The following hyperbolic ad copy is from Gurney's latest catalog, page
23, for the "Better Boy" tomato:"Guinness record holder -- 342 pounds of fruit from one plant!"
The Guiness World Records web site doesn't report anything, and I don't have their book.
But, I've grown Better Boys every year for the past 10 years and in my best seasons I haven't come remotely close to anything like that. A bushel or two maybe, but nothing near 342 lbs.
Assuming the claim is true, how do they do it?
J.
With their thumbs on the scale, I suspect.
I suppose you could extend the season by keeping the plant in a greenhouse and moderate the hottest summertime temperatures so it produces continuously; but I still find 342 pounds from one plant a bit of a stretch.
Penelope
the method and more info on this can be found in the following places. Guinness Book 1990-1995
How to grow world record tomatoes : a Guinness champion reveals his all-organic secrets by Charles H Wilber
I was finally able to get my hands on a copy of Charles Wilber's book. It seems he's got the pictures to prove his claims.
His "secrets" are hardly classified information:
compost: lots of it mulch: wheat straw, tilled in at season's end irrigation: piped in, soaks the mulch long season: Alabama pruning: 8-12 fruiting vines per plant caging: concrete reinforcing wire, 5' sections, stacked and stayed
I kind of got the sense that this guy runs a kudzu farm and compost manufactory for the sake of his oversized tomato plants and other garden veggies.
I wonder whether my wife can be persuaded to let me replace the lawn with alfalfa? ;-)
J.
markfer>> The following hyperbolic ad copy is from Gurney's latest catalog, page
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