Here in Charleston they wouldn't make it through the winter and I doubt they would where you are without some protection. I'm far from an expert though! Maybe someone else will chime in....

Funny you should ask. I was wondering the same thing today here in Valdosta. My tomato vines are so huge and not producing so should I cut them back and hope for those BLTs in the fall?

I just did it! I cut them WAY back because they were taking over everything. At first I thought they were going to die, but now about two weeks later, the plants are coming back and new leaves and stalks are starting to form.

I just hope they survive the heat of August! We have not gotten anywhere near the usual amount of summer rain here this year, and to water everything would literally cost me hundreds of dollars!

I look at it this way; If they live, great! If not, they cost 1.99 each at HD and will be producing fruit within weeks as soon as the summer is gone!

Now I don't know what will happen if your area gets into the freezing temperatures during winter. Here we average about 60-65 degrees at night in January...

Thats what we average during the DAY, here. Tomatoes can indeed come back, but even those are killed to the ground by the first good frost and return in the spring....most do not retrun though, or at least that has been my experience and I no longer wait on them to do so....when they quit producing they are just dug up.

Well, if they're killed by the frost then I guess that's it. Last year we had (kept track) 25 frosts. The frost on Jan 7th caught me unprepared--and my few tropicals were lost. Well, I pruned all the tomatoes just for the heck of it.

The coldest here was one night, Jan 7th, at 26, with daytime temps ranging from 58 to 80 (on Jan 5th) in Jan.

Wilmington--how did you do with Charley?
Pat

Charley was a no-show here. 20 hours before his arrival the forecast was for Savannah's islands to have 118 MPH winds...so I shipped the wife and kids up to Dublin, as my house is surrounded by lots of large sand live oaks and they were calling for 6-8 inches of rain...which would "float" the roots and if that happened, hell, a 50 mph wind would send them on the house. I did, however, make it to the beach to surf early that next morning and caught the biggest waves i have ever seen on off of Tybee. Easily 8 footers. I caught several curls and was having my best day of surfing in many years...until...I got rolled severley and nearly dislocated my shoulder..and had enough strawberries on my body to put a farm out of business. It just goes to show you that "you can't surf ahead of the wave, or behind it". It was a very rough spill that was a sobering experience, but, I can't wait for the next big swells to come!. We had maybe 12-15 days where it dropped below freezing here, with only 4 or 5 frosts. Our low was 26 as well...and that wasn't a frost. Our lowest frost was 27 and defoliated about 1/3 of the leaves on one of my passionfruit vines.

Wilmington,
Well, here comes another storm. Love "watching" those waves--bigger than the ones on Lake Erie. :) These storms are new to me--like everything else here. Staying off I95 & hoping I don't have to get on it.
Pat

I'm a glutton for punishment and will be out in the surf this afternnon adn tomorrow...i just can't help myself when I see those big rollers.