Still confused regarding days to harvest ...

huntsman · November 10, 2009

If the tomato takes 80 days to maturity from the time of transplant, then surely it depends on when its transplanted?

If you plant a 3" seedlingand a 24" plant into the ground at the same time, surely they won't both take 80 days to maturity??!

Please shed clarity, someone...this is driving me nuts!

**carolyn137** · November 10, 2009

Quote:

Originally Posted by huntsman

If the tomato takes 80 days to maturity from the time of transplant, then surely it depends on when its transplanted?

If you plant a 3" seedlingand a 24" plant into the ground at the same time, surely they won't both take 80 days to maturity??!

Please shed clarity, someone...this is driving me nuts!

You're absolutely correct that the size of the seedling and also the time of year that they go out will have an effect on DTM's, which is why I consider DTM's to be pretty much useless guesstimates b'c there are so many factors involved.

If you take a look at a single variety listed in the SSE YEarbooks you'll see a range of DTM's and a range of gardening zones as noted by the state that someone lives in. And even then one state can have several gardening zones.

So I ignore DTM's.

When I list varieties in the yearbook I give a range, such as 75-85 days, or 60 to 70 days, etc., and let it go at that.

What I like best is to ignore all mention of DTM's and use a scale such as:

Early Season; 55-65 days
Midseason; 65-80 days
Late Season; over 80 days

And that's in my about zone 5.

The varieties listed by many commercial places were never grown by the owners of those places so how do they come up with the DTM's that so many of them note? Some I know look at the SSE YEarbook info and maybe take an average. others might cadge data from other places that offer the same variety.

So take DTM's with several grains of salt b'c not only are size of transplants a factor as well as time when transplanted out, but also weather in any given season, type of amendments used, the way the plants are grown as in sprawled, staked, trellised, etc. Lots and lots of uncontrolable variables as I see it.

When I see a DTM for a variety that says 72 days I must confess I laugh silently.

Worth1 · November 10, 2009

I like early, midsummer and late summer the best.
But like Carolyn said in so many words my late summer is her early winter.
I think maybe it should be from time of germination to ripe.
But then it would still be a hit and miss.
Growing conditions would play a large role, then how ripe is it, to some folks ripe is half ripe to others and full ripe is darn near rotten.
I still think some folks here have never had a truly ripe sungold or red cherry and I can guarantee if people have never grown their own they have never purchased one from a store.
Here is the best I can do for a tomato in perfect growing conditions in my area starting from germination.
This tomato was a black cherry and is advertised at 65 days to maturity so you can add wildly somewhere around 45 more days to the smaller cherry type tomatoes
Seed germinated 1/1/07.
Harvested sometime in early April, full ripe somewhere from 90 to 120 days (I don’t keep records I just like to grow tomatoes).
As a rule of thumb look at it this way two seeds germinate at the same time
One is tiny and one is huge they both grow at the same rate.
They both set fruit at the same time but the huge tomato will take longer to mature because it takes longer for the fruit to get that big.
Now let’s say we have one of those finicky tomatoes that hate to set fruit at more than about 75or 80 degrees.
I live in Texas and last year was a bust because it went from 65 to 100 with no rain and no growing season in the 70 degree range to speak of.
To top it off the spring was windy and the plants were stunted.
From experience I cut off the water to the late growing tomatoes and let them die.
I knew it was no use trying to harvest fruit from them the plants were big but no fruit to speak of.
So with this all said you can do as I do and plant your tomatoes in a way that the varieties that do well in the heat, have shorter days to maturity, smaller and so forth go into one area.
The longer maturing varieties would go into another.
This is one advantage drip has over soaker hoses; you can shut water off to plants individually when they play out and you don’t waste water.
So days to maturity is a good thing to look at such as, selecting varieties, it helps you chose according to you climate and it helps you lay out your garden in a way that helps you conserve time, money, labor and water.
It isn’t exact and it isn’t fool proof but it does help.
Now who said the advertized days to maturity was useless?

Worth

huntsman · November 11, 2009

Thank you both for your help ~

Crystal clear now and I'm really glad I asked!

Guess the best way to really know the speed of production is to actually grow the plant, right?

November 10, 2009	#1
huntsman Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: Johannesburg, South Africa - GrowZone 9 Posts: 595	Still confused regarding days to harvest ... If the tomato takes 80 days to maturity from the time of transplant, then surely it depends on when its transplanted? If you plant a 3" seedlingand a 24" plant into the ground at the same time, surely they won't both take 80 days to maturity??! Please shed clarity, someone...this is driving me nuts!

November 10, 2009	#3
Worth1 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Den of Drunken Fools Posts: 38,539	I like early, midsummer and late summer the best. But like Carolyn said in so many words my late summer is her early winter. I think maybe it should be from time of germination to ripe. But then it would still be a hit and miss. Growing conditions would play a large role, then how ripe is it, to some folks ripe is half ripe to others and full ripe is darn near rotten. I still think some folks here have never had a truly ripe sungold or red cherry and I can guarantee if people have never grown their own they have never purchased one from a store. Here is the best I can do for a tomato in perfect growing conditions in my area starting from germination. This tomato was a black cherry and is advertised at 65 days to maturity so you can add wildly somewhere around 45 more days to the smaller cherry type tomatoes Seed germinated 1/1/07. Harvested sometime in early April, full ripe somewhere from 90 to 120 days (I don’t keep records I just like to grow tomatoes). As a rule of thumb look at it this way two seeds germinate at the same time One is tiny and one is huge they both grow at the same rate. They both set fruit at the same time but the huge tomato will take longer to mature because it takes longer for the fruit to get that big. Now let’s say we have one of those finicky tomatoes that hate to set fruit at more than about 75or 80 degrees. I live in Texas and last year was a bust because it went from 65 to 100 with no rain and no growing season in the 70 degree range to speak of. To top it off the spring was windy and the plants were stunted. From experience I cut off the water to the late growing tomatoes and let them die. I knew it was no use trying to harvest fruit from them the plants were big but no fruit to speak of. So with this all said you can do as I do and plant your tomatoes in a way that the varieties that do well in the heat, have shorter days to maturity, smaller and so forth go into one area. The longer maturing varieties would go into another. This is one advantage drip has over soaker hoses; you can shut water off to plants individually when they play out and you don’t waste water. So days to maturity is a good thing to look at such as, selecting varieties, it helps you chose according to you climate and it helps you lay out your garden in a way that helps you conserve time, money, labor and water. It isn’t exact and it isn’t fool proof but it does help. Now who said the advertized days to maturity was useless? Worth

November 11, 2009	#4
huntsman Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: Johannesburg, South Africa - GrowZone 9 Posts: 595	Thank you both for your help ~ Crystal clear now and I'm really glad I asked! Guess the best way to really know the speed of production is to actually grow the plant, right?