I rely on articles in Sunset Magazine and San Jose Mercury News.

I am in a 55 low 100 high location.

I commercially grew cannery tomatoes in another area, those tomatoes had a 50 low.

I have no assurances for you.

In Nevada we often see ''...lows should stay in the late 50s throughout summer. Our highs will reach the 90s in July and August.'' and I am not confident that our tomatoes like it. We just grow a few and fumble along.

those temps seem about average for most of the states in summer the lows are a tad low, but as long as it remains above 55 the plants will grow fine (a bit on the slow side below 60)..above 95 for long periods is when fruit set will suffer. so the idea is to beat the heat.. plant as early as possible so when the heat arrives there are already fruit on the plants.

Well you can always ask over on the California Gardening forum here and using your Sunset gardening zone info - they are much more specific about local zones, you can find some recommendations. You can also contact your county AG agent's office and extension service for specific recommendations.

But as others have pointed out your spring/summer weather is common in many parts of the country and most any variety can be grown. Its isn't variety nearly as much as proper planting times. Those do vary greatly and I think you'll find many in your part of CA are ready to plant in early Apr or even sooner.

http://www.sfgate.com/homeandgarden/article/Growing-tomatoes-in-Bay-Area-4395438.php

Dave

Our lows are still in the late 40s and should be through April. I was under the impression that I should wait to plant until the lows are above the 50s - early-mid May?

Is it more important to protect from the lows or from the highs? Does the extreme difference between highs and lows make much of a difference (hot during the day and much colder at night?) I remember last year my first tomato was a bit deformed - was told it was likely due to the cold during the flowering stage.

"San Jose Mercury News. I am in a 55 low 100 high location."

San Jose was a bit cooler last year. I very recently moved from west San Jose. It stayed in the 80s for the most part through summer and occasionally hit 90. Highest days were in September. Didn't worry about having to deal with the heat. It was nice

It looks like the city I'm in now, however, had a really hot summer last year...getting over 100 quite a bit through July and hitting a high 111 F... :/

Night lows in 40s is not going to harm tomato plants. It is safe to plant. The only thing is tat they will grow at slower paste. Also there is a big difference between, say, 41 and 48F. In PNW the night lows didn,t get to 50s until early July and by then some of my tomatoes were getting ripe. If you talk about optimum, even 50s is not. But tomatoes will grow and thrive.

"I was under the impression that I should wait to plant until the lows are above the 50s - early-mid May?"

You might want to research that more with local sources. Even folks in zone 5 are planting by early May.

It isn't a question protecting from either/or high or lows. The goal is a balance between plant grow time and fruit set. It's a matter of the right temps at the right stage of growth.

Plant growth tolerates cooler temps in the 50s as Sey already said, especially if the soil is warmer as it usually is, but they won't set fruit in those temps. But then they are too young and small to set fruit early on anyway. When it gets into the upper 90s+ plants will still grow but they won't set fruit well then either.

So the goal is to get them planted early enough that they grow big enough to begin setting fruit BEFORE it gets too hot. If you waited until May to plant they wouldn't have much growth time before it gets too hot to set fruit.

Dave

i certainly wouldn't plant when lows still dip into the 40s. that means that the chance of frost is still very high.. i would wait until it's a minimum of 50-55 for at least a week, by then the chance of a late frost becomes less likely. i would also check the soil temp before even considering to plant.. if the ground is warm they are more likely to survive any cold nights. it's also easy to get a plastic above the plants and get some radiant heat from the ground to keep them warm.

i like to put a black tarp on the ground about a month or so before planting, then i remove it.. helps heat the soil faster for an earlier start.

There are tomatoes that do better with more extreme temps on both ends. A lot of the Eastern European and Russian varieties, for some reason, seem to cope well with both cold and heat. Many hybrids are good at coping with nonideal conditions as well.

Also, conditions are somewhat variable from garden to garden as well. I would just keep researching on forums and blogs and see what people in your conditions like to grow and keep trialing those varieties in your garden. Eventually, you'll come up with a decent growlist from which you can choose each season's tomatoes.

Several Bay Area tomato planting and growing discussions from the CA Gardening forum. Also keep in mind that if you only have a few plants then it is easy to cover them if you get an exceptionally cold night. If one is prepared to provide protection if necessary then it is easy to gain several weeks of growing time up front, even with nights in the 40's.

Dave

http://www.gardenweb.com/gardenweb/query/when-to-plant-tomatoes-in-Bay-area%3F

"A lot of the Eastern European and Russian varieties, for some reason, seem to cope well with both cold and heat."

Hmm...so perhaps the Black Krim (Russian variety) might perform decently for me...

It's obviously not going to be all of them. Don't go just based on whether they're supposed to be Russian or Eastern European. You still need to research the individual varieties. First, the origins of many tomato breeds can be somewhat mythical in nature. Second, there are always exceptions to general rules.

I did not want to get into specifics in my first response. But apparently THERE ARE varieties that do SLIGHTLY better in high heat and humidity.

The reason tomatoes shut down at high heat and humidity is that their pollen get sticky and/or lose their viability. So scientifically there can be a variety that might not be affected. Then there are parthenocarpic tomatoes that can fruit without needing to get pollinated.

Since I moved to the south I have been looking into this issue and I have been told that there are varieties that do better in high heat and humidity of the south. Just the name a few : PRUDEN'S PURPLE, BRADLEY, SIOUX, CREOLE , INDIAN STRIPE PL, BIG BEEF.

sey

I'm just really curious as to why the East Bay is considered "less than Ideal" for growing tomatoes? That sounds like a self-full-filling prophecy for failure when it is apparent in research that the weather extremes are no different than what many parts of the country deal with and that lots of tomatoes are successfully grown in that area.

What article that you read makes that claim and what reasons do they give for such a claim? It could easily be totally wrong and mis-leading you.

Dave

How to grow tomatoes in the East Bay info

The sfgate.com article I had initially read:

"'Tomatoes are the roses of the vegetable garden,' says Chronicle columnist and Bay Area garden authority Pam Peirce. "There are a million varieties, they grow kind of like weeds, get fussed over endlessly to maximize health and production, yet they are vexed with pests and problems. And we love them so much that we keep trying even when we don't have the ideal climate." According to Peirce, that would be night temperatures between 59 and 68 degrees and warm sunny days, but never one above 90 degrees.

The good news is that breeders and grafters continue to develop tomatoes that tolerate less-than-favorable conditions. "

"would be night temperatures between 59 and 68 degrees and warm sunny days, but never one above 90 degrees."

Well as I suspected that is a very loose and poorly worded description of what is "ideal" for fruit set on established plants, not for growing plants. If that was applied to all stages of growing tomatoes then none of us could grow them as no such ideal exists.

Tomato plants can suffer from failure to pollinate and the condition called Blossom Drop when night time fall below 55 or rise above 75 or if the day temps are above 90-95, the pollen becomes tacky and non-viable. Pollination cannot occur. (From the FAQ here).

That is true for all of us no matter where we live. It isn't unique to the bay area indeed many of us have to cope with much hotter temps in the summer of 100+ degrees for weeks. That's why we try to get our plants out as early as possible, even if they have to be protected now and then, so they have time to grow big enough to the bloom and set fruit before the high heat sets in. Once the blooms set fruit the air temps don't bother them. And there are all sorts of tricks we use to tide the plants through the high heat and still get some fruit to set.

Dave

Even those of us that live in places where, historically, the climate has been considered good for tomatoes often have to deal with seasons that are far from ideal, especially in recent years. It's pretty normal these days where I am to have at least half of July and August with daytime temps well into the 90s, with long stretches that get into the high 90s and low 100s. And summers here tend to be humid, and humid+heat is worse for pollination than just heat. Last summer was particularly brutal, with even nighttime temps very frequently getting too high for pollination and fruit set, but I still had a very decent harvest.

Choose the right varieties, adjust your growing practices to maximize the conditions you have, and give the plants a little extra help with some manual pollination during the brief stretches when temps *are* close to ideal, you can still get very good harvests.

Every climate has its challenges.

My backyard had 4 periods of 95-100 temps in 2016.

Because of my lows, I plant an early girl. Then, I try other retail varieties. Over the years, I have tried many different tomatoes, and early girl has been the best. I did have a good year with bigger boy one year. I grow 2 - 4 tomato plants a year.

Do you have a dietary goal for your tomatoes? For example, sauce tomatoes or salad or canning, or?

if you like early girl try bushsteak, they're better. determinate and tomatoes are bigger, they are about 60-65 days if i recall.. Burpee also has a hybrid called Heatwave that does well at 95-100F.

I'm sure if you poked around the massive section of tomato seeds in rareseeds.com you would pull up something.

I've already ordered several seeds from rareseeds.com. Finding tomato seeds isn't the problem.

You have to work with your actual local climate and be careful about advice from people growing in very different conditions or which assumes different growing conditions.

Just because people on the East Coast wouldn't plant out when lows are in the 40s doesn't mean it's not the wise move for you. As Dave says, consult people from your area who have experience growing tomatoes in your conditions.

Lows dipping in the 40s is fine for initial plant growth. It's just hard for fruit formation for most varieties, but plants need time to establish themselves before they're ready to set fruit. If there's an actual danger of frost, then that's a different issue. However, lows in the 40s may not mean a high potential for frost where you are. Where I am, yes, when lows are still dipping into the 40s, it means I could have a frost. But things are very different in the various microclimates of the Bay Area, where I know that there are places that continue to get very cold at night well into what the rest of the country considers "summer", even though the possibility of frost is long past and highly unlikely.

Also, I realize there are many different microclimates in the area, but I always thought your "summer" was actually in September and October in most cases and not in July and August? Where exactly in the East Bay are you?

You said you needed a big red so why not try one that seems to be quite successful in many different parts of the country, Big Beef (assuming an indeterminate is what you are looking for).

Dave

> However, lows in the 40s may not mean a high potential for frost where you are. Where I am, yes, when lows are still dipping into the 40s,

you think because CA is located closer to the equator there is not a greater chance of frost when in the 40s? i lived in Florida for several years and it's much further south and get frost quite a bit. and BTW, the temps doesn't have to dip to 32 for frost to occur, you can get frost even in mid/upper 30s.. often time the temperature can be 3-5 degrees colder on the ground than 3-4 feet off the ground where most temperature sensors are located. local weather forecast might say it's 38-40F but that is not ground temp as cold air sinks. anyone who plants out when the temps ares still dipping into the 40s is only asking for trouble.. ask Sey and the many others who live further south, they learned the hard way several weeks ago ;-)

The best tip I can give you is to use an electric toothbrush to pollinate your flowers. It is so easy and it has made a huge difference in the quantity of tomatoes I harvest. I learned how to do it on youtube! It was infuriating for me to grow some of the larger varieties of tomatoes and get 2 tomatoes on the whole plant ( Pineapple, Beauty King, Brandywine). Now I get so many that I'm sharing with co-workers, customers, family, mailmen, neighbors:)

Yes, turning yourself into a "bumblebee" if you don't have enough buzz pollinators in the neighborhood can really make a huge difference.

stevie: you think because CA is located closer to the equator there is not a greater chance of frost when in the 40s?[...] Florida [...]

To put it as you do:

You think because FL is further south than CA you can assume things about the climate in the Bay Area????

First, the Bay Area isn't that far South. It's probably somewhere along the same latitude as Richmond, VA.

Second, I'm going by what I know of the weather in the actual Bay Area, having experienced it for myself and also based on what people I know who live there report.

Third, Farmer's Almanac, for example, lists Last Frost Date and First Frost Date in California as no chance of frost. Obviously, this is a generalization. Other sources may say first frost is around mid-December and last frost is around mid-January. It should be clear that this is not the same climate model one can use for the Eastern USA.

The West Coast is a whole other animal. The ocean currents and the Rockies and other topography make most of the area behave in ways very different from the rest of the continental US. FL and CA have extremely dissimilar climates--basically the only characteristic they share is that they are warm a lot.

The fact is, if you make assumptions for the Bay Area based on what the weather does on the East Coast, you will make the wrong decisions for the area and have problems growing.

I transfer my tomatoes around Mothers Day. My temps can be in the low 40s before then.

A couple of times ( 35 years experience), I had temps in the 40s after transplanting. I used empty gallon jugs of water, I cut off the bottom of the jug, removed the cap and used them to keep my tomatoes warm.

You have purchased your seeds, you should compare the temperatures your plants like vs your local temperatures.

Do you monitor your outside air and soil temps?