depends on what you're trying to grow and when you put them in the ground..I've had good luck with cherokee purple (heirloom), fantastico (cherry tomato) and the mighty 'mato (hybrid cherry), but they were planted back in April. some people will plant again in August.

It is hard to get fruit set in the heat and humidity of a Florida summer. Not to mention the battle against disease and pests. Better off sticking to planting tomatoes in the spring and fall/winter. I'll be starting seedlings soon and have them out at the end of August. Then I'll put out a new set in mid-February, hopefully avoiding any late frosts.

I still have green tomatoes on my heirloom Thessalonikis that are ripening but the plants are starting to turn. I have 50% shade cloth over them since we started having 90+ degrees. They aren't setting any more fruit. I just started my fall crop inside and plan to plant them outside sometime in early August. My grape tomatoes are still producing. Jeremy are you interested in a trade of seeds of Cherokees for Thessalonikis?

I understand that once night time temperatures reach 80F, the pollen just won't 'set'...

Carol that's been my experience too in all the years I've been growing tomatoes.

Yes, basically that's the problem. Some people say that using an electric toothbrush to vibrate the blossoms and loosen them up can help with pollination and fruit set; I'm going to give it a try next spring. I definitely have some plants that will set new fruit in higher temperature (Sunsugar comes to mind), but I'm so busy in the summer and just don't have time to battle the diseases and pests.

elight, you hit the nail on the head..it is definitely a battle with the diseases and pests...pests more than anything else...well the heat too...

I've have the best luck with the cherry tomatoes, might 'mato grafted black cherry, and one variety of heirloom, Cherokee Purple..the eary girl hybrids and another called mortgage lifter didn't fare to well.

My tomatoes

My mortgage lifter didn't do well here in FL either although was my best one on KY. Better boy didn't impress me this year. Was the first one to suffer from the 90s.

About 10 years ago I planted some grape tomato seeds from a store bought grape tomato. I read somewhere that these don't grow true but mine did great. I save seeds every year and are growing them here in FL too with success. They are still setting although they slowed down since it got so hot.

I've now had a full year of growing in Central Florida, so I've experienced both the challenges of the fall season (which can be either short or long depending on the winter weather) and the spring season (which seems much tougher overall as it will get hot sooner or later, and likely sooner).

In the fall, I didn't have nearly the pest problems that I had in the spring. I did have disease, but I wasn't good about proactively spraying, so we'll see if I'm able to control is this fall. In the spring, I did spray every week, and it still didn't control the disease.

I planted Better Boy for the first time, and thought it was just OK. Cherokee Purple also did relatively well. These were in my raised beds. My San Marzanos did well, but honestly I just wasn't impressed with the flavor and I'm never going to grow enough to justify canning them. My Kellogg's Breakfast and Rutgers ended up getting very little sunlight because the sun angle changed after I planted them. I also had a variety of dwarf tomatoes in fabric pots, and wasn't impressed with the production of the fabric pots. I think it's just too tough to keep them moist in this climate. My EarthTainers didn't do well because I got lazy and didn't replace the soil.

For the spring, I'm growing all my tomatoes in EarthTainers or 5-gallon SWCs. I really think that, in this climate, they'll benefit from the constant moisture and the protection from pests. On the agenda is CP, Big Beef, Sean's Yellow Dwarf, Sunsugar, KB, Cosmonaut Volkov, Bundaberg Rumball, and Yukon Quest. Only CP, Sunsugar and Yukon Quest I've really grown before. Hoping some of these new dwarfs work out, and that Big Beef lives up to the hype.

Seeds are going into trays this weekend, hopefully!

The weather got into the 90s sooner rather than later this year and that shortened my tomato growing. :(

I grow mine in 25 gallon containers spray painted white to deflect heat…hopefully. I add composted manure and a bit of sandy FL soil for drainage. At the end of the spring season and again after the fall season I toss in a handful of rabbit pellets (they're straight alfalfa) to replenish the nitrogen since I cannot replace the soil. I'm pleased with this set-up.

Back in KY we had a huge garden and we were able to rotate the crops. We also planted a red alfalfa cover crop in the fall that we tilled in in the spring.

you're right about that heat..it came on fast, we had almost two weeks with no rain..lost 4 out of 6 plants to the heat, but now I know what works and what won't...definitely need to try the rabbit pellet trick.

Jeremy I think the 50% shade cloth is what saved mine. If you are interested in getting some here is the company from which I bought it. It was the least expensive one I found. attributehttps://www.growerssupply.com/farm/supplies/cat1;gs_shade_houses_shade_cloth;gs_sunblocker_bulk_shade_cloth.html