How do you know when it's time to pull a plant & swap for fall?

[Vespertino]

A newbie question for those who have a Texas-like climates:

How do you know when a tomato plant is done for the summer and has given it's all? I'm curious because I'll need to swap my Brandyine Red PL's out of my earthtainer for my fall tomato plants. At the moment I'm guessing I should pull them in August once the fall tomato seedlings have grown and need to be transplanted.

And second: how does one get the stomach to kill one of their tomato babies? My brandyines haven't worked out very well, but I feel horrible about ripping them out of the earthtainer since I'm fond of every plant I grow.

[tlintx]

I have pulled one because of BER. The rest were either done - yellowing, no new flowers, not worth babying for two months - or were still growing but any fruit would be on branches exceeding the space I had for them.

It's a plant. You can make more. Easily. And the ones you make next will be better than these. I start seeds frequently. I'm ruthless with plants, because the goal is not to have plants, it's to have produce.

...probably helps that most fuzzy leafed plants like tomatoes and cucumbers give me an itchy rash.


Tl

[Redbaron]

Vespertino,
Good question. But it is a judgement call. Sorry no set in stone answers. One thing I do though is plant my fall/winter crop before the summer crop has even finished. Sometimes even in the same row. So when my summer crop gets pulled I already have its replacement!

For example. Sweet corn is growing now. Once it gets 2-3 inches tall I plant pole beans ...one per stalk. Once the pole beans get to climbing the stalks of corn I plant winter squash in the same plot. This time spaced farther away. So I get a succession of crops one after the other. First sweet corn, then beans and finally winter squash. It is called the 3 sisters method invented centuries ago by Native Americans.

But I experiment with the principle on other crops too. Try and get creative with it and have fun. Taking a tomato out has far less sting if you are making room for fall garlic or whatever. It gets you thinking in cycles instead of single crops or plants.

[Dak]

Do you pull plants because of weather related disease? I don't see the wisdom in pulling an otherwise healthy plant, seems like tomatoes here are like the ever ready bunny, maybe pausing new production when we get a long heat spell but otherwise they just keep going till frost takes them out.

When I have needed to take a plant out, I'll compost it, looking at it as letting it complete the cycle and eventually go back to the earth.

[RebelRidin]

Originally Posted by Redbaron

Vespertino,
Good question. But it is a judgement call. Sorry no set in stone answers. One thing I do though is plant my fall/winter crop before the summer crop has even finished. Sometimes even in the same row. So when my summer crop gets pulled I already have its replacement!

For example. Sweet corn is growing now. Once it gets 2-3 inches tall I plant pole beans ...one per stalk. Once the pole beans get to climbing the stalks of corn I plant winter squash in the same plot. This time spaced farther away. So I get a succession of crops one after the other. First sweet corn, then beans and finally winter squash. It is called the 3 sisters method invented centuries ago by Native Americans.

But I experiment with the principle on other crops too. Try and get creative with it and have fun. Taking a tomato out has far less sting if you are making room for fall garlic or whatever. It gets you thinking in cycles instead of single crops or plants.

I do something similar with my pea vines. Just last week I planted another round of cukes and mni pumpkins at the base of my pea vines. I expect them to wrap up in the next two to three weeks max. When they come off the trellis the new cuke and pumpkin vines will go up.

As far as tomatos go... I've always tried to get them through the heat and setting new fruit when the temps mediate. That can be a problem with diseases though. This year I think I will start some suckers and add a few extra to see how a second round might do.

[b54red]

I pull them and replace them as soon as they look like they are really fading. I have found that the newer plants produce more and take less constant upkeep than the older plants with disease or fruit setting issues. The newer plants tend to produce better looking fruit that is larger from the lower trusses than do the older plants on their long extended stems. We still have plenty of time to make tomatoes on plants set out before August and sometimes later so why struggle maintaining a plant that isn't doing well. I only leave them if I don't have a replacement ready to go in at that time.

Bill

[socalgardengal]

I have to pull a few plants out this weekend because of disease. Is it possible to save some of the green tomatoes that are almost full grown? If so, what do I do with them?

[Dewayne mater]

I have often pulled them once the waive of fruit that is on them is done around this time in some years, though not this year which is very late. I have pulled them earlier if disease was rampant and I couldn't control it. A couple of years ago, I decided to cut some back, remove and diseased leaves and keep them alive over the long hot summer. By golly if Big Beef, sun gold and Black and Brown boar didn't roar back to life when it cooled down. I think it is possible others would do that too. The only ones that can make it are those with little to no disease and that you keep on protecting, especially from disease and a few insects.

So, all that is to say, there are many right answers, depending on your circumstances. I'm considering trying to root some suckers for a fall crop very soon. I think its probably too late to grow from seed at this point. Good luck!

[Ken4230]

I've been planting suckers for about three weeks. I use large 12" to 18" suckers and plant them directly below my established plants. I will severely prune or sometimes pull the old plants when the plants from suckers start bearing fruit.
This is just about the only time i prune any part of the tomato plant above two feet. Normally i prune all branches below two feet.
This has worked really well for me, we usually have fresh tomatoes for Thanksgiving dinner.

[tlintx]

Originally Posted by Dak

Do you pull plants because of weather related disease? I don't see the wisdom in pulling an otherwise healthy plant, seems like tomatoes here are like the ever ready bunny, maybe pausing new production when we get a long heat spell but otherwise they just keep going till frost takes them out.

I'd like to let my healthy CP keep growing, with an eye towards maybe setting a few fruit over the summer and restarting in the fall, but it's already taking up more space than I wanted to devote to it. About half my in ground space (all of it before this year) is my rose bed.

The other plants I've pulled this year were either not very productive (or nothing special in the flavor department) or yellowing out and needed more care than I could give them. It gets really humid down here and I'm not at a point in my life where I can spray. Or even water reliably.

Originally Posted by Ken4230

I've been planting suckers for about three weeks. I use large 12" to 18" suckers and plant them directly below my established plants. I will severely prune or sometimes pull the old plants when the plants from suckers start bearing fruit.

Oh, interesting! I hadn't thought to root such a large piece, good to hear it works. I will try this with my Juliet.

[Vespertino]

Thanks for the advice everyone. Unfortunately I'm having a major problem with my brandywines and BER, so I don't think I'll be keeping a cutting tor the fall. The soil in the earthtainer is well limed, not too damp, not over-fertilized, has enough Epsom salt, added cal-mag and I'm still loosing every recently set fruit to BER. The only thing I can't control is the heat warming up the soil. So once my fall tomatoes are ready to plant I'm going to pull the brandywines. I'm just not having any luck with them.

[b54red]

I am really pulling up plants now. I'm not just pulling the ones with disease issues since I have newer plants that I set out in Apr and May that are setting fruit much better than most of the older plants. I pulled a couple yesterday because they had a bad case of blossom drop one week when it got really hot and dry and I couldn't keep up on the watering even though they did have some fruit set higher up. The plants were just getting to be too much trouble to tie up with stems running everywhere. Within two weeks I will have removed most of the plants I set out in March so I can have time to prepare the ground for some new seedlings that I am grafting this week. Even though the grafting has helped tremendously with the fusarium I still think doing the staggered planting all year gives me an advantage for more continuous fruit production and it is just a lot easier for me than trying to get everything ready to set out at one time.

Bill

[tlintx]

Bill, this is my plan too -- staggered planting. But I think my sowing schedule might have been spaced too far apart. Any chance you could give your (rough) timeline for sowing and planting out?

[Sun City Linda]

Originally Posted by Vespertino

Thanks for the advice everyone. Unfortunately I'm having a major problem with my brandywines and BER, so I don't think I'll be keeping a cutting tor the fall. The soil in the earthtainer is well limed, not too damp, not over-fertilized, has enough Epsom salt, added cal-mag and I'm still loosing every recently set fruit to BER. The only thing I can't control is the heat warming up the soil. So once my fall tomatoes are ready to plant I'm going to pull the brandywines. I'm just not having any luck with them.

I think Raybo did some tests adding Epsom Salt one year to his Earthtainers and ended up with a BER problem....

[b54red]

Originally Posted by tlintx

Bill, this is my plan too -- staggered planting. But I think my sowing schedule might have been spaced too far apart. Any chance you could give your (rough) timeline for sowing and planting out?

I usually start sowing seed for tomatoes and peppers in December and then do my main sowing the first week of January. After that I just start some more seed every 3 to 5 weeks til there isn't time left to get them in the ground before the first week in August. I don't always use the seedlings that result from all that seed starting because I sometimes don't have anywhere to put them; but it is nice to have them ready if I do need them. I think the seedlings I am grafting now came from plants started in late April or early May. Since it takes some healing time that will delay them being planted out these are the last plants I will fool with this season. Usually I start a few plants in very early June for setting out in mid to late July for my fall tomatoes; but these last grafts I am doing should work out close enough.

Bill