The Legendary Tomato 'Tree' At Disney World That Broke A World Record
It may not be one of the most exciting thrill rides at Walt Disney World, like Tron Lightcycle Power Run or Big Thunder Mountain, but Living with the Land, a serene boat ride through the Epcot greenhouses with a narrative theme of conservation and farming innovations, is a popular attraction all the same. After you've drunk some Beverly soda at Club Cool, you can mosey over to The Land pavilion and enjoy a relatively-lengthy ride through crisp air conditioning (a real treasure when it comes to the swelter of swampy Florida heat in which WDW exists for much of the year) and even learn a thing or two about agriculture. That includes the fact that tomato "trees" exist. Indeed, the staff at Epcot are so proficient at growing them that such a plant once produced over 30,000 pounds of fruit ... a world record for tomato yield.
On the list of fun facts you didn't know about tomatoes, the existence of a tomato tree definitely rates. Keep in mind, however, that these aren't actual trees. Instead, they are large, indeterminate trailing tomato plants that have an immense width to them and are trellised to a supporting roof. This setup allows the ever-growing tomato vines to expand overhead from the container in which they're planted, turning on its head everything you thought you knew about growing tomatoes in pots. This method has been vastly successful for the staff farmers at Epcot, to the point that, in 2006, a single "tree" produced a whopping 32,194 fruits over the course of a year. The harvest weighed in at over 1,151 pounds!
You can see this famous tomato tree in person
Imagine a tomato plant sprawling 538 square feet from its roots and taking up the entire area of an overhead framework, resulting in a shaded, bright red-and-green canopy of juicy, flourishing tomatoes and verdant leaves untouched by blight or pests. It's a wonder made possible by Epcot's indoor greenhouses, which are temperature-controlled to deliver ideal growing conditions 365 days a year. Guests who board the Living with the Land attraction get to gawk at the masterful gardening projects undertaken by Walt Disney World staff, and can see the prolific tomato "tree" in person.
Treeing tomatoes are remarkably fertile under regular conditions, and a mature plant can normally yield about 14,000 tomatoes. The monster plant at Epcot, however, is a prodigious fruit-bearer by anyone's standard! If you are a home gardener with a penchant for sun-warmed tomatoes, you absolutely must check this out. Best of all, none of the tomatoes are wasted — they're all used in the food served throughout the Walt Disney World complex of theme parks and resorts.
On social media site Reddit, home gardeners were dumbfounded by the existence of the Disney World tomato tree, with many wondering if they could duplicate its results at home. "I haven't been to Epcot for over 20 years and I still think about their tomato trees. LOL," one Redditor reminisced. "Good for the plant! I guess it must really enjoy the spirit of Disney!" someone joked on another thread. On a third Reddit thread, an informed commenter spilled some tea about the Disney process: "They use a hydroponic/aeroponic system for their plants in a green house environment. From the pictures in the article, it seems this works well for other plants as well including large squash/pumpkins."