Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 319 Entries. Monday, January 3 View Page So it begins... My adventure to grow a huge tomato. Who knows what crazy twists and turns await me this year. I greatly enjoy learning new things so here we go. I've been lurking on BP ever since I went to my first pumpkin weigh off in 2019. The pumpkins looked like something out of a fairy tail or off a science fiction movie set. It was awesome! Not only that but these things grew that huge in just 3 months or so. I had to know how this crazy magic happened. One rabbit hole later.... I’m following the seed auctions during the winter and spouting off seed prices to my wife (she thinks Im crazy). Soon I realized I did not have the room or time to grow one of these magnificent beasts. That’s fine I would live vicariously through the other growers. The 2020 weigh off was closed to the public NNNNOOOOOOOOOOO..... stupid pandamit. I got super busy with life and such and didn't find much time to read BP. Then the 2021 weigh off was open to the public again (with limited tickets) Woo Hoo! I promptly got them as soon as they were available. I got back on BP and found out spudder had diligently posted the results to the auctions. I’m a bit of a numbers nut so I dove into the prices "What did the 2145 go for this year??".... We went to the weigh off needless to say I was very happy. Plus I knew so much more this year. We watched the pumpkins being weighed one by one it was great. I wanted to grow one but I knew in the current circumstance I could not. Then the announcer mentioned that one of the growers had weighed a tomato. Wait.....What....Tomato....interesting. I’ve been growing tomatoes for years trying different varieties, cloning, growing indoor and out. This last year was the best I've had in a long time. In fact I grew the biggest tomato I'd ever grown. I’ve always grown for taste not size. It was then it hit me I may not be able to grow giant pumpkins but how about giant tomatoes? I started researching.....as i do. And here we are....I’m going to attempt to grow a giant tomato.   Tuesday, January 4 View Page It was from the variety "Pineapple". No I don't know how much it weighed. No I didn't save the seeds. It was very pretty and tasty. We ate it on sandwiches. Yes....I have regrets. lol   Wednesday, January 5 View Page mushroom compost and dairy cow manure   Wednesday, January 5 View Page Super Secret sand!! Direct from central Wyoming. Not good for construction fill or concrete (dissolves over time). Contains too much calcite and gypsum. Should be nice in my soil.   Thursday, January 6 View Page Got this done just in time. One day before weather put 18 inches of snow on the ground.   Thursday, January 20 View Page The product of several months worth of work. This is the first half Domingo genetics of the top 32 tomatoes. Next I will build the big zac tree.   Monday, January 24 View Page My wife's cat "helping" me with the Big Zac genetics tree. This one is much more challenging than the Domingo tree. Few hours each day after work for the next week or so should get it done. I also advanced the genetics out to include all tomatoes 7lb and up, so top 45. Updated the Domingo tree to top 45. Once I finish the Zac tree I'll combine both into one image.   Thursday, January 27 View Page This is most likely the origin of all 7+ Domingo competition tomatoes.   Sunday, January 30 View Page Several months later and countless hours...... A family Genetic tree of the top 45 tomatoes all the 7+ pound tomatoes listed from gpc weighoffs. The chart is in layers by year. I dedicate this to chart and all the work that has gone into it to Marvin Meisner. His words still echo through the message boards.   Friday, February 11 View Page revised tomato genetic tree. moved some MacDonald seeds around.   Sunday, March 6 View Page Revision to genetic tree chart for all +7lb tomatoes. Added a couple DMG and UOW. Minor revision to 9.09 La Rue tree. If you see something wrong just message me on the tomato forum. enjoy Scott   Tuesday, March 8 View Page I didn't realize the server was shrinking my chart image to unreadable :( direct links https://i.ibb.co/FqLBLBf/3-6-2022-tree-final-doc.jpg https://ibb.co/M5xRxRj   Monday, March 14 View Page 8.10 Mac Donald, and 8.105 DMG Mac Donald. Started these plants a bit early to see if there is a difference in growth from my normal starts in month.   Thursday, March 17 View Page tomato chart revisions Fixed a couple mistakes and added the 2 missing La Rue that missed the early tomato cutoff date. https://i.ibb.co/XstbyYZ/gen-tree-rev-3-13-2022.jpg https://ibb.co/3Nc7fRy https://i.postimg.cc/N0ZcyXby/gen-tree-rev-3-13-2022.jpg https://postimg.cc/xkG7hcwY   Monday, April 4 View Page I may have watered my bucket tomatoes too much   Saturday, April 9 View Page I've learned so much this winter about growing tomatoes. Getting the bed ready. Digging up the clay and mixing it with the sand and soil amendments. Found all the lost tags from years past ha ha ha.   Saturday, April 16 View Page Getting things ready for my tomato experiments. Colorado record here I come.   Saturday, April 16 View Page Getting things ready for my tomato experiments. Colorado record here I come.   Saturday, April 16 View Page Getting the tomato laboratorie ready for the experiments.   Saturday, April 16 View Page The Macdonald 8.10 is getting some fresh air and sunshine. Not sure if this is going in the ground or staying in the bucket.   Monday, April 25 View Page Carved a space out in the rock prep room for the seedlings start area. Heat mat and miracle gro seed starting mix. Let the seeds cook the in the soil for the weekend while I went and dug calcite and barite in Grand Junction for the weekend. Upon my return two of the seedlings had sprouted at 4 days. Both are seeds from Dan S. One is a Dom BZ cross the other is a delicious. A day later all the rest but one was growing 5 days from planting. Time to hang the grow light. Now where did I put the jack chain.   Monday, April 25 View Page Light put on a timer I can control from my phone.   Monday, April 25 View Page Will the seed coating come off the seedlings by it's self?   Tuesday, May 3 View Page Tomatos are coming along. Amazing how much better a heat mat and grow light work. I never use them before and it makes such a huge difference. Another couple weeks and it will be time to put them in the ground.   Saturday, May 7 View Page Going to be a hot one here today. 87deg. Giving the tomatoes some fresh air. Maybe a little too much fresh air as it is quite windy. Well Colorado windy. Wyoming slight breeze :). Hopefully this strengthen them and doesn't beat the crap out of them too much.   Saturday, May 7 View Page Seedlings. Yes one of the 6 is missing... I may have accidentally pulled off the first leaves trying to loosen the seed husk. Luckily it seemed ok and grew two true leaves. It was already the slowest to germinate but should be find. Needless to say it wasn't ready for the real world yet.   Tuesday, May 17 View Page crazy Colorado weather. 40 degree temperature swing in 24hrs. Tomorrow I'll decide if I plant my maters or wait. They really need planted getting too big for the seedling pots.   Wednesday, May 18 View Page Well the forecast went from bad to worse. Now showing a low of 30 on Friday and 28 on Saturday. This from a high of 88 tomorrow. This temperature swing is going to break a lot of peoples plants and fruit.   Wednesday, May 18 View Page Since I can't put my maters in the dirt I have to transplant them since they won't last another week in the tiny pots. Ugh. We also have to get all the other plants ready to cover. Especially the iris that are just starting to bloom.   Wednesday, May 18 View Page Transplanting the maters due to weather delay.   Wednesday, May 18 View Page Yup this is why they had slowed in growth the last few days. Stupid weather maters should be going in the ground not bigger pots....sigh. My timing was perfect for going in the ground on the 15th.   Wednesday, May 18 View Page Yup this is why they had slowed in growth the last few days. Stupid weather maters should be going in the ground not bigger pots....sigh. My timing was perfect for going in the ground on the 15th.   Wednesday, May 18 View Page My sexy assistant and labeler extraordinaire.   Wednesday, May 18 View Page All back under the lights until after the cold snap   Thursday, May 19 View Page This is a hundred+ year old rhubarb plant I brought from Wyoming. I'm letting it seed for the seed exchange. It will be interesting so see what the cold does to the flower stalks. This plant is super cold tolerant having lived in the cold Wind River Valley of central Wyoming. It should take this in stride.   Sunday, May 22 View Page The rhubarb survived the frost without a scratch. Not surprising since it was transplanted from Wyoming. It is amazing since this plant is around 100 years old. It is super hardy having lived neglected in my parents back 40. It's variety name was forgotten long ago if it was ever known in the first place. It is mostly green with just a touch of red blush at the base. I used to snack on the stalks raw from this plant as a kid. I didn't realize most rhubarb is red till I was an adult. As you can see I should have plenty of seeds for the exchange.   Sunday, May 22 View Page Time to put the maters in the ground.   Sunday, May 22 View Page Crazy. In just 4 days the roots have filled the new pot I transplanted it in.   Sunday, May 22 View Page Boom maters in da dirt!   Sunday, May 22 View Page Hail and critter deterrent complete. Now bring on the sun and GROW!   Sunday, May 22 View Page Still unsure what to do with the 5-gallon pot maters that I planted in the middle of the winter. Plant them in the dirt. Leave them in the pots outside....idk. It will come to me in a dream.   Tuesday, May 24 View Page One thing for sure. I'm putting too much water on the potted maters. Yes those are mushrooms....:/   Thursday, June 9 View Page Tomatoes are starting to grow faster as the weather warms up at night. They grew enough that I could start pruning the bottom leaves.   Thursday, June 9 View Page I let the 100 year old rhubarb plant seed for the first time in 5 years since bringing it to Colorado from Wyoming and it went nuts. Just look at all the seeds. I've never seen so many seeds. This should give me plenty for the seed exchange of this old heirloom plant. From my grandma to my mom and now to me.   Thursday, June 9 View Page I'm going to grow two main stems. It there a difference in mega bloom potential vs. position 1,2,3 or 4? I would like to start it at position 2 or 3 so I can have some room under the plant.   Monday, June 13 View Page Growing super fast with the warmer weather. And .........   Monday, June 13 View Page And ... I got flower trusses. Yay!   Monday, June 13 View Page Having never seen a mega in real life I don't know but looks promising.   Monday, June 13 View Page Same bloom. I'll know in a day or so when it opens up. I'm so excited!   Tuesday, June 14 View Page A nice single (mega?) Bloom on the gross 5.04. big stem looks promising.   Tuesday, June 14 View Page Look at these suckers. :)   Tuesday, June 14 View Page All trimmed and ready. Let the cloning begin!!!! Bwwwwahaha.   Tuesday, June 14 View Page I've seen people clone with water and wet paper towels and all that jazz. You don't need none of that just put them in very wet dirt. They will wilt and look sickly for a half day or so then they will perk up.   Tuesday, June 14 View Page All potted up. You have to trim the bigger suckers. they don't do well if there are big leaves. Mostly you want the grow tip and some steam for the roots grow from.   Tuesday, June 14 View Page Went to dinner and a movie came back and the clones had already perked up. The giant tomato genetics might work great for cloning. Now we will see how they grow over the next few days. I'm going to try this with each varity I'm growing. It will be an interesting experiment.   Thursday, June 16 View Page Mega bloom on the Dan S seed.   Thursday, June 16 View Page Mega bloom on the Lyons 5.97   Thursday, June 16 View Page Mega bloom on the gross 5.04   Thursday, June 16 View Page Mega bloom on the Strickler 8.355   Thursday, June 16 View Page I guess megas on 4 out of 6 plants isn't bad. Now we will see if they take.   Thursday, June 16 View Page More clones.....   Thursday, June 16 View Page These are clones of some regular eatin maters after a full day. Much slower perking up than the giants.   Monday, June 20 View Page The plant is now big enough to begin the experiment.   Monday, June 20 View Page I should of planted the mater closer to the dirt tower but it will let me know if this works.   Thursday, June 23 View Page Tomatoes are churning along. I think the plants on the right side are getting too much water. I moved some of the soaker hose around but I think it's and elevation thing. Going to have to add some dirt to raise up that side of the bed. The megablooms are still megablooms no signs of baby tomatoes yet. I know porkchop....I know..... patience....(sigh)   Friday, June 24 View Page So I asked my wife to find me something that vibrates so I could attempt to collect pollen. Upon receiving said device I told her that even tho it is somewhat appropriate since I will be using this to help the tomatoes procreate, the neighbors already think we are weird. So she got me this instead. The neighbors are still going to think we are weird but at least they won't think I'm some plant pervert. Tho her device is much more powerful than the SpongeBob toothbrush. Can you collect pollen hidden in the dark of night?   Friday, June 24 View Page Let's do this.   Friday, June 24 View Page Buzz buzz.....what do we get.? Never done this before.   Friday, June 24 View Page Ooooohhhhh. It works!   Friday, June 24 View Page Time to paint.   Friday, June 24 View Page Time to Picasso this megabloom.   Friday, June 24 View Page That was fun let's do it again to all the megablooms. Wow this flower had a lot of pollen! I barely buzzed it and boom! Well I guess we will see if I'm successful in a few days.   Friday, June 24 View Page The clones are doing pretty good. The ones I put inside for a day seem to do better than the ones I left outside the whole time. This is true with regular tomatoes also. If you keep them inside and in a more stable environment while they start roots they do better.   Sunday, June 26 View Page Harvesting rhubarb seeds.   Sunday, June 26 View Page I added a few inches of soil to the right side of the raised bed to see if that will help with the tomatoes getting too much water.   Thursday, June 30 View Page We have infant tomato. Looks like my pollination painting of the megabloom worked. (Or at least didn't hurt anything)   Thursday, June 30 View Page This one looks like it might be growing a baby also.   Thursday, June 30 View Page The Lyons plant divided into two twin main vines. I have been patiently waiting for the next flower truss on each stem to decide which one to trim off. Well.....both stems had produce a mega....(sigh)   Thursday, June 30 View Page Going to have to raise the anti hail roof soon.   Thursday, June 30 View Page Well the extra dirt didn't seem to help the two tomatos that seem to be getting over watered. Made a tough decision and pulled the plants. As I guessed the roots were soaking wet. Live and learn.   Thursday, June 30 View Page I planted the best 2 clones in the place of the two plants. They are planted in the new dirt I added and should not suffer from the wet dirt that is a foot below. I hoping to have enough time to get a tomato on these plants. We will see.   Friday, July 1 View Page It's amazing how fast the baby tomatoes grow in just 24 hours. This one looks much more like a big segmented tomato than the other. Still unsure if the Lyons plant mega took. I was a little slow pollinating it. It was further along once I decided to try the vibrating and paint trick   Saturday, July 2 View Page Tomato on the Dan S cross seed. It is somewhat normal shaped so far.   Saturday, July 2 View Page Tomato on the Strickler plant. It is weird shaped. It will be interesting to see how these two tomatos turn out as they get bigger.   Wednesday, July 6 View Page Couple more megablooms should open in the next day or two. This one looks good.   Wednesday, July 6 View Page The other megabloom.   Thursday, July 7 View Page This megabloom has turned into the biggest bloom of the year so far. I'm glad I have let the plant flower a bit, looks like I'll have plenty of pollen for it. I really hope it takes, it could be the one.   Friday, July 8 View Page buzz buzz. gimme dat good stuff   Friday, July 8 View Page mmmmmm there it is. Juice for the megabloom   Friday, July 8 View Page I really hope this works.   Friday, July 8 View Page This is the best and biggest mega so far. I'm going to coat it in flower dust every day till I get a sexy tomato.   Friday, July 8 View Page The other mater is starting to overtake the single in size. Ill probably cull the single soon. I haven't seen any more mega on the strickler. going to let the plant grow a bit more before I top it and try to force all the energy into the tomato. This tomato looks like an old man face on the bottom lol   Friday, July 8 View Page old man tomato.   Friday, July 8 View Page I have 2 other successful megablooms that I did the pollen paint trick on.   Friday, July 8 View Page The second brand new baby tomato. Looks like the hand pollinating seems to be working.   Sunday, July 10 View Page AAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHOOOOOOMMMMMMMGGGGGGG!!!! Im sure this is the result of letting my wife experience the wonders of nature a year or two ago. As a kid I raised sooo many caterpillars to butterflies and she had never seen such a thing. So when I found a horn worm I brought it inside and we fed it the extra pruning of our tomato plants. It grew full sized then buried its self in the dirt of the container. My wife read it would hatch in 4 weeks. I knew better since it was almost october it wouldn't hatch until spring. I don't think she believed me and was sure is just died under the dirt. I even found the cocoon and showed it to her. Well... come spring she saw the cats stalking and staring at the container. lo and behiold a beautiful humming bird moth had emerged. She promptly released it outside before I got home from work. I'm guessing she knew I would of let the cats have some fun. Anyway now Im reaping the rewards, as I suspect this little horn worm and her brothers and sisters are decedents of the one we raised and set free.   Sunday, July 10 View Page One of the megas I hand pollinated a few days ago seems to have taken. It looks to be a 5 fused mater if you count the stigmas. This mater is on the same dan s. plant as the other huge mega im trying to pollinate. probably going to have to make some tough choices in a few days if the other one takes. The temps have been in the high 90 to 100. I've read that temperatures that high restrict pollination. guess we will see. The doner flowers are still producing plenty of pollen when I buzz them.   Sunday, July 10 View Page I finally got a big mega on the Lyons 5.97 plant. The previous megas was not fused and one didn't fully pollinate. hopefully this one takes.   Sunday, July 10 View Page My dirt tower experiment doesn't seem to be working. Lets try helping it along and see what happens.   Sunday, July 10 View Page make roots please.   Sunday, July 10 View Page back in your slot with root juice....   Sunday, July 10 View Page see if this fixes the pic rotation.   Sunday, July 10 View Page Megablooms are such a weird thing. Beautiful Frankenstein flowers.   Tuesday, July 12 View Page Mega on the Dan s. Plant hand pollinated for 5 days in a row now.   Tuesday, July 12 View Page Mega on the Lyons plant hand pollinated for 4 days in a row now.   Tuesday, July 12 View Page Forgot photo.   Tuesday, July 12 View Page Very sad photo. My first megabloom that didn't polinate   Tuesday, July 12 View Page Big single on Dan S. Plant. It will probably be culled if I get a better mega to take. It's going to be hard for me to cut this off tho. Ugh   Tuesday, July 12 View Page Old man tomato is growing good after I culled the other singles.   Saturday, July 16 View Page Topped the strickler plant. The old man tomato looks to be the one. Fingers crossed.   Saturday, July 16 View Page Plants look crazy healthy. This is even after pruning.   Sunday, July 17 View Page This is the big single on the Dan S. plant. I decided to start measuring it just for fun. I figured it was growing fast as I could see how much bigger it got each day. Yesterday (7-16) it was 11 1/2". Today (7-17) it is 13". So 1 1/2" growth a day. I also measured the old man megabloom tomato to the strickler plant. It is about 4-5 days younger than the single and started out much smaller it is 13" today. It has almost caught up with the big single. The 2 megabloom that I diligently hand polinated for several days are starting to show signs of early tomato so we will see.   Monday, July 18 View Page Built an extension to plant the clones in. We will play with these and see what happens.   Sunday, July 24 View Page Big single on Dan S. Plant.   Sunday, July 24 View Page Old man tomato on the strickler plant   Sunday, July 24 View Page Was gone for 5 days and was hoping the two megabloom would grow. Sadly it looks like the mega on the Lyons plant didn't take. I have a couple singles on that plant but I really needed this megabloom to polinate. Bummer.   Sunday, July 24 View Page Of course the mega on the Dan S. plant took and is growing nicely. I already have the big single on it as well as another megabloom tomato. Probably going to have to cull one or the other megabloom tomatos depending on how this new one looks in a week or so. The big single will probably be my very first tomato I ever weigh. I'm hoping it will go at least another week or two. That should get me into the 20-25" range.   Sunday, July 24 View Page Here is the third tomato on the Dan S plant. This one or the new one will probably have to go away.   Tuesday, July 26 View Page Big single. I topped the Dan S. BZxDOM plant today. This should help put some more growth into the maters that are on it.   Tuesday, July 26 View Page Old man mater on the strickler plant. I found 3 horn worms that had taken up residents while I was gone on vacation. One was tiny the other 2 ate a good section of leaves off the Lyons plant. Both looked almost full grown. Sneaky sneaky.   Tuesday, July 26 View Page The older mega on the Dan S. plant. Figured it was time to start taping this one. I had several clones die and when I pulled them up they had absolutely no roots. All of them were the ones I had used clonex on as an experiment. Tomato cutting are amazing at growing roots without any help. I think the clonex was detrimental to the development of root growth, go figure....   Thursday, July 28 View Page 3/8" a day. Average for the entire growth of the mater is .58" a day. I doubt I can keep putting on 3/8 a day but if I could I will hit Colorado state record territory in 16 days. Headed to the patch tour this weekend. Hopefully I can find some info on early tomato weigh stuff. I know I have to have 2 witnesses if it might be a state record.   Friday, July 29 View Page Starting to get excited. Measurements say it's in the 2.2lbs range. Hopefully it will stay green for a while. So far it's still super hard and super green.   Sunday, July 31 View Page Houston we have a problem..... While the cats away the mice will play. Had not checked on the plants in a couple days and I find this.......   Sunday, July 31 View Page And more stripped leaves on my precious Domingos....ugh   Sunday, July 31 View Page Let's look for clues ... Ah ha..... Hornworms......Big one judging from the size of this poop.   Sunday, July 31 View Page Ah ha ....there you are.   Sunday, July 31 View Page And another .....grrrr. Removed 7 of them total. 5 big ones and 2 medium ones. Ate quite a few leaves luckily I left quite a bit of follage on the plants just in case.   Sunday, July 31 View Page Fruit next in line from big single growing nicely   Sunday, July 31 View Page Old man tomato on Strickler olant   Sunday, July 31 View Page Lyons plant tomato. I finally just decided to choose the biggest best growing tom on the Lyons plant. The mega that I didn't think polinated is growing a bit so we will see what happens.   Sunday, July 31 View Page The best looking megabloom this year and the fruit is growing nicely now. This is the third and highest fruit on the Dan S. plant. If thinks go according to plan (they never do) this should be my biggest tomato and maybe ready during weighoff season.   Monday, August 1 View Page I finally made the executive decision to top the Lyons plant. The mega I thought didn't polinate seems to be growing. None of the other flowers looked promising so OFF WITh THERE HEADS.   Tuesday, August 2 View Page The tomato from the Dan S megabloom is growing like crazy. DAP 13. It grew 2" since Sunday. 1" a day. I'll take that.   Tuesday, August 2 View Page Of course out of the 6 photos I uploaded the only out of focus one. :-/   Thursday, August 4 View Page The good!   Thursday, August 4 View Page The bad.   Thursday, August 4 View Page The ugly. Definitely my ugliest tomato.   Thursday, August 4 View Page The bad. (I don't know why the photo didn't show)   Monday, August 8 View Page Bump in the road. I had been keeping an eye on my hose timer and I thought it was working but I noticed the plants and soil looked a little dry. I manually started it and realized it wasn't working correctly. I got it working but not until the damage was done. The bottom leaves are a bit brown around the edges. We had a busy Saturday and got home late to hear the water running. The timer had kicked on like normal but never shut off. UGH!!! They had been watered for about 10 hours. I let things dry out Sunday and checked the plants Sunday evening and put down a extra dose of fertilizer since I'm guessing the 10 hours washed a lot away. As I was checking the fruits I found one lobe of the old man tomato had blushed. Last time I measured it was Thursday the 4th it was at 18 1/4" so it might be 19" if I'm lucky. It feels much lighter than the big single on the Dan S. plant so I'm not getting my hopes up on this one.   Monday, August 8 View Page Color on one lobe of the old man tomato on the strickler plant. I'm guessing this might of been caused by the malfunction of my hose timer.   Monday, August 8 View Page The old man tomato is 19 1/4". I'll measure it tomorrow and see if it's growing at all. It's days are numbered tho since one of the lobes is turning red.   Monday, August 8 View Page The big single might be flashing color also (top right of fruit) It is not soft yet so hopefully I have a few more days. Soooo close to 20". It's probably not going to make the state record but I have a few more chances.   Monday, August 8 View Page The old man tomato on the strickler plant will be picked soon. I left one sucker on the plant to replace a bit of hornworm damage. it has the beginning of a nice mega on it. If it pollinates soon enough I might have one more tomato late season.   Monday, August 8 View Page This is probably my best chance for the state record. It's the big megabloom tomato on the Dan S. Plant. DAP 21, 17 1/4   Monday, August 8 View Page The big megabloom on the Lyons plant that I thought didn't take is still growing but pretty slowly. It will be interesting to see how this one turns out.   Tuesday, August 9 View Page The old man tomato and the big single are both blushing a lot more now. The growth has nearly stopped. As I was getting ready to measure the big single it slipped off it's pantyhose hammock and slumped splitting the steam DOH! At least my wife wasn't there. She gets so nervous when I mess with the big tomatoes. "You going to break them or something" well.....she was right.....don't tell her that. Anywho I patched it up and will more than likely be weighing the two tomatoes tomorrow (Wednesday). The big single feels heavy.   Wednesday, August 10 View Page Big single went 3.11. A touch lighter than I was hoping for but I'm still very happy with my first ever giant.   Wednesday, August 10 View Page Old man tomato on the Strickler 8.36. Weighed 2.40 a touch higher than I guessamated. I am still deciding if I am going to send this one in as one of my 5 official ones. I can't decide.   Saturday, August 13 View Page I decided to not register the old man tomato 2.40 Luers off the 8.355 strickler plant. I did register the 3.11 Luers as my very first giant I've ever grown. We will see if I regret not sending in the 2.40 but I am optimistic I can grow bigger. The goal as I've said is Colorado state record 4.65. The RMGVG is having a club contest this year for the biggest tomato with a prize. Just for note the 3.11 is the seventh biggest tomato ever grown in Colorado.   Saturday, August 13 View Page Skip one day checking on the tomatoes and......@#$#@$&. I guess the clones are doing ok if they get so tall they fall over. Lol   Saturday, August 13 View Page There......no harm no foul. (Ignores the bent growth).   Saturday, August 13 View Page There might be a mega on it I noticed when I was tipping it back upright. The last weighoff near me is 63 days away so if it polinates in the next few weeks there is a chance.   Saturday, August 13 View Page The strickler plant doesn't have a tomato on it after I picked the old man tomato. I very happy I let a sucker grow because today the megabloom opened.   Saturday, August 13 View Page Luckily the other clones are flowering like mad with megablooms and singles. Looks like there is a bit of tomato procreation in my future.   Saturday, August 13 View Page Ohhh you like that buzz buzz......   Saturday, August 13 View Page Success! My wife says I'm really good at getting the male seed. Well she says it another way....a master or something :)   Saturday, August 13 View Page Great illustration of a double bloom. I'm going to polinate everything and see what takes.   Saturday, August 13 View Page I wish the bees liked my tomato blossoms as much as they do my wife's pumpkins. :/   Saturday, August 13 View Page The bees are always resting in the flowers in the morning. This is probably giant pumpkin growers cross-pollination nightmare. Lol   Saturday, August 13 View Page The second tomato on the Dan S plant is blushing. It will have to be picked in a few days. 19 1/2 cc. It will good to get this one off the plant so it can put all it's energy into the big megabloom tomato.   Saturday, August 13 View Page The big megabloom tomato on the Dan S plant. I crunched some numbers yesterday and if it keeps putting on the weight it is, it will hit 5lbs range at 40DAP. We will see...fingers crossed.   Sunday, August 14 View Page Wow I am cutting up the old man tomato (2 40 Luers) and I can see why it was heavier than I thought it would be. It is solid. It is the paste tomato I've been looking my entire life for! So much meat and it tastes really good. Are all Domingos this solid?   Sunday, August 14 View Page Yum. I can grow giants then make tasty food out of them. YES! I was not expecting this for some reason.   Sunday, August 14 View Page Churning along. Best megabloom tomato on the Dan S. Plant.   Sunday, August 14 View Page The other tomato on the Dan S. plant. It gained a 1/4" so I'll let it grow as long as I can.   Sunday, August 14 View Page The mega on the strickler plant. Hand pollinating this for the next few days.   Monday, August 15 View Page The big single has way more seeds and was not as dense as the old man tomato. Very interesting. Are singles less dense than fused tomatoes? Are tomatoes with less seeds more dense (heavy)?   Tuesday, August 16 View Page The second megabloom tomato (lower tomato) on the Dan S. Plant. It's still pretty firm and growing 1/4"ish every 2 days. Going to let it grow even tho I really should cut it off and weight it since it's on the same plant as the big megabloom tomato.   Tuesday, August 16 View Page The lower tomato on the Lyons plant is blushing. It never really took off and just grew slowly.   Tuesday, August 16 View Page The big megabloom tomato is growing great. It's the biggest tomato I've grown so far. 3/4" every 2 days. This will give me a good shot at the Colorado state record if I can keep it going for another week and a half.   Tuesday, August 16 View Page Now this is a BLT!!! From the big single 3.11 luers. It was delicious.....I mean it tasted good....it was not delicious it was Domingo. :)   Wednesday, August 17 View Page Looks like I got the megabloom to set on the strickler plant. Yay!   Wednesday, August 17 View Page Looks like the megabloom on the clone plants might of set also. My tomato plant couples therapy must of worked.   Thursday, August 18 View Page The strickler megabloom definitely took. Amazing how much growth in just 24hrs.   Thursday, August 18 View Page The mega on the clone plant took and is growing even faster that the strickler one. The clone is from the Dan S plant that I planted in place of the two that I had to pull because they got over watered.   Thursday, August 18 View Page The tomato on the Dan S plant is not growing. It will be picked tomorrow and weighed. I'm guessing maybe a touch heavier than the big single. We will see.   Thursday, August 18 View Page There is another big mega clear at the top of the Strickler plant where I let it grow up and out of the enclosure ceiling. It will be interesting to see what it does over the next few days.   Friday, August 19 View Page Its time......   Friday, August 19 View Page hummmm. feels a little light. hope it hits 3lbs. It tapes 20" exactly   Friday, August 19 View Page I cut the lower tomato on the lyons plant. It had good shape, and a nice bloosom, it just never grew very fast or big (shrug). Ill weigh it also just for fun.   Friday, August 19 View Page 20" 2nd mega off the Dan S plant   Friday, August 19 View Page My home scale says the big one is lighter than I hoped. Off to the official scale at the nursery.   Friday, August 19 View Page and......boom 2.66 Luers is born. I was hoping for 3lbs but alias no such luck. Of course my wife the ever eternal optimist. "You know, this is amazing for your very first year ever growing giant tomatoes, Right?" "You also realize this is in the top 10 biggest tomatoes ever grown in colorado". *sigh* I love her so much. I really think sometimes she is more excited than I am about my tomatoes.   Friday, August 19 View Page The smaller one off the Lyons plant. I will not register this one tho. 1.51 Luers. At this point I do regret not registering the 2.40 Luers. Of course hind sight......   Friday, August 19 View Page The crazy megabloom on the top of the strickler plant keeps growing bigger and bigger. I wonder if it will bloom this weekend.   Saturday, August 20 View Page We are in the second biggest tomato ever grown in Colorado territory. I'm starting to get whiffs of that state record. DAP 33. Should go to 40-45 or longer maybe. It is on track to hit 5lbs.   Saturday, August 20 View Page It was making me nervous being so heavy I added some insurance and double hammocked it.   Saturday, August 20 View Page The lower tomato on the strickler plant is growing nicely for being just a few days old.   Saturday, August 20 View Page yum. should be ready for weighoff season   Saturday, August 20 View Page but before that can happen I will have to make some tough decisions. Since i have at least 3 other megablooms on the strickler plant I'm going to pollinate. This big one up top should open tomorrow or monday.   Saturday, August 20 View Page another mega hiding in the middle of the plant.   Saturday, August 20 View Page The tomato on the clone is growing and looks good.   Saturday, August 20 View Page Luckily the clones are blooming like mad and are giving up plenty of pollen to pollinate the megas that are ready.   Saturday, August 20 View Page Two of the clones in the side box extension are doing great. i've pulled the others as they started signs of problems. These plants have megablooms on them and I'm hand pollinating them.   Saturday, August 20 View Page Tools of the trade.   Sunday, August 21 View Page What a monster bloom.   Monday, August 22 View Page I guess my tomato plant turned into a sunflower plant. 6' off the ground. I won't need to put a sling on it, I'll just set it on top of the tomato cage. :)   Tuesday, August 23 View Page I have so many new and still growing megablooms and several blooming. Insanity.   Tuesday, August 23 View Page More....   Tuesday, August 23 View Page And more   Tuesday, August 23 View Page Mega blooming back in the middle of the Strickler plant. I'm going to have 3 potentially big tomatoes on this plant if these other 2 big mega blooms take. I'm guessing they will since I have not had on fail since I started have polinating every day.   Tuesday, August 23 View Page Can you grow a big tomato this high on the plant? 6' up?   Tuesday, August 23 View Page Still growing. The best tomato so far this year. Probably the 2nd biggest tomato ever grown in Colorado. Hopefully I can keep it green for several more days and get it past 4.65. I'm soooo close now.   Thursday, August 25 View Page Been fighting with early blight for the last week or so. Finally broke down and applied Daconil.   Thursday, August 25 View Page This crazy thing....I hope it pollinated. I'm still applying pollen by hand (or brush as the case may be) everyday until I know fire sure it set.   Thursday, August 25 View Page The new tomato on the Strickler plant is growing nicely..   Thursday, August 25 View Page Tomato on the clone also growing good.   Thursday, August 25 View Page Inside of the 2.66 Luers. It is much more dense than the big single (3.11 Luers). It is one of the very first I hand pollinated and it seems to have a lot more seeds than the last two. Learning learning learning......must fill brain with tomato knowledge.... :)   Friday, August 26 View Page Going to need a little luck on my side now.... Yesterday evening I checked the potential state record tomato and could almost see some redness on the one lobe. I was hoping it was just the evening light or my bad eyesight or... anything but it flashing. This morning on my way out I checked it again ......sigh Yup definitely is just starting to blush. I'm going to need a bit of luck to get it to reach over 4.65. I figure I need a minimum of 5 more days of good growth to have a shot ......ugh. Fingers crossed, toes crossed, eyes crossed, praying, magical spells, whatever works. My guess is I'll be weighing it next week sometime.   Friday, August 26 View Page The giant megabloom pollinated. Now we will see how it grows out. It looks like a trainwreck in there right now. Lol   Friday, August 26 View Page Behind the giant is another big megabloom on the same truss   Friday, August 26 View Page And another nice mega on the same plant. (Strickler)   Friday, August 26 View Page And two more megas stuck back in the middle of the plant. This thing went nuts when I let it start to grow again after I picked the old man tomato. (Luers 2.40)   Monday, August 29 View Page One lobe .....one lobe...... seriously....Why...why... (Cry emoji) *Sigh. Anyway. I'm at 23 1/4+. It's going to be so close. It is heavy as you can tell from the double hammock. Does it look 4.57. I'm thinking 4.3ish. going to take a chance and let it go 2 more days......pray.....   Monday, August 29 View Page The tomato on the strickler plant growing nicely.   Monday, August 29 View Page The giant megabloom 6' up is becoming a tomato.   Monday, August 29 View Page If you look close you can see the mega in the middle of the plant I hand polinated ses to have set. Was a pain the reach lol.   Monday, August 29 View Page Still hand polinating this one. My flowers seemed to have almost no pollen right now, it's weird. All these are on the Strickler plant. Going to have to choose just one eventually.   Monday, August 29 View Page Tomato on the extension box clone. Growing good.   Monday, August 29 View Page Tomato on the clones I replaced the overeater plants with. My wife calls it the heart tomato. I told her my tomato plants have a heart on. :) That promptly gets me the eye roll.   Monday, August 29 View Page I realized the clones work great for having a tomato ready for weighoff season and extra flowers for pollen.   Monday, August 29 View Page And for the pumpkin growers that are tired of all my tomato talk here is my wife's pumpkin we have been growing for fun. Yes it's an AG.   Monday, August 29 View Page Pumpkin 1   Monday, August 29 View Page Pumpkin 2   Monday, August 29 View Page Realized I made a typo. The tomato needs to be 4.67. (really anything over 4.65) We will see a a couple days if I am lucky.   Tuesday, August 30 View Page Porkchop killin it this year!!! Congratulations Steve "Finger" porkchop.   Tuesday, August 30 View Page The tomato seems to have stopped growing. Might pick it tomorrow depending.   Wednesday, August 31 View Page It's time!   Wednesday, August 31 View Page Once I got it off the vine you can see the gaps in the measurements areas. Not breaking the state record with this one. Maybe I can get second biggest ever grown in Colorado.   Wednesday, August 31 View Page Ta da. Not the state record but second biggest. Not bad. Biggest tomato I've grown yet. Luers 3.88 off the Dan Sutherland BigZac Domingo cross. Next shot at the record will be the giant megabloom that polinated and will be ready for weighoff season. Stay tuned. This is going to happen!!!   Thursday, September 1 View Page Which Would you choose? The lower tomato is much bigger now but is pictured here at DAP6 to show comparison. The high tomato is 6' high on the plant. The lower tomato is about 4'.   Friday, September 2 View Page The Lyons slow growing tomato is still growing slowly. It might be blushing. I'll know in a day or so. Last time I measured it was around 19+". It is a very neglected tomato. It was one of the big twin megablooms (one on the Dan S. And one on the Lyons) The Dan S one took off and became the 3.88 Luers. I thought this one had not polinated but a few weeks later it started to grow. SLOW...... It also decided to grow upside down. If it could wear makeup it would probably be all black goth like and die it hair black and wear spikes hiding in it's room depressed listening to heavy metal and punk. Ya it's THAT tomato.   Tuesday, September 6 View Page Aborted a bunch of babies today don't tell the government. I am at the point where anything that pollinates will be too late for weighoffs. I am headed to Denver next week for the gem and mineral show, so I need to get the tomato plants ready to be by themselves for several days. It will be interesting to see the growth change when I'm not watching it every day. The last early tomato will be weighed tomorrow. The angsty teenager tomato off the Lyons plant.   Tuesday, September 6 View Page It pains me to cut off megablooms.....ugh   Wednesday, September 7 View Page The angsty teenager tomato. I have already weighed my three for GPC. It would have to be bigger that 2.66 to record it. So unofficial official weight. 2.62 Luers off the Lyons 5.97. If anyone wants to grow seeds from an angsty obstinate tomato let me know :).   Wednesday, September 7 View Page The top strickler tomato. This one is having problems and might be put out of it's misery. Things will tell.   Wednesday, September 7 View Page The bottom Strickler tomato. Going good. Still fighting blight on this plant (could be what is happening to the top mater)   Wednesday, September 7 View Page The smiling heart tomato on the clone in the main box. My wife says it looks creepy. Ha ha ha.   Wednesday, September 7 View Page The 3rd strickler tomato. This is the one that was in the top middle of the plant. I made room and hung it over so I could reach it. It is a very late polination so we will see.   Wednesday, September 7 View Page This one so far it's the most promising. It is on the clone in the extended box.   Wednesday, September 7 View Page The front clone in the main box never got a mega on it, so I let a couple singles grow. We will see.   Friday, September 9 View Page If anybody needs calcium for their plant the white part of this specimen is calcite (the purple is amethyst). It is only 5K so for those who want only the best. :)   Friday, September 16 View Page Got back from Denver gem and mineral show for the week. Bit of a mixed bag on the maters. This is the tomato on the clone plant in the extension box. It has gone nuts. 17+" and still has 2 or 3 weeks to grow. Happy happy. .   Friday, September 16 View Page This is the top tomato on the strickler plant. Both the top and bottom tomato are nearly the same size as I left them. They seem to have stopped or slowed down a lot. weirdness for sure. It could be the blight.   Friday, September 16 View Page The bottom Strickler plant tomato. I thought I wood of come back to a monster growing but nope. Infact the other later pollinations have surpassed it in size.   Friday, September 16 View Page The smiling heart tomato is middle of the road. Quite a bit bigger but not super huge growth.   Friday, September 16 View Page These are the two singles on the front clone (smiling heart is on back clone main box) I will give it a few more days and decide who is the winner before murdering the loser. Battle to the death..... bwaaaahaha. Better GROW if you want to live.   Friday, September 16 View Page One bright spot is the center tomato on the strickler has grown crazy. It is the latest polination of the bunch and is looking to over take the others. I might cut off the top and bottom tomato and keep this one.   Friday, September 16 View Page Center tomato on the strickler plant. If this one goes it will be a late weighoff contender.   Friday, September 16 View Page If anybody needs calcium for their plant the white part of this specimen is calcite (the purple is amethyst). It is only 5K so for those who want only the best. :)   Sunday, September 18 View Page Ignorance is bliss.... Sadly I drink very deeply from the knowledge cup. My first batch of tomatoes I was blissful ignorant. Every tomato had a chance to break the Colorado state record. Now.....well sadly I have numbers and DAPs.... This is the best tomato I have. It is the extension clone. It is growing very nicely.....but.... I can crunch the numbers on it and it is going to reach 20" It will be great for the weighoffs but will probably not break the record. Maybe I shouldn't keep such numbers and then every tomato would have a chance again. :)   Sunday, September 18 View Page It is a nice tomato tho so maybe it will surprise me.   Sunday, September 18 View Page This is the top tomato on the strickler plant. The one that had a HUGE megabloom. It started out with such great promise but I think something happen and made it slow down. The blight maybe...I don't know. Anyway it should be measuring in the 18" range or more by now. As you can see 14+" is not the growth I need oh well can't win then all .....   Sunday, September 18 View Page This is the lower tomato HUGE megabloom on the strickler plant it is even worse of than the upper one that was polinated quite a bit later. It weird.   Sunday, September 18 View Page And to make things even more weird the "inside" tomato on the strickler plant is growing quite well. It's not really inside anymore since it's cleared out some space and hung it over where I could reach it. I'm tempted to just cut off the high and low tomato and see if it boosts to inside tomato. Need to make a decision soon tho as the weighoffs are only a few weeks away   Sunday, September 18 View Page Competitive tomato growers life....... One interesting thing once I got the seeds out of the tomato muck. The tomatoes that I hand polinated had 2 to 3 times as many seeds. I really painted to pollen on for several days so I think it made more seeds.   Thursday, September 22 View Page I mean....like I knew you all were joking but then I thought....hummm maybe it's a real thing.....:/. http://www.bigpumpkins.com/MsgBoard/ViewThread.asp?b=3&p=722513   Saturday, September 24 View Page Soooo. Ya that is me in the pumpkin at Jared’s Giant Pumpkin Weigh-Off and Festival in Denver Colorado.   Saturday, September 24 View Page It was Joe's 1634. So so close to breaking his own state record.   Saturday, September 24 View Page My wife had to clean me up after I got back out. She sighed a lot. It was so worth it. Given the chance I'll do it again. Bwaaaahaha.   Sunday, September 25 View Page I'm not sure I signed up for this. :/ Grower life....   Monday, September 26 View Page The plants in the main box are looking a little rough. I did some extreme gardening today. I chopped out everything except the branches with tomatoes. I culled the low strickler megabloom tomato (as it has more or less stopped growing)   Monday, September 26 View Page The top strickler tomato (biggest mega of the year) had picked back up and is growing fairly good right now. After chopping off the bottom tomato and associated branch I'm hoping this will boost the growth.   Monday, September 26 View Page The smiling heart tomato in the main box on the D.S. cross clone is still growing (very slowly) it is past DAP 40 and still hard and green. 40 is when the early tomatoes blushed. That bodes well for others hitting the weighoff in a couple weeks.   Monday, September 26 View Page This is the "inside" tomato on the strickler plant. Yes I have 2 tomatos growing on this plant. I probably need to make a hard decision in cull one or the other.   Monday, September 26 View Page The two singles growing on the front clone main box (back clone has the smiling heart) is now one tomato. I culled the right one and branch. The tomato is growing fast and has almost caught up with the others already but we are running out of time. :/   Monday, September 26 View Page The single on the front D.S. DOMxBZ clone main box.   Monday, September 26 View Page The best tomato I have is the one on the extension box clone. See it all snuggled down in the leaves. The plant is the healthiest one at this point.   Monday, September 26 View Page Another shot of the extension box tomato. It is still charting to hit 3.5lb by dap 40. (Sep 30). I'm hoping it stays green until oct 8 for the weighoff in Fort Collins. Fingers crossed.   Wednesday, September 28 View Page Crunching numbers crunching numbers ..... Ok so. This is the big megabloom on the D.S. DomxBZ plant in the extension box. It is my best late tomato. At dap 38 it is 20 1/2". My best tomato so far this year (3.88 Luers) was 22 7/8 at dap 38 but blushed on one lobe at dap 39. This tomato is still green and hard. It is also more filled in than the 3.88 (should be heavier). If I get good growth for the next 10 days it might hit 4lbs. Now what happens if it's still very green on October 5. Should I let it go 7 more days to the oct 15 weighoff? The Oct 5th weighoff is my hometown and had prize money for the biggest tomato. The other factor is if I let it go to the 15th and it has stayed green it could potentially break the Colorado state record. I almost hope it blushes in the next few days so I won't have to make such hard decisions. :)   Friday, September 30 View Page You....my fine megabloom are too late.   Friday, September 30 View Page I removed all the male parts of the flower. Looks like it might of been a good one.   Friday, September 30 View Page I had to brave the rain to measure the tomatoes this evening. I'm trying to decide which one to cut off for the weighoff tomorrow in Denver at Nicks garden center. I know it won't be this one. This is the big one that is headed to the Hometown weighoff. It is growing good even with the cloudy cold weather.   Friday, September 30 View Page Should I take this one? The Strickler high tomato. hummmm. It looks nice from the top but the bottom is a horror show.   Friday, September 30 View Page This one? The Strickler inside tomato. Its nice   Friday, September 30 View Page How about the Smiling Heart tomato. Its fun.... feels pretty heavy for only being 15ish inches. It is the slowest growing and by far oldest of the tomatoes. DAP 45. I really don't want to cut any of them off till they blush....ugh   Saturday, October 1 View Page New Wyoming State record 1854. HuGE!!! Brote the record by around 300lb. Andy Corbin   Saturday, October 1 View Page New Colorado State record. 1783 Chad New. Great weighoff in Denver Colorado at Nicks garden center.   Saturday, October 1 View Page Nicks garden center 2022 weigh off   Saturday, October 1 View Page Colorado state record field pumpkin. Calvin Wohlert – 150 lb   Monday, October 3 View Page I finally decided which tomato to take to the weigh off last Saturday. I took the Strickler high tomato. It was enough to get first.   Monday, October 3 View Page 1.60 Luers off the Strickler 8.355 plant. Same plant as the old man tomato and the tiny lower tomato that I weighed at the Jared's weighoff that was .83 This makes the inside tomato the only one on that plant and should help the growth.   Monday, October 3 View Page ok I'm only showing you the bottom of the Strickler high tomato (now Luers 1.60) one time. Only cause its Halloween. OH The Horror!!! AAAAHHHHH!!! Zombie Tomato!!!!   Wednesday, October 5 View Page Sometimes you just gotta smile. (Or you'll cry). It rained a lot a couple days ago the temperatures have been dropping. Whatever it is the tomatoes didn't put on any size increases. It's so weird. It did that one other time several weeks ago. I am limited on time I need GROW not SLOW.....common.....(sigh) oh well what ya going to do...... Just smile.   Thursday, October 6 View Page top 30 Colorado tomatoes all time. 10-6-2022 1. 4.65 Bieser, Michael Mesa Colorado United States Early Tomatoes 3.08 Mailey 2. 3.88 Luers, Scott Fort Collins Colorado United States Early Tomatoes Sutherland BZxDom open Big Zac x Domingo 3. 3.69 Johnston, Mark Boulder Colorado United States Early Tomatoes 4.647 Domingo (op) 14 4. 3.43 Johnston, Mark Boulder Colorado United States Early Tomatoes 3.69 Johnston Self Domingo 5. 3.28 Bieser, Michael Colorado United States Early Tomatoes 3.364 Thurber Open Bezrazmernyi 6. 3.28 Johnston, Mark Boulder Colorado United States Early Tomatoes 2.784 Thurber open Big Zac 7. 3.20 Brannan, Ted Erie Colorado United States Early Tomatoes 8.41 McCoy Self Big Zac 8. 3.11 Luers, Scott Fort Collins Colorado United States Early Tomatoes Sutherland BZxDom Open Big Zac x Domingo 9. 3.04 Johnston, Mark Boulder Colorado United States Early Tomatoes Domingo * 2.96DAM New, Chad PARKER Colorado United States Nicks Garden Center Weigh-off 10. 2.95 Johnson, Mark Boulder Colorado United States Jareds Giant Pumpkin Weigh-off Big Zac 11. 2.67 Hoffa, Lance Lakewood Colorado United States Jareds Giant Pumpkin Weigh-off 6.14 Brown Open Domingo 12. 2.66 Luers, Scott Fort Collins Colorado United States Early Tomatoes Sutherland BZxDOM Open Big Zac x Domingo 13. 2.62 Wohlert, Calvin Centennial Colorado United States Jareds Giant Pumpkin Weigh-off 14. 2.52 Kuehner, Corey Erie Colorado United States Early Tomatoes 5.46 Clementz self Domingo 15. 2.34 Wardrop, Errol Kiowa Colorado United States Nicks Garden Center Weigh-off 2.21 Wardrop 12 16. 2.30 Lee, Michael LITTLETON Colorado United States Jareds Giant Pumpkin Weigh-off 4.28 Spaziani 18 x Open 7.1 Foss (Big Zao) X 8.22 Marley (Domingo) 17. 2.29 Wardrop, Errol Kiowa Colorado United States Nicks Garden Center Weigh-off Big Zac 18. 2.27 Wardrop, Errol Kiowa Colorado United States Nicks Garden Center Weigh-off 2.21Wardrop12 19. 2.22 Grande, Gary LITTLETON Colorado United States Jareds Giant Pumpkin Weigh-off 6.62 MegaMarv 20. 2.22 Ritter, Leif Centennia Colorado United States Early Tomatoes 5.59 Zappa self big zac 21. 2.21 Wardrop, Errol Kiowa Colorado United States Jareds Giant Pumpkin Weigh-off 3.96 Marley 11 22. 2.14 Lee, Michael LITTLETON Colorado United States Jareds Giant Pumpkin Weigh-off 5.95 Domingo x 6.23 Mega Zac Big Wixom X Open 23. 2.11 Wolff, Ryan LIttleton Colorado United States Nicks Garden Center Weigh-off 24. 2.01 Holck, Erik Lakewood Colorado United States Jareds Giant Pumpkin Weigh-off Boudyo 25. 2.00 Grande, Celeste LITTLETON Colora   Thursday, October 6 View Page well that was horrible. removed all spaces and paragraphs. ho well....   Friday, October 7 View Page Soooo.........I'm in a dilemma. My biggest tomato is hanging out not turning red. It is growing suuuuuper slow. Its probably a bit too wet from the rain and I thought I had turned the water from the automatic timer off but I came home last night from work and it had watered. Seriously???? Common.......ugh. The low fall temperatures I'm pretty sure are playing a role in it also. In face the temperature could be the main driving reason there is almost no growth. As you can see from the forecast it going to stay chilly at night. The Fort Collins (hometown) weighoff is tomorrow (Saturday Oct 8). I have two choices. I can cut the tomato off and take to the weighoff more or less finishing my season. All in all done. My other choice is I can let it stay on the vine for another week. Put some clear plastic over it making a makeshift greenhouse. This should capture the heat of the day and keep it warm at night. If I do this I'm hoping I can get another inch or more of growth. This should put it in line to beat my PB 3.88 I grew earlier this year. The lack of growth the last 5 days has made the chance of breaking the Colorado state record out of reach. This actually makes my choice tougher. What to do. What to do.......   Friday, October 7 View Page Soooo.........I'm in a dilemma. My biggest tomato is hanging out not turning red. It is growing suuuuuper slow. Its probably a bit too wet from the rain and I thought I had turned the water from the automatic timer off but I came home last night from work and it had watered. Seriously???? Common.......ugh. The low fall temperatures I'm pretty sure are playing a role in it also. In face the temperature could be the main driving reason there is almost no growth. As you can see from the forecast it going to stay chilly at night. The Fort Collins (hometown) weighoff is tomorrow (Saturday Oct 8). I have two choices. I can cut the tomato off and take to the weighoff more or less finishing my season. All in all done. My other choice is I can let it stay on the vine for another week. Put some clear plastic over it making a makeshift greenhouse. This should capture the heat of the day and keep it warm at night. If I do this I'm hoping I can get another inch or more of growth. This should put it in line to beat my PB 3.88 I grew earlier this year. The lack of growth the last 5 days has made the chance of breaking the Colorado state record out of reach. This actually makes my choice tougher. What to do. What to do.......   Friday, October 7 View Page Decision made......   Saturday, October 8 View Page Looks like my big tomato and the plant survived the cold 36deg evening. I put my heat mat in the makeshift greenhouse. You can see it looks to be sunny today. I'm keeping the tomato on the vine for another week and so I have to find a replacement.   Saturday, October 8 View Page Looks like I'll take the last tomato on the strickler plant. The "inside" tomato. I really want to take the big one but I'd rather try to break my PB a little more.   Saturday, October 8 View Page Hello Fort Collins nursery weighoff.   Saturday, October 8 View Page Ohhh Competition.... Looks like I'm not getting first. I love to see other Colorado growers growing giant tomatoes. Great job people.   Saturday, October 8 View Page First place. Great job Calvin. A new PB grown off his 2.62 Wohlert 2015 seed.   Saturday, October 8 View Page All but one was bigger than mine. Lol   Saturday, October 8 View Page So nice to see some good Colorado tomatoes.   Saturday, October 8 View Page This poor tomato picked before it's time. My big one is probably around 3.5lbs but I'm hoping to push 4lbs by next weekend, with an ever so slight chance of breaking the state record but don't hold your breath. :)   Sunday, October 9 View Page Looks like the makeshift green house and heatpad are working. Wooooot!! It might be worth not getting first at the Fort Collins Weighoff.   Monday, October 10 View Page I am pulling the plastic off each day to let things dry out. Its so wet under the plastic. Then I cover it back up to hold the heat in. Seems to be working. I really want to hit 4lbs at the weighoff in Colorado springs.   Wednesday, October 12 View Page There was a bit of frost on my van window this morning :/ The tomato is growing. Common GROW GROW. The smiling heart tomato is showing signs of blushing. It is around 5 days ahead of the big one. This should be about right for picking the big one on the 15th.   Thursday, October 13 View Page This silly tomato....it grows then it doesn't grow....I had my wife uncover it during the day because it was so wet inside the plastic. Last night when I got home from work I went to cover it back up and the tomato was cold to the touch. We will leave it covered tomorrow and see if I can squeeze out just a touch more growth before Saturdays weighoff. It is taping right at my PB. Guess we will see. It feels pretty heavy and its growth is much more compact than the 3.88. Crossing my fingers. Because of the lack of growth in the last 2 weeks the Colorado state record is probably out of reach.   Friday, October 14 View Page My wife grew a pumpkin. For you pumpkin people. :)   Saturday, October 15 View Page Bright and early this morning we are headed 2 1/2 hours to the weighoff in Colorado springs. I see you back the the middle of the plant my.precious.   Saturday, October 15 View Page Ohhh feels pretty heavy. 4lbs?   Saturday, October 15 View Page Ha ha ha. My cheap not accurate home scale says 3lbs 15 9/10 oz. :O   Saturday, October 15 View Page Oh....ohhh so close to 4lbs... PB for me tho and second biggest ever grown in Colorado, Again. :) Welp so be it.....next year the Colorado state record is mine!!!!!   Saturday, October 15 View Page This tomato is now 3.90 Luers. It was grown fine the Dan Sutherland BigZac x Domingo cross. It was on a clone plant in the extension box I build midseason for the clones. The clones were from the plant that grew the 3.88, 3.11 and 2.60. Yes I grew three on one plant. I was bad and just couldn't cut off the giant tomatoes.   Tuesday, October 18 View Page My wife's 122lbs pumpkin. 12% heavy!!!! :)   Tuesday, October 18 View Page My wife's 122lbs pumpkin. 12% heavy!!!! :)   Friday, October 21 View Page 3.90 Luers. It will be interesting to see what the inside looks like. For now while I let it ripen, I'm just showing it off to anybody and everybody.... :))   Sunday, October 23 View Page Picked the last stragglers before the cold weather sets in this week   Monday, October 24 View Page The 3.90 Luers. let's take a look inside.   Monday, October 24 View Page Pretty.... And look at all those seeds. I really think hand pollinating the way I do makes a difference in seed count. My 3.88 had 700 seeds!!!! This one looks good also. It will be interesting to see how Dan Sutherlands cross grows next year. My 3.90 and 3.88 will be the F2. If you look at the genetic tree I built you will see the F2 of the crosses tend to produce the biggest tomatoes.   Friday, October 28 View Page I guess we are going for tinyest pumpkins......   Friday, October 28 View Page I guess we are going for tinyest pumpkins......   Friday, October 28 View Page Well..... This is exciting. My experimental dirt tower worked. I hadn't checked on it all year after I put the clones on it. This plant produced the biggest megablooms of year.   Friday, October 28 View Page There were sooooo many roots it took a lot of work to free it from the pipe. Look at all the roots!!! The whole pipe is filled with them. Oh boy do I have plans for next year now that the initial theory has come to fruition.   Friday, October 28 View Page This answers a LOT of questions I had earlier when I started this experiment. Will the vine just rot, is there too much sunlight to produce roots, will the roots get too hot in the pipe etc etc. The answer is: the frickin roots loved the pipe full of dirt. Now we have new questions. Will this equate to bigger tomatoes, or more nutrients for growth, if you do this right next to the tomato will it get bigger than if you don't. What happens if I use the pipe to fertilize. This is fun!!!