Fall crop of tomatoes

[jtharper76]

Hi,

Quick 2 quick questions:

#1 when do you start seeds for your fall tomato crop?

#2 what varieties do you use for the fall growing season?

I may have asked this question before but now I can't remember and I cant find it. So if I did already ask this I aplogize

[feldon30]

June 8-15th.

I'm not growing fall tomatoes this year. Just too much work and by the time they really produce, the cool overnight temps suck all the flavor out.

But you might have better results.

[creister]

Start seeds 6-8 weeks before you want to plant them out. Don't forget to harden them off. I have had good luck with Super Sioux, Thessonliniki, and cherries. I am sure there are other good varieties as well. I would look for varieties that have low or early DTM.

[robin303]

You need to know when your 1st freeze is.
Some tomatoes take 60 days to ripe and some might take 75 days so you need to plant in a time frame due to your average 1st freeze.

[jtharper76]

Thanks guys,

I am gonna try a plant out of tomatoes for the fall along with a crop of butterbeans according to my first freeze date.

[ToeMahToe]

I found the cherry or smaller fruits did the best. Many of the full sized fruits I tried for the fall lost much of their flavor as the temps gradually decreased and the days grew shorter. This year I will likely plant whatever ripens the quickest.

[dice]

I defy any cold snap short of an actual frost to suck the flavor
out of an Aurora or Odessa plant. They are both quite early,
but the fruit are not very big on either (maybe twice the size
of a Campari from a store, flattened spheres).

[dew]

What do you think about using Sungolds for fall planting? I bought them late so I planned to save them for fall...

[ToeMahToe]

For me Sungold and Matt's Wild Cherry produced great tasting fruit until January 1! Black Cherry, however, seemed to lose a lot of its flavor.

[creister]

Sungold will do fine as a fall plant. It was one of my best last fall.

[feldon30]

For fall I'd recommend Sungold, Momotaro, and Black & Brown Boar. BBB gave me tons of early fruit and still tasted good longer than anything else.

[travis]

I have direct seeded Sun Gold in both tropical and subtropical climates.

In the tropical climate where the temperature remained a steady 75 - 85 degrees F continuously from seeding to harvest, with constant trade winds and irrigation, over 100 cherry tomatoes were harvested between the 80th and 90th day from emergence with many more tomatoes harvested as the season progressed.

In the subtropical climate the temperature fluctuation was greater and sunlight hours were less, so the post emergent days to harvest were understandably longer. More like 100 - 110 days from seed sprouting.

When I say direct seed, I mean that I put down an 9" diameter pad of seed starting mix about one inch deep for each planting, moistened the mix well, put a few seeds in each spot, kept each spot covered with a 9" plastic plate weighted down with a rock or chunk of brick, and checked daily for dampness until the seeds emerged. Then I let them stay exposed to direct sunlight but sprinkled them well each morning until they were well established and thinned them to the best one plant per spot.

I hope helps you with timing for Sun Gold fall plantings.

[swimgymmom]

Never tried this before but I plant and early heirloom variety called Moskvich which has done well in many areas with very cold temperatures. I'm told this variety comes from Siberia. I have read some test results where it was one of the only tomatoes to grow well in Alaska.

I don't know how it would work but it might be worth a shot with everyone is talking about the cold taking the taste out of their tomatoes. They are cold tolerant and I have had wonderful luck with them here. 4-6 oz red fruits with terrific rich tomato flavor.

[Sprocket]

Where might I get some of those Aurora or Odessa seeds?

[dice]

Where might I get some of those Aurora or Odessa seeds?

I have seeds of both. PM me an address, I will send you some.

(Seeds Trust is a commercial source, but finding which seeds
in their packets are the variety that you ordered is something
of an adventure.)