Mortgage Lifter
Heirloom tomato
- Breeding
- Heirloom
- Growth habit
- Indeterminate
- Days to maturity
- 80-85 days 3 sources, none independent · basis unstated
- Fruit
- pink, beefsteak
- Weight
- 16-32 oz 3 sources, none independent
- Bred by
- -
Grey captions say what stands behind that particular figure. Breeding, growth habit and fruit characters carry no caption because they rest on the record's sources as a whole rather than citing their own; closing that gap is ordinary outstanding work, not a finished job.
Origin & history
Developed in the 1930s-40s by M.C. 'Radiator Charlie' Byles of Logan, West Virginia, who crossed his four biggest tomatoes for six years, then sold plants for a dollar apiece and paid off his mortgage, the origin story is documented in recorded family interviews. Huge meaty pink fruit.
Measurements
| Measurement | Value | Context |
|---|---|---|
| Days to maturity | 80-85 days | Consensus range across the cited sources, which include both independent references and commercial catalogs. |
| Fruit weight | 16-32 oz | Typical range for the cultivar, as a consensus across the cited sources. Not a measured mean from any single crop: fruit weight varies with season, spacing and where on the plant the fruit set. |
Against the rest of the tomato database
Where this variety sits among every tomato we hold a comparable figure for. Position is not merit: earlier is not better than later, and hotter is not better than milder. Only cultivar-level figures are compared, never trial results, and maturity is only ranked against figures counted the same way.
later than 79% of the 258 tomatoes we hold a figure for. None of these figures state whether they are counted from sowing or from transplant, so they are ranked against each other on the assumption that suppliers use one convention, which is not something any of them says.
heavier than 88% of the 72 tomatoes we hold a figure for.
Traits
Disease resistance
No documented disease resistance, typical of heirlooms and older open-pollinated varieties. See tomato diseases for the cultural playbook that fills the gap.
Related varieties
- heirloom
Aunt Ginny's Purple
78-85 days · Indeterminate
- heirloom
Brandywine
80-100 days · Indeterminate
- heirloom
Brandywine, Sudduth's Strain
85-95 days · Indeterminate
- heirloom
Hungarian Heart
80-85 days · Indeterminate
- heirloom
Marianna's Peace
85-90 days · Indeterminate
- heirloom
Omar's Lebanese
80-90 days · Indeterminate
Head to head
Explore all tomato varieties · compare any two · when to plant it where you are
Sources & References
Evidence: 3 sources, 2 community collections and 1 seed catalog. No independent reference documents this yet.
- Victory Seeds variety histories · Victory Seed Company, Seed Catalog
- Seed Savers Exchange catalog & variety histories · Seed Savers Exchange, Community Collection
- Vegetable Varieties for Gardeners · Cornell University Cooperative Extension, Community Collection