Prolonging tomato season.

[Oliver Buckle]

time is coming up for planting seed and I was looking at what I have in the way of tomatoes, moneymaker, mini bel and tigerella. I usually try and spread my seed planting a bit to prolong my season, but I am wondering if there are other varieties I should try for early and later fruiting, it does tend to be that I get everything at once, even though I put some in the greenhouse and some outside. They don't get wasted, they are dried off in the bottom of the oven and make tomato paste for the freezer, but there is nothing like a fresh tomato from the garden and I would love to prolong the season. Does anyone have any advice for this?

 

[Mick Emery]

I was told "determinate" tomatoes tend to all ripen at the same time & "indeterminate" spread ripening times over a longer period.

 

[Marck]

Yes, in most home gardening situations, indeterminate varieties are the types to grow.
Usually only a commercial farmer, who needs to harvest an entire crop all at the same time would benefit from determinate cultivars.

 

[Chuck]

Yes, in most home gardening situations, indeterminate varieties are the types to grow.
Usually only a commercial farmer, who needs to harvest an entire crop all at the same time would benefit from determinate cultivars.

Or, when one's climate determines the amount of fruit set. When this happens determinate varieties will outproduce indeterminates in most cases.

 

[Marck]

Or, when one's climate determines the amount of fruit set. When this happens determinate varieties will outproduce indeterminates in most cases.

If you want to argue that home gardeners would be better off growing determinate varieties, by all means do so, but you better explain yourself better. What you wrote so far doesn't explain anything. Are you talking about trying to get a crop in a very short growing season?

I suppose I can imagine a situation where a home canner might want to bring in a tomato crop all at one time, but in my experience, most home gardeners want fresh tomatoes for as long as they can get them.

 

[Chuck]

If you want to argue that home gardeners would be better off growing determinate varieties, by all means do so, but you better explain yourself better. What you wrote so far doesn't explain anything.

Fruit set is determined by the LOW nighttime temperatures. When the low temps are too high there is no fruit set except with cherry type tomatoes. Determinate varieties set all of their fruit in a relatively short period of time while indeterminates can set fruit until first frost if the nighttime low temps are correct.

 

[Marck]

It's true that smaller tomatoes usually fruit more easily and abundantly, but there are other heat-resistant cultivars of all sizes bred for hot summer climates.

Personally, I only grow cherry and plum-sized tomatoes.

 

[Chuck]

It's true that smaller tomatoes usually fruit more easily and abundantly, but there are other heat-resistant cultivars of all sizes bred for hot summer climates.

Personally, I only grow cherry and plum-sized tomatoes.

Yes, there are cultivars bred especially for heat setting. Heatwave, Solar Flare, Heatmaster and others. These will grow in higher heat (95F) than the standard tomatoes (+/- 90F) BUT, the setting of fruit has not been nearly as successful. 77F is maximum for overnight low heat whereas about 74F is max for most other varieties and these temps are for perfect conditions. Even these cultivars I listed must have perfect conditions to set their fruit above 75F and perfect conditions do not happen frequently.

 

[Mick Emery]

I grew indeterminate tomatoes, only, until 2 years ago.
The past 2 years I've grown both.
I like the determinate for canning purposes.

 

[Snatch]

time is coming up for planting seed and I was looking at what I have in the way of tomatoes, moneymaker, mini bel and tigerella. I usually try and spread my seed planting a bit to prolong my season, but I am wondering if there are other varieties I should try for early and later fruiting, it does tend to be that I get everything at once, even though I put some in the greenhouse and some outside. They don't get wasted, they are dried off in the bottom of the oven and make tomato paste for the freezer, but there is nothing like a fresh tomato from the garden and I would love to prolong the season. Does anyone have any advice for this?

I did have a little success year by planting tomatoes a little differently. I removed all lower leaves when it was about 12 inches high. I then layed it in a trench, then covered it in soil, with just the head showing. It was later flowering and fruiting, but went on producing fruit for about three weeks after the rest

 

[headfullofbees]

time is coming up for planting seed and I was looking at what I have in the way of tomatoes, moneymaker, mini bel and tigerella. I usually try and spread my seed planting a bit to prolong my season, but I am wondering if there are other varieties I should try for early and later fruiting, it does tend to be that I get everything at once, even though I put some in the greenhouse and some outside. They don't get wasted, they are dried off in the bottom of the oven and make tomato paste for the freezer, but there is nothing like a fresh tomato from the garden and I would love to prolong the season. Does anyone have any advice for this?

I took my first tomato on May 18th last year, & the last on the 28th October. I live in Scotland.
It's too late to do that now, & it was an exceptional year. Last spring was cold but sunny, which worked for my frost-free greenhouse.
I'm going to assume that you would protect your tomatoes in the event of cold weather (I have a plug-in thermostat which I set at 7C (45f)
For your earliest tomatoes, choose a basket tomato, & when you plant it up, attach it safely to the inside frame of the greenhouse.
I use "D" shaped 16" baskets. Since it is the case that putting tomatoes closely together gets them to fruit earlier (you will get fewer) I put 2 in a basket 18 inches wide, or 2 in a 14 inch circular basket & hang it from the strengthening bars on the roof frame.
I feed initially with some pelleted chicken manure, which has NPK & Ca (to help against blossom end rot, although nothing will save them if your watering regime is bad enough) & treat the growing medium, both when sowing & transplanting, with a little dusting of woodash, which is good for potash & karrikins.
By the time they're ready for more feed, you should have had the opportunity to make comfrey & seaweed extract, or yhere are many proprietory tomato feeds on the go.
That's really the way to lengthen the season, as quality drops late on.

 

[Vermontgardener]

I was told "determinate" tomatoes tend to all ripen at the same time & "indeterminate" spread ripening times over a longer period.

This is my understanding as well and we have been doing indeterminate the past few years, which spreads the fruiting throughout the season. The best way to grow these is to trellis or string them up, as they will grow until they start to go dormant at the end of the season.