Fall tomatoes 2014

[b54red]

I set out some fall tomatoes on August 10th and a few more on August the 27th and they are really starting to put on some nice green tomatoes. The old plants that kept going from spring til now are also putting on some nice fruit. I have picked a few really nice tomatoes this week with one that must be nearly a pound from an old Virginia Sweet plant set out in early April. I have found that keeping the suckers pinched before they get large and keeping the plants to a few stems is critical in the fall in order for the plants to steer everything to the developing fruits. In the past I have been guilty of allowing a lot of branches and suckers to develop on fall plants trying to get more fruit but this year since I had so many old plants I decided to try keeping them really pruned. I haven't been able to get out and fertilize them as much as I would like but the pruning seems to be paying off with fruit growing at a far faster rate than I normally see in the fall. Still with the nights getting into the forties this week at night I'm not sure I will see many get large enough to ripen well.

How is everyone else doing with their fall plants? I'll try posting some pics as soon as I can. Keeping my fingers crossed that a real cold snap doesn't hit for a while yet.

Bill

[Patihum]

I set my fall tomatoes out the 15th of July. Plants were all topped about 3 weeks ago to encourage ripening of all existing tomatoes. Blue Sky, Santorini and Christmas Cross are really producing very well. Lucky Tiger and Pink Tiger are doing only so-so. Of the spring plants left Blue Ridge Black has several large ones on it that I'm hoping will ripen before we get a frost. I've never had vine ripened tomatoes this late in the year before and I'm loving it.

[ginger2778]

Originally Posted by Patihum

I set my fall tomatoes out the 15th of July. Plants were all topped about 3 weeks ago to encourage ripening of all existing tomatoes. Blue Sky, Santorini and Christmas Cross are really producing very well. Lucky Tiger and Pink Tiger are doing only so-so. Of the spring plants left Blue Ridge Black has several large ones on it that I'm hoping will ripen before we get a frost. I've never had vine ripened tomatoes this late in the year before and I'm loving it.

Pat, you go girl!

[Cheryl2017]

I plant mine the first 2 weeks of August. This has been the best fall so far. Usually the heat torments my plants to near death and then the spider mites finish them off. Although it has been plenty hot, not as hot as previous years. Some of the beefsteaks aren't going to get as big if I had done a spring planting but overall I am quite satisfied. And if we don't get a frost until December, it wont hurt my feelings one bit

[Barb_FL]

I kept 4 plants from early 2014 winter/spring alive thoughout the summer - this was a first. All are flowering (it is finally cooler at night for fruit set). They are in earthboxes which I could use for newer plants. They are: Porter (flowering a lot), Marglobe (took many cuttings), Dagma's Perfection (Never got a tom even the first time), and Park's Whopper. I debate keeping the Dagma and Whopper b/c the plants are really tall and I don't know if it could even support a tom up there.

The only plants that I have actual tomatoes on are SunGold, Matts Wild Cherry and some random cherry tomato plants that were from 2014 spring cuttings. The SunGold and Matts were sown in early summer and are beasts.

I have large healthy Black Cherry plants but no flowers (although I had flowers in the summer); nothing else is big enough to support toms.

I planted lots of seeds during the summer but the ones I planted on 9/7 and 9/10 already outgrew the others.

[Fiishergurl]

I started seeds towards the end of july and planted them out at various times. We had a very wet september into the first week of october which the plants did not like. But they are making up for lost time now. Here is a picture of some.... they would be 2 to 3 times that thick with leaves but I have to keep them pruned thin for airflow because it is so wet here so close to the water. But they are putting on tons of tomatoes.





I have 24 plants which is more than I need and have gifted at least 10 to neighbors (already in pots with all the good stuff) that are close enough for me to walk by every couple of days and be the tomato police and make sure they are taking good care of their plants.... :-)

Ginny

[decherdt]

Our temps did fall back into the tomato making zone mid Sept. We're getting cherry types and a few Bloody Butchers so far. Kimberly, Prudens, Gregory Altai, Beauty, Champion II and FL Oxheart are full of greenies, some of which (or all) we will have to serve fried.

[b54red]

Almost all my new fall plants set out in the first week and again in the last week of August are loaded with green tomatoes. Some are quite large but none are showing any signs of ripening yet. I am seeing just as much good fruit set on the larger varieties as with the smaller fruited varieties. I'm just hoping the first real cold weather will hold off until I get to pick a good number of vine ripened fruit. I am getting some ripe fruit off my older vines that survived the summer and are now once again producing larger fruit instead of the smaller ones I picked in August and September.

Bill

[b54red]

It sure looks like another bust for my fall plants this year. It is forecast to get down to 31 for the next two nights with highs only around 50 during the day and then the first of next week we are supposed to have two nights in a row down around 25 degrees so that should finish off all my tomatoes and peppers. So far of my fall plants set out in August I have only gotten two nearly ripe fruit off of them. That works out to only one tomato for every 10 plants. Not a good percentage. I did however get a couple of dozen ripe tomatoes from the spring plants that survived the summer and started producing again.

Bill

[AlittleSalt]

Bill, this was my first year to attempt tomato gardening in the fall. I started my first tomatoes from seed during the first week of July. In August, I transplanted them. I shaded during the worst of the heat, I mulched, tried to water at the right times, and after watching how the plants grew and produced after that... well, it wasn't what I was hoping for. It really made me think about it all.

I have read a dozen times or more that tomato plants planted in spring need to be pulled out in August in zones 7 and 8. I remember reading a few times, "Yank them out of the ground and start over with new plants." I think that has more to do with older tomato plants get diseases easier? It kind of makes sense.

I have not given up on a fall tomato garden though. Next July 1, I'm going to try growing earlier DTM varieties and those varieties that are suited to high temperatures. I have read that a lot of early DTM varieties of tomatoes are basically tasteless. The way I see it, first, I want to grow tomatoes that mature on the vine in the fall - then I'll figure out which ones I like or not. After that, I'll know which ones to grow in the fall.

[Dewayne mater]

As usual for me, the only fall plants to ripen were cherry varieties. Thanks to unusually early and cold temps, everything not in a container is history. The containers have been hanging out in the garage for a few days and doing fine. Looks like in a couple more days, we're set to warm up for the next week or so at least, so maybe we'll get some additional production that way?

Dewayne Mater

[b54red]

I was very late getting my fall tomatoes out this year and so it really is my fault that I won't have many ripe fruit due to the freezes we are now experiencing. The best shot at getting a good fall crop is to set the fall plants out no later than the third week in July. I have had good fall crops when planted later but that is totally dependent on having a later than usual first hard freeze.

Early varieties don't necessarily work better nor do hybrids in the fall. One summer I set out a bunch of determinate and early varieties along with others and they were the slowest to ripen fruit. Below is a list of varieties that seem to really do well in the fall for me in order of how well they do and how fast they ripen in the fall.

Carbon
Indian Stripe reg & pl
Berkley Tie Dye Pink
Prudens Purple
Virginia Sweet
German Johnson
Big Beef (hybrid f1)
Tarasenko-6
JD's Special C Tex
Spudakee
Coulies de Teaureau
Black Krim
Red Siberian
Rose
Cowlick's Brandywine
Brandywine Sudduth's
Stump of the World
Druzba

I try a lot of fall plantings of tomatoes each year and the ones near the top of the list consistently do really good if I can keep them alive through the blast furnace days of August and early September. If you want to try a hybrid for the fall I highly recommend Big Beef with its good disease resistance and high productivity it is a really good fall tomato and has the added benefit of being tastier than most disease resistant hybrids.

Bill

[Fiishergurl]

Originally Posted by b54red

I was very late getting my fall tomatoes out this year and so it really is my fault that I won't have many ripe fruit due to the freezes we are now experiencing. The best shot at getting a good fall crop is to set the fall plants out no later than the third week in July. I have had good fall crops when planted later but that is totally dependent on having a later than usual first hard freeze.

Early varieties don't necessarily work better nor do hybrids in the fall. One summer I set out a bunch of determinate and early varieties along with others and they were the slowest to ripen fruit. Below is a list of varieties that seem to really do well in the fall for me in order of how well they do and how fast they ripen in the fall.

Carbon
Indian Stripe reg & pl
Berkley Tie Dye Pink
Prudens Purple
Virginia Sweet
German Johnson
Big Beef (hybrid f1)
Tarasenko-6
JD's Special C Tex
Spudakee
Coulies de Teaureau
Black Krim
Red Siberian
Rose
Cowlick's Brandywine
Brandywine Sudduth's
Stump of the World
Druzba

I try a lot of fall plantings of tomatoes each year and the ones near the top of the list consistently do really good if I can keep them alive through the blast furnace days of August and early September. If you want to try a hybrid for the fall I highly recommend Big Beef with its good disease resistance and high productivity it is a really good fall tomato and has the added benefit of being tastier than most disease resistant hybrids.

Bill

Thanks Bill for the update. I love when people post the varieties that have worked well for them in certain environments. Really helps us newbies. I already have Indian Stripe and PBTD on my list and going to add Carbon too based on what you wrote. Ive been wanting to try it anyways... :-)

Ginny