How late into the fall do you let your tomatoes grow?

[JosephineRose]

OK, this is a dumb question, but based on the photo above... do you guys write on your tomatoes with permanent marker?

[joseph]

I write on tomatoes with permanent marker. And on cucumbers, melons, etc... Sure makes record-keeping easy.

Muskmelons:


Tomatoes:

[oakley]

I use numbers on the stem end...for early season identification. By mid August i usually know by sight what a variety is, but new ones i like to keep tract who is who. Some yellows, GWR, new to me, i number and have a 'map' i refer to. (i do not like to lose track and do not like unknown orphans).
Especially if a variety is so good and losing what it is troubles me...

The stem end is cut off when slicing so it is not used in saved for freezer or sauce or eaten. I might save some seeds from that end but marker does not penetrate the skin.

If concerned, kids safe edible markers are available. I'm growing 75+ varieties, so marking with as simple as i can system works for us. My map is on my phone so in the garden we can check #'s and mark the new varieties.

We, and many, mark parts not to be eaten...either end.

[MissS]

My plants go until the freezing end and I use permanent markers to label the fruits so that there is no mix up when I process the seeds.

[oakley]

I wait until the last possible close to frost every year. If miss it and lose that last harvest so be it.
We had some low temps but just a few the past week but i've been out on LongIsland for work...
We shall see this weekend...I might just pull some plants and hang in the barn...but next week is looking to warm up again...

i have seed for some long late harvest, long shelf life, to try next year. Varieties that are known to be pulled and hung for a few months.

I have so many garden crops that like a little frost like the carrots and greens that i'm good with what nature and weather hands out.

And we always have an odd warm November week before the holiday to clean up the garden and pick/harvest the last bits.

[NarnianGarden]

The weather forecast promised a very cold night, so I took most of the tomatoes indoors. I cut several trusses and placed them in a box.. some I left on the vine, we'll see in the morning what happened. My plants are tough, so i don't think any will freeze, but the taste is likely to suffer..
However, still more delicious than anything from the store.

[mcool61]

I pull mine right before a hard freeze & hang them in the garage. a few more will ripen over time. If they don't taste good to me fresh, I make sauce out of them. The oregano & basil cover the flat taste & I like to think they are still good for you overall vitamin wise.
Also make green tomato relish that I like pretty well.

[Susan66]

I pick everything just before a hard freeze. We can green tomato mincemeat in years where there are lots of green tomatoes at the end of the season. Fruit that has reached full size I often keep to ripen on the counter. Late cabbages and kale can wait a little longer. I tried to grow a few long keepers this year- a couple of the plants seem to have survived-at least I'm getting some late red tomatoes about the right size out there in the tomato jungle.
Have to get the basil, any remaining squash, peppers and eggplants. Our season is really too short for eggplant to do well, but in hot years like this one I get some. Like the tomatoes, the ones you grow yourself taste so much better than anything you can get in the store, it's worth a try.
Susan

[LK2016]

Wow, thank you all for the responses, some far flung (Newfoundland and Finland!). The deadline has been pushed back (Hallelujah!) to October 10th because we've had 5 days of rain. Still too early in my view, but better than October 1st.

I do have container plants going strong, including a lot of peppers that are doing well right now. But the community garden is fabulous for tomatoes. Lots of sun, and I've been amending the soil for years, so this was the best tomato season ever! Also, I can't seem to grow beets in containers so I like to leave the beets growing in the bigger garden into the fall.

I did love the post from Newfoundland about 10 hours of sunlight through November 12th here! So true, and last year the growing season went almost into December because of crazy weather.

But, if the new rules are going to be this rigid, I guess I'll just have to try to comply for now. I feel like the garden plot is "mine" because of all the blood, sweat, and tears invested in everything growing there, but the reality being borne down on me is that I'm just renting the space from the powers that be! So I guess in the next week, I will pull things out. I don't really have space to hang things to ripen - I wish I had a barn right now.

Anyone have a favorite recipe for green tomatoes?

[Ed of Somis]

I think my weather is good enough to keep harvesting through mid November...but my plants just peter out and turn brown. I am trying to learn to extend my harvests. My plan is to make some late plantings next year (July).
As for marking maters...I have found the permanent markers do better than the dry eraser type pens. As others said...you normally cut off the tops anyway.

[venturabananas]

I think Ed and I have a different problem than most of you. We live in a climate where you could potentially grow tomatoes year round since we seldom get frost and never get hard freezes. Our problem is keeping the plants going. I think Ed identifies part of the solution -- making multiple plantings. I'm trying that this year. I started a second round of seeds at the beginning of July. I think that was a month or 6 weeks later than optimal, but we'll see.

My problem is managing disease. For me, that petering out and turning brown that Ed mentioned is the result of fungal diseases, mainly gray mold, plus running out of nutrients. Regular, weekly sprays (this year of sulfur plus pyrethrum) controlled the disease and pest (tomato suck bugs) problems, but that gets old. Despite using a slow-release fertilizer (Osmocote Plus), after about 3 months, my plants seem to need supplementary fertilization, I've found. (Not rocket science, but eluded me until recently).

I guess the real question for me is whether the hassle of spraying weekly for months on end is worth the reward. Will tomatoes grown in late fall and winter be good enough to justify the effort? Ones I've grown in January in years past were better than store-bought, but not all that close to ones that ripened in late summer.

[NarnianGarden]

Originally Posted by venturabananas

I think Ed and I have a different problem than most of you. We live in a climate where you could potentially grow tomatoes year round since we seldom get frost and never get hard freezes. Our problem is keeping the plants going. I think Ed identifies part of the solution -- making multiple plantings. I'm trying that this year. I started a second round of seeds at the beginning of July. I think that was a month or 6 weeks later than optimal, but we'll see.

A dumb question from here in the North.. Do you in your part of the world get equal amount of sunshine, meaning light, all around the year?
Over here it's not just the cold weather.. it is the decreasing sunlight. Even the plants on my warm windowsill facing south barely make it through the winter, because it is so dark in Nov/Dec., and artificial light is not enough for tomatoes and others.
My aloe vera and my citrus plant have survived a couple of winters, but they are practically hybernating for three months.

[venturabananas]

We also get less light: shorter days and weaker light due to the lower angle in the sky. That combined with cooler temps (typically 40s and 50s at night during the winter), makes for less than optimal growing conditions for tomatoes, though some of the tougher varieties will keep growing and producing, especially if up against a wall that absorbs and radiates heat.

[Gardeneer]

Sure, tomato plants can/may grow/flower til frost kills them. But going by tomato time line tomatoes need about 40 days from flower (average ) to start color break. So I would prune any new growth and flowers about 40 days before the FFD since they will stand no chance to get ripe on the vine or inside on the counter. I have very little use for small green tomatoes except making some pickles with. YMMV

[venturabananas]

Originally Posted by Gardeneer

But going by tomato time line tomatoes need about 40 days from flower (average ) to start color break.

Wow, I wish mine were that fast. Mine averaged 8 weeks from the first opened flowers (which did set fruit) to the first ripe fruit. That was for several different varieties this year.