End of the season or not?

[efisakov]

It has being weird year so far. Many of us asking our selfs: "Are they already dying? Will I loose my plants to disease before green tomatoes ripen? Why my tomatoes taste is not consistent day to day? What do I do? And most importantly, can I do something about it?"
So, do you think it is the end of the season or not yet?

[Alfredo]

Good Morning efisakov (Ella),

Absolutely not. I don't think it's the end of the growing season, though it has been quite a weird year.

Sure some of my early season determinates (eg. Sophie's Choice and New Big Dwarf) are starting to dwindle. But my other indeterminate tomato varieties are really pumping out their fruit production now, and with no signs of diseases (well as least not yet) on any of them.

I've also cloned several of my early season indeterminates awhile ago, and those are my small bumper crops of new tomato plants that will give me a few more tomatoes toward the end of the season in fall. Not as many tomatoes as my early and main crop of tomatoes, but every little thing counts I think.

~Alfredo

[taboule]

I'm with Alfredo on this one. Tough year but every day brings its own blessings. I already have more toms than DW and I can eat (and cook) so we started gifting some away. It won't come close to matching last year's production. (We got overwhelmed at the end of last season with such volume, it became a chore cooking it all into sauces for freezing.)

Yesterday we ate the first German Queen, a bit on the small side. Now I see bigger ones (~1lb) blushing.

Also yesterday, the first Brandywines (pink) blushing, on 2 separate plants.

AND, this morning (after monsoon rains yesterday) the first Mortgage lifter blushing. Only ones still green for me are the French oxhearts.

Keeping ahead (well ahead) of the diseases was the key.

[camochef]

Originally Posted by efisakov

It has being weird year so far. Many of us asking our selfs: "Are they already dying? Will I loose my plants to disease before green tomatoes ripen? Why my tomatoes taste is not consistent day to day? What do I do? And most importantly, can I do something about it?"
So, do you think it is the end of the season or not yet?

Many similar thoughts have been crossing my mind. This is definitely the most unusual weather I've experienced since moving to Pa. in 1978.
The last two weeks of July and the first two weeks of August are known as the Dog Days of Summer and generally gives us our hottest and most humid weather of the year. Not this year! We've seen temps dropping to the low 50's overnight...in August! Many years one considers themselves lucky if it gets down to the high 70's overnight at this time. Maybe air conditioning has made people unaware of the temperature differences now compared to in the past, but this is something we should all be aware of.
I'm not saying that the earthquakes and Tsunami that hit Japan a couple years ago has shifted the earth's axis as many claim, but I am saying that we are seeing major changes in weather patterns here in south central Pennsylvania.
This was some of the coldest spring I've seen since moving here in '78. Latest frosts and the latest freeze ever. Therefore my tomato plants were much later than normal getting planted out in the garden.
Most years, I'm picking ripe Cowlick Brandywines by the last week of June and beginning to pick many ripe slicers by the 4th of July. This year I didn't pick my first ripe Cowlick Brandywine until 28 July a full month later than normal and although I have picked 2 ripe DDR's and 2 Barlow Japs and a couple Amazon Chocolates since then as well as a few more Cowlick's and one German Johnson-Benton Strain from last years grafted plant. The majority of my plants haven't produced a single ripe tomato yet.
With these cooling temps at night and although humid during the day we are much cooler than normal, I'm afraid we're going to see an early frost this fall.
If that's true, all those huge green tomatoes on my plants are in trouble. While the earliest measurable snow I recall here was on Oct 6 back in the late 70's. I do remember some early frosts in early September some years back.
As far as disease goes, this year is better than most as far as Septoria and Early Blight go. At least in my gardens, but late blight is spreading rapidly from Florida northward and westward and is now found throughout the eastern seaboard up to New England states. Last report I saw shows it only two counties away from us here in Adams county and I'm sure we all know how quickly late blight can travel and destroy a garden.
I hope my fears are miss interpreted but I'm afraid you might be correct in your assumptions. Not that there is a great deal we can do to combat such things at this point.
Wishing the best of luck to all!
Camo

[Alfredo]

Ok Camo you're kinda scaring me with the traveling countrywide blight.

Just kidding.

No but in all seriousness, the weather has been strange as you and Ella have noted. I started my tomato seeds two weeks later this season intentionally as I sort of had a hunch the last spring frost would be a bit later this year.

~Alfredo

[camochef]

Alfredo,
Late Blight scares me! It can wipe out your entire tomato/potato crop almost overnight. Seeing you live in Bergen/Passiac county area from where
i used to live way back when, it is currently south of you in N.J. and east on Long Island and of course north in N.Y. Maybe not as close to you as it is here in south central Pa...but you are surrounded.
Check current map:
http://usablight.org/
Hope you manage to stay safe!
Enjoy!
Camo
PS:
I planted my gardens out a full month later than I usually do. We did have very late frosts and a killer freeze.