Mortgage Lifter Tomato

History

The Mortgage Lifter tomato has one of the most colorful origin stories in American agricultural history. During the Great Depression in the 1930s, Marshall Cletis Byles operated a radiator repair shop in Logan, West Virginia—earning him the nickname "Radiator Charlie." With no formal horticultural training, Charlie embarked on an ambitious six-year breeding project to create the perfect giant tomato. He planted four of the largest-fruited varieties he could obtain—German Johnson, Beefsteak, an Italian variety, and an English variety—in a circle, with a German Johnson in the center. Using a baby's ear syringe, he cross-pollinated the center plant with pollen from the surrounding giants, then saved seeds from the largest fruits each year. By 1940, he had stabilized a variety producing massive pink tomatoes weighing 2-4 pounds each. Charlie began selling seedlings at $1 each (equivalent to roughly $20 today) from his roadside stand, and customers drove hundreds of miles to purchase them. Within six years, he had made $6,000—enough to pay off the $6,000 mortgage on his house, inspiring the variety's legendary name. The tomato became so famous that it was featured in newspapers across the South, and Radiator Charlie became a folk hero of sorts. The Mortgage Lifter variety was preserved through generations of seed savers and today remains one of the most beloved giant heirloom tomatoes, a testament to one self-taught breeder's determination and ingenuity.