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Lewisburg’s Largest Tomato Plant?

LEWISBURG — People go in and out of the Union County Courthouse in Lewisburg each day. Sometimes they stop and look at the landscaping. There are flower b...

LEWISBURG -- People go in and out of the Union County Courthouse in Lewisburg each day. Sometimes they stop and look at the landscaping. There are flower beds and plants. But one plant, in particular, is getting attention from people who come to the courthouse: a tomato plant.

"I think it's huge," Stacey Walter said.

"It's got more tomatoes on there than I've ever seen on one plant," Felicia Walter said.

The tomato plant is growing right outside the courthouse. Maintenance employee Kim Mattern noticed it earlier this summer and kept his eye on it.

"It turned into this massive plant," Mattern said.

Massive is right.

"18 feet long, 15.5 feet wide," Mattern said.

This is all one tomato plant.

Mattern says the funniest part about this is no one actually planted tomatoes here. He believes someone either threw a cherry tomato or an animal dropped seeds.

"It's called a volunteer. That's what they call them in landscaping," Mattern said.

Mattern did a rough count of the tomatoes so far.

"I'm expecting to pull 600 to 900 tomatoes from this plant," Mattern said.

What will he do with all of these tomatoes?

"I'm going to donate them all to the food pantry in Lewisburg," Mattern said.

Mattern, and others who see the plant have high hopes for it.

"I'm hoping to make it into the Guinness Book," Mattern said.

"I don't know the world record, but this might beat it," Felicia Walter said.

The tomato plant averages three and a half feet tall, and it's four feet tall in some spots. We'll have to wait and see how tall it gets next year.

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