If I told you it is possible to grow three-story high tomato plants that aren’t some Frankenstein lab experient, would you believe me? This Alabama man’s giant tomato plants are legendary in the state and they are completely organic. This is how he grew them.
The Giant Tomato Plant Legend
Charles Wilber set a Guinness World Record in 1985 with his 28-foot-tall giant tomato plant carrying almost 400 pounds of tomatoes. His record has stood until 1999, with the plants bearing cherry tomatoes that weigh in at around 2.5 pounds each. (1, 2) The Guinness record is 65 feet! (3)
He had four of these giant tomato plants that brought in almost 1400 pounds of tomatoes in just one growing season. So how did he grow these plants to be so large and produce so much using entirely organic methods? The secret is out in Charle’s book How to Grow World Record Tomatoes.

5 Tips for Growing Tomatoes
Though his book is worth the read and goes into far greater depth about how he grew such monstrous plants, we’ve collected a few of his secrets here for you to get your feet wet with.
1. Pinch Suckers
“Suckers, if allowed to grow, become full-fledged stems, which in turn will send off more suckers, forking again and again,” he says in his book. “If these suckers are pinched off, the stem can be trained to grow straight up the cage.”
Suckers take energy to grow, just as the rest of the plant does. If you allow them to grow, they will take up valuable resources from the rest of the plant so that it can’t grow as tall or produce as many tomatoes. (2)
They usually grow in the corner between the leaf and stem, where you want to pinch them off to remove them. Just make sure that you are not pinching off the fruit clusters that grow directly off the stem, or you will be removing what should be your future tomatoes.