My sad looking tomato plant turned into a sauce factory after 3 weeks of neglect

I went on a 2 week vacation last month and left my one tomato plant to fend for itself. Came back to a dried out, droopy mess with leaves curling up like they were giving up. Figured it was a goner but I watered it anyway just to be nice. Three weeks later that same ugly plant has 12 massive tomatoes on it, all lumpy and weird shaped. They taste better than the perfect looking ones from the grocery store for sure. Anyone else have a plant that thrives on pure neglect?

2 comments

2 Comments

parker_bailey8d ago

The leaves curling up is actually a sign of stress but not necessarily death. Tomato plants are tough, they bounce back hard if they survive the initial shock. Those weird shapes you're seeing are probably from inconsistent watering during the fruit set stage, it causes weird cell growth. Grocery store tomatoes are bred to look perfect on shelves but taste like cardboard because they are picked green. Yours ripened on the vine so the sugars had time to develop, that's the real difference. Neglect might just be the best thing you can do for a tomato plant if it survives the dry spell.

the_fiona8d ago

Bet it's the soil temperature swings doing it.