Fall Tomatoes for Texas?

[ArcherB]

My production has severely dropped off and some of my plants have stopped producing entirely. This will only get worse as the heat sets in. In previous years, I've left plants in the ground hoping to get a fall harvest, but I've never had any luck.

I was thinking of simply starting a new round of plants to replace the old ones. Has anyone ever tried to plant a second round of plants for a second harvest? Any luck?

[b54red]

I do it every year. It is not easy because of the difficulty of keeping the plants alive when they are set out in July and early August. If you decide to do it make sure to have plenty of replacement plants ready. I usually lose at least 70 % of my plants within the first two or three weeks to one thing or another.

I have found a few things that help some in getting the plants going that time of the year; but there are no guarantees when putting plants out in the harsh conditions of a southern summer. One trick is to make sure the plants are very well hardened off. Another is to set out the plants if possible just before or just after a good rain so the soil will be a little cooler for a while. Mulch them immediately after planting. Keep them sprayed with a good fungicide. You may also have to spray for whiteflies and spider mites.

I have had much better luck with indeterminate varieties kept to a couple of stems than with the determinate varieties. Big Beef has always done better for me at this time of the year than any other variety. Others that have worked well are Stupice, Eva Purple Ball, Linnies Oxheart, Marianna's Peace, Black Krim, BTDP, Red Siberian, Dr. Wyches Yellow and Brandy Boy. I'm sure there are other varieties that work well and I am going to try a number of them this year and see which ones make it to fall and produce.

[larskyler]

b54red

I have been thinking about doing what you mention, but am curious as to how much of a harvest you get from a plant and when does production shut down for you. I know Alabama is is different from southern California but it should provide a guide.

[Dewayne mater]

Shade cloth is essential in my limited experience. The sun plus scorching heat is just too much otherwise.

[DogsandDirt]

I will be investing in shade cloth this year. In my limited experience, I can honestly say I am very impressed with the resiliance of the Black Sea Man and Thessaloniki varieties. Black Sea Man is blooming and trying to set fruit in the just-under-100 degree weather and the fruits on Thessaloniki seem more crack resistant. Costaluto Genovese is continuing to grow but few new blossoms (who would want to bloom in this ungrateful weather?). Anyway, this is my newbie experience.

[b54red]

Last year I got a huge harvest from Linnies Oxheart, Jetsetter, Big Beef, Black Krim, Red Siberian, BTDP, and Eva Purple Ball. I made tomatoes from plants put out between July 15th and Aug. 15th starting in mid October right up til they froze. The Linneis Oxheart I planted on July 15th out produced all of the hearts I planted in the spring last year except for Kosovo.
Big Beef and BTD Pink were the first to produce fruit in the fall last year.
I also plan on using some shade cloth for the first time this year over some of my fall plants.

[Dewayne mater]

One thing I forgot to mention, fall varieties also end up being affected by much cooler weather right when the tomatoes are ripening and of course, by then, they are getting less sun and less direct sun. So, it is important to try to find varieties that the flavor and texture doesn't change much under the fall conditions. So far, other than cherry types, the only one that has met that test and passed it with flying colors is black and brown boar. The difference between those in June and November if minimal. On the other hand, the few beefsteak types I've done in fall (only done fall a couple of seasons) are often mealy and lacking in flavor.

[Suze]

I don't have any easy answers as to whether to replace all of your old plants or not. I used to be of the mind that it was generally best to replace with fresh plants for fall crop, but now I'm not so sure.

The reason why is in fall '08 and '09, I ended up losing many of the transplants I put in. Seems like it now stays hot and dry so late into the year, new transplants can't manage to lock in well. It was like the soil temperature was just too high. If starting from seed, be realistic - less varieties, many more backups for every variety in case you need to replace plants as Red alluded to.

Last year I used the approach of only bothering with 8-10 varieties in containers. Just didn't feel like messing with more. They stayed on a pallet in dappled sun until it cooled off, then got moved out to full sun later. Or you could use shade cloth as others suggest (40-50%). Ones that did very well for me last fall included Sungold F1, Purple Haze F3 RL, Bloody Butcher, Black and Brown Boar - all smaller fruited varieties. I also had a Better Boy plant that did okay for taste, but not as good as the others.

Went from brutally hot to short days/cool nights too fast last year to get really good flavor from the Better Boy F1, although I've had success with it in the past for fall crop.

For larger fruited, Momotaro F1 is one I've had success with in the past for fall crop, although I didn't grow it last year. It takes a while to set and start to ripen, but flavor loss seemed to be minimal even with cold nights. It also keeps a long time on the counter. Big Beef F1 can also do well for fall crop.

It would also pay to cut back a few of your best looking spring plants that are early to mid season to hedge your bets. After all, those plants already have a good root structure and are used to the heat. Don't cut the plants back too hard, though. Down to 1/2 to 1/3 of their current height at most. More than down to 1/3 and they can burn up or be stressed.

Having said all this, I did have a fairly large fall tomato garden in fall of '07 that did well (at least 40 plants), but '07 was a rather unusual year, and we probably won't see those cool temps and all that rain in our area any time soon. Our summer / late summer temps that year were frequently slightly cooler than those in Craig L's neck of the woods (NC)!

Edit/add - in short, smaller fruited and/or early to mid season F1 hybrids are generally your best bet for fall crop here in the Austin/Bastrop area - at least that is what I've found. Any supposed 'hybrid vigor' may not make that much difference for spring crop, but in the fall under really tough growing conditions, that little bit can sometimes help.

[b54red]

I found that Eva Purple Ball, Red Siberian, and Jetsetter had great taste even when I had to pull the large green ones and allow them to ripen inside when it got too cold. Some of the others did not have as good a flavor once the cold weather got here. I did have great flavor from some Indian Stripes that ripened just as if was starting to freeze here but those came from two older plants that were put out in April and May. Before the cold nights got here all of the fall tomatoes had great flavor due to the very dry weather and unusually hot weather we had last fall.

Like Suze said it is very difficult sometimes to get the new plants going in the heat of summer and the need for frequent replacements can be a real pain. I'll still give it a go again this year and if I am as lucky as in the past I'll have a few great plants producing great tasting tomatoes while most people are having to resort to those red things they sell in the grocery store.