Hi Michelle,
I'm thinking you're in the same zone as I am (La Jolla, coastal, Sunset 24, standard 10) and facing the same miseries -- the nasty June gloom of coastal marine inversions. We've had a great 7 days this last week-- whoo-hooo.... sunburn city and heaven for the coast after the coldest spring on record in 76 years. Boy was last week a blessing! But now the usual June gloom has arrived and the 5-7 day forcast is for clouds and afternoon clearing, which in my area means it will clear from 3 pm to 5 pm and then the fog will roll in again. Here's my take from the last year and a half......

Like your plants, mine are in containers, and really perked up over the last week with the heat -- in fact I have 3 tomatoes actually showing a red blush right now........ oooh wheee...... OK, now for the reality.

The June gloom is here to stay. Not going to go away. Even though we had a perfectly awful spring (which last year was great and gave the 'maters a runnning start that didn't happen this year at all), June is looking normal: nasty. OK, doesn't matter. Your tomatoes will still ripen. You will get very little dropoff of blossom to tomato bud in the next month because the temps won't go very low at night with the inversion, however anything that looks like its going to ripen will take for bloody ever compared to our inland (2 miles....) neighbors. The fact that you are growing in containers will increase the heat levels (better ripening) but decrease the total fruit set and size of the fruits over what you'd get in optimum ground conditions.

I got great crops last year, in spite of the June gloom, but they took a long time to ripen and seemed to sit there forever with a faint muddly blush (all container plants as I have no dirt to plant in between deck and pool concrete). The advice I was given and followed which seemed to work was to water generously until a "substantial" growth of fruit had set and then water verrrrry abstemiously -- just enough to keep the plants from seriously wilting (I cheated a bit and underplanted my big pots (25 gal, redwood pots, two tomato plants to a pot) with parsley and marigolds which show the wilt sooner than the tomatoes -- when they wilted, I watered). The fruits that I got (through July-- the June gloom extended here) were delicious, though 1/2 the size of the expected and 1/2 the production that I had assumed from having planted the same plants in Palo Alto for several years before. Forced me to recognize that Palo Alto provides the perfect environment for tomatoes. La Jolla does not. Period. Each plant (San Diego, Green Zebra, Cherokee Purple, and Momotaro) gave approximately 1-2 smallish but delicious fruits a day (as opposed to Palo Alto at 5 full-blown fruits a day during the same period), but that was sufficient for my sort of "daily use" in salads, etc. I never harvested enough (even in August) to have a decent freezer supply for winter.

My best "all round" protection last year came from GreenLight Rose Guard. Helped with bugs, fungus, and general pestiness. I supplemented it with BT because I had a big mid-June problem with some kind of inchworm thing (never clearly identified, but BT nailed 'em). My biggest problem hit at the end of July when I was savagely hit with tomato psyllids (see my post/research in the tomato forum). It was a very bad thing and virtually wiped out my "second flush" . With container gardening in this coastal environment, staging your tomatoes is key to getting a long production period. The benefit from being out of the inland extremes is that you and I will harvest tomatoes through January and later-- if we stage the plantings right (make sure you get the last set in by the first week in Nov.). The two plants that I set in at the beginning of October gave me their last fruits and gave up the ghost in the first week of March...

Regarding the psyllids. I have seen none so far, but by July (whether I've seen them or not) I will be netting every pot in a fine-guage fabric to avoid the wholesale destruction the dang things caused last year.

Hope this helps!

Thank you so much!

Yeah, we are in the same zone. I'm in Huntington Beach, not *right* on the coast, but less than 3 miles as the crow flies from the shore. I think I straddle zone 24 and 23 (maybe?), but based on the weather we get I consider myself in zone 24.

June gloom sure is a bummer. My mom lives farther inland (Whittier area, any gloom burns off fast) and all she has to do is put the plants in the ground and she gets tomatoes. Never seems to have any disease problems (though she does fight some bugs). I was *hoping* that with how gray May was, that we'd get a break in June (maybe the weather was just a month early this year!). No such luck, I guess. This morning the muck is so heavy it's actually falling as a light drizzle and all my plants are wet. Any special precautions I should be taking?

I'm glad to know that I should still get some tomatoes. I only have four plants right now, and I got a late start. Have you ever tried growing Siberia? I picked up a seedling at a garage sale (the guy said he started it from purchased seed), and was hoping it would do okay here (I remembered reading that it was a cool weather variety). It grew like gangbusters in the sun, and has a bunch of small flowers (only one is really opening up so far), but no fruit yet.

So, I guess, bottom line, is that the gloom produces sort of a "holding pattern" for vegetative growth, as well as fewer and smaller fruit. I can live with that. I'll check into the Rose Guard. I have sprayed everything once with Safer brand 3-in-1 spray, I suppose once things have dried out I will do it again.

I am waiting on some seeds from TGS that I'm going to TRY to start for the fall (I've never started from seed before, and I don't have growlights--hope natural light will be okay). I am wondering whether once they sprout I should just put them outside during the day and bring them in at night, but not sure if that is a good idea or not. If you have any experience it this area it would be helpful to me as well.

I wish I had some expertise to offer in return for all the good advice you have given me, but I'm a newbie, so the best I can do I think is just soak up everything like a sponge and give it a go! Maybe in a few years...

Thanks again!
Michelle

I gardened in zone 23 and now in 20. It was 98F last week. Anyhow I have still never ripened a tomato before July. They sat on the plants last year blushing red for a month before ripening. I used to start in March but here Ive got frost thru march. My April planted tomatoes this year have horrible fungus, I think gray mold. Last year I started in March with black plastic and it kept away the diseases.

Have you tried cool climate or 'early' varieties? Those might better tolerate the cooler coastal conditions.

Also if you can position your plants next to areas of concrete, or next to a concrete block wall--the extra heat radiated & reflected by the concrete will help. My mom would grow her tomatoes in a narrow strip between a sidewalk and a block wall and they'd fruit until Thanksgiving--so much concrete kept the soil really warm--that area was so blasted hot!

The first time I tried to grow tomatoes, several years ago, I had a Roma and a Better Boy, probably not the best choices. This year, what got me interested in trying tomatoes again was finding a seedling labeled "siberia" at a local yard sale. The name sounded like one I had read was good for cool areas, so for 50 cents I figured it was worth a try! It's been in the container for about a month, I would say, and it is doing well, even has a few blossoms opening.

I then bought second hand 4 black 15 gallon nursery containers and large cages. Which I then had to fill! :-) I decided, after receiving some advice in the tomato forum, to purchase some seedlings to plant now and locate some seeds to start for a fall crop. Plants I bought: Brandywine, San Diego, Early Girl. Seeds I bought from TGS: Stupice, San Francisco Fog, and LaRoma II VFFNA Hybrid. Hoping for good results from the Stupice and San Fran, trying the Roma because it looks resistant to everything!

My containers are located on red concrete pavers next to a small concrete patio, next to a brick chimney. When it was so hot here last week (we had a streak of clear, warm, sunny weather, in the high 80's, low 90's), I became concerned about the temp of the soil (an instant read thermometer showed it to be over 90 degrees). I didn't want to cook the plants, so I wrapped the pots in foil and leaned some old mdf shelving against the two that got the most direct sun (more knowledge gleaned from GW). That helped a lot.

So, now, I'm fighting the damp. The temps here are still in the 70's, so I'm not too concerned about the soil temp dropping too low (nightime lows are in the 60's). Will a highter soil temp help the plants grow and set fruit better, despite the overcast? I am now just hoping to avoid foliage disease. I think the San Diego has bacterial speck/spot. I'm going to cut the affected leaves off I think. I've been debating...

Anyway, I appreciate all the advice. I'll take all I can get!

I'm in HB in zone 24 and have been growing tomatoes within a mile of the beach for years here. I grow mine in the ground - raised rows. My plants are New Girl, an Early Girl type which I grow from seed bought from Johnny's Seeds, and Pink Beauty, also from Johnny's. I've tried several types and the Early Girls have worked best for me, also we like the flavor best. Romas ripen but I think need more heat to develop their full flavor, so I gave up on them finally.

I tried a Brandywine and got two tomatoes, not that great flavor, from a large plant. This year, in addition to the six New Girls, I'm also trying a Cherokee Purple, a Druzba, and a Stupice. It'll be interesting to compare notes on those we have in common.

As far as the powdery mildew, I have lots. My plants are fairly crowded which encourages it. I've tried the baking powder spray among others, but didn't really get rid of it. I didn't keep up spraying regularly, though. Usually, the PM is worst late in the season when the plants are full of fruit, and by the time they ripen the plants are exhausted anyway. I might check the label on the GreenLight Rose Guard and see if I want to spray it on a food crop.

Putting your seeds outside during the day should be fine. I use a Growlight to start my early seeds, but once it warms up, outside is fine. I don't bother to bring them in at night after May. Just make sure they're protected from snails.

mljan,

Glad to find a neighbor here! Hearing about your experience has helped me. I'm making a note about the varieties you like and have been successful with and will order them from Johnny's Seeds for next time around. I'm still waiting on my seeds from TGS, but the day they come I will have them in the seed starting soil!

My tom's seem to be faring well this week. They are still growing (compared to a picture taken last week), I have an open blossom on the Siberia, and no mildew (yet). I pruned off the leaves that looked like bacterial speck on the San Diego. I did notice that the stems of both the Bradywine and the Early Girl have lots of light brown spots. Just the lower part, once the leaves start the stems look fine. I wonder, is that something to be concerned about? Looked on the problem solver and didn't find anything that looked similar.

One other question, if I may? How does PM affect tomato plants? How bad does it have to be to adversely affect fruit set/ripening? ie, when should you just ditch it? I'm sure all of these things I will learn by trial and error, but I just can't help asking! I have a need to know!

Thanks again!

The brown spots on the stems don't sound familiar to me, but if the leaves look OK, I'd guess it isn't anything serious.

PM does weaken a plant, so if yours are absolutely covered early in the season, it'll affect fruit set, but I usually get a light PM problem early which doesn't reduce my harvest. The heavy PM comes late in the season for me, after fruit set when most of the tomatoes are full size, so they continue to ripen. Good air circulation helps to reduce PM. Since your plants are in pots, do you have the room to seperate them?

mljan,

Yes, I can separate them. Right now, the 15 gallon pots sit about 5 inches apart. How far apart should they be to allow for good air circulation? I'm guessing at least far enough away so the plants don't touch, but how much farther than that is optimal? I'm keeping my eyes open for any problems and hope to catch any quickly (or prevent them if at all possible).

tuesdayschild,

I just got around to reading your posted psyllid info, and I'm sure glad I did! I couldn't find it at first (I searched only the tomato growing forum), but I finally found it in the tomato pest forum. Very interesting stuff. Surprised you didn't get any responses to your post. I'll be going out tomorrow to do a visual inspection of my plants, and investing in yellow sticky traps (so I'll know if they've arrived). One of the articles you linked to said it practically rained psyllids on San Diego! Oh my! It's worth a read, for all you Cali tomato growers out there.

I sure hope all of this is still considered "on-topic" and I haven't broken any rules or etiquette by rambling on like this (still learning the ropes). I do want to mention that I posted on the tomato growing forum a question about dealing with opossums. If you have any advice about that, I'd appreciate that as well. Thank you for helping me learn! Not only do I have a need to know, I need to know *why*. It's a real problem... :-)

Tuesdays child,if you get the North County times there was an article in there this morning about this very thing.By the way,i'm in Oceanside along the coast.The article said that the weather we have been having these past several months has had much to do with the lack of good tomatoes.We havn't even planted any this year,since the last few years havn't been very good.

Last year it was a constant battle between the weather and those darn tomato worms.They both won,and i went to Boney's and bought my tomatoes.LOl
Kathi