Chapter 40
A New Kid In Town, The Changing Landscape Of Seeds
As time has passed seeds not available several years ago have become commonplace. Most of these newer seeds are progeny of Big Zac F1, Minnie Zac's hybrid that has been grown for at least 20 years by giant tomato growers and which by itself has produced some good sized tomatoes. The set of events leading to these seeds started with Chris Lyons of Canada. He purchased and grew some Big Zac F1 seeds from a company named Totally Tomatoes, a seed company specializing in tomato and pepper seeds that made and sold Big Zac seeds. In 2005 Chris Lyons grew a 3.90 pound tomato from his newly purchased Big Zac (BZ) F1 seeds. He then used some seeds from that tomato, now F2, and grew a 4.59 pound tomato in 2006. Seeds from that tomato, now F3 were sent to Frank Catapano, also of Canada, who grew a 3.90 pound tomato in 2007. Some of the seeds from that tomato, now an F4, were given to Brandt Timm, also of Canada, and in 2008 he grew a 5.80 pound tomato. Some of the resulting BZ F5 seeds from his tomato were sent to Nick Harp in the U.S.A. who in 2009 grew a 5.41 pound tomato. Some seeds from that 5.41 BZF6 were sent to Fabrice Boudyo in France and he was able to grow a 5.07 pound tomato. Seeds from that tomato, 5.07 Boudyo (BZ F7) 2010 have had many large offspring, one of them being the 4.57 MacCoy (BZ F7) 2013 seed which produced a new world record, an 8.41 pound tomato in 2014.
These new seeds have produced lots of really big tomatoes besides the new world record and have upset the standings for Heaviest Tomatoes officially weighed in the United States and Canada by placing six new tomatoes in the top ten in the last two years as noted below:
Ten Heaviest Tomatoes Officially Weighed thru 2019
1. Steve Marley 9.65 2019
2. Dan Sutherland 9.44 2018
Other 9.44 Suntherland 2018 tomato images...
3. Dan Sutherland 8.61 2016
4. Dan Sutherland 8.48 2018
5. Dan MacCoy 8.41 2014
6. Steve Marley 8.22 2017
7. Mehdi Daho 8.07 2018
Other Daho 2018 tomato images...
8. Gordon Graham 7.75 1986
It held the world record until 2014 (28 years)
9. Joe Menting 7.73 2018
10. Larry Hill 7.66 2018
Anyone who wants to be competitive is now growing primarily seeds from this Big Zac line as well as seeds from a newly rediscovered variety, Domingo. In the future it may be difficult to get competitive giant tomato growers to use anything but these seeds making it nearly impossible to introduce new varieties.
Another trend, the crossing and recrossing of giant tomatoes presently being grown, will create some new hybrid varieties which certainly will merit, at the least, a trial of growing. Varieties being considered for crossing include Brutus Magnum, Delicious, Dominge, MegaMarv and, of course, any of the new or old Big Zacs. The present tendency to go with something that is proven may however make the introduction of the new hybrid varieties difficult.
