Hard Fall

[b54red]

Ted I tried 78 varieties this year in which the temperatures were much higher than usual with very little rainfall after mid July yet we still maintained very high humidity. I found some varieties that did so much better than most of the others during the heat and plan on planting more of those varieties next year. My best heat setter was one I called Bill's Berkley Pink which was an odd seedling from my BTD Pink seed so I don't know if it is stable. The others that set fruit when temps were near 100 were: BTD Pink, Indian Stripe, Old Virginia, Gary O' Sena, Big Beef, Cabernet, Kosovo, Marianna's Peace, JD's Special C Tex and Stump of the World. I'd like to hear which ones set fruit good in the heat for other gardeners this year.

Originally Posted by b54red

Ted I tried 78 varieties this year in which the temperatures were much higher than usual with very little rainfall after mid July yet we still maintained very high humidity. I found some varieties that did so much better than most of the others during the heat and plan on planting more of those varieties next year. My best heat setter was one I called Bill's Berkley Pink which was an odd seedling from my BTD Pink seed so I don't know if it is stable. The others that set fruit when temps were near 100 were: BTD Pink, Indian Stripe, Old Virginia, Gary O' Sena, Big Beef, Cabernet, Kosovo, Marianna's Peace, JD's Special C Tex and Stump of the World. I'd like to hear which ones set fruit good in the heat for other gardeners this year.

Did you plant the Big Beef OP or F1?

I am planting Indian Stripe, Big Beef OP, JD's Special C Tex, and Stump of the World in my list next year. I planted some mid season (over 100 degrees) seedlings this year including JD's. JD's was the only one that actually grew in the heat. The others just sat there developing woody stems until the cooler weather arrived. They are all blooming now, but JD's Special C Tex is way ahead of the others in size and number of blooms. I find it interesting that your BTD pink threw off an odd ball seedling. I have BTD on my list for next year, but may try BTD pink instead. I have Sweet Carneros Pink growing in my fall garden. It held it's own in the high heat, but didn't bloom until cooler weather hit. They are now loaded with blooms and I have one small tomato on one plant. Most of the varieties produced at Wild Boar Farms seem to keep producing all season long in California, but their max temps only reach 94 or 95 degrees with cool nights.

None of my plants set fruit "good" in the heat, but Prudens Purple and Brandywine Sudduth did better than the others with a few fruit per plant.

Ted

[Direct Sunlight]

I thought tomatoes set the most fruit when the overnight temperatures dropped into the 50s. I must have been wrong. Even with a few nights in the 40s we've had very little fruit set. Now it's back in the 80s every day, still in the 50s every night. There are blossoms everywhere. When should they be getting going again?

[veggie babe]

In my opinion the season is over, I pulled my plants up today. I still had blooms but no fruit set, there isn't enough time left for the toms to make.
You win some, you loose some. Last year was very good.........this year has been a bummer. It has been too hot, humid and dry to expect plants to produce well.
I will now start improving the soil over fall and winter and plan for a more productive year in 2011.

Neva

[b54red]

Despite the difficulty of keeping a few young plants alive during the heat in August and September and the deep drought we are experiencing I am glad I kept replanting. I now have about 20 plants with fruit on them now. By far the one that has done the best in these terrible conditions is Big Beef. I have one that has over a dozen fruits on it with the largest nearly as big as a baseball and many tennis ball sized. The biggest surprise has been Druzba which has grown well in the heat and the two plants have nice fruit set on them. I also have one Linnies Oxheart put out on July 15th that is over 6 ft tall now and is setting fairly good. All of the plants that survived the July and August planting now have at least one or two small toms on them now. I don't know if any put out in September will make it or not.
I did lose a lot of my young plants to various diseases this fall; but feel justified in the staggered planting that I have been using now for the past few years. I had to go almost 3 weeks without a fresh tomato during late September but my June planted JDs Special C Tex, Indian Stripe and BTD Pink have given me a couple of tomatoes with Hege German Pink about to give up a couple. All of these plants are nearing the end but the fall plants should give me some tomatoes before these die.

[Timbotide]

Bill, Both Ted and I are wanting to know if you planted Big Beef F1 or OP?

[Dewayne mater]

Neva and others who believe the fall season is over...I have a timing question. I've got fall tomatoes goes in earthtainers and I'm trying to remember how long does it take to get ripened fruit from small tomatoes in the fall? Of course the plants have loved the weather lately and are robust, blossom covered, and have small fruits growing. At some point, I think I need to top the plants to try to focus all their energy on ripening what exists, but I'm not sure when that is or if that really works. The average first freeze date here is November 22, of course give or take 2 weeks. Any advice appreciated.

Originally Posted by Direct Sunlight

I thought tomatoes set the most fruit when the overnight temperatures dropped into the 50s. I must have been wrong. Even with a few nights in the 40s we've had very little fruit set. Now it's back in the 80s every day, still in the 50s every night. There are blossoms everywhere. When should they be getting going again?

My tomatoes set fruit when the night time temps drop below 70. When they drop below 50, it seems to stop the fruiting and growth. The newer leaves at the growing tips develop purple veins and curl a little. They seem to like night time temps between 50 and 70 with temps between 60 and 70 preferred. They don't drop their blossoms because the temps drop below 50 and they recover well when the temps go over 50. I'm sure it is also partly variety specific with some doing better at warmer temps and some doing better at lower temps.

Ted

[veggie babe]

The guide I use is days to maturity. When I plant seed for fall I choose tomatoes with shorter days to maturity than I do in the spring, that gives me a better chance at getting ripe toms before frost. Last year I did very well, this year I did not, you can't out guess Mother Nature. I won't give up I will be ready to try again next spring and fall.
I've never grown tomatoes in earthtainers, I don't know if that makes a difference or not. Maybe Ray will post on that part of your question.

Neva

[b54red]

I plant Big Beef F1. Despite it being a mid season tomato it has produced ripe fruit in the fall faster than any of the short season tomatoes. I think it has to do with it's ability to grow and bloom in the heat while the short season tomatoes do better in cooler temperatures.
I have found two things that seem to help the fall plants in their blooming and setting fruit. The first is to water them heavily every other day or so. I know this goes against conventional wisdom but when the temps are near 100 with no rain the plants need extra water to prevent severe stress. The second thing is to give them a balanced liquid fertilizer drench every week with a dilute solution. I would never do this in the spring because the plants would grow too much; but that isn't a problem now.
I am now getting an occasional ripe fruit from a couple of my older plants. Big Beef looks like it will have ripe fruit in a couple of weeks followed by various others. The few plants that survived the July and August planting now all have green fruit and the ones planted in September are blooming but it will take a really late frost date for any of them to produce any ripe fruit.

I did the same thing with Goliath Bush Hybrid last year. Planted it in the middle of the summer and it started growing, blooming, and setting fruit. By early fall, they were loaded with huge green tomatoes. I thought since they performed so well, they will taste like wet cardboard. They actually tasted really good.

Since I don't like my plants sprawling on the ground with the tomatoes in the dirt, I staked them. They looked really weird with the plants staked up and all the branches trying to reach back to the ground.

Ted

[b54red]

I went out yesterday and spent an hour cutting off diseased limbs on my fall plants which now look rather bare. I don't guess I'll have to worry too much about sun scald with the temps dropping to a more bearable level. I counted the fruit on the plants that were set out on August 10. The plant with the most greenies is a Jetsetter with 30 small toms on it. The next best is a Big Beef with 17. I had several plants with around 10 like Druzba, Cherokee Purple and BTD Pink. So far Mortgage Lifter, Stupice, and most of the others only have one or two while two beautiful Cowlicks plants don't have a single tomato on them yet.