🍅 Quick take: Slankard’s is a legendary Pennsylvania heirloom indeterminate oxheart capable of producing colossal, blunt raspberry-pink fruits from 14 oz up to well over 2 lbs (400-1000 g+). Multiple growers call it the largest tomato they have ever grown. Because its slender vine carries a modest leaf canopy relative to its gigantic fruit load, heavy potassium feeding and consistent deep watering are critical to prevent internal hollow pockets. Full summary ↓
Growers’ Notes and Photos (USDA Zones 2b-6b Experience)
Indeterminate mid-season variety. The fruits are gigantic: deep pink, blunt round-hearts, occasionally showing faint yellow shoulders. Yield was very heavy.
The vine frame is quite slender with remarkably stout fruit trusses. It’s honestly baffling how such a polite, modest plant manages to carry such monstrous fruit.
As for taste: I don’t think I unlocked its full potential this season. My fruits had internal hollow spaces and tough white vascular veins. Seeds came from A. Kulik. Definitely planning to give this variety another trial down the road.
The vine frame is quite slender with remarkably stout fruit trusses. It’s honestly baffling how such a polite, modest plant manages to carry such monstrous fruit.
As for taste: I don’t think I unlocked its full potential this season. My fruits had internal hollow spaces and tough white vascular veins. Seeds came from A. Kulik. Definitely planning to give this variety another trial down the road.
Thinking back on it: this variety was clearly starved for potassium. It definitely needs a more aggressive feeding regimen. The fruit are gigantic, but the leaf canopy is fairly sparse, so the vine struggles to pump enough nutrition into those monsters. Dug up a photo of it hanging on the plant:
Such a gorgeous tomato! 👍
From my 2015 season:
Pretty and productive, but the flavor didn’t blow me away either.
For me, this turned out to be one of the absolute tastiest tomatoes in the garden!
Yield was right down the middle, and the shape wasn’t even a classic pointed heart – more like rounded cuboid blocks or cones. 😄
Yield was right down the middle, and the shape wasn’t even a classic pointed heart – more like rounded cuboid blocks or cones. 😄
Ended up mid-season for me, even leaning slightly mid-early. First photo is from July 3, the second and third from July 10. Flavor was good, though a little extra acidity would have made it more balanced – felt slightly mild.
Productivity was fantastic, averaging 9-14 oz (250-400 g), and the fruit on the upper clusters actually sized up even larger! It set every single cluster and kept ripening fruit deep into summer.
Out in open garden beds, the clusters set fewer total blossoms, but the individual fruits grew significantly bigger. In hindsight, I probably should have thinned the fruit clusters to balance sizing.
Edited August 20, 2016 by Nadine
Productivity was fantastic, averaging 9-14 oz (250-400 g), and the fruit on the upper clusters actually sized up even larger! It set every single cluster and kept ripening fruit deep into summer.
Out in open garden beds, the clusters set fewer total blossoms, but the individual fruits grew significantly bigger. In hindsight, I probably should have thinned the fruit clusters to balance sizing.
Edited August 20, 2016 by Nadine
Potassium Demand, Watering, and Sizing Up 2-Pound Giant Hearts
In my garden, Slankard’s struggles with disease every single year, and without question it demands heavy potassium. In an early heated greenhouse (planted out in early February), it sets fruit very late.
But once it finally kicks into gear? Out of nowhere, it starts throwing massive boulders – easily 14 oz (400 g) and up, usually much larger. Heavy, ribbed blunt hearts. If you want to avoid hollow cavities inside, you have to water consistently and deeply. The plant itself is very strong.
But once it finally kicks into gear? Out of nowhere, it starts throwing massive boulders – easily 14 oz (400 g) and up, usually much larger. Heavy, ribbed blunt hearts. If you want to avoid hollow cavities inside, you have to water consistently and deeply. The plant itself is very strong.
Slankard’s has been an all-time staple for me. You can only describe it in superlatives: massive fruit, huge yields, gorgeous looks, delicious flavor, and surprisingly resilient.
Another angle of the harvest! 😊
And here is how the green fruit look sizing up on the vine:
One of the largest tomatoes I’ve ever grown. Every single fruit on the vine was huge, with some turning into absolute monsters!
Edited February 27, 2020 by IrinaVinn
Edited February 27, 2020 by IrinaVinn
Hands down the biggest tomato I have ever grown in my life!
Quick Facts: Variety Summary
- 🌿 Growth Habit: Indeterminate vine with a polite, slender oxheart architecture. Stems and trusses are exceptionally stout to support the massive load, but the relatively light canopy means fruit clusters need careful monitoring for nutrition.
- 🍅 Fruit Profile: Massive, blunt, conical-to-cuboid pink hearts. Specimen weights routinely run 14 oz to well over 2 lbs (400-1000 g+). Thin skin, multi-locular dense meat, with minimal seeds.
- ⚠️ Nutritional & Watering Demands: Heavy potassium feeder. Because the fruits are immense and leaf area is modest, inadequate potassium and sporadic watering cause internal hollow pockets and white core fibers. Regular deep watering and supplemental potassium ensure solid, meaty interiors.
- 📈 Yield Performance: Outstanding producer across USDA Zones 3 to 6b, setting fruit all the way up the vine without aborting upper trusses.
- 🌎 Origin: Traditional American family heirloom preserved by Bob Slankard of Butler, Pennsylvania.
