Wet Summer, Weak Flavor

[zipcode]

A good dose of foliar K fertilizer 2 weeks or so before ripening is said to boost taste a lot. I never used foliar, but adding high K at ripening time in the soil is definitely helping the taste of my container tomatoes (i use an organic 4-8-10, because that's what I have).
If people can have good tasting tomatoes in hydroponics, there's no reason not to have good ones in rainy conditions (unless there is a prolonged lack of sun).

[CamuMahubah]

Don't get discouraged by 3 customers. Most of us mater hounds know how the rain effects taste and we still buy anyways. Even a watered down mater beats the ethylene gas pumped stuff at the supermarket.

At least that is how I am.

Put some olive oil and salt on your tasting table. Explain to them how you need an oil to absorb the lycopene if you ain't cooking them. Use some cheap paper plates. Suck out that water. Dash of oil on a cheap paper plate and they get a boost in flavor. This is not a scam as this how they should be eaten. At least in this scenario..

EDIT: You can use vegetable oil to the same effect too and salt can be subbed with black pepper.

Try that out. Good luck. Only wish you were nearby I'd buy as many as I could carry and smile all the way home.

[bigpinks]

lack of sunshine coupled with the wettest June on record here along the middle Ohio river has made for a very poor growing season and July might be worse if it doesn't do an abrupt about face. My Bear Claw and Cherokee P tomatoes did OK considering but I waded mud over my shoes in the clay garden to pick. Hope to have some pics soon.

[Salaam]

2013 and 2014 were wet summers here in Ottawa. This May and June were way to wet, but fingers crosses, July has been great. Hope it keeps going!

[Worth1]

Tomatoes so bland you cant sell them?

Worth

[BigVanVader]

Do you mulch your crops any Cole? Couldnt recall if you had or not. It helps disperse the water and seems to help in preventing that waterlogged taste, IMO anyway. It has been a dry summer here so I haven't had to concern myself with it. Good luck to you and I hope you can get a dry spell to gauge the flavor difference.

[Cole_Robbie]

Thanks, guys. I know I'm complaining, but I'm probably making twice as much money as last summer. My production has been good, at least quantity-wise.

I use black plastic mulch on raised beds, which are just mounds of soil. I'm sure the raised beds are helping me a lot. I need to mulch between the plastic with straw or hay, an improvement I am hoping to add for next year.

The previous two weeks to this week, I had 14 inches of rain in 14 days. Many gardeners have seen all of their crops rot, so I am lucky to have had anything to sell.

My plant supports fell over, and it has rained so much that the vines have put down new roots in the spots where they were touching the ground.

[SharonRossy]

June was a right off here as well and July hasn't been much better. Too much fluctuations inn temperature. Mine got a slow start, then seemed to flourish, only to look like issues might be starting. I'm trying to not water when temps get up there unless it's more than two days in a row of high heat which so far has been rare. Have not had the pleasure of eating a tomato yet, sadly.

[UFXEFU]

I've had a pretty good crop of tomatoes considering all the rain. This is the first time ever that I have not had to water my tomatoes, not a drop. My first tomatoes were a little bland, but as the rain slacked up and the heat set in the flavor was good. As a side note, my most productive year was when we had a drought. I was able to control the water and fertilizer and had a bumper crop.

You win some, you lose some, and some get rained out.......

[Cole_Robbie]

I am happy to report that after an entire week of no rain, flavor is improving already.

[RJGlew]

Originally Posted by Cole_Robbie

I am happy to report that after an entire week of no rain, flavor is improving already.

You had mentioned earlier that Sungreen taste was disappointing. Please advise if it improves.

rg

[Gardeneer]

Sorry, but I wouldn't serve sampler, unless I was sure they tasted good.
Sell as is.
But i think , regardless of rain, the early set tomatoes in cooler weather won't taste their best.
To me tomato has to have 2 of the taste characteristics : Tangy, Sweet, ...or both. I grew Black Zebra , last year. It was really bland, call it spitter.

Gardener

[Cole_Robbie]

Originally Posted by RJGlew

You had mentioned earlier that Sungreen taste was disappointing. Please advise if it improves.

rg

It looks like my two plants of Sungreen are dead, septoria I think is what killed them. They are the only plants that completely died from it, though. The rest appear to be growing out of it.

[Ruth_10]

It has been very wet here in the St. Louis area as well. We have new "lakes" down on the Missouri River bottoms.

My tomato plants have been challenged by the weather as well. I mulch with newspaper and straw, which is great for dry weather but neutral for wet weather. The past week has been dry(ish) and I'm hoping that holds up, as the non-cherries are just starting to turn color. If it rains, I'm out there in a flash to pick them before they crack.

[bower]

We're also having a wet summer, but the issue for flavour for me isn't watering but cold. The plants are getting very scanty watering, not only because it's too cool to need it but because the greenhouse condensation is a big fungal issue for the leaves and I don't want to add to it...
Too cold and too wet to do much ventilation or gain by it either.

Fruit are ripening this past week and more coming on, while the forecast for the next 8 days, there's only ONE day with a high above 60 F. And very little sun to be captured under cover. In the circumstances, I decided to bring the fruit indoors after they blush all over, to finish ripening. That should help the taste, theoretically or according to this:

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science...08814694901643

Can't believe I haven't tasted anything yet, I'm lining them up for the big seed saving/ tiny taste test with my friend, maybe today or soooon!