Old man winter still has his chilly grip on the Chicago area and many other parts of the country, but with spring just around the corner, I’ve begun to notice numerous ads in the coupon inserts of my local newspapers for giant tomato plants and amazing fast growing trees. I’ve wondered about the validity of these colorful eye-catching ads and how these companies stay in business.
Unfortunately, many people are still under the impression that if something is advertised in print, especially in the newspaper, it must be legitimate. I’m a skeptic, and I scrutinize every ad, and I go over every claim with deception in mind before making a decision. Because of past experiences I’m not trusting, and I don’t have extra money to throw away on giant tomato plants that will never produce or fast growing trees that won’t develop into anything taller than a twig. I’m not buying into the claims or the worthless guarantees.
Many years ago when I was young, overly hopeful, and completely inexperienced with clever advertising techniques, I ordered a giant tomato plant from an ad in a local newspaper insert, and although I followed the instructions to a tee, my amazing giant tomato plant never even sprouted. I thought I would hit the mother load when the plant produced, but instead I was very disappointed. Like most people, I figured I must have done something wrong.
I haven’t recently purchased giant tomato plants or amazing fast growing trees, but I have good reasons for not ordering these items. With age comes wisdom, and the quality and content of the ads are both dead giveaways of the invalidity of the claims made. They sound promising, but they’re unrealistic, and they’re way too good to be true.
Before you waste your hard-earned money on giant tomato plants that promise dozens of pounds of luscious tomatoes, and before you throw away hard-earned cash on amazing fast growing trees that are suppose to hover over the roof of your home in a single year, consider the information provided in these ads. Remember the old saying, if it sounds too good to be true it probably is? Commonsense and the following information will help you decide!
How Many Pounds of Tomatoes?
I won’t promote the companies that advertise giant tomato plants or amazing fast growing trees by mentioning product names or websites, but I will mention some of the unbelievable information in their ads. One company ad in particular says the tomatoes produced by their plants will reach a hefty weight of two pounds each, and a single plant will grow sixty pounds of scrumptious tomatoes. Wow! That’s a lot of spaghetti sauce and BLT’s!
Another ad placed by a completely different company is even more unbelievable. This company claims their giant tomato plants produce one hundred pounds of tomatoes from a single plant. When the competition in the giant tomato business is fierce, it’s helpful to outweigh competitors by at least forty pounds, and this company makes an effort to make their giant tomato plants sound bigger and better.
How Tall is That Tree?
The company that advertises the tomato plants that supposedly produce 60 pounds of red ripe tomatoes in a single season also offer amazingly tall fast growing trees. They claim their giant trees will reach the height of a house roof in just one year! I can honestly say I don’t know the average height of a single story house, but considering that most ceilings alone are eight feet high, and considering the height of the foundation and the roof, this is an astonishing claim, but wait. The wonder of this amazing fast growing giant tree doesn’t end with the height it will reach. The company claims that each time their amazing fast growing giant tree is watered it grows a foot taller – not three, not four, not six, but twelve full inches! Maybe, just maybe, I would have believed this fast growing tree could grow as tall as my house in a year, but when the ad claimed this fast growing giant tree would grow another twelve inches each time it was watered, this company went way too far with their claim.
Where are the Photos?
I’d love to see real photos of giant tomato plants that are capable of producing one hundred pounds of tomatoes, and amazing giant trees that grow at least fifteen feet tall in a single year, but actual photos are never provided. These days it’s easy to alter photos to create, distort, or enlarge anything and everything, but even still, these companies advertise their amazing giant products with low-quality drawings. If these products are as wonderful and as giant as they claim, where are the full-color pictures and testimonials? Better yet, why haven’t these amazing giant plants been featured on television? Any tomato plant that can produce one hundred pounds of tomatoes in a single season, and any tree that will grow a foot each time it’s watered, should be featured on a Home and Garden television show.
A Lousy Guarantee
The ad offering tomato plants that will grow 100 pounds of tomatoes in a single season offers satisfaction or money back, but it doesn’t go into details. The ad that offers tomato plants that grow 60 pounds of tomatoes, and the giant tree ad provides more information. They offer a double guarantee! Plants are guaranteed to arrive in good condition, and if buyers decide they aren’t satisfied, they can return the plants within 10 days for a prompt refund or product replacement. Sounds wonderful, doesn’t it? Better still, the giant fast growing trees and giant tomato plants are guaranteed to thrive within a 3 month period. Money will be refunded less the cost of shipping and handling. How can anyone go wrong with this amazing offer?
This type of guarantee is lousy for more than one reason. As a deterrent, the plants and trees must be returned. Can you imagine digging up tomato plants or trees and shipping them back in the mail? First of all, you’d have to pay to send them back, and the company already states that shipping and handling isn’t refundable. Also, by the time you lose the money spent on shipping the plants back, and by the time you lose the original shipping and handling fee, you might as well cut your loses and forget it. Do the math. It just isn’t worth it.
Do yourself a favor, and don’t bother ordering giant tomato plants, amazingly tall fast growing trees, and other products that sound to good to be true. Save your money, and visit your local discount store or garden store that sells healthy high-quality trees and plants, and invest in plant and tree fertilizer. Miracle Grow is a quality product that I highly recommend.
When shopping at local garden centers you’ll see just what you’re getting, and with proper planting and care, your tomato plants and trees will grow as specified. You might even grow a prize-winning tomato, but don’t count on reaping 60 or 100 pounds from a single plant. Some retailers even offer real guarantees on fast growing trees, and you won’t ever have to worry about sending anything back by mail or losing your hard-earned money thrown away on shipping and handling.
