Is younger bigger, or is it just the time of year?

[enchant]

I plant my seeds first of April. They go into the ground mid-late May. During the month of August, I get my biggest fruit of the season, growing relatively low on the vine. As we get into September, I'm still getting plenty of harvests from tomatoes further up the vine, but the fruits tend to be smaller.

Is it just that they grow bigger (in my area) in August than in September, or is it their age? If I were to start a second batch a month later (plant seeds first of may, into garden mid/end June), might I get the big fruits from them in September?

[Tormato]

Originally Posted by enchant

I plant my seeds first of April. They go into the ground mid-late May. During the month of August, I get my biggest fruit of the season, growing relatively low on the vine. As we get into September, I'm still getting plenty of harvests from tomatoes further up the vine, but the fruits tend to be smaller.

Is it just that they grow bigger (in my area) in August than in September, or is it their age? If I were to start a second batch a month later (plant seeds first of may, into garden mid/end June), might I get the big fruits from them in September?

100 miles west of you, I start them ~May 1st, plant them out ~June 1st. The big tomatoes come from mid-August to the end of September.

[enchant]

You plant seeds on May 1st and they're ready in a month? Wow - I just don't get very large seedlings in only one month. Last year, I got delayed by two weeks and didn't plant till 2 weeks into april. I didn't see any tomatoes till a week into August. Previous years, I start getting them mid/late july.

[Fred Hempel]

Large early fruits and smaller later fruits are typical because at the start of the fruiting season the leaf-to-fruit ratio is greater (there are more leaves for each developing fruit).

[kath]

-For an earlier harvest, you might try starting some seeds a bit earlier if you are able to keep older starts happy for an extra 2 weeks or so.

-Lots of times the earliest fruits are larger than later ones; sometimes fertilizing the plants in July can give them an extra boost and may yield larger fruits.

-Planting again later may work if the leaf diseases don't take out the younger plants along with the older ones. I only tried that one year to see what would happen and it seemed to me that the plants didn't have long enough to really get going before EB and Septoria hit. You might want to go with a 2-week delay rather than a whole month.

-Some varieties have consistently produced larger fruits all season long and others grown in the same year seem to peter out quickly. I tend to ditch the varieties that wind up producing fruits averaging less than 8 oz. or so.

[Tormato]

Originally Posted by enchant

You plant seeds on May 1st and they're ready in a month? Wow - I just don't get very large seedlings in only one month. Last year, I got delayed by two weeks and didn't plant till 2 weeks into april. I didn't see any tomatoes till a week into August. Previous years, I start getting them mid/late july.

I sow them shallow, about the depth of the thickness of a seed. Most pop up in 3 or 4 days, just a few in 2 days. Then it's outside for strong sunlight, back indoors at night. At 4 weeks they are ready, if the weather doesn't call for heavy rain/wind. A few early variety types may be ready at 23-24 days.