Maybe you stunted their growth if you had cold temps below 50 degrees. How was the soil & di you ammend it w/compost or manures? Did you water & fertilize regularly with a high phosphorous fertilizer? How was your weather?

I think I'd agree that April 30th sounds awfully early for transplanting in your zone. Soil temp at that time unless in raised beds could easily stunt growth.

And then once they recovered, as korney asks, what was your soil prep and feeding program?

Dave

It was warmer this year than other years im May and they grow beatiful no problem at all.

I had my soil tested and everything was very high. They told me to put 12-12-12 on it so I did. An also I fertilized it in June up until July 18th every 2 to 3 weeks.

Now we are getting rain like you would not belive. We had 7 inches in the past week here in Northwest Ohio.

Sorry for posting this twice.

Base on that info I'd say then that it was a combination of factors: early planting, over-fertilization, and the bad weather.

Blooming and fruiting was delayed because of the soil temps and the excess nitrogen. Soil test levels were already high and then you fed them 12-12-12 every 2-3 weeks. That is way too much nitrogen for tomatoes. That feeding program would result in a lot of green growth but would sharply delay blooming and fruit set.

Then once the plants adapted and developed fruit, the bad weather comes along. Cloudy, overcast days with little sun will delay ripening and will lots of rain.

If the weather cooperates you should still get some ripe fruit. I wish you luck. ;)

Dave

PS: next year you might want to keep in mind that just because the air temp is above normal that doesn't mean the ground has warmed up enough to plant. ;)

Base on that info I'd say then that it was a combination of factors: early planting, over-fertilization, and the bad weather.
Blooming and fruiting was delayed because of the soil temps and the excess nitrogen. Soil test levels were already high and then you fed them 12-12-12 every 2-3 weeks. That is way too much nitrogen for tomatoes. That feeding program would result in a lot of green growth but would sharply delay blooming and fruit set.

Then once the plants adapted and developed fruit, the bad weather comes along. Cloudy, overcast days with little sun will delay ripening and will lots of rain.

If the weather cooperates you should still get some ripe fruit. I wish you luck. ;)

Dave

PS: next year you might want to keep in mind that just because the air temp is above normal that doesn't mean the ground has warmed up enough to plant. ;)

You misunderstood me on the Fertilize ring I put 12-12-12 on than I sprayed with a Tomato Fertilizer which is not high in Nitrogen. The only thing I did not like about the Soil Test was it did not gave you how much Nitrogen was in the ground.

The soil was warm enough to plant them and it was above normal temperatures in May.

an early variety helps too. bloody butcher started pumping out the most delightful tasting tomatoes in the first week of july, and is still cranking them out for me.

You still may have used too much fertilizer - the usual reason for delayed ripening. Tomatoes tend to run to bush not fruit if over-fertilized. If you have nice, vigorous plants with lots of leaves, chances are too much fertilizer is your problem. Spraying with 'tomato' fertilizer is over-kill.
I generally ring plants with 10-10-10 and then do NOT add more fertilizer until maybe August (haven't yet gotten around to it). And you probably have better soil than my light sandy stuff.
Got my first ripe tomatoes July 15th (Stupice) and started picking main crop kinds (Supersonic & Kellogg's Breakfast) first week in August.

Hi John,

One thing you have not told us:

Do you have lots and lots of green tomatoes that are not ripening? or

Did you have fewer flowers with lots of plant growth?

If you have lots of greenies, I attribute that to the lack of hot weather in the midwest this summer. You are not alone in this. Lots of us in this neck of the woods are in the same boat. A hot spell makes them ripen almost over night, although even if they ripen, they are not developing the flavor that they should.

On the other hand if you have lots of plant with few tomatoes, that could be over fertilization, but you would have to have LOTS of plant.

Contrary to the opinions above, I do not think you planted too early. If you have a full sun garden with soil that dries and warms, I can easily imagine planting April 30th. That contradicts conventional wisdom on this forum. If your plants grew beautifully when you planted them, then the soil was not too cold. Tomato plants that are in soil that is too cold are pretty obvious, they don't get taller, and if the soil is very cold, they develop purple leaves.

Petro

I have not experience any short or small growth and purple leave they were nice and green all through May.

You ask me if I had allot of leaves or growth and few tomatoes no. I have Lott's of tomatoes on my vines and they are very nice size tomatoes.

The only thing that we had in May was a HAIL STORM (GOLF BALL SIZE) the 1st. of May which I thought that killed them for I was in the Hospital for Knee Replacement and came home around the 10th. to find they were growing very nice.

If you have lots of tomatoes then you didn't overfertilize, and if they grew nicely in May, then you didn't plant too early. You are suffering from the just slightly cooler weather we have had this summer, and you are not alone.

My tomatoes have been a bit disappointing. The flavor is just not there. The excess rain makes it much worse. But there's a couple of weeks left in the season, so maybe it'll dry out and heat up in September and it won't be a complete dud of a season. You just can't predict.

Best of luck,

Petro

Also in July around the week of the 23rd we had better than 3 inches of rain. ever since than we have had way to much rain and if I am not mistaking it has set the record for August.

From what I hear on TV the Ohio weather has been terrible lately. Hopefully your weather will improve soon and you will have tons of ripe tomatoes before fall comes! ;) Let us know how it all works out for you.

Good luck. ;)

Dave

I also have many, many green tomatoes - Roma, Delish, Black Trifle, and Striped German, as well as some "volunteers", and they haven't been ripening at all, until now. In Michigan, we've had the hot weather, and have kept everything watered consistently. The Delish and Romas are just starting to ripen.

Don't give up - it may happen yet.

Good, we have a lot of input now to go by. Do your plants look "top heavy" with fruits from the middle upwards? Did you have any days over 90 and if so do you remember when?

Did you have much damage from that hailstorm?

Possibly the hailstorm set the plants back. Also possible you had a heatwave somewhere between then & now. If the plants seem top-heavy, it could be from being injured by the hailstorm and even a heatwave early in the season. I guess I'm pursuing 2 angles here to try to cover all the bases: early setback/injury can have slowed everything down due to less leaves for photosynthesis... sparse plant bottoms could be a sign but I asked about any heatwaves too because if they happened early the plant would have less fruit near the bottom too... but if the plants are bottom heavy, then that wouldn't be so.

Regardless of the cause, fruits usually take 30-45 days or so to ripen... weather/sun will change these numbers too... I planted most of my plants June 8th thru June 16th and had ripe fruits on some by the end of July,mainly due to the heatwaves we've had. At the same time, I have sections of the plant that may have less fruitset that may actually correspond to the heatwaves.

If you feel you are happy with the # of fruit per plant, (I'd guess 40-50 per plant when well watered & fertilized), then warm weather is what you need to ripen them.

I still think April 30th is a little risky in zone 5... all you need are a few nights below 50 to affect a young plant... I'm in zone 6 and usually don't plant out until Memorial Day weekend. Why? because during May, there's usually some wicked weather still left to be had... like hailstorms. I think if planted a week or two later, you would have avoided the hailstorm, which may be what caused the most injury and set the plant back, but of course you still need sun & photosynthesis from leaves to ripen tomatoes!

I guess what I was trying to say was that if you don't have any fruits within the first 16-24" or so, it could have been a result of what happened in the first month or so in the ground!

John you are not alone! I'm from NE Ohio and have loads of nice sized green tomatoes sitting on the vines. I have yet to pick ONE red tomato, I have been picking cherry and grape tomatoes though.

We'll get our day..

I will say I had a moderate hailstorm around the middle of June that set me back at least 2-3 weeks. And the early fruit especially that which made it through the storm was very small. I picked most of what was set due to marks on them but left a few. Now you can't tell anything ever happened. I'm picking over 20# some nights now. I've had hails before and I believe this one set me back as much as any. Lost some plants and others really struggled. I would say that coupled with your cool weather didn't help. As for production here we shoot for 25-30# per plant. That is lots of horse manure and mulch. I don't fertilize much during the season. Get way more than I need so see no use. If I go to selling as I'm thinking about then will fertilize some during the season. Jay