I wouldn't. Tomato plants do best when moisture levels are consistent.

Hi Robeb, thanks for the quick response. Good to think about, is it better to have a healthy plant that makes it and produces tomatoes or ...take the chance on that experiment but risk fooling with moisture and thus, BER or worse.

There are so many variables to consider.

Your "other varieties all ok only" could have tasted that way to you because of:
variety, temps, rain, environmental or pest damage, your personal palate preferences, etc.

I try new varieties each season. After a while you'll find some that you can't do without, but keep looking for new favorites.

I have always found watering sparingly gave me my best tasting tomatoes. But when I do that I do it really for the entire season. I don't usually water frequently and then cut back. Unfortunately, there may not be much choice this year. Last week I emptied 6 1/2 inches from my rain gauge and haven't checked it since the last several days of rain. The main problem I have had occasionally from sparse watering was if there was heavy rain after fruit set, I would have more cracking of fruit. I have to pick whatever is at breaking stage before a heavy rain is forecast to get more uncracked fruit. To me it is worth it. When we have a very rainy year and I can't control them getting a lot of water, I think it waters down the taste.

I did this last year - not on purpose - and the tomatoes I got were the best tasting tomatoes I've ever grown. But.... You will definitely lose tomatoes to a variety of causes this way, especially blossom end rot, and lower overall productivity. And, obviously, if it decides to rain buckets, your plan is pretty much out the window.

I do intend to try it again this year - this time on purpose - because I liked the results, but I will probably modify things somewhat. Last year I didn't water at all. This year, I probably won't go as extreme.

I did this last year - not on purpose - and the tomatoes I got were the best tasting tomatoes I've ever grown.

What makes you think that lack of water was the reason for the taste?

I take the chance on a bit of BER. Sometimes I get a little, sometimes none. When there is no rain, I go about 5 days between deep waterings. The plant and leaves suffer, but the tomato flavor certainly doesn't.

A few years ago I experimented with watering one plant every 5 days, and another plant (the same variety) every 2 1/2 days. The flavor of the "5 day" tomatoes were outstanding, The flavor of the "2 1/2 day" tomatoes were insipid. The 5 day plant looked horrible, and produced fewer and smaller fruit. The 2/1/2 day plant was huge and healthy, and loaded down with large tasteless tomatoes.

An in-beteen watering cycle might be tried, this year.

BobincentralMA, can you put an email contact into your page info?

Gary

there actually is a technique refered to as 'Dry Farming' or 'Dryland Farming' that is, essentially, plant and pray. very little irrigation is done. Now, when it comes to crops like tomatoes that like more water, it does take SOME water, but a delicate balance has to be maintained, as was mentioned earlier, a late heavy rainfall could really set you back. A google search turns up a couple of resources.

Even if you aren't going for 'dry farming' for your tomatoes, care should always be taken to not overwater as that does lead to watery, tasteless, tomatoes.

Here is a link that might be useful: dry farming tomatoes

A few years ago I experimented with watering one plant every 5 days, and another plant (the same variety) every 2 1/2 days. The flavor of the "5 day" tomatoes were outstanding, The flavor of the "2 1/2 day" tomatoes were insipid. The 5 day plant looked horrible, and produced fewer and smaller fruit. The 2/1/2 day plant was huge and healthy, and loaded down with large tasteless tomatoes.

Sorry, but I'd like to hear more about your experiment. The great tasting plant looked horrible, and produced fewer & smaller fruit?

Were these in the ground, containers, close to one another?

I don't go far enough to hurt the plant. If I see wilting I water. But, I have very high organic content in my garden, so it holds water well, but it is in a raised bed and about 12 inches down it is sand, so it still drains pretty well. Given my fairly unique conditions, I rarely water and have healthy plants and good tasting tomatoes. When we get lots of rain during fruit set and development, taste suffers among all the varieties I have planted. No experiments, just what I have noticed over 15 years in my own garden.

Robeb,

Plants were in the ground, spacing was about 3' in all directions. The experiment was done on Aunt Ginny's Purple, my favorite tomato.

The 5 day watering cycle really stresses the plants. (It killed one variety, P20) Roughly 20 tomatoes averaged about 11-12 ounces, on a plant that was about 5 feet tall and 4 feet wide. Leaves were ragged, with tips browning up.

The 2 1/2 day cycle plant was over 6' tall, 5' wide, perfectly green and healthy. It broke its stake and knocked over its cage. About 30 tomatoes averaged 15-16 ounces, but were as close to tasteless as can be.

Like Sue, my garden has high organic matter, that holds alot of water, and 1 foot down is sand, so there is also excellent drainage.

Gary

Minimum watering is good for growing in the ground, but since I grow in containers, if I cut my watering back the plants would die quickly.

Big difference between zone 6 and zone 10 though, lol. You have to judge the local conditions and how the plants are tolerating it.

Zone 10... thinking you mean me?

I didn't set my zone, and never noticed that it says "10", until now. I'm north of you in Massachusetts, somewhere between 5 and 6. Maybe I'll attempt to reset it to a more correct zone. :)

I'm also hoping others will put up their email address next to their user name. It makes contacting much easier.

Many emails routing through Gardenweb, after first trying to find the email address at the "My Page", just don't go through. It makes hosting a tomato round robin swap a nightmare.

Gary

Yes, Gary, I meant you, lol. You might want to pursure changing that, so that people dont get the impression that is where you are.

I don't think that the amount of watering the plant affects the taste of the fruits of tomato, cukes, watermelons, etc. They are basically better than 90% water anyway. Flavor, taste is mainly due to the characteristics of the type. And l also believe that soil and climate (sunshine, in particular) can affect the taste as well.

Seysonn,

If you attempt roughly the same experiment that I did, I think you'd be convinced that watering drastically affects the taste of tomatoes. Not just minor overwatering, but extreme overwatering. It's agreed that variety is the most important factor, because a tomatoes flavor can only be as good as what that variety can best produce. My experiment showed me that the one variable (amount of water) produced both the best tasting, and the worst tasting tomatoes in my garden that year. This tomato variety was measured against itself and ~100 other varieties.

In all my years of gardening, the variety and the amount of watering are the biggest influences on flavor, from what I"ve seen. Soil and climate (sunshine, heat, cold, etc...) only have had minor affects.

Gary

Hi again, thanks all for the chat still. Now, in reading this, I'll morph this question to also add, should you deep water and, if so, how often. I've read that yes, 1 inch a week or deep water once a week. I've added organics and the soil isn't drying out but remaining really solid, moist but not too bad.

So, in conclusion, yes, I think I'm now leaning to not overwater but not scale back. Does this mean, now mid summer, should we deep water once a week or once in awhile or .. .cut back in general, probably never deep water unless you see the plants wilt. Continued thanks for your thoughts !! Bob

I think people tend to water a little more in the summer due 1) hotter temps drying out soil faster. 2) 10x greater plant mass. 3) less rain than springtime typically.

The "water when wilt" method seems better suited for pepper plants imho, which tend to prefer a drier soil.

This post was edited by sjetski on Sun, Jul 14, 13 at 10:47