I too am in Ohio & had a good year. Most of July was very hot & dry, but I watered regularly. I planted Amish Paste, Whoppers & Beefmaster tomatoes. Very large, meaty fruits with great taste. Those are some great looking tomato cages. Did you buy those or is that something you put together? I really need something like that!

Those I put together using rebars. Need to redo for next year as one plant reached 14ft.

greenhummer, your tomatoes are jaw-dropping. Look like a tomato jungle.
How did you make them grow that vigorous? Which variety do you grow? I�m envious!

Wow!

My beefsteaks were quite the disappointment, so glad to see such success!

Here is a link that might be useful: DFW Gardener

I had 75 plants 1 mile from the Ohio River. Bi-color and Estlers Mort Lifter mostly with NAR, Chapman, C Purple and a fer others suckered to 3-4 stems. Most large tomatoes I've ever had at one time. I picked a 37 oz Mr Stripey and a 41 oz pink either ML or Bear Claw. Gave away several bushels of large tomatoes red, pink, black(purple), yellow/red and Burpee Orange Slice the surprise of my tomato garden. Round uniform orange globes 10-16 oz. and very very prolific. I too had a banner yr.

I grow an old heirloom called Delicious from seed stock. The fruit averages 1lb or more. I make organic compose and feed the plants everyday with a compose tea. I mulch very heavy during the dry season only. At this stage each plant requires 4gal of water and feed everyday. Don't spray or use soaker hoses and I prune often. My corn was also up 12ft...it's all about the soil. The plant will tell you if it needs something.

DFW...your soil looked like the Sara Desert. Hope you have better luck next season

greenhummer,

Your plants look great, but "Great year for gardening. 350lbs from 4 plants with many more to give away..."... I doubt.
You're claiming an average of over 80 pounds plus per plant with more to ripen. Sorry, but I don't see that sort of production from the plants in your pic.
What are you weighing with? Scales might need some calibration.

Did you wrap wire or something around the rebar above the cage? Or did you just put rebar around the cages? Just wondering b/c I would like to try something like that next year. Although my Beefmaster tomatoes didn't get too much bigger than the cages, they did produce some nice, large, juicy but meaty 'maters. The Amish Past & Whoppers are going wild. They are much, much bigger than the cages! I did put stakes around the cages to prevent the plants from pulling them down. Right now they are growing over then down the cages, lol.

DFW- Looks like you need to plant heat resistant varieties of tomatoes. Not sure if the Beefsteaks are that type or not. It has been unusually hot this year.

The picture shown was fruit still hanging,most of the harvest was picked and the leaves pruned off. It's not unusual to get over 100lbs per plant. I believe the record for a single plant in one year weighed 522.464 kg (1151.84 lbs)way more than my needs. Hope this encourage others.

I used plastic ties since we have a lot of them. You could use bale wire or whatever you have on hand.

I think the 522kg record you're referring to would be the Walt Disney World Resort's "tomato tree". That 522kg was the weight of over 32,000 tomatoes.

Yes that impressed me while visiting there several times. But, it was Charles Wilberand and his organic techniques that really inspired us the most.

Ok, I'll bite. Who is Charles Wilberand?

In 1987 Charles Wilber grew 1,368 pounds from four plants using only organic methods. No commercial methods have ever broken any of his records and he has several.

Sorry, but beer just shot out of my nose while laughing really hard. What a ridiculous photo!

greenhummer, please keep us abreast of all your tomato plant growing techniques, I really do need some humor in my life right now.

Yes you do, and he's is from Kansas :-)

Thanks greenhummer. I will be using your rebar technique next summer. Looks like I will have to start putting my fruits on a scale so I can "weigh in" on the poundage discussion next year, lol.

Yes,down on the farms we just drive on the scales. Good luck next season to all....

Guess that we are'nt in Kansas anymore!