Fall tomatoes in Texas

[hornstrider]

I live in Hutto, Texas just northeast of Austin. I just completed my spring tomato season, and I am getting ready for my fall garden. I had my most productive spring tomato season in 5 years. Last fall I planted approx 10 tomato plants w/ very limited success. I am starting my seeds today(Cherokee Purple, Big Beef, and Sun Gold). My plants should be ready to put into the ground Aug. 10. Can someone give me a few tips about how to grow successful fall tomato's in Texas. The daytime temps in Aug. range from 98 to 105, and continue through Sept. Is a shade cloth a reasonable solution? If so what % shade cloth? Any suggestions would be appreciate. Thank you.

[creister]

If you want to use shade cloth, I would 30 percent. One year I had plants that kept wilting after transplant. I had to cover them with the 30 percent shade cloth, after which, they did fine. Other than that, I would grow medium to small size fruited varieties, and ones with earlier dtm if possible.

This is what I have for the fall:

Azoychka
Cabot
Chalk's Early Jewel
Earliana
Hanky Red
Jet Star
Mountain Princess
Solar Set
Super Sioux
Thessoliniki
VB Russian

[Dewayne mater]

I've had very limited success in the fall. I would definitely suggest early varieties and cherry types are the way to go, as the season is short and beef steaks tend to not ripen when the days are shorter and temps are cooler. That was my experience anyway.

[feldon30]

Black and Brown Boar is a favorite fall Texas variety. It holds its flavor after a couple of cool nights have drained the flavor from the rest of the tomatoes in your garden.

[veggie babe]

I've have experience from one fall garden last year. I start my seed outside and leave them outside, they know nothing but heat and humidity so there is no shock to them when I plant them out in the garden. Mine did well last year, but I gambled 1 too many times and let the frost kill a lot of tomatoes that I could've picked and brought inside to ripen. My # 1 goal this year is too pick before frost.
I also rooted several suckers and they developed quickly and did well.

good luck, if nothing else it's all fun,

Neva

[b54red]

The most important thing is to have the plants well hardened off and try to set them out before or just after a rain if possible. If not make sure to set them out late in the day after it has cooled down.
Try to keep the aphids, whiteflies and spider mites off as much as possible so they don't suffer so much in the heat.
I had good luck last fall with Marianna's Peace, Big Beef, 1st Prize, Balls Beefsteak, Champion, and believe it or not Omar's Lebanese. This year I am going to try more varieties and see which ones that did ok in the spring can handle the heat when starting them in mid summer.

[MikeInCypress]

I have had good luck with Brandy Boy. Now if I can finsd a way to get rid of the leaf footed bugs.

MikeInCypress

[hornstrider]

Thanks all for the great advice. I planted my seeds last night in my greenhouse. My next question was where should I let these plants grow to transplant size. If I leave them in the greenhouse the temps will exceed the outside temps until 3:00 pm, and the west sun is completely blocked out, and the temps become more favorable as long as I have a nice south breeze. So my next question is should I leave my plants in the greenhouse until plant out time?? Also thanks for the advice on the early to fruit varieties. I had some Stupice seeds left over from last spring, and I planted a few of them also. Thanks once again!!

[creister]

Let them sit in the yard, preferably where they might be shaded from say 200 onward. I had to move my plants into shade for part of the afternoon, but now they just stay in sun all day and are looking real good.
In fact, I need to plant them in about 2 weeks.

[kz2zx]

Horn, I'd say experiment. Put some in the gh, some outside - you're at the stage where the only expense is pots and soil, and maybe a few seeds.

[VORTREKER]

b54red-Are you going to try Jetsetter this fall?

[b54red]

Definitely going to try Jetsetter this fall. The seeds have already sprouted and I'll be repotting before too long. My Big Beefs and Bill's Big Backyard are now going through hardening off so they can take the heat once planted. Once they get used to the full sun I cut back on watering to toughen them up and encourage root growth. When I put them out the stems will be so tough I can just yank them out of the pots when transplanting. I hate putting a pampered pretty seedling out in the heat of summer because they rarely survive.

[maryserv]

When planting fall tomatoes, how does one prep the bed? If there are no diseases on the spring vines, do you just till them in as green manure and top off with compost or leaves? I'm working with a lasagna bed that has done quite well this season. And what is the longest DOM you would be willing to go for a fall tomato?

Thanks! Mary

[creister]

I pull up all spring plants, even if they look healthy at the time, and trash them. I've tried to carry them through to fall, but never have had any luck. I would try to get plants that are 80 days or less to listed DOM.

[azgirl]

I am trying this for the first time this year. Hopefully, I made good choices in seed starting for the Fall. I know it's all trial and error.

Azoychka (saw this on other's lists for Fall)
Cuor di Bue (trying to get a heart to grow here...only got 1 orange oxheart from my Spring plant and I REALLY liked it!)
Eva Purple Ball (plant failed in Spring...ok, fine, I killed it...damping off or some other beginner error.)
Marmande Precocissimo (like the name)
Plum Regal (too hot when I received seeds earlier to start them)
Tigerella (my kids like the funky looking ones)
Wasipinicon Peach (umm...it was the closest seed packet and I needed one more)

Still have some production, despite the current heat wave (110+ again tomorrow). Plants still producing in this heat are: Cherokee Purple, Black Ethiopian, Champagne Cherry, Coyote, Green Zebra, Black Cherry, Isis Candy, Pink Ping Pong, and some "mystery" plants that weren't dwarfs from the dwarf project. And the dwarfs are still producing as well.

However, getting ready to pull out my Black Krim (it was mushy for me); Orange Oxheart (good flavor, just got the one tomato, though); Nyagous (pretty fruit, okay flavor); Oranje von G (forget how to spell the last part at the moment)...produced awesomely and was my son's favorite cherry.