Index

Index by Chapter and Subject

A quick lookup guide...

Chapter 1

Introduction

Breaker One-Nine, that's one huge tomato

Gordon Graham's Prize Winning Tips

New Jersey Championship Tomato Weigh Off

The Ten Heaviest Tomatoes All-Time Through 2019

One Single Tomato - 4-1/2 pounds

How To Grow Giant Vegetables

Chapter 2

A Brief History of Tomatoes

Are tomatoes a fruit or a vegetable?

Chapter 3

Selecting Your Seeds

Grower Comments on Seed Selection

Tomato Varieties Considered To Have Potential

A Brief Description of Varieties with Potential

1884
6 Pound Giant
Azoycha
Beef Steak, Old Fashioned
Believe It or Not
Big Rainbow
Big Red
Big Rosy
Big Zac (hybrid)
Brandywine, Pink, Sudduth Strain
Brianna
Brutus Magnum
Bull's Heart
Burgess Improved Collosal
Burgess Red Mammoth Wonder
Burpee Steakhouse (hybrid)
Burpee Supersteak (hybrid)
Cuostralee
Delicious
Dinner Plate
Doctor Lyle
Domingo
Florida Pink
German Giant
German Red
Giant Belgian
Goliath
Hillbilly
Hungarian Oval
Italian Sweet
Italo
Jerry's German Giant
Kellog's Breakfast
Mammoth German Gold
MegaMarv
Mexico
Mong
Monster
Mortgage Lifter
Old German
Omar's Lebanese
Persimmon
Phil's Fantastic
Pineapple
Ponderosa Pink
Rainbow Beefsteak
Red Barn
Slankard's
Tennessee Britches
Tidwell German
Todd County Amish
Verna Orange
Watermelon Beefsteak
Wins All
Zogalo

Grower Comments on Seed Selection

What is an Heirloom?

Chapter 4

Preparing Your Soil

The Planting Hole

Earl's Hole Method for Growing Tomatoes

Grower Comments on Soil Preparation

Indeterminate vs. Determinate Tomatoes?

Chapter 5

Timing Your Tomatoes

Variables affecting a tomato's maturation date

Grower Comments on Timing Your Tomatoes

Tomato Timetable

Robert Ehigh and the Miracle-Gro Tomato Challenge

HIGH STAKES CONTEST CHALLENGES GARDENERS

 

Chapter 6

Starting Your Seeds

Grower Comments on Seed Starting

Chapter 7

From Seedlings to Transplant

What is Photosynthesis?

Grower Comments on Going from Seed to Transplant

Chapter 8

Hardening Your Plants

Grower Comments on Plant Hardening

Chapter 9

Transplanting into the Garden

Grower Comments on Transplanting

Tomato Plant Roots

Chapter 10

Protecting Your Plants

Using High Tunnels

Grower Comments on Plant Protection

Chapter 11

Mulching Your Tomatoes

Grower Comments on Mulching

Chapter 12

The Power of the Megabloom

Formula for a Contest Winning Tomato

Grower Comments on Blossoms

Chapter 13

Pruning Your Plants

Important Dates for Plants Started Between April 1st and April 15th

Grower Comments on Pruning

Why Prune?

Chapter 14

Staking and Supporting

Grower Comments on Tomato Support

Chapter 15

Tomato Pollination

Fertilization

Tomato Blossom-Drop

Grower Comments on Tomato Pollination

Chapter 16

Fertilizing Your Tomatoes

Sample Foliar Feeding Program

Growers Comments on Fertilizing

The Basic Four

Foliar Feeding and Chelated Micronutrients

Suggestions for Foliar Feeding are as Follows

Tarping

Chapter 17

Watering Your Tomatoes

Transpiration and Plant Circulation

A Plant's Transport System, the Xylem and Phloem

What is Respiration?

Grower Comments on Watering

Chapter 18

Estimating Tomato Weight

Growers' Comments on Estimating Tomato Size

Tomato Weight Estimates

Fibrous Roots vs. a Tap Root

Standard vs. Hybrid

Chapter 19

When to Pick Your Tomatoes

Are Tomatoes like Apples?

Cultivar vs. Variety

Chapter 20

How to Store Your Big Tomato

Grower Comments on Storing Tomatoes

Chapter 21

Tomato Diseases and Physiological Disorders

Grower Comments on Tomato Problems

Fungal Diseases

Early Blight

Late Blight

Leaf Mold

Powdery Mildew

Buckeye Rot

Septoria Leaf Spot

Fusarium Crown Rot

Anthracose

Fusarium Wilt

Southern Blight

Gray Leaf Spot

Phytophthora Root Rot

Verticillium Wilt

Damping-Off

Bacterial Diseases

Bacterial Wilt

Bacterial Spot

Bacterial Speck

Bacterial Canker

Viral Diseases

Tomato Mosaic Virus

Other Diseases

Root-knot caused by nematodes

Insects

Aphids

Flea Beetle

Stink Bugs

Blister Beetles

Hornworms

Tomato Fruitworms

Physiological Disorders

Blossom End Rot

Sunscald

Growth Cracks

Cat-facing

Leaf Roll

Chapter 22

Saving Your Seeds

Chapter 23

Crossing Tomatoes

Grower Comments on Crossing Tomatoes

Chapter 24

Composting

Typical C:N ratios of compost material

Compost Stages

Chapter 25

Are you growing a cover crop?

The Cover Crop Chart

Chapter 26

Aerated Compost Tea

How to make ACT

ACT Recipes

Bacterial/Fungal Recipe

Fungal/Bacterial Recipe

Chapter 27

Interpreting Your Soil Test

Soil Sampling

Chapter 28

Growing Degree Days (GDD)

Modified Growing Degree Days (MGDD)

Chapter 29

Hot Weather Tomato Protection

Effect of air temperature on tomato growth and maturity.

Dale Thurber on Controlling Temperature

Chapter 30

Common Grower Mistakes

Chapter 31

The Mycorrhizae Story

Chapter 32

Gordon Graham's How To Book

Chapter 33

Growing in Containers

Choosing your Location

Selecting a Container

Choosing a Growing Medium

Planting

Watering

Fertilizing

Tomato Support

Pruning

Conclusion

Chapter 34

Growing Tomato Plants from Cuttings

Grower Comments

Chapter 35

Charles Wilber, Growing Organically

Chapter 36

"How to" for a Beginning Grower

Chapter 37

Germinating Old Tomato Seeds

Chapter 38

Grafting Tomatoes

Grafting Timetable Day Activity

Chapter 39

MacCoy and the New World Record

Chapter 40

A New Kid in Town, The Changing Landscape of Seeds

Ten Heaviest Tomatoes Officially Weighed thru 2019

Chapter 41

Domingo

Chapter 42

What's next, a Ten Pounder?

How We Grew "Wilson the Slammer"

Chapter 43

Summary

Chapter 44

Some repetition and a few more tips to consider

Chapter 45

What is the secret to growing a really big tomato?

Each contributing grower's answer to the secret of growing big tomatoes

Appendix 1

Some Basic Tomato Recipes

Roasted Tomato Garlic Soup

Fried Green Tomatoes

Bruschetta with Fresh Tomatoes & Garlic

Tomato Paste

Tomato Catsup

Meatless Spaghetti Sauce

Tomato Sauce

No Cook Spaghetti Sauce

Tomato Juice

Tomato and Cheese Soufflé

Appendix 2

The Anatomy of a Tomato Blossom

Blossom Parts

stigma

style

ovary

ovules

anther cone

pollen

petals

sepals

pedicel

peduncle

calyx

stamen

pistil

abscission

Appendix 3

Tomato Basics

Appendix 4

Plant Pruning and Support Example

Appendix 5

The Great Tomato Hunt in Ontario, Canada

Appendix 6

Suppliers

W. Atlee Burpee and Company

Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds

Charley's Greenhouse and Garden

DripWorks

Gardener's Supply Company

Heirloom Seeds

Johnny's Selected Seeds

J. W. Jung Seed Company

Park Seed Company

Peaceful Valley Farm and Garden Supply

Pinetree Garden Seeds

Reimer's Seeds

Sand Hill Preservation Center

Seeds of Change

Seed Savers Exchange

R. H. Shumway Seedsman

Tanager Song Farm

Territorial Seed Company

Thompson and Morgan Seedsmen, Inc

Tomato Growers Supply Company

Totally Tomatoes

Underwood Gardens, Ltd.

Victory Seed Company

WorldClassGardening.com

Appendix 7

Contributors

Appendix 8

Glossary

Abscission

Acid soil

Alkaline soil

Anther

Aphid

Axil

Bacillus thurigensis (See Bt.)

Bacteria

Biological control

Blossom-end rot (BER)

Bt. Bacillus thurigensis

Calyx

Compost

Corolla

Cotyledon(s)

Cover crop

Cross pollination

Crown

Cultivar

Cutting

Cutworm

Damping off

Determinate

Drench

Emasculation

F1 Hybrid

Fibrous root

Foliar feeding

Fungicide

Fungus

Germination

Growing degree days (GDD)

Hardening off

Heat stress

Host

Hybrid

Indeterminate

Infection

Insecticidal soap

Insecticide

Internode (See node.)

Lime

Loam

Medium

Necrosis

Nitrogen

Node

NPK

Nutrient (See NPK.)

Open Pollinated

Ovary

Ovule

Pathogen

Pedicel

Peduncle

Petal

Phosphorus

Photosynthesis

Pistil

Pollen

Pollination

Potassium

Propagation

Pruning

Pyrethrum

Respiration

Row cover

Seed

Seedling

Sepal

Sexual propagation

Side dressing

Soil pH

Species

Stamen

Stem

Stomata

Stigma

Style

Systemic

Tap root

Transpiration

Transplant

Variety

Virus

Wilt

Appendix 9

Testing Labs

Rights

Copyright etc.