Green Giant
| Green Giant | |
|---|---|
| Maturity | late |
| Growth habit | indet. |
| Leaf type | potato |
| Fruit color | green |
| Fruit shape | oblate, beefsteak |
| Fruit size | large |
| Fruit type | slicer |
| Variety type | open-pollinated |
| Country | USA |
- Seed Source
- Reimer Seeds
B.C KO T
- Indet., potato leaf, large oblate green-when-ripe beefsteak fruits that are beautifully uniform and don't have any amber flush that some other green varieties may have (i.e. Cherokee Green), lime color, 17-28 oz, most of the fruits are within 1 lb range, good yield, outstanding flavor, sweet and juicy, very meaty flesh with few seed cavities.
Seed source:
- 1. Reimer Seeds
- 2. Darrel Jones, Alabama 13 / Susan Anderson of Elgin, Texas (TX AN S) / TX GU R 05 (Michael Gunn, Texas) / Neil Lockhart of Oblong, Illinois (IL LO N) / Reinhard Kraft, Neukirchen, Germany
- 3. Tomato Growers Supply 14
- 4. Neil Lockhart of Oblong, Illinois (IL LO N) 05 / Reinhard Kraft, Neukirchen, Germany 04
Year grown: 2006(1), 2013(2)
Location: Zone 7b, PNW, Anmore, BC, Canada (760 ft above sea level)
IL LO N
- 95 days, indet., potato leaf plant with a good yield of 12-24 oz green and amber beefsteak fruit with outstanding flavor, from Reinhard Kraft, Neukirchen, Germany 04.
Seed source:
- Reimer Seeds / Reinhard Kraft, Neukirchen, Germany
Year grown:
Location: Oblong, Illinois
MI FL J
- Large vines that need caging or staking. First maturity about 80 days. Good yield of medium to large (typically 8-12 oz. but sometimes to 1 lb) usually smooth oblate fruit that is green when ripe. Very good, well balanced, complex rich flavor makes this better than most green-when-ripe varieties. Unlike most other green-when-ripe varieties, the color does not change much when the fruit ripen. They may become a subtly lighter shade of green, but usually do not take on a yellowish hue or pink blush as other green varieties sometimes do (despite my picture, this is a rarity). The most reliable indicator of ripening is a gentle squeeze of the fruit – they go from rock-hard to having some give when they are ripe. (Practice squeezing your other tomatoes to get a feel for what to expect, LOL!) This variety is well worth the effort and will reward you nicely.
Seed source:
- Reimer Seeds / Craig LeHoullier of Raleigh, North Carolina (NC LE C) / Reinhard Kraft, Neukirchen, Germany
Year grown: 2005, 2006, 2007
Location: Augusta, Michigan
TX AN S
- 80-85 days, large indet., potato leaf plants, medium to medium large green-when-ripe fruits with wonderful, melon-like flavor, little or no blush at blossom end when ripe, extremely productive in my garden.
Seed source:
- Reimer Seeds / Michael Gunn of Pasadena, Texas (TX GU R) 05 / Neil Lockhart of Oblong, Illinois (IL LO N) / Reinhard Kraft, Neukirchen, Germany
Year grown: 2007
Location: Bastrop, Texas
ID DE M
- This produced a number of large tomatoes (perhaps about a pound each). They were entirely green even when ripe (not a hint of yellow), which quite surprised some people. This is one of the best-tasting tomatoes I've tried (at least fruits grown in the sun; some that wandered into a more shaded area tasted different). The flavor was very much like a tomato (not a melon), and I wouldn't call it sweet (though someone else who tried one or more of mine described it as sweet); it had a rich, but light flavor that was very, very good. The potato-leaved plants looked nice. The fruits were very juicy (perhaps the juiciest tomatoes I had ever had). The shape was oblate to beefsteak, I suppose. Fruits were very prone to cracking near the stem end at ripening-time. They were ideal for fresh-eating or fresh juice. They tasted more like regular tomatoes when cooked. Everyone who tried this variety seemed to love it (although the fact that it was green unsettled at least one person). These wouldn't set fruit in 90+° F., but they were earlier for me than most people (earlier than most of my midseason tomatoes; the first one ripened on 11 Sep 2015; I transplanted them some time between early May and early June). After the weather cooled down and got rainy, these were prone to some kind of disease that affected the fruit in a unique way (the foliage had no symptoms). Production wasn't impressive, considering what I had read, but I got a number of tomatoes between (I think) three plants. I grew them in compact clay or clay loam soil. We had record temperatures in late June (up to 116° F.), and very hot temperatures in July; this probably impacted production. I gave them probably more potassium sulfate and basalt rockdust than was desirable (I did that with most of our tomatoes in 2015).
Seed source:
- Reimer Seeds / rareseeds.com (purchased 15 Apr 2015)
Year grown: 2015
Location: New Plymouth, Idaho
History
- Craig LeHoullier identified Green Giant as an unusual variety while perusing Reinhard Kraft's tomato database web site, in that it is the first known potato leaf, green fruited variety. Reinhard indicates that he selected Green Giant as an unexpected potato leaf seedling in a regular leaf Green variety (name unknown, but he indicated he thought it was from Canada). Upon request, Reinhard shared seeds with Craig in 2004. Craig obtained a mix of potato leaf (predominant) and regular leaf seedlings, and grew out a potato leaf plant which matched the picture on the web site. It was the best tasting tomato of Craig's garden that year, and it was clear that this would become a popular variety once it made its way into commerce. Craig shared the seeds with others, and it found its way into the SSE yearbook and seed catalogs.
Related
- Dwarf Jade Beauty,
- Dwarf Beryl Beauty,
- Dwarf Mr. Snow,
- Dwarf Emerald Giant,
- Summertime Gold,
- Summertime Green
Picture Gallery
Tatiana Kouchnareva (B.C KO T). Green Giant - leaf. 2013-07-07.
Tatiana Kouchnareva (B.C KO T). Green Giant - plant. 2013-07-07.
Denise Salmon. Green Giant, plant. July 21, 2006
Klaus-Peter Schurz (GERM SC K). Green Giant - flower.
Sherry Shiesl, Alaska. Green Giant - green fruit. 2011.
Sherry Shiesl, Alaska. Green Giant - ripe fruit. 2011.
Tatiana Kouchnareva (B.C KO T). Green Giant - ripe fruit. 2006.
Tatiana Kouchnareva (B.C KO T). Green Giant. 2006.
Tatiana Kouchnareva (B.C KO T). Green Giant. 2006.
Tatiana Kouchnareva (B.C KO T). Green Giant. 2006.
Sherry Shiesl, Alaska. Green Giant - sliced fruit. 2011.
Jeff Fleming (MI FL J). Green Giant. 2005
Klaus-Peter Schurz (GERM SC K). Green Giant - sliced.
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