Great question. For me, it is more of a feeling then measureing pounds or something. I have one cherry tomato in the back yard that has produced buckets of tomatoes - same variaty in the front yard whose given about 6...Same with the Coustralee plants. I consider 6-10 1.5-2 lb tomatoes to be high yield and anything below 4 to be a disappointment.

High yield for me means it out-produces other similar varieties I am growing and it does so consistently year after year,

Dave

What Dave said. Compare cherries with cherries. Beefstakes with beefstakes. Earlies with Earlies. Etc.

citygrower, thank you for taking the question seriously. And I know what you mean about some of the cherry tomatoes. I have some serious "over achievers." ;-)

This isn't to compare a beefsteak with a cherry tomato. That would be silly. It's how you would define a yield from a particular type of plant.

If you got 10-12 tomatoes from a beefsteak, would you call that a high yield?

Say a tomato is said to produce 5-7 oz tomatoes - how many would be a moderate or high yield? 18, 24, 36, 48?

How many tomatoes is a high yield for an early tomato like Stupice or Bloody Butcher?

I asked a friend of mine what he meant when he said his beefsteak plants were very productive. His answer: "that's a good question." There was a long, thoughtful pause and the response was "20 - 20 is very productive for these plants."

My Amish Paste produced 4 large fruit (over a pound) and there are about 6 more fruit still on the vine weighing about 8 oz. Would you call that a low, moderate or high yield? Do you quantify that by the size of the fruit as well as the number produced?

My German Green produced 18+ fruit with the early ones being close to 1 1/2 lbs and then around 10-12 oz. I thought that was a high yield for that plant.

Paul Robeson produced about 3 dozen and I thought that was a high yield.

German Stripe produced 4-5 1 1/2 pound tomatoes and then a few small ones - maybe 10 tomatoes per plant.

Kellogg's Breakfast has offered up about 24 fruit with the earliest being the largest (1 1/2 lbs) and the later ones being near a lb. I think of this as a high yield/very productive plant.

So, what then does high, moderate or low yield mean to you?

Most of my beefsteak varieties (listed around 10-16oz) have around 20-25 fruit when I do a count before picking the first fruit. Because of my season length, not many more set on flowers after that point have time to ripen before frost. Thirty fruit is good, and I've had counts above 40. Plants with 15 or so are not doing well. I've been surprized at the consistency among varieties, however some varieties may grow smaller fruit later in the season so if I went by pounds I might have a better idea of productivity.

Apologies if it seemed I wasn't taking your question seriously. I was. And I gave you what my definition of a high-yielding, a productive, plant is.

But your question has some under-lying assumptions that just don't hold up IME.

Believe it or not, most home gardeners don't count the number of fruit on their plants, they don't keep a running total of number or size, most don't weigh the fruit produced by each plant either, and most don't grow for yield anyway but for taste. A perfect example is Brandywine which has the reputation of being a low producing plant yet it remains one of the most popular.

So for those of us in that group we define a high yield plant as one that makes a lot of tomatoes and has to be picked every 3-4 days.

But over the years of growing literally hundreds of plants each year, hundreds of varieties, and growing those varieties anywhere from 4-15 years in a row, one can easily determine which varieties are high yielding and which are not in their particular garden IF that info is of interest to them.

However that in no way means that same variety will be high-yielding for anyone else in their garden and their climate.

This isn't to compare a beefsteak with a cherry tomato. That would be silly.

That may seem silly to you but you would be amazed how many people do just that and post statements like "I only grow cherry varieties because they are so much more productive" or "why isn't my Brandywine setting fruit when my cherry tomato plants all have 100's of fruit on them".

It's how you would define a yield from a particular type of plant.

And how I define yield is does that particular variety consistently, year after year, out produce other similar varieties that I am also growing in my gardens.

My Amish Paste produced 4 large fruit (over a pound) and there are about 6 more fruit still on the vine weighing about 8 oz. Would you call that a low, moderate or high yield?

Compared to my Amish Paste plants growing in my garden, in my climate, with my feeding and watering regimen, I would call that very low. But that doesn't mean you can label Amish Paste as a low-yielding, low-productive variety or that I can call it a high yielding variety. There are too many other variables to slap yield labels on varieties.

You got 3 doz. from Paul Robeson and over 3 years of trials I was lucky to get 3 tomatoes from each plant. So what do we label it?

I have no idea what any of my fruit weigh because I don't weigh them unless they appear to be extra-ordinary - I just eat them. ;)

Dave

spiced ham it sounds like your beefsteaks are very productive in your garden. I didn't do a thorough count - just what I actually harvested (until I got tired of counting).

Our season is also short and knowing that they would never mature, I took off the tiniest of fruit a week ago and I didn't include any of those in my "count." Nothing set in July with the record heat but now, the blossoms are setting and the suckers are rampant. It is too late in the season for anything to come of that.

It ocurred to me while browsing the catalogs and reading Dr. Carolyn's book, that I have no idea what yield really means. And so, the question is more of curiousity than expecting hard evidence.

So, I wondered what other folks thought about yield or productivity of the plants they are growing.

Thank you for sharing.

IMO and IME (love acronyms!) one can compare Cherry tomatoes to beefsteaks. A decent plant, in a decent garden, in a decent year, should produce about 20 pounds of fruit - regardless what size it is. Forty one-ounce cherry tomatoes will weigh the same as four 10-ounce beefsteaks.

An above average plant will be in the 30 pound range, a very, very good one in the 40 pounds per plant area.

Then again, one can raise something like Trust (usually a GH plant) that produces 8-10 ounce maters over a 8-9 month time frame. For me, I use two pounds per plant per week over the season.

YMMV,

Mike

Your original question was very vague. Now that I better understand your question here's how I would answer that. If I grow maybe 5 beefstake varieties per year (I grow more) for a couple or 3 years and I notice one or two of the varieties is setting more fruit and ripening over a longer period than the others it's a "very productive plant". It takes years of growing many different varieties before you get an accurate handle on this. I have been growing 20 years now and have 31 varieties in the ground this season. I can tell you which varieties I consider not productive, productive, very productive etc here in my garden in my soil and in my growing conditions. Experience is the best teacher. When I hear people saying that ABC variety is very productive and I have never grown it I consider who is making the claim...

A farmer here in NC told me that a very heavy setting variety for him would produce 1/2 bushel or ~25 pounds.

For me, 5 pounds is average, and 10 pounds is very good, 20 pounds is excellent.

But, that is in NC, not VT and certainly not in 40 pound OH!

The heat, growing conditions, amount of sunlight, and disease/insect pressures all have an effect on what is productive and what ain't.

Lee

Here at 1150 'Alt in Puerto Rico la 18°30'N our tropical condiciones are perfecto. I have drip as well as fogers for an all organic trellised planting of tomate in containers (hyđroponic)for my barrio.and homenaje consumption.All se en size,yield and taste

I farmed 260 acres of oriental and tropical vegetables for exportaciones for 25 years,but never tomatoes so I am a novato (Newbie) here..Cherry tomates are very simple here and ir fed last a year,but I am interésted in size,20# hielos and vine ripened for the Best taste.Comercial tropical cv aren't it ...although I Still use plástic mulch in my containers for the weeds.

Which large Beefsteak,San Marzano type and heirloom cv can you experienced growers recomend and coment on?I apreciate all input

Esteban. lorescotrop@gmail.com

yeah, and if we talk about Hydroponics in Netherlands they increased production to 70 kg, yes kg from 1 sq meter, mind you NOT done with pesticides/ fungicides etc. To me in my garden things are visual- I like how it produces it is a keeper, I do not like how it looks... well, we might give it another chance. Depends. But then I grow lots of new varieties every year. And every year there is more to try. Some people on other forum show such results with their breeding efforts that I only drool and look forward to next season LOL

After this year with my Big Beef 75+ is a high yielding tomato plant. 20 to 50 for medium yield and 20 or less is a low yielding tomato. This is only for slicers.

To me "Productivity" is relative in a given climate and growing conditions.

Having said that, 15 lbs and more is productive for me. So if I get 30 fruits , 8 oz in average size, I consider it productive. So far Big Beef , Azochka and Willamette qualify for that. Siletz, Ananas Noire and Black frim Tula are about medium at ~7- 10 lbs per plant.

Sey

"High yield for me means it out-produces other similar varieties I am growing and it does so consistently year after year,"

I agree. A productive plant, like a hot woman, or a good employee, --you just know, doesn't matter usually what else is going on ... you just know. Since definitions and conditions vary like digdirts' comment#2^^^ of the thread .... wait ... was that actually 3:02 PM EDT Aug 19, 2010?

Cheers

PC