Fusion, I'll bet you even eat grits, and I know how to make Red-Eye Gravy. :-) So get the thought out of your head that you're gonna come up here and all you're gonna do is eat all my tomatoes. Maybe you can hitch a ride up here with The Goat Man if it's an enterprise that's passed on to the next generation. LOL.

I like grits and sausage and red-eye gravy and beans and cornbread and lots of other stuff Earl. In the spring I like fresh squash, fried poke stalks, pinto beans with green onion, run a cabbage head in out of the garden and make cole slaw, and some tiny new green beans, and tomatoes. Lots of tomatoes! Your tomatoes would do just fine Earl. Just think how efficient it would be. You could grow them and I could eat them. Why I bet you have enough for you and me and half the neighborhood. You can even start twice as many plants this year just so you will have enough!

Fusion

Earl,

Please do write about some of the neighbors' comments regarding your tomatoes over the years. Those alone are priceless.

Someone should stick 4 webcams, 2 on Earl in his tomato patch, 2 on the folks contiguous to his property, and leave them on for the tomato season with a 24/7 feed to this forum! That would be a hoot.

What DO your next door neighbors make of your little hobby?

gautam

Finally remembered my password etc. My AGG never did that well but they do taste pretty good. My taste tends to KB a bit more. I am growing both this year just so I can compare again. My seeds came from Amy G from Madison Wisconsin who got them from Carolyn who got them from Chuck. By the way, where is Amy? Anybody know?

Amy got banned from Gardenweb about 4 years ago for a royal flame war. I still have an address around somewhere but have not heard from her in at least 3 years.

Fusion

I like grits and sausage and red-eye gravy and beans and cornbread and lots of other stuff Earl. In the spring I like fresh squash, fried poke stalks...

Now fusion, I presume that be somewhat the lexicon of a SouthernBoy... that is OK with me. But what are fried poke stalks... is that like some version of Occidental bok choy ?

Now I do not dispute Mr Earl's contention that one of his AGG's plants produced at least 100# of fruits (both ripe and unripe). Unfortunately, I do not think that I can ever come close to mimicking his mighty massive mass with any tom cultivar that I grow.

But as before, I will try to give AGG a go again in 2007.

Reg

Reg,

Earl is a transplanted southerner. What I was doing was heaping insult on injury reminding him just what he was missing.

Fried poke weed is a springtime delicacy found throughout the south. You will find numerous references to poke salad and can also find the plant with a search for "poke weed". The most common way it is used is for the tender spring leaves which are prepared somewhat like turnip greens. Another way is to gather the young tender stalks in early spring, carefully skin and wash, then slice and fry like okra. Its an outstandingly good spring dish. The plants grow wild.

This plant is very poisonous and MUST be properly prepared to be edible. A rule of thumb is that any part of the plant that is purple is poisonous. This includes skin, leaves, and berries. The roots are especially dangerous.

Pokeweed was used in traditional folk medicine to treat wounds, skin rashes, and boils. One old remedy for boils was to swallow one dried pokeberry per day for 7 days.

Fusion

Fried poke weed is a springtime delicacy found throughout the south. You will find numerous references to poke salad and can also find the plant with a search for "poke weed". The most common way it is used is for the tender spring leaves which are prepared somewhat like turnip greens. Another way is to gather the young tender stalks in early spring, carefully skin and wash, then slice and fry like okra. Its an outstandingly good spring dish...

fusion, well maybe Earl transplanted north because he prefers mercury-laden salmon to PCP infested catfish.

This is "Poke salad Annie" I presume. BTW, I prefer steamed okra with some bacon.

Reg

I'm a believer, Earl!

Who could not be a believer, having seen this famous Diane Arbus photograph, "Jewish Family with Giant Heirloom Tomato."

{{gwi:1294129}}

Earl, was that AGG caged or staked?

No one is judging anyone here Earl. I think that some of us would like to see a pic of a plant with approx. 40-50 lbs of tomatoes on it. That's all. Not pilled up on a table.

As I said before, I WILL NOT call anyone a liar, but to me, I got to see it to believe it. There shouldn't be anything wrong with that. Is there? I'm sure it's been done before and will be done again but I would love to see it for myself.

Let me ask this though..

Don't know if this was in the original posters thought but..

Does 'one plant' mean one plant staked or caged, or one plant to creep around the ground.

I don't know if one staked plant can handle all the weight and have the energy to produce so many toms.

If you let it crawl around and it re-roots itself, (I'm sure there is a term for that) does that still count as one plant since it's getting a broader amount of food, water ect?? One plant can only get so much from a confined space but one that can reach out 8-10 feet is a different story.

That was my thinking anyway.

greg

You all should read the the book "how to grow world record tomato plants" by Charles Wilbur.
He grew 342 lbs 2 oz on one better boy plant.
PS the cover has picture of on of his huge producing plants.
psps the plant on cover picture appears to be caged the 28 ft tall plant.

Greg,
That was a pretty slick way of not calling me a liar. :-) How would you feel about a picture of 56 ripe Fauxs off one plant at one time after me being gone for 5-6 days? The other plant only gave 28, IIRC. BTW, there's no way one can take a photo of a tomato plant and show all the fruit on it. Well, maybe, if it were bare of leaves.
Also, those fruit [about 50] to the left or AGG are off one Giraffe plant and you can only see about half of them. :-)

I'm sure it was one AGG plant, caged with CRW and growing straight up, but to ease troubled minds I'll go back and look at my records. Assuming someone like Bully or Fusion hasn't been into them messing around.:-) In the past I seldom every planted more than one plant of a type except for canners and Faux and only 2 of those.

Picture of Faux plant with 58 fruit.

Looking forward to this summer and my first attempt at EF. Is tomato growing like fishing? No matter how many or how big the fish someone will tease about the veracity of your results. Keep on growing!

OK Earl I'll believe you. I'm growing EF for the first time this year, among others. Maybe AGG next year unless someone can swap a few seeds with me this year (hint hint). I've been skeptical about growing AGG. The golds haven't thrilled me with taste thus far, maybe I haven't grown the right one.

Grow on

1 Staked plant CAN grow that many tomatoes. I've seen it.
My Mom used to produce enough for a whole family of 10.
Those things were giants. She's gone now and my love for gardening didn't return until after she died, otherwise I would have picked her brain. Sad isn't it, how we let people take so much great info to the grave and then wish we could have tapped into it? I can't begin to grow the kind of plants she did.
Earl, would you adopt me?
ö¿ö
~

Tom

Now, now Earl. Don't take my post out of context. I meant no harm of course.

All I meant was I put the 80 lb. tomato plant in the same catagory as UFO's. I'll believe it when I see it. That's all. Please don't be upset with me. :)

I'm just a novice grower compared to most of you out there. Maybe it's just JEALOUSY !!

Actually, you gave me Giraffe seeds last year. Got about 30 or so. Had too many things going on and didn't save them like I should have.

I still have some AGG from you too. They just made it back to my 'must plant' list.

later

greg

greg,
I'm not upset. :-)

Tom,
Yes, of course. I need someone to dig holes for me. LOL. I hope you like grits with tomatoes. You can catch a ride with Fusion and The Goat Man. Or I can send you Earl's Super Secret Tomato Hole Method. OTOH, why don't I just post it in a thread.

I have to jump to Earl's defense here. I have complete confidence that he did indeed grow the fruit he says he did. I was just ribbing him above.

For those of you who want to grow some record breaker plants, try properly fertilizing a plant or two. Most people over fertilize small plants, then underfertilize them when they have set fruit.

Fusion

Well, I know I have had over forty fruit on a single Brandywine (Sudduth). I've also harvested a few hundred fruit off of a single TAMI-G and almost a thousand off of a single Texas Wild Cherry. So not only do I believe Earl, but I've realized similiar results on other varieties.

Besides all that, I can vouch for Earl. He is an "above the table" guy. So if he says it's so, it is so.

Jay

Climate must have a lot to do also with tomato growth and production. Years ago my company sent us to Peru where I was a field rep. We lived in Lima and I gave the gardener tomato seeds I got from an advertisement for 'tree tomatoes'I found in a U.S. magazine. He planted them beside the house water pump that pumped city water three stories up to the roof cistern/reservoir. The plants grew and grew...not sure how tall but we couldn't harvest all of them even with a ladder. I'd hazard a guess that they reached 25'. Anyway, the weight of the plants eventually broke the water pipe and flooded the second and third story of the house. LOL...the gardener was so impressed with his American seeds that he began to sell them as "atomic seeds."

We moved away a couple years after that. I hope he's still selling the seeds and enjoying good health and prosperity. He was a fine gardener.

I am a believer, I believe that there is

, and I believe that people do eat it. However, I am still undecided about whether or not to believe that Elvis sighting that had him and Annie picking polk salad outside of Tupelo Mississippi last spring.

I believe that while my

did not produce any where near as many as Earl's plant did, they did produce, more, larger, smoother and prettier tomatoes in the second year in my garden.

I believe that the birds

better than some red ripe ones, as evidenced by the top and bottom ones in the picture. (We had a bird brained bird that started out pecking green tomatoes, then evolved to ones just turning, then on to A.G.G. I believe that I caught it in a trap and that it was a large Brown Thrasher).

I believe that A.G.G. is very near the top of my list of best tasting

.
Bill P.

This thread reminds me of a joke I once heard:

How DO YOU KNOW when a man is "on the level"? Hmmm???

If his bubble is in the middle

Where's my knee?!.... tee hee hee

;-)

Earl,

Are you possibly still enjoying your last harvest as they ripen? You said that in the past you had enjoyed the last of the green Giraffes when they ripened up in Feb.

You shared Giraffe (and other) seed with me and Giraffe is now near the top of my 'must grow' list for 2007.

Paul_f from Nebraska,

Good to see you found your password and are back. I'm finally planning to grow the 2 similar (but not exact) varieties side by side this season...if you know what I mean.....Might you want/need more seed?

Sue...getting all fired up now

I've got 3 Giraffes on the counter now that I picked in Oct. I messed up and forgot about a plastic grocery bag full of them as they sat on a table in the garage. Should have put them in a box, so I won't be having them into Feb. And no, Sue, I don't need anymore seed. Got more now than I can plant, but thanks!

Thanks, guys, for the back-up!!!!!!!!!!

don't really mean to change the subject of this thread -- I'm really enjoying it! But here's some info on poke salet --

Freshly cut young leaves and shoots may be cooked and eaten like spinach. They should be boiled twice, and the first water being discarded. In 1969, a popular song on the radio was "Poke Salad Annie." The song depicted a poor southern girl who picked a wild plant called pokeweed for a vegetable. The greens are also called poke salet, and they are sometimes canned and sold in markets.

Here's a link that is really interesting --

and now we can get back to Earl's incredible harvest, the picture of which has convinced me to include AGG next year!

Here is a link that might be useful: Poke Salet: The Versatile Veggie

Here's what AGG looks like sliced. It tastes even better than it looks. :-)

Here is a link that might be useful:

I attribute it to "Earl's Hole Method" not to AGG.

Also I like and believe what Fusion said...

"For those of you who want to grow some record breaker plants, try properly fertilizing a plant or two. Most people over fertilize small plants, then underfertilize them when they have set fruit."

Take note "Mid Summber Tomatoe Feeding?" original poster!

People are often "content" after initial fertilization and don't bother continually feeding their plants... (them's my words, not his about content.) They often listen to the next guy saying back off on the fertilizer... don't fertilize after you see fruits...only fertilize once...etc.

To all those statements about stop fertilizing I say POPPYCOCK! (and I've only said that once before, on another forum...) I can talk until I'm "Miracle-Gro Blue" in the face but some just won't listen!

Earl's method is the exception, he gives them enough things to OD on in the hole but by the time they find everything & it all kicks in they got spread out over the season! Look at the results, they speak for themselves.

Ahhhh, never mind... be happy with your 5-1-1 fish emulsion and 15-20 fruits per plant...LOL

earl Quote:
"Here's what AGG looks like sliced. It tastes even better than it looks. :-)"

Another thread singing the praises of Aunt Gertie and from the master himself too. Those slices AGG looks divine, how does it compare to Yellow Brandywine in taste what's the difference in taste is what I guess I'm asking?

I can't wait till next season as AGG's will be in my humble little garden for the first time. Thanks for the great photos!

"AGG (Aunt Gertie's Gold) looks divine, how does it compare to Yellow Brandywine in taste what's the difference in taste is what I guess I'm asking?" [Sunsi]

Sunsi,

Great question ... I can't answer since I've never grown AGG.

I have grown Yellow Brandywine, a tomato that to me remains questionable as to
origin and documentable relationship to Brandywine.

What I would love to see is DNA test results for Aunt Gertie's Gold, Spark's Yellow, and
Yellow Brandywine. I'll even chip in a year's membership dues to SSE
for a share in the cost of DNA testing :::smile:::

hmmm..... are you suggesting that they are one and the same? Interesting indeed, because I really like the flavor and texture (creamy) of Yellow Brandywine and if they are the same (or closely related) then I can see why everyone raves about AGG's. I would like to see this DNA testing myself. :)

In my garden, AGG and Yellow Brandywine are totally different in DTM [YB much longer] and fruit taste. AGG just barely beats out YB in taste to my taste bubs although different taste bubs may place YB in front of AGG. Both are great tomatoes.

earl i think your plants were an Alien experiment. You can feed an army with that many tomatoes. If I could grow that many tomaotoes I would have no problem stocking up the local food shelter. Awesome job!

I have a gold/yellow tomato that fusion sent this year but a few of my varieties have lost the ID's I put in place and unfortunately this is one. I wish I knew if it were AGG because it tastes fantastic so creamy and smooth I'd say that this one even beats Yellow Brandywine. I admit to eating the first two without a thought for saving seeds or getting a picture but I'll use more restraint for the next ripe one. ^.~

Hoosier, the tomato genome sequencing project is roughly one third complete. Won't be able to give you much data until it's done. :)

http://www.sgn.cornell.edu/about/tomato_sequencing.pl

Fantastic, Jonathan! I visited the site. Who do I make the check out to and where do I send it?

Bill

Bill, if it's a large one, it can go to me. otherwise, send it to the Cornell Ag School. :)

Okay, You've convinced me.
I'm going to give it another shot.
Where do you all buy your AGG seeds?
I did a search on-line and didn't see it from my normal sources.
Tom

www.mariseeds.com

Okay mawkhawk,
That's a mean joke :-(
They're out of stock for 2007

Oh well, Maybe next year.

Oh, sorry, OV. I didn't check that. I believe that they're the only commercial source tho, as far as I know...

They are on ebay every spring, along with another 200+ varieties... maybe 275+ for spring 2008...

Thanks,
I actually want to find some now, so I can get them established early. Then they will go in the greenhouse for the winter.
I did more searching and found them here:
http://store.tomatofest.com/Aunt_Gertie_s_Gold_p/tf-0030.htm
So, that's 2 commercial sources.
Tom

Has anyone ordered from tomatofest?
Does it seem logical that only 2 people can grow over 500 varieties and maintain purity (no crosses)?

Tom

Has anyone tried joining Seedsavers Exchange, they might have them there at these I'm hoping they do 'cause I joined.

Tom, I looked, but you don't have an email address.

Sorry Earl,
I didn't realize that. I was updating my page and it never got finished.
I fixed it.

Tom,
Yes I've ordered several different varieties from them with great results. They were also very willing to answer all questions. One of the better vendors I've ordered from. The seeds all grew true to leaf type and description. The only vendor I had many problems with was Bakers Creek.
Sunsi yes I joined this year and ordered several seeds from members. A great choice of varieties. A good place to pick up new and hard to find varieties to try.

Hi elkwc,
I went ahead and ordered a few varieties. Nice, easy web site to navigate. I received the seeds very quickly. I'm very pleased so far with this company.
I plan to plant in a few weeks for winter greenhouse production.
Tom