unrealistic on production?

[WilburMartin]

I still have all of my plants growing - in MS no less, and all are still budding/blooming.

That brings me to my query - how much production per plant should I expect? How much is average?

I guess that is a bit of an unknown, depending on cultivation practice, water/fertilize, climate, etc. I am also a container gardener.

I am southeast MS - terribly hot from early June through the beginning of October, and generally very humid.

From some plants, I ended up with about 12-15 per round of tomatoes (Creole, Sweet Carneros Pink). My Creole in on it's 3rd round of tomatoes. I got from 4-6 per plant on Mortgage Lifter and Pink Brandywine - now that it is cooler, the buds are blooming pretty heavily. The Pink Berkeley Tie Dye has yielded 5 between 2 plants, but lots of buds/blooms are on the plant currently.

Is that typical, or should I experiment with other tomato plants or techniques?

[Allisa]

Originally Posted by WilburMartin

I still have all of my plants growing - in MS no less, and all are still budding/blooming.

That brings me to my query - how much production per plant should I expect? How much is average?

I guess that is a bit of an unknown, depending on cultivation practice, water/fertilize, climate, etc. I am also a container gardener.

I am southeast MS - terribly hot from early June through the beginning of October, and generally very humid.

From some plants, I ended up with about 12-15 per round of tomatoes (Creole, Sweet Carneros Pink). My Creole in on it's 3rd round of tomatoes. I got from 4-6 per plant on Mortgage Lifter and Pink Brandywine - now that it is cooler, the buds are blooming pretty heavily. The Pink Berkeley Tie Dye has yielded 5 between 2 plants, but lots of buds/blooms are on the plant currently.

Is that typical, or should I experiment with other tomato plants or techniques?

I would try different varieties and techniques. I have quite short season: my plants start to ripe in August and usually the season ends beginning of October, but I expect from my plant no less then 30 fruits no less then half pound. I plant mid season varieties, try to avoid late varieties. Prune up to 2-3 stems. Try to grow big root system. Play with time of planting. Water and fertilize regularly. Some of the variety no matter what are stubborn, but others are more flexible and adopt to my climate and techniques with years. However, I try to avoid super huge tomatoes, they take more time and everything else from the plants.

Usually, if I plant out in Apr-May, my plants have enough time to set fruits before the summer heat, then most of the varieties are not setting anything because of the heat and wait 'til mid of September when the weather gets cooler. But some varieties try to set fruits with slightest change from heat to warm weather during the hottest month.

Mulch is helping to keep soil not as warm and keep the soil evenly moisture.

There were times when I was able to get 11 full trusses. It all depends of the compost ingredients, varieties, weather, amount of sun, warm nights (over 50F) and much more than my mind can comprehend)))

Sweet Carneros Pink was a big producer in my garden, but I got only 3-4 trusses from a plant from Pink Berkeley Tie Dye last year.

Eventually you'll be able to find your own techniques to play around the weather and good varieties for your climate.

[Father'sDaughter]

I would almost kill for those kinds of numbers per plant!

One thing I did this year is pinch off any mega blooms or fused blossoms since very large fruit is not a priority for me. In past years I left them and once that blossom set fruit, all production seemed to screech to a halt until after it matured enough to be picked. This year was a horrible year for my tomatoes, but I did get decent fruit set from a few previously stingy plants that I culled fused and mega blossoms from.

[Durgan]

At one time I use to take what nature produced, and had no idea what was expected.

For the last several years I weigh products of plants of interest and establish a norm. Of the items that I grow I know now what constitutes a good crop.

The production figures are/were sadly lacking on the internet, particularly for a home garden, and often the touted figures were incorrect.

Now I establish a norm by weighing production and observing quality over several years, and the figure obtained becomes my norm.

[maxjohnson]

The right level of humidity help, which is why I envy the west coast.

[Cole_Robbie]

30 pounds off one in-ground plant is not unreasonable in my climate. But there comes a point of increasing production at which you have maxed out the plant's ability to produce sugar, so what sugar it makes is spread out over more fruit, and that will make the flavor go downhill. I have gotten huge yields off some varieties, but not bothered to save seeds, because the flavor did not impress me.

[oakley]

I think your personal observations are spot-on. Grow out your most productive next year...toss out the two or three that dissapoint...add a couple new ones that might do better by growers in your climate ...always grow what you love and try a few new ones...

I'm twenty years growing toms... and have 22-24ish in the dud pile and have room now for new ones with a dozen prime that are on the every year list...(my personal prime grow list will not be anyones list as mine is prime by my growing climate, taste, experience, ...)

Your numbers are good...just try something new by observation....research. A few new ones this year are now on my 'prime; list for next year...

[TomNJ]

As a canner I prefer to think of productivity in terms of pounds/plant rather than tomatoes/plant since tomato size varies greatly. My best this year (and new record) is 32 lbs/plant for Rio Grande, which since they are 3.5 oz paste tomatoes translates into 144 tomatoes/plant.

My harvest average this year for all tomatoes (beefsteaks, hearts, and pastes) was 17.5 lbs/plant, up from last year's 14.7 lbs/plant. Both figures would have been at least 20% higher had I been more diligent about tying and picking pink, plus I stopped picking many tomatoes that I just didn't care for. Here in the Blue Ridge mountains at 2,600 feet the air is a bit cooler and drier than the coastal plains so disease has been low. That said, I did get wiped out by late blight in 2013, so it can happen.

In terms of weight, beefsteaks tend to yield 15-22 lbs/plant, hearts 20-27, and pastes 15-32 over the past two years at this site.

In terms of tomato count, I harvested 44 tomatoes/plant this year and 27 per plant last year, the difference mainly due to more smaller paste tomatoes this year. Beefsteaks tend to run 15-25 tomatoes/plant, hearts 25-30, and pastes are all over depending on the size.

TomNJ/VA

[Allisa]

Originally Posted by Father'sDaughter

I would almost kill for those kinds of numbers per plant!

One thing I did this year is pinch off any mega blooms or fused blossoms since very large fruit is not a priority for me. In past years I left them and once that blossom set fruit, all production seemed to screech to a halt until after it matured enough to be picked. This year was a horrible year for my tomatoes, but I did get decent fruit set from a few previously stingy plants that I culled fused and mega blossoms from.

I also take rid off fused blossoms for the same reason, but I wait util they done blooming and start to set fruits (size smaller than a pea). I did try to pinch off before they started to bloom and during the bloom, but the pinching at this time was delaying the time of blooming of others flowers on the truss.

[Allisa]

Originally Posted by TomNJ

Beefsteaks tend to run 15-25 tomatoes/plant, hearts 25-30, and pastes are all over depending on the size.

TomNJ/VA

That's why I like hearts)))

Tomatoes in my own garden - sandy soil, but with a truckload of bought mix, a soil test, recommended amendments - grow one spindly stem with one to a few tomatoes.

The same varieties in my allotment garden - clay soil, no fertilizer - grow big strong plants with lots of tomatoes.

Maybe I should just move a truckload of that soil to my garden.

[RJGlew]

Consider trying a few hybrids since they tend to outproduce OPs.

[AKmark]

To get high yields you must have a variety that sets tomatoes that weigh up a lot on each truss, and you must be able to produce many trusses of fruit. I don't have the disease problems as bad as many have in the South, so I have a very long growing season in my greenhouses, and have many trusses of fruit that ripen. We pull out plants that have about 20 foot vines at the end of the season, so we get many pounds on most varieties.
If you can't keep them going production is greatly reduced, and is reduced further if they only produce a pound or two per truss.

[b54red]

I live in the southeastern corner of Alabama so our growing conditions should be very similar. Two problems that will negatively affect your growing that you will probably have to deal with sooner or later are fusarium wilt and nematodes. Very few of the heirloom varieties have any resistance to either or these plagues of the deep south. I grew many varieties for over thirty years with various levels of success but learning to graft successfully has given me a success rate with heirlooms that I only dreamed about years ago. By using a rootstock that was both resistant to all three races of fusarium wilt and nematodes the life and productivity of my plants increased tremendously. Before grafting I rarely had a tomato plant live more than three months and now it isn't uncommon to have some live a full nine months but of course the production drops with every month no matter how well the plants are maintained.

I adopted the same staggered planting that I used with un-grafted plants in order to have plants continuously reaching that high production period throughout the summer and into the fall. I graft all my plants now and yet still find that staggering the planting allows me to have nice levels of production all season as long as I can keep the foliage diseases and the pests to levels that allow the plants to produce. I try to maintain production with regular use of fungicides to repress the rampant diseases that are common in this area and try my best to stop harmful pests before they take over.

I use heavy layers of mulch to keep the ground cooler and maintain a good moisture level and feed my plants almost weekly with Texas Tomato Food. I also keep my plants pruned to only one or two stems and support them with a drop line and tomato clip system which allows them to grow to get really long yet still be supported well.

It took years of trying hundreds of varieties to find the ones that I like the best for my growing conditions and that suit my taste buds. I found over time that many of my favorites are best planted very early in the season for maximum production because they set fruit very poorly during very hot weather. I also found that there are many varieties that will set fruit during the hottest weather if they are mulched, fed and watered regularly so these are the varieties that get planted out after the hot weather gets here. I usually plant between four and six different times starting in early March and ending in July.

Most of the plants set out in March, April and even May are usually the ones more sensitive to heat. These are mainly the large pink beefsteaks and a few of the large red varieties. Starting in May and on through July I plant a mix of varieties that do better than most at setting fruit in very hot weather. By staggering my plantings like this I get maximum use out of my limited garden space for continuous production of ripe fruit for as long as possible. By the time September arrives some of my earliest plantings are starting to look pretty ragged and although I could keep them going and producing it is just easier to pull them up and start preparing those beds for fall and winter crops.

As to production per plant that varies so much because of the many variables that can occur with each plant from diseases, location, weather, pests and other things that I just have to guess on which ones will do good from one year to the next. No matter what I guess there are always surprises. A year of heavy rain and the black tomatoes will do terrible. A relatively cool summer or long spring will find some of the more stingy big pink beefsteaks producing like crazy. A very hot dry summer can produce much smaller fruit and lots of spider mites which can really damage the plants. Too much rain and humidity can cause excessive disease problems and a lot of thrips can mean plants dying left and right of TSWV. To me the worst thing to ever happen is a bout with Late Blight which can wipe your tomatoes out; but thankfully that is a rare occurrence down here.

By staggering your plantings with the super long season you have you can avoid some of the problems that can cause low production down here and allow yourself to enjoy fresh tomatoes for a much longer period of time. There are a lot of varieties that will do well down here but far more varieties that will do poorly in our climate. I have found some varieties that I really like and now only choose from about 30 to 40 different varieties and in any one year I usually plant out about 25 different varieties but concentrate heavily on around 15 varieties.

There are some large beefsteak varieties that when grafted to a good root stock like RST-04-106-T that will consistently produce well even down here if planted early and properly taken care of. Most of these bigger varieties will produce on a good year aruound 25 to 30 fruits each but sometimes they will produce only a few and I never know when or which will do this. These are most of my favorites in that category and the ones with the * are more likely to produce well in the heat than some of the others.

Red Barn*
Brandywine Cowlick's
Brandywine Sudduth's
Coulles de Taureau*
Marianna's Peace*
German Johnson PL
Giant Belgium
Royal Hillbilly
Virginia Sweet*
Limbaugh's Legacy*
Stump of the World
Dester
Barlow Jap
Donskoi (heart)*
Delicious
Neves Azorean Red *
Hendersons Winsall

Although I plant a good number of varieties in my later plantings because you just never know when one of them will do well, most of my tomatoes set out after mid May are heavily weighted with the following varieties because they have proven year after year to out produce most others in the heat. Most of these varieties make medium size tomatoes in the hottest weather but most will put out over 50 tomatoes per plant and some will exceed 100 if they are kept healthy and well fed over a long time.

Indian Stripe PL (the most productive variety in the hottest weather)
Pruden's Purple (super fruit setter even in the heat)
Indian Stripe reg
Spudakee
Arkansas Traveler
JD's Special C Tex
Berkley Tie Dye Pink
Neves Azorean Red

I know I have left out some good varieties but my memory isn't as good as it used to be. I really think you should try some of the varieties I mentioned above because it took me many years of experimenting to narrow it down to the small list I now use regularly. It was a lot of fun trying all the different varieties but it was also very frustrating because you need to give each one at least three tries before giving up on one. Some years only a few varieties will do well and other years almost all of them will so going by one years experience can lead to some very bad decisions. Always plant at least several varieties so you don't have a whole tomato season ruined by choosing just one that flops that year and I have had that happen with most varieties over 40 years of growing. Another hard learned lesson is that it is better to plant fewer plants and keep them well maintained than to plant more than you can take care of. It is amazing how much work it gets to be once the summer heat sets in so don't go completely crazy planting in the nice early spring weather only to find yourself overwhelmed in July and August. If you find yourself dealing with fusarium wilt or nematodes don't think it will get better with time because it won't. Go ahead and plant some resistant hybrids for insurance or take up grafting as soon as possible.

Bill