Great idea (Growing Tomatoes at Fifth Street Gardens)
- Thread starter 4PAM
- Start date
Mike Adams
New member
I have lots of healthy looking tomato plants that produce very little fruit. What can be done to encourage fruit production?
The extremely hot weather was hard on our tomatoes. They went into survival mode, with no resources left to produce fruit. Although it is not good to fertilize when the temperatures are above 100, tomatoes are heavy feeders and need regular fertilizing. A fertilizer too high in nitrogen will produce lots of green leaves and no fruit. Stick with an organic fertilizer formulated especially for tomatoes. Are you getting blooms? If so, the plant may need help with pollination. Usually the wind helps with this but if not much wind, gently shake the limbs.
Welcome here! The Yolo County Master Gardener program is something that I have been interested in for years now. Here's a fun video I found from someone that applied to it last year.
Hi Mike, we tried to grow large tomatoes at 5th street in 2018-2021 and ran into the same thing. It's so nice to see a beautiful photo and description of something like a Berkeley Tie-Die (found at Davis Food Co-op) and had high hopes of a delicious heirloom slicer. Who could not resist? We had salt and local olive oil all ready. But nope. In 2021 there were three days in a row when it was 112-114F in Sacramento and Davis and when that happened was that it appeared to have cooked the large nearly ready fruit on the vine. We saw very large amount of the same damage in other plots and then the compost bins filled up quick with burned tomatoes that should have been beautiful. So many beautiful heirloom giant fruit destroyed by the heat. When this happened we noticed that our cherry tomatoes did fine. While we are not pros and kind of just plant by putting the fuzzy end down, try to remember to water and hope for the best, we decided to plant only cherry tomatoes.
For 2023 we visited Morningsun Herb Farm in Vacaville (which is like Disneyland for plant lovers) and picked up 24 types of cherry tomatoes.
Here is their website:
https://morningsunherbfarm.com/
Those 24 plants grew in three raised beds at 5th street like monsters and produced thousands of tomatoes. We were harvesting them by the grocery sacks full, telling other gardeners to please take as many as they can eat and giving them to co-workers at UC Davis and there was no way to use all of them. The heat did not appear to damage many if any of the small fruit. No science involved, just guesswork and watering maybe every three to five days in raised beds with soil from Redwood Barn (http://redwoodbarn.com/) supplemented with kitchen scraps. Simple cages, no training or even slipping suckers at all. Totally lazy.
This year we went with just 10 cherry tomato plants and this heat as 4PAM has mentioned hasn't damaged them so far. They are producing more than we can eat. If you want to taste sample any of them they are located at plot i6, the password to the green bike chain is the same as the tool shed so help yourself. We have all of the plant tags and can identify them visually. The orange ones are succulent and we have made pasta sauce with those. They crazy looking purple and orange ones are called Brad's Atomic and while they look bizarre they have thick skins so are best suited for a salad where you can chomp down on a whole one and get the juice explosion in the mouth.
I spoke with Diane today who is plot h6 I believe and she is using heat shield canopies and showed me some other examples of their use. Those are apparently working quite well.
There are also other garden plots showing massive success with large tomatoes and I'm trying to ask those people what their secrets are when I can catch them there. We use above ground beds only, just because we got them cheap and they are easier on my back by a bit, but it seems all the huge fruit to be seen now and planted directly in the ground.
In summary, we have found that small cherry tomatoes, in the last five years and with all the heat, simply won't or at least have yet to fail at 5th street. Even with some really questionable and spotty (lazy) watering patterns before we install drip irrigation just this season. Hope that helps.
Mike Adams
New member
Thanks so much for the info - so much fun to see all the approaches at 5th St.Hi Mike, we tried to grow large tomatoes at 5th street in 2018-2021 and ran into the same thing. It's so nice to see a beautiful photo and description of something like a Berkeley Tie-Die (found at Davis Food Co-op) and had high hopes of a delicious heirloom slicer. Who could not resist? We had salt and local olive oil all ready. But nope. In 2021 there were three days in a row when it was 112-114F in Sacramento and Davis and when that happened was that it appeared to have cooked the large nearly ready fruit on the vine. We saw very large amount of the same damage in other plots and then the compost bins filled up quick with burned tomatoes that should have been beautiful. So many beautiful heirloom giant fruit destroyed by the heat. When this happened we noticed that our cherry tomatoes did fine. While we are not pros and kind of just plant by putting the fuzzy end down, try to remember to water and hope for the best, we decided to plant only cherry tomatoes.
For 2023 we visited Morningsun Herb Farm in Vacaville (which is like Disneyland for plant lovers) and picked up 24 types of cherry tomatoes.
Here is their website:
https://morningsunherbfarm.com/
Those 24 plants grew in three raised beds at 5th street like monsters and produced thousands of tomatoes. We were harvesting them by the grocery sacks full, telling other gardeners to please take as many as they can eat and giving them to co-workers at UC Davis and there was no way to use all of them. The heat did not appear to damage many if any of the small fruit. No science involved, just guesswork and watering maybe every three to five days in raised beds with soil from Redwood Barn (http://redwoodbarn.com/) supplemented with kitchen scraps. Simple cages, no training or even slipping suckers at all. Totally lazy.
This year we went with just 10 cherry tomato plants and this heat as 4PAM has mentioned hasn't damaged them so far. They are producing more than we can eat. If you want to taste sample any of them they are located at plot i6, the password to the green bike chain is the same as the tool shed so help yourself. We have all of the plant tags and can identify them visually. The orange ones are succulent and we have made pasta sauce with those. They crazy looking purple and orange ones are called Brad's Atomic and while they look bizarre they have thick skins so are best suited for a salad where you can chomp down on a whole one and get the juice explosion in the mouth.
I spoke with Diane today who is plot h6 I believe and she is using heat shield canopies and showed me some other examples of their use. Those are apparently working quite well.
There are also other garden plots showing massive success with large tomatoes and I'm trying to ask those people what their secrets are when I can catch them there. We use above ground beds only, just because we got them cheap and they are easier on my back by a bit, but it seems all the huge fruit to be seen now and planted directly in the ground.
In summary, we have found that small cherry tomatoes, in the last five years and with all the heat, simply won't or at least have yet to fail at 5th street. Even with some really questionable and spotty (lazy) watering patterns before we install drip irrigation just this season. Hope that helps.View attachment 30
My pleasure and this should be so much fun and educational. It's awesome to see 4PAM a Yolo Master Gardener here so soon since the site only opened for testing this weekend.
I forgot to mention that if you decide to try cherry tomatoes, Morningsun Herb Farm in Vacaville has a 10% discount for Community Gardeners, you just have to tell them when you are checking out.
They always have the widest selection of cherry tomato plants I have ever seen in this part of California. It really is like Disneyland for plant lovers. Even has a petting zoo for the kids. When we picked up the 24 cherry tomato plants last year it came to about $80 after the discount and ended up producing over 100 pounds which would equate to around $1400 at Nugget prices. Just be prepared to know where to start giving them away as fast as you can harvest them. Someone could probably pay for a table at the Davis Farmers Market and their whole 5th street lease for years with just a single crop of cherry tomatoes grown on 5th street.
Highly recommended is Morningsun Herb farm for cherry tomato plants. A short fun drive, and an awesome place to see. It was recommended to us by a DJUSD teach whose husband is a commercial farmer in Davis, Dixon and Winters.
https://morningsunherbfarm.com/
I forgot to mention that if you decide to try cherry tomatoes, Morningsun Herb Farm in Vacaville has a 10% discount for Community Gardeners, you just have to tell them when you are checking out.
They always have the widest selection of cherry tomato plants I have ever seen in this part of California. It really is like Disneyland for plant lovers. Even has a petting zoo for the kids. When we picked up the 24 cherry tomato plants last year it came to about $80 after the discount and ended up producing over 100 pounds which would equate to around $1400 at Nugget prices. Just be prepared to know where to start giving them away as fast as you can harvest them. Someone could probably pay for a table at the Davis Farmers Market and their whole 5th street lease for years with just a single crop of cherry tomatoes grown on 5th street.
Highly recommended is Morningsun Herb farm for cherry tomato plants. A short fun drive, and an awesome place to see. It was recommended to us by a DJUSD teach whose husband is a commercial farmer in Davis, Dixon and Winters.
https://morningsunherbfarm.com/
I didn’t have any problems with big tomatoes being produced this year. I start all my tomatoes from seed late January to early February and plant them in the ground (not raised beds) after Tax Day. I add compost from my backyard
Bin (which includes well decomposed manure from my chickens) into each hole and water deeply two times a week. The biggest tomatoes are from BrandyBoy and Steakhouse. The main problem I had this year was harvesting them before the rats got to them. Lost over 70% of my crop to rats. I’ve been gardening here off and on since 1981 (in my present plot since 2010) and I’ve never had a rat problem like this. It would really help if we could get the City to enforce the community garden rules. Unkempt plots like the one to the south of me just are perfect places for rats to build their nests. In past years I have also grown SuoerSauce tomatoes which produce huge Roma type tomatoes for canning. I didn’t even bother this year because I lost so many to rats last year I didn’t have enough to make canning worth the effort
Bin (which includes well decomposed manure from my chickens) into each hole and water deeply two times a week. The biggest tomatoes are from BrandyBoy and Steakhouse. The main problem I had this year was harvesting them before the rats got to them. Lost over 70% of my crop to rats. I’ve been gardening here off and on since 1981 (in my present plot since 2010) and I’ve never had a rat problem like this. It would really help if we could get the City to enforce the community garden rules. Unkempt plots like the one to the south of me just are perfect places for rats to build their nests. In past years I have also grown SuoerSauce tomatoes which produce huge Roma type tomatoes for canning. I didn’t even bother this year because I lost so many to rats last year I didn’t have enough to make canning worth the effort
Most tomatoes will not self-pollinate, and thus won’t set fruit, at temperatures above about 90F. Some, such as Brandywine and Beefsteak, are even more sensitive to high temps, and many other heirloom types are also intolerant of high temperatures. So I always suggest a mix of varieties, including some hybrids and some cherry types along with your favorite heirlooms.
It’s about 7 weeks from set to ripe for most types (cherry tomatoes ripen faster). Most people got good fruit set in May, harvesting those in early July. Then we had a long spell of very hot weather through most of July when hardly any flowers set fruit. Healthy vines gave very good fruit set all through August, most of which are ripening now. My heaviest yields are always in late September and through October.
Some varieties are very consistent year to year. New hybrids such as Bodacious and Rugby are outstanding. Lemon Boy has produced very well for me. All of the Chef’s Choice varieties have proven very good here. And in general, cherry tomatoes will yield heavily under most conditions. Early Girl is great and very popular, but New Girl is outperforming in for me. There are dozens of varieties in the nursery trade, but about 10 – 20 that I consider totally reliable.
I generally won’t recommend a tomato variety until I’ve tested it for at least two growing seasons and through a range of temperatures.
The plants need to be watered deeply to sustain the continued growth, flowering, and fruit development through the summer. Be cautious not to over-apply nitrogen as that can lead to very vigorous plants and less fruit production.
It’s about 7 weeks from set to ripe for most types (cherry tomatoes ripen faster). Most people got good fruit set in May, harvesting those in early July. Then we had a long spell of very hot weather through most of July when hardly any flowers set fruit. Healthy vines gave very good fruit set all through August, most of which are ripening now. My heaviest yields are always in late September and through October.
Some varieties are very consistent year to year. New hybrids such as Bodacious and Rugby are outstanding. Lemon Boy has produced very well for me. All of the Chef’s Choice varieties have proven very good here. And in general, cherry tomatoes will yield heavily under most conditions. Early Girl is great and very popular, but New Girl is outperforming in for me. There are dozens of varieties in the nursery trade, but about 10 – 20 that I consider totally reliable.
I generally won’t recommend a tomato variety until I’ve tested it for at least two growing seasons and through a range of temperatures.
The plants need to be watered deeply to sustain the continued growth, flowering, and fruit development through the summer. Be cautious not to over-apply nitrogen as that can lead to very vigorous plants and less fruit production.