diff --git a/src/java/com/samskivert/jdbc/depot/MySQLBuilder.java b/src/java/com/samskivert/jdbc/depot/MySQLBuilder.java
index e3940ca..b522ef0 100644
--- a/src/java/com/samskivert/jdbc/depot/MySQLBuilder.java
+++ b/src/java/com/samskivert/jdbc/depot/MySQLBuilder.java
@@ -173,7 +173,7 @@ public class MySQLBuilder
     }
 
     @Override
-    protected <T> String getColumnType (FieldMarshaller fm)
+    protected <T> String getColumnType (FieldMarshaller fm, int length)
     {
         if (fm instanceof ByteMarshaller) {
             return "TINYINT";
@@ -202,7 +202,10 @@ public class MySQLBuilder
             } else if (ftype.equals(Double.class)) {
                 return "DOUBLE";
             } else if (ftype.equals(String.class)) {
-                return "VARCHAR";
+                if (length < (1 << 15)) {
+                    return "VARCHAR(" + length + ")";
+                }
+                return "TEXT";
             } else if (ftype.equals(Date.class)) {
                 return "DATE";
             } else if (ftype.equals(Time.class)) {
@@ -218,7 +221,19 @@ public class MySQLBuilder
                     "Don't know how to create SQL for " + ftype + ".");
             }
         } else if (fm instanceof ByteArrayMarshaller) {
-            return "VARBINARY";
+            // semi-arbitrarily use VARBINARY() up to 32767
+            if (length < (1 << 15)) {
+                return "VARBINARY(" + length + ")";
+            }
+            // use BLOB to 65535
+            if (length < (1 << 16)) {
+                return "BLOB";
+            }
+            if (length < (1 << 24)) {
+                return "MEDIUMBLOB";
+            }
+            return "LONGBLOB";
+
         } else if (fm instanceof IntArrayMarshaller) {
             return "BLOB";
         } else if (fm instanceof ByteEnumMarshaller) {
diff --git a/src/java/com/samskivert/jdbc/depot/PostgreSQLBuilder.java b/src/java/com/samskivert/jdbc/depot/PostgreSQLBuilder.java
index a1b1fbd..a102fb4 100644
--- a/src/java/com/samskivert/jdbc/depot/PostgreSQLBuilder.java
+++ b/src/java/com/samskivert/jdbc/depot/PostgreSQLBuilder.java
@@ -186,7 +186,7 @@ public class PostgreSQLBuilder
     }
 
     @Override
-    protected <T> String getColumnType (FieldMarshaller fm)
+    protected <T> String getColumnType (FieldMarshaller fm, int length)
     {
         if (fm instanceof ByteMarshaller) {
             return "SMALLINT";
@@ -215,7 +215,10 @@ public class PostgreSQLBuilder
             } else if (ftype.equals(Double.class)) {
                 return "DOUBLE";
             } else if (ftype.equals(String.class)) {
-                return "VARCHAR";
+                if (length < (1 << 15)) {
+                    return "VARCHAR(" + length + ")";
+                }
+                return "TEXT";
             } else if (ftype.equals(Date.class)) {
                 return "DATE";
             } else if (ftype.equals(Time.class)) {
diff --git a/src/java/com/samskivert/jdbc/depot/SQLBuilder.java b/src/java/com/samskivert/jdbc/depot/SQLBuilder.java
index c3b9ecb..f6d8047 100644
--- a/src/java/com/samskivert/jdbc/depot/SQLBuilder.java
+++ b/src/java/com/samskivert/jdbc/depot/SQLBuilder.java
@@ -145,15 +145,10 @@ public abstract class SQLBuilder
 
         if (!typeDone) {
             if (type.length() == 0) {
-                type = getColumnType(fm);
+                type = getColumnType(fm, length);
             }
             builder.append(" ").append(type);
 
-            // if this is a VARCHAR field, add the length
-            if (type.equals("VARCHAR") || type.equals("VARBINARY")) {
-                builder.append("(").append(length).append(")");
-            }
-
             // TODO: handle precision and scale
 
             // handle nullability and uniqueness
@@ -177,7 +172,7 @@ public abstract class SQLBuilder
      * Add full-text search capabilities, as defined by the provided {@link FullTextIndex}, on
      * the table associated with the given {@link DepotMarshaller}. This is a highly database
      * specific operation and must thus be implemented by each dialect subclass.
-     * 
+     *
      * {@see Conditionals.FullTextIndex}
      */
     public abstract <T extends PersistentRecord> boolean addFullTextSearch (
@@ -196,8 +191,9 @@ public abstract class SQLBuilder
 
     /**
      * Overridden by subclasses to figure the dialect-specific SQL type of the given field.
+     * @param length
      */
-    protected abstract <T> String getColumnType (FieldMarshaller fm);
+    protected abstract <T> String getColumnType (FieldMarshaller fm, int length);
 
     /** The class that maps persistent classes to marshallers. */
     protected DepotTypes _types;