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Growing Tomatoes

Getting nervous! When is the end of my growing season?

16 years ago

Unfortunately, I got the tomatoes in their 18 gallon containers very late this year (May 23). Ive had a couple of Cherokee Purple's , but basically they are just now starting to show real tomatoes. Almost all have 3-4 nice sized green tomatoes that I'm confident will ripen in time.

However they basically all still have tons of flowers on them. Is there enough time left to the growing season? Will those flowers turn into maters?

I'm used to growing on Long Island and this is my first time growoing in the Washington DC / Northern VA area.

At what point(if any) should I pinch off the remaining flowers to allow the plants to focus their energy on the tomatoes already has on the vines?

Thanks!

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Comments (8)

tommysmommy
16 years ago
I'm in zone 5a and we've gotten warmer here in the past 10 years. I can pretty much count on September still for annual growth. I don't think you have the unexpected snows or freezes that I might get so you probably have even longer. If your plants are still flowering but have lots of small unripe fruit, it might not be a bad idea to pinch off new growth. In fact, I might do that myself on the larger fruited varieties. Cherries will mature quickly so no worries there.
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digdirt2
16 years ago
Your local county extension office is an excellent source of info such as this - your USDA zone, frost dates, planting times, etc. - all sorts of great info so you want to be sure to make their acquaintence. ;)

Your USDA zone is 7A so your first frost date is approximately October 15th according to the charts.

I wouldn't pinch off anything - it's a personal preference not mandatory in any way. But if you wish to try that approach I'd at least wait until the middle of September.

Dave
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oldroser
16 years ago
Think October 15th is a bit pessimistic for zone 7 - that's what I count on for zone 5 these days. You should be picking almost up to Thanksgiving.
Suspect you are probably giving them a bit too much fertilizer. Stop now and let them concentrate on fruiting.
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trudi_d
16 years ago
DC has long hot summers that seem to extend into the middle of the fall. I also think your growing season likely ends closer to Thanksgiving than Halloween. Your weather has been very dry this seaon because of prolonged drought, but that's a fluke, it's not the norm.

Usually DC, Arlington, McClean, etc are all torrid--very hot and steamy--just like up on LI. You have a very growing season, but the big problem that ends it for tomatoes can be humidity and heat related problems like Early Blight. Talk to your neighbors and ask them what type of growing problems you can expect this Fall, specifically ask if any are related to the climate. Keep some plant fungicde treatements on hand, like SAFER or SERENADE, and start to use them if needed to control any problems.

T
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triple_b
16 years ago
...and if you don't have any tomato-growing neighbors at hand, ask at the Farmers Market.
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rdback
16 years ago
...um, you might want to follow digdirt's advice regarding freeze dates, especially if you live to the West of DC, toward the mountains. I live in the Shenandoah Valley and our first frost was EARLY October, around the 10th as I recall (without getting out of my recliner and looking at last year's journal LOL).
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tomatoes4ever
Original Author
16 years ago
Thanks for the advice. I won't pinch any flowers. It sounds like I have just enough time to get a nice crop of tomatoes from the flowers I have now.

Thanks guys!
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aka_peggy
16 years ago
I'm 60 miles west of DC right on the border of Virginia & W. Virginia....a little cooler than you I'm sure. I would say you're good till around mid October also. No way you'll get tomatoes till Thanksgiving. Halloween with some protection and IF you're really, really lucky.
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