Does anybody have experience with early tomatoes?

Discussion in 'Fruit and Veg Gardening' started by Beeker, Aug 18, 2021.

  1. Beeker

    Beeker In Flower

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    I've got Mountain Princess, Moskavich and Glacier Tomatoes.
    They are supposed to be ready in 60 - 65 days.
    They stopped growing at about a foot and started turning yellow. No tomatoes, not even flowers and it has been over 80 days!
    Is it possible that it is too hot and humid for them?
     
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  3. S-H

    S-H Hardy Maple

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    My environment is often mercilessly hot and unforgiving, (humidity hardly ever goes below 70%, in summer we often have 85 to 100%). But all types of tomatoes still grow here all year round.

    If you have a picture, then please do share. So we can see exactly what might be wrong.

    My guess is perhaps a plant virus, either in the seeds, or in the soil, or maybe spider mites. Which is destroying the flowers before it even starts to bloom... Could even be ants, (believe it or not).
     
    Last edited: Aug 18, 2021
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  4. Growingpains

    Growingpains Young Pine

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    Beeker, do you use Epsom salt around the base of your tomato plants?
    I do and some of ours are still late flowering. I finally see a tiny tomato on a Mortgage Lifter plants. All others produced.
     
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  5. Dirtmechanic

    Dirtmechanic Young Pine

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    @Beeker what have the night tempertures been? Below 60f?
     
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  6. Beeker

    Beeker In Flower

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    @Dirtmechanic Sometimes, but not that often. They've mainly been above 60.
    Once or twice every other week it might have fallen to 57.
     
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  7. Dirtmechanic

    Dirtmechanic Young Pine

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    That is a big deal. Because its right on the margin, perhaps some effort to retain the heat of the day would help. It would not take much, but for all practical purposes they act like tropical plants getting chilled. Even here in Alabama, as temps get to anything in the 50s, they get slow even with the extended light hours we have at 33 lat. They are relatively slow in the heat already. Chill them and they lose so much biochemical momentum that they barely get started again before the next chilling shutdown. I would say this is observable in other plants too. They look normal but fail to thrive. Grab some thermometers for soil, air and maybe a noncontact laser gun to see the plant surface temps.
     
    Last edited: Aug 19, 2021
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  8. Growingpains

    Growingpains Young Pine

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    Now Dirt Mechanic knows the technical stuff.
     
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  9. Dirtmechanic

    Dirtmechanic Young Pine

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    Purely self defense!
     
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  10. mart

    mart Strong Ash

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    Tomatoes of any variety do not do well below 75 degrees ! Warmer is better ! They just sit there !
     
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  11. Growingpains

    Growingpains Young Pine

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    I notice that certain types ripen more rapidly , larger, juicier type seem to ripen before canning type.
     
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  12. Beeker

    Beeker In Flower

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    These tomatoes are not working out as I had hoped.
    Regular tomato plants didn't do this poorly even with neglect and cooler nighttime temps.
    Should I contact the farm I bought them from?
    As a note: all of my garden seeds are heirloom.
     
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  13. Cayuga Morning

    Cayuga Morning Strong Ash Plants Contributor

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    I love growing heirloom tomatoes & do so every summer but I have invariably found they are not as hardy as the newer varieties unfortunately.
     
  14. Beeker

    Beeker In Flower

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    Cayuga, thank you for making me not feel like it's all my fault. I was really starting to worry. BTW, You being a New Englander, can you give me advice on what to do next? Maybe I need a "Gardening 101 for New England" because it seems like I'm getting worse every year instead of improving.

    At this point, my better-half and I are agreed that if we don't find any signs of harvestable veggies by next weekend, we are going to tear everything out and start autumn prep for next year.
    Maybe we'll plant something for an autumn harvest, but what? Radishes? With this heat and humidity, won't they just sprout and then bolt? What do you recommend?

    Does anybody have ideas and/or advice?
     
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  15. Dirtmechanic

    Dirtmechanic Young Pine

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    One thing I have been using is climate data averages to inform my timing. They are zip code specific these days. They show hours of sunlight as well. In the spring, every day brings more growth but in the fall the opposite is true so I had to learn a certain leeway for fall. For example, when we cross that 50f night avg temp, I subtract 30 days to make my crop target and move back from there to plan starts. If you start too early you need big pots and big lights and heating pads if it is too cold outside for transplant. I used 60f soil temp this year but will go back to 50f next spring to avoid being late like this year. It gets warmer every day in the spring so its a reasonable plan.
     
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  16. Beeker

    Beeker In Flower

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    Thank you, @Dirtmechanic.
    What website do you prefer for your data?
    I use the NWS, but it doesn't have the hours of daylight.
     
    Last edited: Aug 23, 2021
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