to wait for the bloom to mature a bit more before I know for sure. I keep you updated.   Monday, June 9 View Page This morning I began my first batch of compost tea for the season. What's in it you ask? That my fellow growers is one secret that's all my own.   Monday, June 9 View Page I thought since I told you about the tea I should show you at least what it looks like at the beginning. This photo was taken a few minutes after I began the brewing process.   Tuesday, June 10 View Page In previous entries I was telling you about the massive bloom developing on the 3.01 Christensen plant. The 3.01 Christensen was from the 6.51 Meisner. As you can see in the photo the developing bloom is huge as it dwarfs the other developing blooms surrounding it. This could hold my next personal best, we shall see.   Tuesday, June 10 View Page Here's a set tomato now growing from a three fused bloom on one of my 6.57 Bouydo plants. It appears that the bloom fully set.   Tuesday, June 10 View Page Correction this is the tomato that's growing on one of the Boudyo plants from a three fused bloom.   Tuesday, June 10 View Page Here's a double double on one of my own 4.46 Diehl plants.   Tuesday, June 10 View Page Here's what appears to be a three fused bloom on another of my own 4.46 Diehl plants.   Tuesday, June 10 View Page A triple on one of my two 5.80 Osmala plants.   Wednesday, June 11 View Page Yesterday morning after approx 30 hours of brewing I bottom fed the compost tea to the tomato plants.   Friday, June 13 View Page A Tweet just a few moments ago concerning the freak thunderstorm we just had. The Morning Call @mcall .45 inches of rain reported at Allentown airport in 7 minutes. Live storm updates here: I live in Southern Allentown near the borough of Emmaus. We received over a total of two inches of rain in under 40 minutes. I live on a hill so flooding is not really an issue to the exception of the garden. While it was still raining heavily I went out and sashed the tomato plants that were partially knocked over from the storm. All is well and I'm happy to report that the five set tomatoes I have from mega blooms are all doing well despite the storm.   Saturday, June 14 View Page Happy Saturday and Happy Father's Day tomorrow to those dad's out there. Here's where I'm at as of today. As I discussed in yesterday's entry we had a very intense and violent thunderstorm yesterday afternoon which dumped over 2 inches of rain at my location in approx 45 minutes. Since I live on a slight hill there was no flooding here but there was some moderate flooding throughout the Lehigh Valley. Today is a different story. Partly sunny skies and much lower humidity has made for a nice morning. I bottom fed 10-52-10 to the plants along with spraying the lower leaves with fungicide as a preventative measure since we have received so much moisture over the past week. I currently have five tomatoes set on various plants. They are as follows; One tomato fully set from a three fused bloom on one of my 5.11 Daho plants. One tomato fully set from a three fused bloom on one of my 6.57 Boudyo plants. Two tomatoes fully set from two two fused blooms on one of my 4.46 Diehl plants. One tomato fully set from a four fused bloom on another 4.46 Diehl plant. The mega blooms currently in maturing stages are as follows; A four fused bloom on one of my 4.03 Diehl plants (Mega Marv) A three fused bloom on another 4.03 Diehl plants (Mega Marv) The last bloom is one I've been speaking about and have photographed in earlier entries, it's looking like it will be either a five or six fused bloom on the 3.01 Christensen plant. The 3.01 Christensen is from the 6.51 Meisner which is the current PA state record holder. This bloom if everything works out could hold my personal best so far. I personally have never seen nor have I had a mega bloom of this size and magnitude on a plant before. I'm doing everything in my power to move it to maturity, pollinate it and have it set a tomato.   Monday, June 16 View Page This morning I bottom fed compost tea to the plants. Everything is growing extremely well. The tomatoes that are set are slowly increasing in size. Heat is starting today with highs in the mid eighties with increasingly hotter temperatures through Wednesday where it's foretasted to top out at ninety.   Monday, June 16 View Page Here's another shot of the tomato plants. All are extremely healthy and are now in a rapid growing phase. The upcoming heat this week should only increase this.   Monday, June 16 View Page Here's a photo of the extension bed that has the 4.46 Diehl, 3.01 Christensen (6.51 Meisner 2011) and a Costoluto Genovese which as the name implies is an Italian strain. The tomatoes from it are rather smallish and deeply ribbed. They work well as both a slicer and in various other cooking applications like salsa.   Monday, June 16 View Page A photo of some of the sunflowers that are growing. The ones that you can see pictured are Mammouth and Giant strains. They both should grow from 12 to 15 feet in height. Comparatively to last season on this date the sunflowers are much taller.   Monday, June 16 View Page This is my pond. I obtain the water I use for my compost tea from here. The pond water is an excellent source for this purpose. I currently have three adult frogs living in in it.   Monday, June 16 View Page Here are some baby robins that are waiting for mom to return with something delicious to eat. The nest is located under the patio on the ledge of a bedroom window.   Thursday, June 19 View Page The following ten photo's depict the progress of my plants as of 06/18/14. Plant out occurred on May 10th and 11th. Approx. plant size at time of planting; 12 inches in height. These photo's represent approx half of my giant lineup. White leaves seen on plants is fungicide sprayed as a preventative from a recent heavy rain. This is a 4.50 Evans   Thursday, June 19 View Page 4.03 Diehl   Thursday, June 19 View Page 4.03 Diehl with tomato set and growing from three blossom mega bloom.   Thursday, June 19 View Page 6.01 Boudyo   Thursday, June 19 View Page 5.11 Daho with tomato set and growing from three blossom mega bloom.   Thursday, June 19 View Page 6.57 Boudyo with tomato set and growing from three blossom mega bloom.   Thursday, June 19 View Page 4.46 Diehl with two tomatoes set and growing from two two blossom mega blooms.   Thursday, June 19 View Page 4.46 Diehl with tomato set and growing from three blossom mega bloom.   Thursday, June 19 View Page 3.01 Christensen from 6.51 Meisner 2011. This has a five or six blossom mega bloom that I have been working on getting successfully set.   Saturday, June 21 View Page 4.03 Diehl, tomato from a four fused bloom set approx. June 15th. Plant will eventually be pruned to a single stem. Currently a double stem due to a three fused bloom currently maturing on the other stem. It's always great to have options.   Saturday, June 21 View Page Here is the tomato growing on the previous plant.   Saturday, June 21 View Page 4.03 Diehl plant with tomato growing from three fused bloom set approx. June 15th. This tomato is growing rapidly as compared to the others. Plant pruned to single stem.   Saturday, June 21 View Page Here is the tomato growing from the previous plant.   Saturday, June 21 View Page 4.03 Diehl with tomato growing from two fused bloom set approx. June 14th. Plant pruned to single stem.   Saturday, June 21 View Page Here's the tomato growing from the previous plant.   Saturday, June 21 View Page 5.11 Daho tomato growing from three fused bloom set approx. June 14th Plant pruned to single stem.   Saturday, June 21 View Page Here's the tomato growing from the previous plant.   Saturday, June 21 View Page 6.57 Boudyo with tomato growing from three fused bloom set approx. June 16th. Plant pruned to single stem.   Saturday, June 21 View Page Here's the tomato growing from the previous plant.   Saturday, June 21 View Page 6.57 Boudyo tomato set from two fused bloom set approx. June 16th. Plant pruned to single stem.   Saturday, June 21 View Page Here is the tomato growing from the previous plant.   Saturday, June 21 View Page 4.46 Diehl (Big Zac) two tomatoes growing from two two fused blooms. Both set approx. June 12th. Plant pruned to single stem.   Saturday, June 21 View Page Here are the tomatoes growing from the previous plant.   Saturday, June 21 View Page 4.46 Diehl tomato growing from four fused bloom set approx. June 12th. Plant pruned to single stem.   Saturday, June 21 View Page Here is the tomato set from the previous plant.   Saturday, June 21 View Page 3.01 Christensen which is from the 6.51 Meisner. Tomato growing from five fused bloom set approx. June 19th. Plant pruned to single stem. This plant is the star of the lineup. It held my largest fused bloom I have had since growing giants and now it holds what could be my personal best tomato thus far.   Saturday, June 21 View Page Here is the tomato growing from the five fused bloom. I'm excited about this one, very excited.   Monday, June 23 View Page Here is the largest tomato growing as of today's date. This is on one of my 4.03 Diehl plants (Mega Marv). The tomato looks as though it came from a two fused bloom however as I was pollinating it it was definitely a three fused bloom. This tomato is growing rapidly.   Monday, June 23 View Page Here is the tomato growing from the five used bloom on the 3.01 Christensen which is from the 6.51 Meisner (Delicious). As I was telling you in the previous entries, this is the star of the lineup and holds the potential to give me a new personal best.   Thursday, June 26 View Page Here's the growing beast from the 3.01 Christensen (Meisner 6.51 2011) as of this morning.   Thursday, June 26 View Page The physically largest tomato growing from a mega bloom at this time. It's the tomato from the three fused bloom on one of my own 4.03 Diehl plants (Mega Marv).   Thursday, June 26 View Page A tomato growing from a two fused bloom on another 4.03 Diehl plant (Mega Marv).   Thursday, June 26 View Page Here is one of two tomatoes growing on one of my 6.57 Boudyo plants.   Thursday, June 26 View Page Here's the other tomato growing on the same 6.57 Boudyo plant.   Thursday, June 26 View Page Another very large mega bloom developing on one of my own 4.46 Diehl plants (Big Zac). This already has a tomato set and growing from a three fused bloom but if I am successful at setting this I will cull the current tomato in favor of what this mega bloom could bring.   Saturday, June 28 View Page Here's the tomato growing from the five fused bloom on the 3.01 Christensen ( Meisner 6.51 2011). A very credible source has told me that they believe it's not a five but a six fused bloom that this tomato is growing from. SO from this point forward I will refer to the bloom count it came from as six, not five. I took this photo this afternoon.   Saturday, June 28 View Page Here is an updated photo taken this afternoon of the tomato from the very large mega bloom. A very credible source has stated that this tomato is most likely from a six fused bloom and not a five fused bloom like I had originally thought.   Wednesday, July 2 View Page Hellloooo Goat!!! Yesterday I went a bit south of the metro area I live in to attend the Kutztown Folk Festival in Kutztown, PA. http://www.kutztownfestival.com/ A simple 25 minute drive from my house found me here. This friendly goat along with everything else rural and Pennsylvania Dutch is celebrated at this event. Where I live it's hex signs, birch beer, Goods brand pretzels and cheese steaks. Es gibt da noch Kuchen!!!! Let's eat!!   Wednesday, July 2 View Page Here is a photo of the tomato growing from the six fused bloom on the 3.01 Christensen( 651 Meisner 2011). Measurements will be taken shortly and posted.   Wednesday, July 2 View Page Here's another shot of that tomato.   Wednesday, July 2 View Page The very large mega bloom that I posted in a previous entry on one of my 4.46 Diehl plants has set and is growing.   Wednesday, July 2 View Page Here is the tomato that I have shown in previous entries growing on one of my 4.03 Diehl plants. Looking good. Since it has been more like a South American jungle around here yesterday, today and tomorrow I'm glad I have the tomatoes shaded with white wash clothes.   Saturday, July 5 View Page Here is the tomato growing from the 3.01 Christensen (Meisner 6.51 2011). Despite it being on a small plant it continues to increase in size rapidly.   Saturday, July 5 View Page Here is the same tomato with the hammock removed.   Saturday, July 5 View Page Here is the tomato growing from the five fused bloom on one of my own 4.46 Diehl plants. Measurements of the other tomatoes including my largest will be coming soon.   Monday, July 7 View Page Here's the tomato growing from the six fused bloom as of this morning. The CC measurement is currently at 16.5 inches. It has grown a little over an inch in diameter in 24 hours.   Monday, July 7 View Page Here is the tomato with my hand underneath it.   Monday, July 7 View Page Here is the rapidly growing tomato from the five fused bloom on one of my own 4.46 Diehl plants.   Monday, July 7 View Page This is the tomato growing on one of my 4.03 Diehl plants. It appears to be a rather slow grower.   Monday, July 7 View Page Here is the tomato in the previous photo with a current CC measurement of 14.5 inches.   Monday, July 7 View Page Here is a side view of the plants prior to the morning sun reaching past the tree line.   Monday, July 7 View Page The frogs were speaking to me from the pond this morning as I was conducting my daily plant maintenance.   Monday, July 7 View Page Another photo showing the sunflowers, herb garden and other assorted plants growing.   Monday, July 7 View Page Here is the first sunflower to bloom. It's a Strawberry Blonde strain.   Monday, July 7 View Page The second one to bloom which is also a Strawberry Blonde strain but a slightly different color combination.   Wednesday, July 9 View Page Since I showcase my very large tomatoes growing, it would be good to show some of the others growing as well. Here is the tomato growing on one of three Boudyo 6.57 plants. It's from a three fused bloom.   Wednesday, July 9 View Page A tomato growing on another Boudyo 6.57 plant. This one is from a triple fused bloom as well.   Wednesday, July 9 View Page Here's the tomato growing on the final Boudyo 6.57 plant. This one is from a four fused bloom.   Wednesday, July 9 View Page Here's a tomato from one of two Osmala 5.80 plants. This one is from a triple fused bloom as well.   Wednesday, July 9 View Page This one is on one of my own 4.03 Diehl plants. It's also from a three fused bloom.   Wednesday, July 9 View Page Here's the underside of the tomato growing on the 4.03 Diehl Plant.   Wednesday, July 9 View Page Here's the largest so far of the three tomatoes I have growing on the three Evans 4.50 plants. It's from a double fused bloom.   Wednesday, July 9 View Page Correction; This is currently the largest tomato growing of the three 4.50 Evans plants.   Wednesday, July 9 View Page What I just showed you were some of the fifteen tomatoes I currently have growing. I have a couple more mega blooms that I'm waiting on to mature to see if the tomato is growing before I prune the plant.   Saturday, July 12 View Page Happy Saturday everyone. As most of you that follow my progress know, I have many tomatoes set and growing from mega blooms. There are however two standouts in the crowd that deserve names. I am an original Godzilla movie freak from the era of the first movie in 1954 to approx 1971. There is no honor higher for a heavyweight in my lineup than for me to name it Godzilla. The tomato growing on the 3.01 Christensen (Meisner 6.51) plant has been officially named Godzilla. 私はゴジラ午前, すべてのモンスターの王 ！ ( I am Godzilla, the king of all monsters!! )   Saturday, July 12 View Page The other standout in my lineup comes from one of my own 4.46 Diehl plants. This tomato is growing from a five fused bloom and continues to increase in size rapidly. The name of Gamera is now officially given to this tomato. A very dangerous and formidable adversary of Godzilla.   Monday, July 14 View Page It's time for a Godzilla update. Godzilla continues to increase in size rapidly. Today's CC" measurement is exactly 20 inches as of this afternoon.   Monday, July 14 View Page Here's a right side view of Godzilla showing additional lobes not seen in previous photos.   Monday, July 14 View Page Now an update on Gamera. Gamera continues to grow rapidly as well in response to Godzilla. Here is a top view of him.   Monday, July 14 View Page A bottom right view of Gamera.   Monday, July 14 View Page Gamera's CC" measurement is a bit over 14 3/8 inches as of this afternoon.   Thursday, July 17 View Page Ummm..Godzilla, Gamera, Ghidorah is coming to challenge both of you. Don't say I didn't warn you guys!!!   Friday, July 18 View Page I'm giv'n Godzilla all I've got but he's slowing his growth a bit Captain J!!! Damn it plant keep pushing, we need another 14 days!!   Saturday, July 19 View Page Happy Saturday everyone! The next photo's are updates of the three monsters, Godzilla, Gamera and Gidrah.   Saturday, July 19 View Page Here is Godzilla as of a few minutes ago. He continues to dominate the other monsters. At 30 DAP he sitting at 21 2/8 inches CC". It appears that Scotty took my orders to heart and gave the dilithium crystals a heavy workout to get Godzilla from 20 1/2 inches on 07/17 DAP 28 to the current 21 and 2/8 inches.   Saturday, July 19 View Page Here's a photo of the current measurement of Godzilla.   Saturday, July 19 View Page Next up is Gamera. Gamera's CC" is currently 6 2/8 inches.   Saturday, July 19 View Page Here's the photo of Gamera being measured.   Saturday, July 19 View Page Ladies and gentlemen I give you Gidrah. Gidrah is on a 6.57 Boudyo plant.   Saturday, July 19 View Page Gidrah's CC" is currently 19 inches exactly.   Saturday, July 19 View Page Here's a side shot of Gidrah.   Saturday, July 19 View Page Mothra!!!   Saturday, July 19 View Page Introducing Mothra!! I thought I should introduce him to you as well today.   Saturday, July 19 View Page The current CC" of Mothra is just a bit over 19 and 3/8 inches. I don't know what I did to place a white box in part of the photo but it still shows the measurement.   Saturday, July 19 View Page To end today's update I give you the first Mammoth sunflower to bloom in the garden.   Monday, July 21 View Page Rodan is coming to stand his ground.   Thursday, July 24 View Page Here is Godzilla this morning at 35 DAP. He continues to add size.   Thursday, July 24 View Page Here is a quarter as a size reference sitting in the middle of Godzilla.   Thursday, July 24 View Page Here is Godzilla this morning measuring at 22 1/2 inches.   Thursday, July 24 View Page Here is Gamera this morning measuring 18 6/8 inches. Gamera is difficult to measure very accurately due to his blob like shape. All I can do is measure where I can.   Thursday, July 24 View Page Here is Gidrah this morning with a quarter sitting in the middle of him for size reference.   Thursday, July 24 View Page Here is the right side of Gidrah with the quarter taped to the middle to show the size of the right lobe.   Thursday, July 24 View Page Here is the left side of him again with a quarter taped to the middle of the lobe to show size.   Thursday, July 24 View Page Introducing Rodan! Rodan is on one of my 5.80 Osmala plants.   Thursday, July 24 View Page Here is Rodan measuring at 17 3/8 inches.   Thursday, July 24 View Page Correction Rodan being measured should have had a photo with it so as soon as that is approved it'll show up in the diary.   Thursday, July 24 View Page Here is Rodan measuring at 17 3/8 inches.   Thursday, July 24 View Page A mid season addition to my compost tea formula.   Friday, July 25 View Page Whoa!!! Whoa!!!! Whoa!!!!!!! Hold on guys!! Godzilla has to go get weighed and we can't have him bruised so stop it!!   Friday, July 25 View Page Here is a photo this morning of Godzilla showing his color. It's on the lower section. To everyone in the guess the weight contest; I don't know what Godzilla weighs yet either but I sure hope it will be a personal best for me. It has to beat 4.46 pounds so we shall see very soon. After I type this I'm calling my contact at the Pennsylvania Dept. of Weights and Measures to make an appointment to have Godzilla officially weighed.   Tuesday, July 29 View Page ARGH!!!! I did something this morning that wasn't good....Not good at all...In fact is really sucks ALOT!!! My house has a a finished basement where I have a nice living room and bedroom area combined. In the living room is where I keep the small refrigerator where I put my giant tomatoes to keep until being officially weighed. This morning I took Godzilla out of the fridge and preceded to walk upstairs to the kitchen. I tripped on a kitty toy and dropped Godzilla down the stairs. YES IT WENT DOWN THE STAIRS!!! It's damaged, it's not good but I can get it to ripe status where the seeds will be viable.   Tuesday, July 29 View Page Damn!!   Tuesday, July 29 View Page I took this this morning before I dropped the tomato. There is no official weight reading because the tomato cannot be entered into the GPC contest due to me dropping and damaging it. It weighs 4.15 LBS. It's my second largest tomato grown after my 4.46 LB personal best last season.   Tuesday, July 29 View Page A close up of the weight read out. Next time I'll be certain to NOT DROP the tomato!!!!!!!   Tuesday, July 29 View Page Correction; Godzilla weighs 4.14 LBS not 4.15 LBS. I was very angry at myself for dropping the tomato so my mind was not in the right place when posting at the time. Now I have a full blown migraine from this so I've taken a migraine pill, had a shot of whiskey and am going to bed. Goodnight!   Thursday, July 31 View Page Powdered Toast Man is coming!!!   Saturday, August 2 View Page Introducing Powdered Toast Man!!! His home base is one of my own 4.46 LB Big Zac plants. At 22 DAP he is sitting at 22 1/2 inches CC". He is quickly surpassing Gamera and is notably larger than Gamera was at the same DAP.   Saturday, August 2 View Page Here's a bottom view of Powered Toast Man.   Saturday, August 2 View Page Introducing Green Lantern!!   Saturday, August 2 View Page Introducing Green Lantern!! He is on another one of my own 4.46 Diehl plants. As of this morning he measures 20 2/8" CC".   Saturday, August 2 View Page A bottom view of Green Lantern.   Saturday, August 2 View Page Here's Gamera. Gamera continues to slowly gain size. It has been very difficult to get an accurate measurement of him due to his lumpy shape. As of this morning he is at 22 1/2 inches CC" for what I can measure.   Saturday, August 2 View Page Here's Gidrah. Gidrah has stopped gaining size and still sits at 22 2/8 "" CC.   Monday, August 4 View Page Here's Powdered Toast Man on 24 DAP and is currently 23 1/2" CC ". Growth has been excellent and if his pace continues to stay on track he could be my 2nd four pound plus tomato this season. Personal best? It has to beat 4.46 LBS from last season. It's on a plant from a seed from that tomato so things currently are looking good.   Monday, August 4 View Page Another photo of Powdered Toast Man.   Monday, August 4 View Page Here's Green Lantern. He's currently at 20 5/8 inches and very green. He is a bit younger than Powdered Toast Man but I am unsure as too how much younger due to me misplacing my notes concerning him.   Monday, August 4 View Page Here's an underneath view of Green Lantern. He is also on one of my 4.46 Diehl plants.   Wednesday, August 6 View Page As of this afternoon Powdered Toast Man is measuring 24 1/2 inches CC". It is now officially larger concerning circumference than any other tomato I've grown to date. He's currently at 26 DAP.   Sunday, August 10 View Page Here's Powdered Toast Man as of yesterday at 29 DAP. He was at 24 1/2 inches CC" but is now at 24 2/8 inches due to growing in a more concave shape with more growth above and below the center of the tomato as opposed to the center where one would measure the circumstance.   Sunday, August 10 View Page It would help if I added a photo of him as well. LOL!   Sunday, August 10 View Page Here is a photo of the bottom of Powdered Toast man taken yesterday.   Sunday, August 10 View Page Here's another photo of Powdered Toast Man from the angle I have used in the past. You can see the upward growth on both ends of him causing the CC" to skew downward a bit.   Sunday, August 10 View Page Here's something growing I haven't featured here this season. This is my sole Ghost pepper plant. It's potted and sitting on a stand underneath my Mammouth and Giant strain sunflowers for shade. The peppers are still maturing with approx 35 of them on the plant.   Sunday, August 10 View Page Here's a photo of the Ghost pepper plant sitting on the stand underneath the sunflowers.   Monday, August 11 View Page Well...Well...Well...look at what's happening here. Gamera at approx.44 DAP is flashing color and is now done.   Monday, August 11 View Page Here's a photo of Gamera from a few steps back. He's the lumpiest tomato I have had to date. What will he weigh?? Will he be heavier than Godzilla at 4.14 LBS ?? We will know soon enough.   Monday, August 11 View Page Another view of Gamera from the other side. Lumpy he is!!   Monday, August 11 View Page One more photo of Gamera from the stem view. WIll I need to call my friends Chris and John at Pennsylvania Dept. Weights and Measures ??? We will know soon enough. I will take photos of him on my own scale then post it in the message board. Wish me luck!!   Monday, August 11 View Page Well here's Gamera and I didn't drop him!! LOL!! He's 4.07 LBS. Not a personal best but it is the second four plus pound tomato this season so I can't complain.   Monday, August 11 View Page A close up of the weight read out.   Monday, August 11 View Page Gamera's final CC " is 23 3/8 inches.   Wednesday, August 13 View Page OH GOD NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The main stem of the plant that was supporting Powdered Toast Man was rubbing up against one side of him causing a bit of an issue. I carefully removed all the covers and the plastic supports that went underneath the stem holding the tomato. All I had to do was to carefully move the tomato over less than 2/8 of an inch to relieve the area of the tomato that the stem was rubbing on. SNAP!!! OH GOD NO!! I broke the stem to powdered toast man!!!! He's done!! It's over!! He weighs 4.01 LBS and is very very green. He was young and growing rapidly. I'm sooooooo upset by this!!   Wednesday, August 20 View Page Well it appears that I just went through my sophomore blues this season. My first full season was 2013 which gave me my 4.46 LB personal best. I ended up with four tomatoes over four pounds this season which I cannot hold my head in shame about. Next season will be my third year growing giant's so I fully expect that I will hit five pounds and over. A HUGE CONGRATULATIONS to everyone growing this season, you all rock!!!! See you in 2015!!!