By the way I am in zone 8, and we're looking to remain in the 3 digits temperature wise through half of Sept. at least... Is overwatering better than the roots over heating or do I have that backwards? Also what are your thoughts on Cedar mulch (insecticided before use), and once the fruit appears how long to fully grow on average?

I'm near Austin,TX (8b) and were forecasted to start cooling off some. 8 day forecast has our night-time low around 70 (+/- 5 degrees).
highs will still be 90's, but I'm hoping the lows will invigorate the tomatoes and to start getting some fruit.
It's been a brutal (and long) summer, I hope your forecast is improving as well.

I agree this summer has been brutal! I guess if you are going to get wet jump in head first. I am absolutely astounded that my little bitty tomato plants are over 6 feet tall, but when will conditions outside give me the fruits of my labor?

Really good questions about strategies for fall fruit set, and I look forward to answers.

The question about fertilization is particularly interesting. Seems to me that for indeterminate tomato varieties, what one wants to do is encourage new vines. Dropping a load of nitrogen-rich fertilizer on them now would encourage that. True? Not true?

I'd be a little careful about watering to cool the roots. Putting water on the hot surface is just going to carry that surface heat down to the roots. To the extent you put cool water on the surface, it's just going to get heated up. So if you water in the late afternoon, you're going to end up heating your roots, not cooling them. I guess watering in the morning is best, if that's what you're trying to do. That should certainly cool the roots.

Water doesn't necessarily cool things, because what makes wet things get cool on the surface is evaporation. Breeze is nice when you're covered with sweat! There is no evaporation down in the root zone. So what it comes down to is the temperature of the water that gets down there.

Now, water is great, and soaking the roots may be the only way to ensure survival, but it's not about cooling.

Well I thought about the fertilizer and I feel like I'm watering them so much I doubt it would do them much damage, and more foliage would be a great help to them. I re-evaluted my watering strategy as well (taking into account your advice about conducting temperature Dan, ty) and where the plants are located the containers get shade from 4:30p on while the plants themselves get sun until about 8p. The plants are mobile because of my small yard and extensive tree cover they require a lot of adjusting to get the full sun... yep here's 5'4 me carrying around a 6'5 tomato plant my neighbors must get a kick out of me. My new theory is that by watering them right before the containers get shade the roots get the cold shock they need to rid of any afternoon wilt so that they can take advantage of the remaining sunlight. I also hope that because the containers are shaded thereafter the plant may be tricked into thinking that it is cooler out than the actual temp. because the roots won't have a chance to heat up again until noon the following day. Does that make any sense?

If you want to cool the "soil" surface, you put down a mulch AFTER a long slow watering. Then you either water using drip UNDER the mulch or do long slow watering from above.

Plants in fertile soil need much less water but fertile soil doesn't mean "full of fertilizer". It means it contains significant amounts of humus. Humus is made by microorganisms processing organic matter.

I added some fish fertilizer and they are turning darker green and have begun flowering like crazy. I cut back on the water because I had a feeling blossom drop was coming. Temps are going back up over the next couple days so I'm going to stick to watering every two days for the next week and then cut back to every three days. I also realized that the green peppers were in need of hand pollination so I started this for the tomatoes also. So far so good for my first try I guess.

Good. I'll put fish emulsion on mine tomorrow morning.

Thank you shebear! The plants are in 1.5' deep containers, about 18" in diameter and are covered with cedar mulch (put down in about April and topped off in June and July). I wasn't sure if cedar mulch would release too much nitrogen so I have been adding calcium enriched slow release fertilizer once a month and since they reacted so well fish fertilizer every three weeks per instructions. Both plants have 5 or more flowering vines and more creep in everyday but I can't prune out the new ones because they curl leaf everytime I try. Not all the flowers set (only 3 so far since Sept 1st.) so I am hoping that assisting the pollination will help with the 30 or more flowers I have now... I drove off the pollinators with the aphids.

I caught some ants on my jalapenos the other night... looked like they were putting aphids out on the leaves.
I gently squeezed and brushed off the aphids with my fingers then got a spray bottle with mild dish soap, set to fine spray, and cleaned all the leaves (blasting off any remaining aphids). I tried to follow the ant trail back to their home but gave up and just sprayed the trail with the soapy water (hoping they would get my message).
so far (knock on wood) no more aphids.
good luck with getting rid of your aphids... hopefully these cool nights are helping your tomatoes set fruit as well.

Ahhhhhh!!! Aphids! The little buggers ate all of my green pepper flowers, this time no ants present. I sprayed them with soapy water, but after I did the insecticide the other day I thought they would be ok for a week or two. How many days will the soapy spray buy me against the aphids (and random spider mite) do you think? Heart breaking to watch all the flowers die, but new ones are coming in and opening so I'm going to keep a closer eye on my aphid problem. I've also noticed little bright green balls that are stuck to some of the leaves. When you spray them with soap the ball turns clear with a little unidentifiable brown bug in there. What might that be?

ouch! I feel for you.

I check mine twice a day (night and morning) and have been finding and wiping only a few off each time. I have been told to not spray in the heat of day, will burn the plants.

sounds like your fight is way worse than mine. you may need something more intensive. I've read about neem oil, but don't know if that is any better than soapy water.

maybe more insecticide?

Well, they may not be aphids after all but the little buggers are too small for me to be able to tell. They are little black bugs, almost not visible because they hide next to the flowers. They seem to be eating all the way around the base of the flower, not deep enough to go all the way through just around the outer ring, then the green flower falls off. Every flower that had some of these near it has now fallen off. They do prefer the green peppers.I think because these plants are the only green things in my yard they are huge neon targets for these bugs. No good news except they are still alive.

either take a cutting or the container with plant to a nursery and ask them... just to be safe. good luck.

"They are little black bugs, almost not visible because they hide next to the flowers."

Sounds like pollen beetles. But do they jump when touched? That would be a flea beetle. I've had the latter.

The little black bugs did not jump and the soapy spray killed them, luckily they haven't been revisited yet. I do have new flowers opening though so I am keeping an eye out. Also found that the ants have made a home in the container of my Big Boy(using the drainage holes as entry points) which explains the rapid aphid return. The plants look great after the ff, they have grown almost to the eve of the house... still no luck with the flowers.

Oh my geez, ask and ye shall recieve! Three cheers for the baby maters covering my plants, now I've run into what is hopefully my last obstacle between homemade spaghetti sauce or a complete waste of a growing season. The plants are now over 8 feet tall, immobile by default, and getting bigger every day and they are held upright by bamboo, training wire, and a few rail posts to anchor them. Here's to hoping I don't go out one day to find they survived all that they have only to fall over under my inability to support their fruit at maturity.