Tips and tricks for growing tomatoes in HOT Weather

[Smallgardener]

Does anyone have a fix for maters in hot weather. Every year the mater plants set a few fruits early in June and then the hot weather hits above 95 and we don't get fruit set till mid august when it cools off. Then we get a load of maters that are green at frost.
I have a co worker that set up misters and cooled them off in the heat of the day and he had fruit when no one else did. I have a small area about 15 by 20 so it would not be hard to cool it off.

[gumbo2176]

Does anyone have a fix for maters in hot weather. Every year the mater plants set a few fruits early in June and then the hot weather hits above 95 and we don't get fruit set till mid august when it cools off. Then we get a load of maters that are green at frost.
I have a co worker that set up misters and cooled them off in the heat of the day and he had fruit when no one else did. I have a small area about 15 by 20 so it would not be hard to cool it off.

I have the same issue with tomato plants when it heats up, but I get them in the ground by late Feb./ early March so by the time it really gets hot, they are pretty much done anyway. I will not put new plants in my garden until early Sept. for a fall crop. I've been harvesting tons of tomatoes for a few weeks now and have close to 30 of them sitting on my counter right now with at least 50 or more still on the plants.

Tomato plants just don't like a lot of heat and shut down production. I guess you could try some type shade cloth to keep the direct sun off them. I would think misting them would bring on some fungal issues. I know when we get lots of rain in New Orleans, I have issues with fungus on my tomato plants. I now leave at least 3 ft. between my plants for better air circulation to help stem some fungal issues.

[imafan26]

There are heat resistant varieties that set in hot weather. HeatwaveII, Arkansas Traveller, Super Sioux . Solar fire and some other heat resistant tomatoes were released from Florida. I haven't tried them yet. Sweet 100 and cherries in general will fruit in the heat up to 90 degrees.
Planting a little off season helps to get the most out of the plants, but to get fresh tomatoes year round you have to try to plant them where they can get some afternoon shade and use heat tolerant varieties.

[applestar]

I had the similar thought -- I plant my tomato transplants last week of April and first week of May and have earliest varieties setting fruit in June for July harvest. In your location you could probably plant earlier?

Also try earlier maturing varieties -- I just posted a big list in another thread. Maybe some determinates that will fruit at once? It sounds like gumbo planted indeterminates for fall (and winter!) production.

[gumbo2176]

Applestar nailed it with saying indeterminate tomato varieties. That is pretty much all I plant for prolonged production. This spring I'll put in some determinate "paste" variety tomatoes so I can make some home made sauces to put up.

I used some of my fresh tomatoes to make a large container of salsa for the Super Bowl party I threw. It also gave me a chance to use one of my Ghost Peppers to kick it up a notch or three.

[gixxerific]

Without finding plants that bear early which really doesn't matter since they won't be bearing in the heat which is where you are wanting it you are somewhat stuck.

I am in the same climate per se as you, I have the same ordeal. All you can do is keep bringing back those that do well in the heat. I try to use partial shade to my advantage though some may not have that in their arsenal. I do water in the super hot weather during the day at times just to cool the plants off. There are a lot of FL golf courses that do this for 20 min in the middle of the day for the same reason with great success.

It is hard druing the summer but keeping them well watered and as cool as possible is the key. Not a easy task.

Good luck this season.

[lorax]

How hot is hot? I grow tomatoes in my summer, which routinely goes into the high 30's to low 40's centigrade which is enough to provoke blossom drop in even the heat stars that I generally grow.

My trick has been to rig up shade cloth for them. This creates a semisunny (because shade cloth doesn't block 100% of the UV) environment for them that's typically 10-12 degrees C cooler than the full-sun temperatures. With faithful irrigation, it's enough to get them to keep blooming and fruiting even in the hottest weeks.

Other than this, as folks above have mentioned, indeterminate vines are a good bet.

[valley]

I haven't had problems with heat. At the lower ranch it somtimes gets 110degrees. We had a property in Australia where we did use shade cloth to good advantage, it got a bit hotter there, but in Nevada the wind would make putting up a shade cloth more of a building project. Last year in Nevada, the first year we grew tomatos there, the tomatos seemed to love the heat, we watered daily with small spray head on a drip line under the plants. Maybe there are varieties that can take less heat than others, but none we've grown had a problem.

[rainbowgardener]

Lots of people in hot climates do report that tomatoes stop producing in the heat of summer. Look for Marlingardener's posts-- she's one of our moderators and is in Texas. She says she starts tomatoes early, gets a spring crop, and then just keeps them surviving through the heat of summer and then they start producing again in late summer- early fall. So she has two tomato seasons.

But yes, anything that cools them off should help, like shade cloth. I don't live in that kind of climate, but I always thought if you had shade cloth, then you could spray it with water and get evaporative cooling that way. I in my hot, humid climate, misting tomatoes would be a disaster with fungal diseases, but probably you can do it where it is so dry.

[valley]

That sounds right rainbow Re: earley crop, than a late crop. I kept couple over winter, upstairs in a south faceing window, took them out to the greenhouse the next spring. It's cold here winters.
Also spraying them except maybe in the driest climate could be a problem.

I usually have a good many green tomatoes on the plants when the cold weather hits and have to pickle them.

[btrowe1]

WE had really hot weather and a drought this past year, I changed how I watered my plants from years past, use to water them every day thinking they needed it, I backed off to 2 times a week, Sundays and Wednesdays and stuck to it, heavy watering each time, and I received the best crop I ever did. fertilizer was put on on Sundays every 14 days.
I have to say it was hard not to go out there and water water water but I guess it paid off in the end. heck big time pay off, we're still enjoying the frozen tomatoes we bagged up.

[rainbowgardener]

Yup, water deeply but infrequently. Strangely enough the hot dry (unhumid) weather seemed to be good for the tomatoes. I had my best tomato year last year. The first time ever with no disease issues. My tomato plants were just as lush and green at the end of the season as the beginning. Usually by the end of the season, they are kind of limping along with septoria and I've pulled a lot of the branches off.

But I did have to keep watering, twice a week like you, and the rain barrels were standing empty. I felt bad about using the water, but I wasn't going to let everything die....

[ReptileAddiction]

I read a gardening book where the author recommended putting lattice across the top for shade. From the pictures and what they said they had great results. I plan on doing something similar this season for mine.

[ElizabethB]

I plant my tomatoes early March (I am late this year). In late May early June Heat Wave does well and will produce into late summer early fall. In late August early September plant again for fall/winter production. If you have a responsive extension office (some folks don't) ask for a regional vegetable plantinng guide. If your extension office is not responsive try contacting your state's land grant university directly for region specific varieties.

I am a believer in scientific info that is why I use and recommend the extension office or land grant university as a resource. Sadly not all regions have a responsive service. Hopefully you do.

Best of luck with your tomato crop.