Storing your tomatoes!

[Jack Rouse]

I mainly grow a variety called "moneymaker" they for us are fairly late croppers, although I would normally expect them to ripening by now, it's quite hot over here at the moment ( for us) 28-30c, and as they are under glass, it's a lot hotter in the greenhouse, but they are still slow to ripen, the first one we had ripen, and the wife bloody grilled it ! I had been looking forward to that one, fresh off the vine for days !

The other main crop grown here is a beef tom, personally I don't like them, they are too tough, and are best after cooking.

 

[Chuck]

I mainly grow a variety called "moneymaker" they for us are fairly late croppers, although I would normally expect them to ripening by now, it's quite hot over here at the moment ( for us) 28-30c, and as they are under glass, it's a lot hotter in the greenhouse, but they are still slow to ripen, the first one we had ripen, and the wife bloody grilled it ! I had been looking forward to that one, fresh off the vine for days !

The other main crop grown here is a beef tom, personally I don't like them, they are too tough, and are best after cooking.

When do you plant your tomatos and what is the average date that can start harvesting them. I my area it is usually safe to plant tomatos April 1 but everyone always gambles and plants early. This year I planted March 15 and got lucky. I started harvesting on June 6, a small variety named Queen of Hearts, to me a very acidic tomato a little bigger than a golf ball and great for salads and canning. This is the first year I've grown it and it did very well considering no rain to speak of. Another new variety for me this year is called Bloody Butcher another small variety a little smaller than the Queen of Hearts and just about as early. I picked the first one of it on June 11. I also planted for the first time a medium large tomato called Jet Star, about 8oz This is a variety I think you might be interested in experimenting with. Very early for a tomato of this size here. I picked the first one June 13 and it was the 2nd most prolific of all my larger tomatos. I probably won't plant it again as it has very little if any acid. My best producer as usual was a variety called Celebrity. I picked the first one of it on June 23 and the best producer of my heirlooms a variety called Arkansas Traveler the first of which I picked on June 19. I started all of my plants from seed about Jan 1. I still have a few plants with tomatos on them but everything will be gone by Aug 15.

 

[Jack Rouse]

When do you plant your tomatos and what is the average date that can start harvesting them. I my area it is usually safe to plant tomatos April 1 but everyone always gambles and plants early. This year I planted March 15 and got lucky. I started harvesting on June 6, a small variety named Queen of Hearts, to me a very acidic tomato a little bigger than a golf ball and great for salads and canning. This is the first year I've grown it and it did very well considering no rain to speak of. Another new variety for me this year is called Bloody Butcher another small variety a little smaller than the Queen of Hearts and just about as early. I picked the first one of it on June 11. I also planted for the first time a medium large tomato called Jet Star, about 8oz This is a variety I think you might be interested in experimenting with. Very early for a tomato of this size here. I picked the first one June 13 and it was the 2nd most prolific of all my larger tomatos. I probably won't plant it again as it has very little if any acid. My best producer as usual was a variety called Celebrity. I picked the first one of it on June 23 and the best producer of my heirlooms a variety called Arkansas Traveler the first of which I picked on June 19. I started all of my plants from seed about Jan 1. I still have a few plants with tomatos on them but everything will be gone by Aug 15.

A lot depends on the climate, and if you can afford to heat the greenhouse or not, in our last home we could get plants going really early, middle to end of March, if you have to wait until it is warmer then mid April is about the earliest.
We tend to harvest mid to late July and on into August, any fruit that hasn't ripened by the end of August goes into chutney or pickle.

 

[Chuck]

A lot depends on the climate, and if you can afford to heat the greenhouse or not, in our last home we could get plants going really early, middle to end of March, if you have to wait until it is warmer then mid April is about the earliest.
We tend to harvest mid to late July and on into August, any fruit that hasn't ripened by the end of August goes into chutney or pickle.

So you are about 2 weeks later than here. I have found that the optimum temp for fruit setting is a low nighttime temp of 68F-72F and that the daytime temp doesn't really matter all that much. But then we have more sunlight. I suppose there could be a correlation between daytime temps and length of sunlight as to the forming of buds but I don't have definitive data on that. I guess what I am trying to say is that if you could keep your greenhouse at 68F-72F at night you could get a quick start on fruit set and not have to worry so much on keeping your greenhouse really warm during the day. Does this make any sense?

 

[Jack Rouse]

So you are about 2 weeks later than here. I have found that the optimum temp for fruit setting is a low nighttime temp of 68F-72F and that the daytime temp doesn't really matter all that much. But then we have more sunlight. I suppose there could be a correlation between daytime temps and length of sunlight as to the forming of buds but I don't have definitive data on that. I guess what I am trying to say is that if you could keep your greenhouse at 68F-72F at night you could get a quick start on fruit set and not have to worry so much on keeping your greenhouse really warm during the day. Does this make any sense?

Yep makes a lot of sense, but the temp here tends to drop off rapidly in the early months at night the temp can drop 10deg or more, so you need heat

 

[Chuck]

Yep makes a lot of sense, but the temp here tends to drop off rapidly in the early months at night the temp can drop 10deg or more, so you need heat

I guess what I am trying say is would it work if you planted your plants about the first of March, kept the nighttime temps at 70F and lower the level of heating to above freezing during the day? Here we have BIG temp changes all through March and April. For instance this year I had a hard freeze a week before I put the plants in the ground on Mar 15 and some of the plants already had buds forming. Luckily it didn't freeze again and I had little tiny tomatos that I first observed on April 3 on those 3 varieties I mentioned earlier. It didn't freeze again but the temp had fluctuations of 30 degrees+ on some days and the plants did fine except for some heavy winds one week. I guess I would have to be there to completely understand what you folks have to put up with but I cannot fathom why you worry about daytime temps when it is the nighttime temps you should worry about, just as long as it didn't frost or freeze during the daytime. If it is not going to freeze during the day then turn off the power in the early morning. Oh well, I'm not dead yet so maybe one day I will understand

 

[Jack Rouse]

I guess what I am trying say is would it work if you planted your plants about the first of March, kept the nighttime temps at 70F and lower the level of heating to above freezing during the day? Here we have BIG temp changes all through March and April. For instance this year I had a hard freeze a week before I put the plants in the ground on Mar 15 and some of the plants already had buds forming. Luckily it didn't freeze again and I had little tiny tomatos that I first observed on April 3 on those 3 varieties I mentioned earlier. It didn't freeze again but the temp had fluctuations of 30 degrees+ on some days and the plants did fine except for some heavy winds one week. I guess I would have to be there to completely understand what you folks have to put up with but I cannot fathom why you worry about daytime temps when it is the nighttime temps you should worry about, just as long as it didn't frost or freeze during the daytime. If it is not going to freeze during the day then turn off the power in the early morning. Oh well, I'm not dead yet so maybe one day I will understand

Keeping nighttime temperatures at 70f in a glasshouse would be quite expensive, the electric heater I have struggles to get it to 64f, which is just about germination temp, for the more tender seedlings I have to use electric propagators, or bring them inside the house at night.
You guys just don't know how lucky you are !

 

[Chuck]

Keeping nighttime temperatures at 70f in a glasshouse would be quite expensive, the electric heater I have struggles to get it to 64f, which is just about germination temp, for the more tender seedlings I have to use electric propagators, or bring them inside the house at night.
You guys just don't know how lucky you are !

Yeah, real lucky. All this week it will be over 100F and 60% humidity. Haven't had a drop of rain in over 3 weeks. Like I told Bee's I will trade you 1/2 of my sunlight and heat for 1/2 of your rain

 

[Jack Rouse]

Yeah, real lucky. All this week it will be over 100F and 60% humidity. Haven't had a drop of rain in over 3 weeks. Like I told Bee's I will trade you 1/2 of my sunlight and heat for 1/2 of your rain

Ah yeah, I remember being out in Florida in 1976, it was great because we were on half days, but I can imagine living in it and working in it would be difficult.

 

[kammy]

I have realized that all of you have a different take on this matter but then again i think how we store our tomatoes is very dependent on the type of climate that we are experiencing; i like to have my tomatoes chilled so i will definitely continue putting them in the fridge.

 

[Jack Rouse]

I have realized that all of you have a different take on this matter but then again i think how we store our tomatoes is very dependent on the type of climate that we are experiencing; i like to have my tomatoes chilled so i will definitely continue putting them in the fridge.

I think a lot of it has to do with how you were brought up as well, my mother in my early years never had a fridge, my grandparents didn't either, so everything was stored in the pantry, if you wanted to keep something cool you put it on the marble slab that was built into the pantry.

 

[Pat]

A ripe tomato in the kitchen on the table would only last one-two days before it would start to rot due to heat and humidity in my area. Everything goes into the refrig or eaten right away. Green bananas are ripe in one day in this house. I

 

[cmiller]

When I was coming up we would put them in the fridge. So that is what I still do I never really thought about it. But I do have friends that leave there out though but like I said I never really paid it that much attention.