It's B-a-a-ack.

[bluelacedredhead]

The popularity of vegetable gardening rises always when Unemployment rises along with the price of fuel.
Then magazines and coupon books in the mail run ads for novelty items like
Giant Tree Tomatoes and Fruit Trees that bear 5 different varieties on one tree.
And books on 1,001 Secrets of Gardening that Only the Experts Know And Won't Tell

I've never bought any of these Cocktail Party Conversation pieces, but I've been tempted many times. Why just Today, I cut out the ad for the Giant Tree Tomato plants!

www.gardenerschoice.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=70

What about You??

Read the following reviews before you do...And note that the Company in question has a Notice at the top of their website saying that their Phone Service is Out of Order and should be repaired soon.....

Buyer Beware!!!

chattywomen.com/lifeonline/2008/03/31/giant-tomato-tree-by-gardeners-choice/

[Penny]

Hmmm, sounds a little odd with the phone being out huh, thanks for the info and the link.

[flowerpower]

That's the same place that sells the "Tomato-Potato". Here os what one of the "chatty women" says-

"the Giant Tree Tomato is not a real tomato. It is a slow-growing “clade” (distant relative) native to Peru, South Africa, etc. And the photos on the Web site are totally bogus. The fruit are elongated, full of seeds, and not very palatable."

Would the seeds look the same as a tomato? One guy said it took 8 weeks for them to germinate.

[castanea]

Some ads for tree tomatoes, like the GC ad, are for true tomatoes. There are two or three different but vigorous varieties that show up in these ads.

Some ads for tree tomatoes are for tamarillos - Cyphomandra betacea. Tamarillo fruit are elongated and in my opinion, taste great, better than tomatoes. They are far more expensive here in the grocery stores than tomatoes. The problem with trying to grow them is that while they actually do grow fairly quickly, it takes about 120 days to get a fruit. Shortly thereafter they freeze if they are growing in any zone cooler than zone 9. You might get a half dozen fruit within 130 days.

But, if they overwinter they produce a lot of fruit the second season.