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jon_e_gw

Expecting too much from tomatoes?

16 years ago

I got a late start this year. I haven't had a garden in three years owing to a move to a house in the middle of the woods, and not much free time. This year I did three raised bed "square foot" gardens, 4' x 12' x 12" deep. I planted late - tomatoes, peppers and cukes went in around the 15th of June, while summer squash got planted on the fourth of July.

My tomatoes, consisting of three heirloom plants and a half-dozen each of Celebrity and Juliet, were about 6-14" tall when planted. The Celebrity plants are about 5' tall, the Juliets are about 5-1/2' tall, and all three heirlooms are pushing 9' and still growing.

I have no tomatoes.

Actually, I do - the Juliets have a couple clusters of green tomatoes, and one of the heirlooms ( I think it's called Orange Blossom) has a half dozen small green tomatoes. I am worried, given the growth rate of these plants, I'm not going to get any ripe tomatoes at all. First frost here is sometime around Columbus Day, although I have seen early frost in late September.

So I am expecting too much from these plants, or should I expect them to eventually stop growing and start producing tomatoes? The plants are the healthiest I've ever seen a tomato plant - all green, no spots, odd colors, bugs, curling leaves, nothing bad. Except no tomatoes. I drove past a neighbors garden today and the plants were all short, spindly things about three feet tall, loaded with ripe and ripening tomatoes. I wish I had that right about now.

Comments (8)

  • 16 years ago

    I'm in zone 5 and planted out my tomatoes about the same time you did. My tomatoes were late. Up until this weekend I was getting a trickle of tomatoes. I would imagine that in 2 more weeks or so, those green tomatoes will be red. I'm a bit surprised by the Celebrities. If they sprout tomatoes overnight, it'll still be ~25 days for ripe tomatoes.

    You may have given then too much plant food (nitrogen). It gives you nice healthy big plants with no fruit.

  • 16 years ago

    Given the info you posted, like booberry, I suspect a heavy over-dose of nitrogen fertilizer or high nitrogen soil amendments. Lush, tall, healthy plants but no fruit is the classic sign of that.

    If so then, given enough time before frost and no more fertilizer, the plants will adapt and produce. The issue is if you will have enough time before frost. You may be forced this year to deal with ripening your green tomatoes indoors or using some sort of season extending cover like a hoop house to get ripe ones outside.

    Dave

  • 16 years ago

    Yeah, I suspect as much with the nitrogen. That, and I think they only get about 6-7 hours of direct sun per day. The soil in the beds is 100% compost - about 60% from 4-5 year-old composted horse manure, the rest from my household compost bins.

    The Celebrity plants have nothing on them at all, might be one or two flower clusters.

    Weird thing is, I planted half of one bed to pickling cukes, and they are producing well. Getting a half-dozen a day from about ten plants, and another ten plants from seed getting ready to produce. My peppers, on the other hand, seem to have been decimated by some kind of bugs, most have fallen over, and lost their blooms. I got one pepper out of 18 plants so far.

  • 16 years ago

    I agree with booberry and dave. If it makes you feel any better, your Juliet will continue to produce, from my experience. You can probably even cover them from the first frost and extend the season. Most heirloom I grow are usually late. Not sure if they'll be too late for your frost.

    Do you have lots of flowers on your tomatos? Or not even flowers?

  • 16 years ago

    I'm not sure if you are having the high temperatures like we have lately. Too many days in the 90s to count with heat indexes over 100 at times. High temperatures can kill the blossoms. The plants should start producing more when the weather eases up a bit.

    Here is a link that might be useful: Kim's Garden

  • 16 years ago

    People need to start spanking their plants as soon as they start flowering and continue to spank them until they've set their last fruit to ripen before frost. What's going on with this "set it and forget it" idea? That might work with an oven but not plants. My mother, uncles, aunts and grand parents always tapped with a small stick or shook their plants and always had good fruit set. I'm getting the same results. Hardly any blossom drop here.

  • 16 years ago

    Weird thing is, I planted half of one bed to pickling cukes, and they are producing well. Getting a half-dozen a day from about ten plants, and another ten plants from seed getting ready to produce. My peppers, on the other hand, seem to have been decimated by some kind of bugs, most have fallen over, and lost their blooms. I got one pepper out of 18 plants so far.

    Cukes are nitrogen lovers. Tomatoes and peppers are not.

    Dave

  • 16 years ago

    Don't give up yet!

    I'm in Zone 4 also, and last week finally saw the first significant round of tomatoes set (besides cherries, which I've had for about a month). If the weather cooperates, we might be okay - even if it means ripening on windowsills, as mentioned above. I have one very awkward Cherokee Purple that is gigantic (and green as can be), but the rest are very small and have only been around for 7-10 days.

    Some of my neighbors who water with more intense ertilizers have much smaller, thin plants with lots of tomatoes set. Mine were planted into composted beds, with some liquid seaweed applied earlier in the season. It sounds like our tomato plants are in the same boat.

    Here's hoping the weather works with us - don't give up!

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