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Member discussion regarding the methods, varieties and merits of growing tomatoes.

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Old September 12, 2020   #1
NicolasGarcia
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Default Doubt about tomato production

Hello everybody and thanks in advance.
This year I was quite ahead in the growth of my tomato plants thanks to a small greenhouse, I got tomatoes more than a month earlier than previous years, but now in the month of September with very good weather, the tomato plants have gone to produce, when in previous years, at this time, my plants were in full production, and I wonder if the plants have a single production quota, that is, if for example a tomato plant, although its climatic conditions are only favorable, can give a certain amount of tomatoes and no more. Therefore, by advancing a month in production, perhaps the plant has already produced all the production it can have. I hope I have explained it well. Thank you.
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Old September 12, 2020   #2
imp
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I am not sure of the determinant types, but indeterminate tomato plants do not have a set limit on how many tomatoes it shall produce,although weather, temperature and feeding them, along with many variables, all play a part.



If I am recalling accurately, a tomato plant that is in good management and an indeterminate theoretically could live and produce for a number of years. Sort of like a pepper plant that can go from year to year, though I think management practices would differ between the tomato and pepper plant.
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Old September 12, 2020   #3
slugworth
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tomato plants only live for about 1 year.
I just had one that died after 11 months.
The same goes for the "tomato tree" that was at the epcot center.
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Old September 12, 2020   #4
Barb_FL
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I grew determinate tomato plants last season (Sept - June) and fed them the entire time, and they produced the entire time. It was not what I expected or how determinate tomato plants/seeds are advertised. Also, the production was fairly spread out; definitely not all a once.

For indeterminate plants, I think you should have continued getting fruit set throughout the entire time provided all factors mentioned by imp were equal. I would look at the feeding/fertilizing part.

But I've notice, after a plant is 6+ months old, I see less productivity and smaller tomatoes. But smaller tomatoes may be because it is going into the warm/hot season.
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Old September 12, 2020   #5
Koala Doug
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The first time I grew Red Robin (a determinate micro-dwarf), it produced normally in the summer, I brought it indoors where it continued to give tomatoes (at a reduced rate, obviously) all winter, and then brought it back outside for the next summer (where it fruited normally yet again). So, that plant was doing its thing for 18 straight months. And, honestly, I could have kept the experiment going longer, but I was only really interested in seeing if I could get a plant to continue through the winter.
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Old September 12, 2020   #6
sjamesNorway
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My greenhouse usually gets so hot in July, in spite of my efforts to cool it down, that it kills off flowers that would have produced fruit in September. And that's in Norway. That may partly explain your problem.


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Old September 13, 2020   #7
AKmark
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Quote:
Originally Posted by NicolasGarcia View Post
Hello everybody and thanks in advance.
This year I was quite ahead in the growth of my tomato plants thanks to a small greenhouse, I got tomatoes more than a month earlier than previous years, but now in the month of September with very good weather, the tomato plants have gone to produce, when in previous years, at this time, my plants were in full production, and I wonder if the plants have a single production quota, that is, if for example a tomato plant, although its climatic conditions are only favorable, can give a certain amount of tomatoes and no more. Therefore, by advancing a month in production, perhaps the plant has already produced all the production it can have. I hope I have explained it well. Thank you.
If you keep an indeterminate pruned and well fed its production rate will not slow from Spring to Fall that much. We grow from March until October 15th or so. At this moment, mid September they are loaded and producing well. We just cut the tops with anticipation of the seasons end closing in. We grow 1500-2000 plants and will be growing much more in the future. The only slackers are some heirlooms, some do not produce very well at any time in the season.
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Old September 14, 2020   #8
zipcode
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I sometimes get the same feeling, that in September they start to wind down by a lot, also indeterminates, especially in containers. This is one of the reason they graft, for long cycle production.
In the garden things are not like this though, still going strong as long as the temps are fine, so it is definitely a water/food problem first of all. Also I think the more a plant suffers from lack of water (especially towards autumn), the quicker is ages.
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Old September 15, 2020   #9
NicolasGarcia
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Thank you all very much, your comments have helped me a lot
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Old September 17, 2020   #10
Soilsniffer
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Steve said:

>> My greenhouse usually gets so hot in July, in spite of my efforts to cool it down, that it kills off flowers that would have produced fruit in September. And that's in Norway.

That's here in Virginia too. My greenhouse got so hot in the afternoon, the tomatoes baked. And the inside temperature becomes the same as the outside by midnight, so that's no help early in the season.

It got to the point that the greenhouse was good only for seedlings. Starts in my house overnight, I bring the seedlings out, into the greenhouse early in the morning, and by noon I need to bring the seedlings back into my house.

I concluded that greenhouses are overrated, unless you invest in heating/cooling/fans. Otherwise, I don't believe it extends the season significantly. And it increases the required labor.
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