Fall tomatoes

[cowboy43]

i have heard of extending spring -summer tomatoes into producing in the fall. What needs to be done to the plant to do this , or is this just an old wives tale. Would it be better to set out new plants in July to have fall tomatoes. This is Tex. and it don't frost till Dec.

 

[Jogeephus]

If you plant an indeterminate variety and care for it well it will continue to grow till the first frost.

Here is an indeterminate grown in a green house. (not mine, just to give you an idea of what they can do.)

 

[Kingfisher]

The problem is they won't set outside once the over night temps stay above @70 degrees. You can pull em inside at night if you have em in containers.

 

[JMJ Farms]

Joe if it weren't for seeing the picture I wouldn't believe it.

Mine look good this year but they are not getting very big before they get ripe and the bottoms also try to rot just before they ripen. I've heard this was from too much water and I've also heard it called blossom end rot. I don't know. I'm a grass farmer! But they have a lot of acid this year and taste really good.

Cowboy I hope you figure it out. I'd love to have fresh tomatoes basically year round.

 

[Jogeephus]

Joe if it weren't for seeing the picture I wouldn't believe it.

Mine look good this year but they are not getting very big before they get ripe and the bottoms also try to rot just before they ripen. I've heard this was from too much water and I've also heard it called blossom end rot. I don't know. I'm a grass farmer! But they have a lot of acid this year and taste really good.

My money would be on blossum end rot too. To fix this, once you get the garden out of the way apply 1 ton/acre of land plaster to your garden. This will add calcium to your soil but not the calcium that will affect the pH. This will make your tomatoes do much better next year. Also if you can, fertilize your tomatoes with Calcium nitrate in the liquid form but if you just do the land plaster you should see a drastic change.

 

[JMJ Farms]

Thanks Joe. I will definitely do that.

 

[bbirder]

One year I followed some advice from an old gardener to extend my tomatoes. He told me that when frost threatens pull up your tomato plants and hang them bare root upside down in a shed out of the weather. That year I was able to wait until early Dec. to pull them. (South Louisiana). They were still full of green tomatoes and they gradually ripened on the vine. We ate fresh tomatoes until Feb. I intend to try it again this year.

 

[Jogeephus]

Last year I think it was January when I finished my last homegrown tomato.

 

[Dreapisse]

Hi
We have 3 tomatoes that are producing alot of great tomatoes, however before the tomatoes turn red, the green and turning tomatoes are being taken by squirrels.
Does anyone have suggestions on keeping the squirrels away from the tomato plants? Any insights would be greatly appreciated.

 

[slick4591]

Hi
We have 3 tomatoes that are producing alot of great tomatoes, however before the tomatoes turn red, the green and turning tomatoes are being taken by squirrels.
Does anyone have suggestions on keeping the squirrels away from the tomato plants? Any insights would be greatly appreciated.

We stretched out bird netting over ours and that stopped pretty much everything. It also caught a couple snakes.

 

[cowgirl8]

I get my best fall tomatoes off my old spring plants. Sometimes i'll cut them back, sometimes not, when it gets hot and just let the plants sit....once it starts cooling off late summer they'll kick back in. The smaller the tomato the better they produce. Dont expect a big crop of red tomatoes, most are going to be green but the majority will ripen over time if you pick and store.... I wouldnt go to the trouble of pulling the plant up and hanging it, just pick the tomatoes and store in your garage and eat them as they turn. Or make tomato relish. If you have tons of green cherry tomatoes, chop into small pieces like a relish and make tomato relish out of it..love it in small pieces. I have tons of cherry tomatoes right now, i'm going to pick and hope some ripen since i have years of relish from years past...
To keep tomato plants alive all winter you'll have to provide artificial light and heat, dont bother trying to keep plants alive in hopes of tomatoes year round...its not worth the trouble..

 

[kjonesel]

We had our first killing frost last weekend and our plants came back and bore again plus we had volunteer tomatoes come up in late summer that I would pick when I went to feed the cattle. The frost was very late this year for us though.

 

[planofencecompany]

Fall tomatoes are a second crop planted in mid-summer. They produce fruit until frost. The purpose of tomato growing in the fall is a bit different than spring/summer tomato gardening. In the spring and summer, you may be planting in order to get a significant crop to use for eating, canning, freezing, and drying.