How are your zone 4/5 tomatoes

16 years ago

I am wondering how others in Zone 4 and 5 are doing with their tomatoes. The reason, I am asking is because many people at my work are complaining about their garden this year and the lack of tomatoes and the quality of other vegetables. I live an hour from work, most co-workers live near work and we have a little different weather in my area probably.

My tomatoes have been fine, I have had Cherry tomatoes for about a month. mid-season tomatoes for 1 -2 weeks. I have about 10 tomatoes to use up this weekend. Not a big harvest so far this year, but consistent and the onslaught is coming next week. I do not even have full sun.

Dean

Sort by:Oldest

Comments (36)

gobig_or_gohome_toms
16 years ago
I have been getting tons of toms off my heatwave 2 plants in containers on my uper level deck. Probably over 20 per plant and each plant still has ripening ones probably 40-50 per plant (the size is going down on them now but had lots of 8-10 oz with the biggest being 12 oz.)

I have had a half dozen mortage lifters and many more coming on two plants, about a half dozen Brandy Boys on 2 plants with many many more about to turn. My Early girl (thought it was super fantastic) has allot of green tomatoes but only a few have been harvested. I have one bushsteak plant (only plant in the ground) and there are some really nice sized tomatoes just turning now.

I would say in the 3 years growing tomatoes this has been my best year yet. Far better then last year.

Craig
daria
16 years ago
Things just seem a little late - I got my first ripe tomato yesterday, but the plants are pretty well loaded. Since a chipmunk ate my cuke and squash seeds, those are going to be late too, as I had to take time to dispatch the chipmunk and then replant.
Related Discussions
Growing season extended by how much in zone 4/5?
Q
Comments (9)
Before you spend $1,000.00 on that one, if you have or can find the means to spend more- check out the following . http://www.allgreenhouses.com/BC-Greenhouse-Builders-Sun-Garden-YK1035.html#ProdDetails Then check out the insulation values between 4 and 6 ml. If you could go with the BC, as a bonus, you would get a far higher quality structure, with some real working space, a roof line that not only looks elegant but by virtue of its design, sheds snow long before the weight of a really heavy fall could make the least impression on it, and perhaps the best bonus of all for a neophyte; one of your country's most shining examples of truly outstanding, personal, customer service via an 800# or email. But you would have to make your decision quickly to take advantage of both the sale price and the free shipping. As for season extension, I can only say that from my own brief experience with my own GH; fall extension lasts well past the first frost. I held quite a few annuals over until the first really hard freeze with no supplimental heat at all. However, an unheated GH placed directly on the ground will enter early spring with frozen ground beneath it. So if you are looking to jump start spring and start seedlings in late February or very early March, the better you ground insulate, the cheaper it will be to add supplimental heat and in your latitude, without a very well sealed GH and ground insulation, the cost of fuel to run supplimental heating just as you most want to use your GH, could be ruinous. Whatever your final decision, I truly believe it is a serious error to buy any GH based on any accessories that may come with it. Start with the very best quality structure you can afford and work from there, even if it takes a few seasons to finally get it all fitted out.
...See More
How do you hybridize trees zone 4-5 to zone 3?
Q
Comments (7)
>>I wonder If I graft the japanese maple onto a regular hardy maple in my climate?Grafting I'll use the example of roses here. Just like japanese maples, most roses are not hardy to zones 4 and lower. The are zone 5 and up. Hybrid tea for instance are not hardy but they are grafted onto hardy roots. Unfortuntely, this doesn't make them hardy in zone 4 and down, we have to protect them heavily so they will come back the year after and even then you run the risk of loosing them. Not because the root system is in danger but because the grafted part is. But even if you loose the grafted part during the winter, you still may have roses that will emerge from the root stock, below the grafting point. Of course, they wont be the same hybrid tea that you bought since that part died, but a hardy rose from the plant on which it was grafted. I would say the same rules would apply to japanese maples grafted onto hardy maple roots. You probably know the Explorer Serie roses. These roses are hybrids but are not grafted, they use their own roots to grow from and they are hardy to zone 3 and some to zone 2. I have 5 of them doing very well and they never needed any kind of winter protection and I never even thought about giving them any either (zone 4b QC, Canada). Why is this? The crosses were made between hardy species and/or cultivar from the the start and the breeding was done not to impart hardiness in the first place but to develop other caracteristics such as colors, trailing habits, short plants, diseases resistantce, etc. They probably used less hardy roses in their breeding program to bring in some new genes unvailable otherwise. Hybridizing If you cross two zone 5 plants like two acer palmatum, you'll end up with a bunch of other zone 5 plants. But if you cross a zone 2 plant with a zone 4 plant, you will probably end up with 80% of the plants hardy to zone 3, 10% hardy to zone 4 and 10% hardy to zone 2. Then if you take one of these new zone 3 hardy plant, roses for example and cross it back with a zone 2 rose, you may end up with a 50% zone 3 and 50% zone 2 stock. And if you cross back again one of these new zone 3 rose with a zone 2 rose, you may end up with a 75% zone 2 - 25% zone 3 ratio. These same rules would also apply to maples making crosses between 2 different species, one of them being the japanese maple for the first cross. The difference is here: in the example of roses I took, the desirable plant and the one used in every cross was a zone 2 and the goal was to bring a zone 4 plant to zone 2. With every cross I did I added some zone 2 hardiness to the gene pool. With the japanese maple, we would be working against the odds, the desirable plant and the one that should be used in every cross is a zone 5 plant and that would bring a zone 3 plant to a zone 5 only. And if I added more and more zone 3 maple, I would be loosing more and more of the japanese gene pool. Either way leads you away from the wanted result. And we haven't even said a word about what could be recessive of dominant in these crosses, which is also a very important factor to keep in mind. This can be observed in the new clematis hybrids that are reaching the market these years. Old clematis were hardy in zone 4, but crossing them to warmer growing one has yielded many new very desirable hybrids, but only hardy in zone 5, 6 or even 7. We have gained in beauty but lost in hardiness. In a word I don't think grafting would be successfull in the way you would want it to be. And breeding wouldn't work quite the way you would want either from what I understand from what you said. These are two of the reasons why I said that selection was a much better approach in your case. It is not an easier or shorter one way to do, only a safer one. Hope this helps!
...See More
Zone 4 & 5ers, how big has your ES gotten?
Q
Comments (7)
Even here in the SE, where there is no winter dieback, ES does not grow very tall. I planted a 3G sized one 4 years ago and it is now only about 4Â½ft. tall, but is about 5ft. wide. After 2 years of becoming established, when it produced only a few flowers, it now produces more than 100 during the first flush and continues to bloom until frost. It continues to amaze me with it's drought tolerance. Planted in a location that receives full afternoon sun for about 8 hrs. and with a total of only 3Â½in. of rainfall during the past 4Â½months, it has not required any additional water. Even with a string of 100Â°F (and+) days and no rainfall for 3 weeks, the foliage does not severely wilt during the afternoon and recovers overnight. Still producing new foliage and flowers! Wish I had not given away the other 3, purchased at the same time (end of season, practically giveaway pricing)! Rb
...See More
How To Water Tomatoes in Zone 4b/5a?
Q
Comments (10)
BER tends to happen early in the season. As the temps warm up it doesn't happen as much. It's not usually a calcium deficiency so much as inconsistent soil moisture. Never too late to mulch. I usually don't until the soil is nice and warmed up. Just make sure to adjust your watering when you add mulch. Watering less often and more deeply is good for tomatoes. Let the top couple of inches of soil dry out before you water. You want to encourage the roots to go deep. I water via a soaker hose for a couple of hours every third day or so. It's a slower method, so there isn't any ponding or flooding or running off, and it gives the water a chance to really soak down deep. If you're going from container to in-ground, you'll probably tend to reach for the hose a little too often. The key to watering is to check the soil. Stick your fingers down a bit and see how wet it is, and how far down. You'll get a feel for when you need to add water. Also, you can learn to see the subtle droopiness tomato plants get when they need water. Don't let them get really wilty, but slightly droopy is a good indicator. Be aware that as it heats up they might naturally wilt a little during the hottest part of the day. As long as they perk back up in the evening, they probably don't need water. The soil might be part of the reason. If I recall it's supposed to be mixed into your native soil, not used straight out of the bag.
...See More
deanriowa
Original Author
16 years ago
I had the same problem with a darn squirrel eating my cucumbers and squash.
jen13
16 years ago
I've had cukes, salsa peppers, and bell peppers for about 2-3 weeks now. My Green Zebra heirlooms have a lot of fruit that is (albeit slowly) ripening. My Mr. Stripey has a couple of fruits and a lot of blossom drop from the 90+ degree days that we've had of late. I'm hoping that they'll catch up once we get some cooler temps.
shelbyguy
16 years ago
One of the better growing years in recent memory - spring was actually spring instead of going from cold monsoon to blistering hot. The weather definitely cooperated this year.

Unfortunately, there's a disease in my soil that wilted my in-the-ground, planted-over-there-again plants. :( the peppers grow fine there, so do the herbs. maters and cukes just cant deal with it. i'll find out in due course here how a fall crop of snap peas tolerates it.

the stuff that wasn't in the ground where the evil wilt lives, has done just great.
reginacw
16 years ago
I've been hoping for a place to complain a little, yay!

I was hopeful when I got my first tomato (supposed to be sweet 100 but is instead some kind of golf ball-sized early something else) on July 9. That one plant (note to self: plant at least 3 earlies!) has given me a couple of little tomates per week ever since, but none of my others have ripened.

On the plus side, moving my tomato bed to a slightly sunnier (albeit still shady) spot has helped. Also, nice weather this year means that there is some hope that I'll get a beeftsteak tomato before the end of the month. All of the plants are setting relatively well.

On the minus side, my "early" beefsteak type, Moskvitch, is not helping me out this year. I do believe that it is lagging behind my brandywines, which break my heart every year, darned long-season tomatoes. I tried Pruden's Purple this year hoping that it would be a tad earlier than BW, but so far no dice.

Wah! I want tomatoes! My plants have nice big "mature green" fruit on them, but nothing is definitely starting to blush. Some days I imagine that a few of my yellow brandywines are beginning to turn, but other days I think not.

Sigh. I really need to grow Stupice or something. Anything, really, to keep me going until the brandywines come in.

At least the farmer's market has fairly tasty hybrids to tide me over. I suppose I should feel vindicated, since those have been available just two short weeks; maybe I'm not that far behind after all.
iowa_jade
16 years ago
We have been munching on a coldset(?) that I planted early. It is red but that is about it. The good tasting stuff is starting to hit the table. I lost Black Krim to V. wilt this year, bummer!

Amana Orange has been good this year. The green ones with striped shoulders are just starting to ripen; had the first two last night, yummy! Everything else is just staring at me.
vtgreenthumb
16 years ago
Been getting cherries and grapes for a couple of weeks now. Just starting to get everything else ripened. Beefsteaks and Jetstars should be good this weekend, I'm expecting my Brandywines and Cherokees to be ready by next weekend.
sandysgardens
16 years ago
I live about 18 miles north of Minneapolis in MN. My small tomatoes (stupice, jelly bean, and other cherry's) are going nuts - need to pick daily now. My other 20+ plants are just riping and pick 6 -12 every other day now for the last week. Just checked them and I think I will be picking daily from now on. We've been in a heat wave for over a month now of 90+ temps, so been watering like crazy with the garden well to keep them happy.

My cukes are slow, but looks like they will be producing in a week or so.
ediej1209 AL Zn 7
16 years ago
We had our first "real" (not BER!) harvest this week. A couple of Mortgage Lifters - YAY, Yummy!!, some Kellogg's Breakfast (we WILL be growing these again) and some of the what-ever-they-are reds and a few other assorteds. Most of ours are still very green. I'm glad to know I'm not the only one, I thought we were just way behind the rest of the world for some reason!
barkeater
16 years ago
July was 5 degrees colder than average, and we've had lots of rain. I ate my first Bloody Butcher on July 30, 10 days later than last year. Kimberly ripened at the same time.

Next to ripen has been Silvery Fir Tree, a week later, and the first Manitoba will be ready to eat Sunday.

I also have the following ripening: Sioux, German Red Strawberry, and Ramapo F1.

Days to Maturity have been off due to the wet & cold season; Bloody Butcher (55 days) took 63 days, Silvery Fir Tree (58 days) took 70 days, and the first Manitoba (58 days) will take 75 days.
biancasr
16 years ago
Hey Sandysgarden, I'm not too far from you...

I've been picking tomatoes for a couple weeks now and I have about 12 sitting on my counter right now. I have quite a few turning right now and I should be picking more this weekend.

My cukes are very slow too. And my peppers.
justplainbeth
16 years ago
I'm in zone 5 (NH).. and I'm just now starting to get some reds out in my garden. They are Roma type tomatoes (forget the name). My other tomatoes.. a similar kind, and regular round tomatoes (again forget all the names) aren't fairing so well. I'm about to post a few photos to ask you all about that. I have harvested a few zukes, have 2 more out there in various stages of "almost ready". The beans are doing good, my cantelopes and sugar baby melons are doing great, and my eggplant just flowered (I don't have high hopes for the eggplant).
deweymn
16 years ago
I have good soil in the ground, poor soil in containers because I tried only compost from the city pile. That didn't work out, some fruit not as good tasting, a pain to water, so I gave up and composted them.

The ones in the ground, beefsteak, roma, purple russian, LRC's, and a cool yellow pear and yellow cherry are doing great. I only water about twice a week (when the leaves start to droop) and gave them a slow release fertilizer about two weeks ago when they started ripening. I have had good feedback on the taste so I can brag.

I started all from seed in early Feb and kept some half dozen plants in pots, merely transplanting them to larger pots as needed and then finally put them in the actual ground (good 6hrs sun) about the first week of July. They are now doing nice and have well shaped fruit that is still green. Some that were smaller less developed in the pots are still flowering or just quit and I hope these will give me fruit about the time of the first frost.

I can't see much difference from last year and I added the salad mix variety and more romas. They don't seem to be suffering due to the 3 wks of 90's we have had.
dorisl
16 years ago
My first year growing tomatoes after a 17 year break living in a condo. Im happy that I got ANY! ROFL!

Lots of green ones and oh we just tried some sungold cherry tomatoes and all I can say, is those are going to have a hard time making the trip from the garden to the kitchen! YUMMY!!!

I spent June and July just trying to keep them alive, it was so dry here, no we're getting more rain and they're recovering and going bonkers.
jedijenn
16 years ago
I planted heirloom brandywines, p. bourgese and yellow gooseberries. Although, I didn't think about cross-polination and now my yellow gooseberries are red and are much bigger than they should be! Still taste good though!

My brandywine and bourgese plants are huge. They're both over 7 feet tall. The bourgese has lots of green tomatoes. I've just started harvesting the gooseberry tomatoes, but the plant is so full of green ones that I don't know how it can support them all. The brandywine is lagging behind - it's just started to get the first signs of tiny little tomatoes.

The tall plants are so big that they've outgrown their cages by 2-3 feet. I'm going to have to make supports for them. Does anyone know if it's a bad thing that they're so big? As I mentioned, the bourgese is producing pretty nicely but I haven't seen much from the brandywine yet.
lblack61
16 years ago
Tomatoes seem to be about a month behind (like my Zinnias!).
I have one plant that was sown indoors (did some for my FIL, which meant I couldn't WS them...he wanted to come and look at them every week). And it just gave us two toms last week. Took forever. The nights have been very cool, and I think that is what is slowing down the ripening process.

Linda
homeinwestil
16 years ago
I've gotten into the habit of "overplanting" because the deer have been taking more and more each year. Last year, I hardly got any. This year, though, I hung bars of Irish Spring soap around the edges of my patch, which seems to have taken care of the deer problem. That, plus a nearly perfect growing season, has given me a bumper crop. I have 48 plants and have been picking for a couple of weeks. I have picked 117 pounds of tomatoes so far and they are still coming.
irishtomatobabe
16 years ago
It is so wet here! Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh........
The same thing happened last August. My plants are gorgeous full of fruit. I just have to pick them early before they rot. I just picked the first three late varieties, and they look fabulous. It will be a few days before slicing. my currants are amazing as are my cherries. Yum!Amy.
deanriowa
Original Author
16 years ago
I know what you mean, the tomatoes were looking great and I was getting tomatoes daily now with all of the rain everything has stopped riping.

I hope they do not rot like you are mentioned.

Dean
oldroser
16 years ago
Picked my first Stupice on July 15th. Supersonic and Kellogg's Breakfast on July 28th - a bit earlier than last year for the main crops. Have been picking stedily - another five pounds yesterday. Not as heavy a crop as usual due to extremely hot weather Opalka has set fruit but not yet ripe. Lots of Sungold - one plant has more fruit than I need so am composting a lot of them.
I tried a Beit Alpha cucumber this year - Garden Oasis from Renee Shepherd. Exactly one month from planting seed to some really nice, thin skinned and tasty cukes (well, as tasty as a cuke ever gets). Very crisp and crunchy.
reginacw
16 years ago
I got my first full sized tomato (rose?) around the 18th, a bit later than I'd hoped, but not bad for my yard, all things considered. Things are beginning to hit their stride now.

If I get into production mode before the end of August I consider the year a success, so...success! Not the best year ever, but not bad, really.
deanriowa
Original Author
16 years ago
Raining for a straight week now and if I could get a day or two of nice weather, my Brandwines would ripen(I see some riping).

Only thing producing with all of this rain is my Large Red Cherries, you can not stop those things!
daria
16 years ago
I think I broke double digits with my tomato harvest yesterday. That's a total of 3 Glacier and 8 Principe Borghese tomatoes ripe, and that sum probably didn't even break a pound. That's from a total of 42 plants. They're still loaded with green - 3 evenings in the 40s this week hasn't helped.
outsiders71
16 years ago
I've got loads of big green tomatoes, no red ones. The only thing I've picked tomato wise so far are cherry and grape tomatoes. Ugggh.
pepbob1
16 years ago
iam in Southern New hampshire zone 5 and ive had good luck with all my tomatoes this year except cherry tomatoes, iam getting a few but the plants never really "took off" for some reason. I planted a mix of heirlooms and hybrids, i didnt care for "Zapotec" heirloom, altho it is a novelty in the way the tomatoes are formed, I tried "Oregon Spring" this year an early one, nice sized fruit, colors up nicely and is early. Iam getting a lot of "Juliet" and "Beefmaster"now, i had planted "Juliet" before and i thought i liked it, i guess i do, but only for salads, its almost a paste tomatoe for me.Iam going to try a modified Lasagna type planting next year in a different spot, i'll be intersted in how it transpires.......
chris_ont
16 years ago
Well, whoever advised me to keep just one plant out of the six-pack of cherry seedlings I bought was right on. While I think they're a bit late, I'm overwhelmed by the volume I'm getting from this one plant. We're eating these like candy!

One day's harvest.
t_bred
16 years ago
Not good. My season has pretty much come to an end here in Chicagoland. The heat and humidity are more than my plants can take and disease has taken over. Been spraying religiously,but odds are against me. Pulled 8 plants yesterday, more to come. Otherwise, had a good season-brought to a premature end:(
windclimber
16 years ago
dean:
Looking good here, lost five I set out early to the late freeze. All the rest went in after the weather stabelized.
Out of 20 lost all of the fruit to critters when the plants were just picture perfect. Big green toms and the first ripe one was a Prue right before the 4th.
Dangit........ After construction of the fortress of welded wire and poultry netting, and a bout of Late Blight, and what I believe is some Fuserium Wilt, the chippies decided to take a whack at it.
I found the biggest, well formed Prue I had been watching , on the ground gouged out..........curses.
There was a second wave of blossoms and fruit that are ripening behind the fencing and netting.
The munks seem to be disappearing.........
We have a counterload of small ones for sun drieing and have blt'd, saladed and snacked galore since the ripening started. Summer sweetness:)
Life is Good here in the Heartland!
Tom
cnetter
16 years ago
They're starting to really come in now.
margaretmontana
16 years ago
I am having a good year for tomatoes and squash. Not so on some other things. Really been hot and lots of watering. Picked 25 #s tomatoes first week of August then 50# and 55# last week and will beat that this week. Really been pleased with Kotlas, Big Rainbow,Brandywine, Kellogs Breakfast, Abel, Amana Orange and Tidewell German. Picked my first 4 Cherokee Purple yesterday. Cherry's are going crazy - They are 10 feet tall - hoop house with trellising. SunGold,Isis Candy, Black Cherry, Sweet Million and Jellybean. Have a couple Gold Nugget and they don't get tall and usually slow down a lot by now. Though they ripen eariest of all the ones I have.
reginacw
16 years ago
I have finally reached a point where I am getting enough tomatoes. I won't have any to freeze, I will buy those at a local farmstand, but I have enough to eat tomatoes at every meal and still have some to give away to carefully selected neighbors and my boss.

This is good, some years I don't even get that far.
deanriowa
Original Author
16 years ago
I finally picked tomatoes from my 3 Brandywines. They are pink and the plants have small potato leaves.

One tasted basically like a Rutgers, but stronger tomato flavor and at times a little sweeter. Is this what they are supposed to taste like or is it all of the rain I got, 13" in 13 days?

Dean
kimcoco
16 years ago
Well, here in Milwaukee, Wisconsin I'm a first timer for planting tomatoes. Tomato Boy(?), Beefsteak and Brandywine. No hybrids. Planted after June 1st, planted too close together (my first timer mistake), fertilized 1x weekly only AFTER tomatoes started to bud, kept the soil moist in hot, dry weather, watered only the base and not the vines (which now stand approx. 4 1/2 feet tall). Took all the necessary precautions I was aware of, but apparently wasn't aware that all the rain we've been getting isn't good for them. That darn hurricane Erin!

Problem is they are rotting before they are ripe enough to pick. All the rain and humidity over the past month????? Seems they were doing fine before that. Some of them got really big, and I was just dying for a nice tasty tomato. We came back from a (rained out) camping trip, and they were rotted! I was (am) so upset.
disneynut1977 ~ Melissa
16 years ago
All I have are green tomatoes. I put my guys out early in May and protected them during the night, thinking they were getting a head start, but no turning yet. I have 12 plants and they are all guess who your daddy is Heirlooms. I bought a mix off Ebay(over 60 types) and thought it would be really neat to be surprised, but I don't have a single one even turning. Most of them are huge fruits so I know they may take awhile, but I have 2 cherries and one grape and they give when squeezed; they just haven't started turning. I do have 1 plant 100% guessed and that's my green zebra. I've been keeping my eye on it for it to slightly change color. I'm hoping I will be overwhelmed by ripe tomatoes before frost?
kim_in_indiana
16 years ago
Like T-bred, our tomatoes here in northwest Indiana haven't done well in the heat, humidity, and more recently, 7 inches of rain. They started producing late, turned late, and when they finally did turn, we lost 1/2 the harvest to too much rain. Simply exploded. Zucchini have developed some sort of hair and finally rotted. Cabbage loopers have taken over the end-of-summer radishes and turnips. Weeds; however, are doing fine.