Every spring, ads in Sunday newspaper supplements promise
plants with unbelievable
yields or fantastic blooms all summer. They boast of trees that
grow as tall as a house in
a single season.
One that’s truly not what it seems is the “tree tomato,” said
University of
Georgia expert Wayne
McLaurin.
NO TOMATOES.
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“That old plant resurfaces almost every year,” said McLaurin,
an Extension
Service horticulturist with the UGA College of Agricultural and
Environmental Sciences.
This year’s ads list the plant as “Giant Tree.”
“As usual, the seller promises yields up to 60 pounds per
plant and stems that
grow to 8 feet tall,” he said. “The plants supposedly don’t need
staking or
caging, either.”
But it looks like the same plant McLaurin has seen before.
“If it’s what has been
marketed before as a ‘tree tomato,’” he said, “it’s botanically
known as Cyphomandra
betacea, a very different species from garden tomatoes.”
Actually, the “tree tomato” is a tropical, semiwoody shrub.
It grows as much
as 10 feet high and starts bearing fruit in the second or third
year. However, the least
amount of frost will kill the plant,” McLaurin said.
And that’s not all the of the bad news. “This plant is in no
way related to the
tomato,” he said. “The fruit is more tart and jelly-like than
our garden tomato.
And it has many more seeds.”
He smiles and shakes his head as he reads the ad closely.
“They’re sending out a
seed planted in a pot at about $3.50 each (plus shipping),” he
said. “That’s one
expensive plant.”
McLaurin’s advice to potential buyers is simple. Take care of
your true tomatoes.
“You’ll be much happier,” he said. “It’s always wise to read all
the fine
print in these ads. And keep in mind that old saying, ‘If it
sounds too good to be true,
it probably is!’”