Stated Fruit Size

What is the big difference between what one supplier states as a size expectation vs. another supplier for the same tomato?? Mr. Stripey is one I'm curious about. One co. says 6-8 ounce fruit and another I just looked at says 1-2 pound fruit. Is it more advertising hype or is it different strains of the same tomato or is it hybridizing of the tomato??

According to Bonnie, my Parks Whoppers should be 14-16 ounces, but the biggest I've gotten is about 10 ounces. I know there are so many variables in growing conditions it would be very hard to pin down an average. If we get some huge fruit, are they anomalies, or should we be expecting them as normal?

Just something I happened to notice...

Kev,
Maybe the guy was tryint to write "1/2 pound fruit" and wrote it 1-2, but i agree there is a lot of hypberbole and exaggeration used trying to sell everything.
Ernie

I think many suppliers have no knowledge about the tomato varieties, they're just selling seeds they buy from someone else. They copy a description of the variety into their catalog and sometimes mistakes are made in the description and carried on.

There are two reasons, I think, why stated sizes for a single variety differ.

One is that only those seed companies that raise their own plants and do their own seed production or subcontract out directly know what they get for size. and even then the sizes can be different from season to season.

And few are the companies that do their own seed production.

The seed companies that buy their seeds and don't do subcontracts but buy off the shelf wholesale either take for granted what the wholsaler says, or take a size off someone else's website or are unlisted SSE members and take an average size from those listing the variety in any given year.

If I look at a single variety in the SSE YEarbook in any given year I'll see a range of sizes by listers b/c it depends on where they garden, what amendments are used, the weather in any one season and on and on.

I just looked at Mr. Stripey in the 2012 Yearbook and there are very few who even list it, most preferring other gold/red bicolors, and only one says about a pound.

The same thing happens with DTM's which are sheer guesstimates and a joke and all that I said above pertains to the variation seen in DTM's.

And when it comes to hybrids most seed sites go with the info that the hybrid company selling the seeds state if they haven't grown those hybrids them selves.

Carolyn

To further confuse the issue, I find that tomatoes on the plants produce at different sized depending on the time of year. I may be getting a consistant 10 ounce on a variety, but as the season wanes, so do the sizes. Hard to do an average based on that.

ERNIE,

Just happened to be looking at the Gourmet Seed site with their Mr. Stripey, the object mentioned above, and I don't think its a typo, just saying wasn't using "/". Was written, "1 to 2 pounds", and I surely hope the MS I transplanted from Bonnie plants stock, would live up to GS's prognostication. If it did, it may take it until September to do it...LOL... Been in the ground, then to pot, since middle of may and just now starting to fruit, one or 2 barely golf ball size... Now thinking of that, it's probably transplant shock that's set this pair of plants back, growth wise...

Kev, It was just a guess on my part, as there are so many typos, it seems like anymore.

I have never paid any attention to tomato plants before this year, and have been surprised several times already. I pulled a couple of nice big plants, nearly three feet tall when they developed some problems, and replaced with HD transplants 8 inches tall. But now, those late transplants are the same size as the other original plants, so that does not seem reasonable, but that is the way it is.

I now have lots of green tomatoes, but with day temps in the seventies, and night temps in the fifties, i am still waiting for ripe tomatoes. Cantaloupe are over four inches thick, and watermelons about 5 or 6, so they may be ripe before the tomatoes are.

Ernie

Ernie,

I'd love some 70's right now... even at night... We're getting down to 75-76 at night and today our high temp. was 97*... We're still doing good with tomatoes, cukes and our Beefsteaks and the Mr. Stripey's are starting to show improvement. The Black Krim's are starting to fill out, much to my surprise..

Kev,
Ray der Phan started me off in this tomato game well up the ladder by giving me a choice selection of good varieties. My Black Krims are one of my best, so far, and Beefsteak has the largest tomatoes, but i lost Mr. Stripey to septorium wilt. Red Brandywines are doing good, Stupice is loaded but down close to the ground, not setting any top fruit. But my favorite i think is Sweet Carneros. The little Sungolds are the closest to being ripe, i have had a couple so far, but these that are producing are all in the hot box which shelters them from the cold PM breeze. The others out along the fence are far behind.

I am finding this to be an excellent learning experience and has been made much quicker and faster by reading what you experienced growers have to say. And of course, i am very grateful to Mark, {Ray der Phan.]

Ernie

Next year, ya'll have to grow some MOMOTAROS! Trust me on this one....

Shoot, I think my plates gonna be full with tomatoes. Black Krim, Cherokee Purple, Mortgage Lifter, San Marzano Redorta, Brandywine Sudduth, San Marzano 168, San Marzano Bush, Big Beef, Super Beefsteak... Those are the ones that I can remember off the top of my head... I MAY do Mr. Stripey but this time it will be from seed. Maybe Sweet 100 & some Sun Sugars for the cherry tomatoes.

A lot are gonna be for transplant sales & market sales, but I'm also going to save a lot for myself.

GG, I have heard so many good words about Momotaro that it was one of the first replacement plants i bought when we lost a few from fungus. It is a nice plant, but has only set one tomato during these cold nights. If that is tasty, i will plant another one next year because i am going to provide more protection by leaving the walls up around them until the nights get warmer. The forecast is for 60 degree minimum the next few days, so that may help.

Time seems to be passing faster and faster as the years go by, EXCEPT when waiting for a tomato to get ripe. That seems even slower coming than Christmas did when i was a child.

Ernie

Momotaro is basically the only larger hybrid I plant every year along with either Sun Sugar or Sun Gold cherry. The plants have never produced a lot of tomatoes but enough healthy ones to keep me happy.