16,949 Garden Web Discussions | Growing Tomatoes
Good information. Growing tomatoes here in florida during the winter does has it's drawbacks. The days are short which results in slower ripening. Plus so little rain. But I'm glad I'm not having to can in August and September like folks up north. Every place has it's good and bad points. Its probably best that there isn't one state that is total perfection for tomato growing,as there might be a population imbalance with too many people like us on this forum wanting to move there!
Rex
I was thankful that I only had to cover my plants once this December. And the warm temperatures meant I had fruit to harvest by New Years. So nice compared to the last couple of years.
It's not perfection here many years, but this year was close except for needing to water so often.
Here is a link to Craig's Dense Seeding video.
Dave
Here is a link that might be useful: Dense Seeding Video
Depends on your night temps during the summer here. If you get down below 73F consistently you can grow most if the cherries through the summer, that's about it. If not then the only tomatoes that will set fruit through the summer are the currants, small but prolific and mighty tasty. I've grown the UF heat tolerant tomatoes as late as June in Zone 10 but they really didn't have much taste.
Tom
I live in south west florida and we can't grow tomatoes in the summer except for currants. Not even the cherries do well down here in the summer due to the nighttime temps being too high. Our nighttime temperatures average 75 in July and August, which is too hot for fruit set even for cherry tomatoes.
The humidity and rain that time of year increase the chances of bacterial and fungal leaf infections and root rot, too. Those can be ameliorated somewhat by spraying and using fast draining mixes in raised beds or containers, but it is a lot of work for currant tomatoes IMO!
The other problem we have down here in the summer is that the daytime temperatures are too hot to allow for even ripening. I believe what happens is that the hot temperatures heat the soil to the point that it is too hot for the plant's roots to take up potassium and this impairs the ability of the fruit to produce lycopene and carotene. The end result is blotchy ripening. So even if you can get some fruit set, you won't get nicely ripened fruit here in the summer at least for the regular sized tomatoes. I have found if the daytime temps are consistently above 85, as is true in May down here, this problem occurs in the regular sized tomatoes.
Like Tom said, if your nighttime temps where you live are consistently 73 or below, you should be able to grow cherry tomatoes in the summer. The only cherry that I have grown is Sun Gold and I grew it this fall. I liked this one if I kept it underwatered and let the fruit ripen on the plant. If I watered regularly, the fruit tasted watery and sour. If I underwatered - let them get to the point they just started to wilt a bit - they were sweet and fruity but they cracked. They are awesome producers, though!
What you can do to figure out the best planting times is find out the average highs and lows in your area by month. Then use the days to maturity (which is days to maturity FROM TRANSPLANT) to calculate when you need to get your seedlings into the ground.
As an example, the average daytime temps in my area in May are 89 so I need all of my fruit ripened by May 1st. If I want to grow a late season variety like Brandywine with a days to maturity of 85 days, I must transplant it no later than February 1st to get the first fruits ripened before it gets too hot. However, since it is an indeterminate and I want to be able to harvest more fruit than just the first fruit to set, I would go back at least a month and get them in the ground/containers by January 1st. However, our nighttime temps in January average 54, which is too cold for fruit set, so I would go back to December 1st for that reason.
I allow 2 months for germination and potting up to get them ready for transplant, so to get them in the ground/containers by December 1st, that means starting my seeds October 1st.
For my fall crop, nighttime temps here in September average 74, which is too hot for fruit set. So I aim for a transplant date of no earlier than October 1st.
Of course I don't have to factor in freeze dates, which you will have to do.
Below is a link to a UF table listing planting dates. I have found this to be a bit too optimistic in stating how long our growing season is at least for the regular sized tomatoes. Cherries and currant varieties you will have better luck with, but even the cherries won't set fruit when the nighttime temps get consistently above 75 in July and August here.
Here is a link that might be useful: Florida Planting Dates
New at tomato planting, have planted three tomato plants in containters in my patio. have great fruit. but now some of the tomatoes have small round holes, don't know if they are birds eating them. or some other pests. The leaves are healthy, no spots or anything on them. Please advise as to how would I know that it is.
After birds started eating my beautiful tomatoes, I constructed a frame with home depot bird netting stapled to it. That stopped the birds, but lizards got trapped/died. That is teriible, cutting rotting lizards from the net. I won't do that again!!!
I grew large cherry variety that I planed in Apr 2011, to this day it keeps producing with no fertilizer, I am amazed on how long life these things have. And with current weather that is sort of spring like already, its blooming very hard again along with my 10 other heirloom tomato plants that I never pulled out. My thought was to use the tomato plants to support pea vines but both are thriving now.
Go with large cherry, I also heard that black cherry is the same way. Oh, I am in Corona area so that should work for you too.
It sounds like you might be interested in the new releases from the Dwarf Tomato Project. The link below gives a brief description of the project, and the new varieties that have been released so far. I think the tallest of the new dwarfs is 4 or 4.5 feet.
Here is a link that might be useful: Dwarf Tomato Project
Tatiana's TOMATObase seed catalog can be searched by "dwarf" in the Description field. Not everything that comes up is a dwarf -- some are basket types -- but she usually gives plant height or at least enough information to know if it's the size you're interested in.
You can also download a .pdf version of the catalog, and IIRC there's a dwarf section there also. She's in Canada but you can order in dollars.
http://t.tatianastomatobase.com:88/seed-catalog/html/
[If you're not familiar with it, take a look at the TOMATObase itself to find information on more than 3,000 tomato varieties (usually OP).
There's a section listing dwarf tomatoes here:
http://t.tatianastomatobase.com:88/wiki/Category:Tomatoes
and she also indicates which vendors sell each variety (though obviously the information can't include every vendor).]
I'm already putting out squash transplants. Melons and cucumbers will follow in a few days. The tomatoes will be transplanted to larger containers tomorrow. I plan on transplanting the tomatoes into the garden February 15th. Our long range forecast shows nothing but mid 70's and low 80's for the next few weeks. If the weather man is wrong I have plenty of burlap to cover everything if I have to.
Thanks, all. This is food for thought. I believe I will start just two or three plants a couple of weeks earlier than normal this year (which is week after next) and then start the rest at the normal time. That way, I can take advantage of whatever comes without major losses.
Wow, natal. I am really fascinated with your results. Makes me wonder how my Sungolds would have done under row covers this winter. We have have had a zone 9 winter this year. They continued to bear even after our first few light frosts out in the open.
I'm not really sure.
I have slowly ripened green tomatoes indoors (temps 40s to 60s) during the winter, but it has always been my understanding (and experience) that tomatoes after a hard freeze turn to mush on thawing, rather than ripening in any pleasant fashion.
But as long as you could avoid a freeze, have you ever looked into the "storage" tomatoes?
They have names like "golden treasure" and "ruby treasure" and are available from Peters Seed and Research. I got my seeds a few years back and haven't grown enough of them to really decide whether I like them or not.
I first got interested in them years ago after reading an article in one of my organic gardening magazines. One grower posted a discussion of them:
Here is a link that might be useful: Golden Treasure Storage Tomatoes
Trudi, I did read at the other site the information you were given and also added to that to say , well, you can read what I said and the additional link I gave.
All to say, and I said it there that I wouldn't assume those two SSE listings by SSE itself are correct as indicating two different Big Bens.
Just my opinion knowing the time line on those and who was there at the time.
Carolyn
At yet an even different site there is a very long discussion about Thing 1 and Thing 2 and you can read what I wrote there, lol. OMG, so many discussions at so many sites about two tomatoes with so many intertwined stories. Oh well. I do actually think such things are good as they create interest about interesting good tomatoes.
Thank you for your input, I appreciate it very much.
T
Yes, I've grown Giant Tree and it's no different than any other indet variety in terms of plany habit and the vines are not as long as you've suggested.
So grow it as you would any other indeterminate tomato variety.
It tastes like a tomato b/c it is a tomato. ( smile)
I think you may be confused with the Sunday ad supplements where you also see ads for somethng called Giant Tree and you see a tree looking picture with red fruits that look like Roma tomatoes. Now this Giant Tree is NOT a tomato, it's also called Tamarillo and is Cyphomandra betaceae and is a tender shrub that grows to about 10-12 feet tall, a shrub, not a tree, and fruits appear in the second year. And those fruits are quite acidic and not used for fresh eating.
So with your Giant Tree from TT you have a typical indeterminate tomato, nothing special in my experience.
Carolyn
I am also an admirer of Black Plum and have grown 1 or 2 plants regularly each year for at least 15 years.
I like the taste, though in some years its darn good and in others not so good. My good friends mother absolutely loved them and pretty well took care of the yield off of one plant herself. Others I have known say they are a very poor tasting tomato and want nothing to do with them.
My conclusion is that they are much dependent on the weather and on soil quality to reach a good taste, and
evidently, there is something in their taste which just turns some people off. But the darn things will survive drought and foliage problems better than most varieties and
will almost always give a prolific crop.
There really is no "best" but there are literally hundreds of "great" ones. So you will want to define your criteria/needs a great deal more.
The thread linked for you above offers some great choices.
Currants - agree they are problematic and not worth the trouble IMO. Especially in your zone where thousands of varieties will do and be so much better.
Dave
Bio:
I have not dried tomatoes, but I did follow that link and Brokenbar suggested Opalka for drying. I cannot comment because again, I have not dried tomatoes, and frankly don't care to consume them. However, I do make tomato sauce (from all types of tomatoes) and my favorite tomato for sauce is Opalka. Given Brokenbar suggests it for drying and I can recommend it for sauce/cooking it might fit the bill for you. It has very few seeds and is not juicy. It makes a naturally thick sauce. They taste lovely cooked (or fresh - or in salsa) too. You mention heirloom in the subject... and I'm not sure if it's an heirloom, but it's OP... You don't know me, but I'm particular about my tomatoes and I LOVE opalka.
Hope this is helpful. Good luck in your quest.
rocketship,
When I read your post I immediately thought of Nepal. It should produce tomatoes big enough for burgers. Maybe Gregory's Altai also. I think I would look around FEDCO in (Maine), or Annapolis Valley Seeds, shoot them an e-mail of your situation. -Randy
Will you be growing from seed or buying transplants? If using transplants then your choices will be limited to what is available to you to buy locally. If from seeds then there are lots of choice but some will do better hydroponically than others.
As ralliea suggested the hydro forum here could give you the best info on tried and true hydro varieties. The link below includes info on some of the standard hydro-grown tomato varieties.
Dave
Here is a link that might be useful: Industry tested hydroponic tomato varieties