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Tomato Crop Prediction

Posted on June 11, 2009 at 11:10 PM

The tomato plants have been flowering for a while now and I have posted about the earliest tomato variety ("Stupice") having some clusters of fruit formed, but my daily checks on the rest of the main season varieties have not revealed any young fruits being formed. That is until this evening!  In fact, today I found several very small fruits forming from spent blossoms ... and ... hidden on the underside of one of the "Legend" plants was a tomato that was already quite good sized! Apparently, I had not been looking hard enough when passing by this plant because it has been there for a while in order to be this size.        

                                                              

   

 

So far, the varieties seem to be matching up pretty well with their respective "average days to maturity" - which for tomatoes is from the date the transplants are set out. First to form fruit was the "Stupice" plants (60-65 days). The plants were all set out April 19th and based on the look of these first fruits, will be producing the first ripe ones around June 20th or so. This puts them right on target with the average dates for this variety. Right behind them (based on tonight's observation) are the "Legend" plants (68 days). The next variety that should show some progress are "Siletz" (70-75 days), followed by "Viva Italia" (85-90 days) and bringing up the rear should be the few remaining "Celebrity" plants (95-100 days). That's assuming they all keep to a timeline that matches up reasonably close to the "average days to maturity".  Not a given by any means because these are definitely "average" dates to maturity, but so far that seems to be the case.                        

              

Other than the first dribs and drabs of ripe tomatoes that will bring in the season, it looks like the actual main crop of tomatoes will likely arrive around mid July this year. At least that is my prediction based on what I am seeing first hand, and based on the varieties I have in the ground.                     

               

Only time will tell if this guesstimate is accurate or not, but even if I am way off on the timing - it appears this tomato crop is shaping up to be a more normal year of production - which is a welcome change from last year's rather dismal tomato season!

Categories: Vegetables, Plants, Harvesting

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6 Comments

Reply Sinfonian
12:14 AM on June 12, 2009 
That's great! I think the only fruit to form was my Bloody Butcher (I think since I can't be certain what anything is til they mature). I'm hoping for tons of production this year as I've got tons of flowers. I always give them a good shake every time I walk by. I don't think I've ever had bee pollination.
Reply kitsapfreedomgardener
12:50 AM on June 12, 2009 
I always "rustle" the tomato plants as I walk by them to assist in the pollination process. I "tap" the corn stalks when they are tassled and pollinating too - for the same reason. Just assisting mother nature to give me a good harvest! :D

How IS that Bloody Butcher tomato doing by the way? Last picture I saw of it - it was getting quite large.
Reply hsheather
08:01 AM on June 12, 2009 
I'm so jealous! My tomatoes are still about 6 -8 weeks off. I'll be building a hoop house for next year's tomatoes for sure!
Reply Dan
10:52 PM on June 12, 2009 
I think I will have to add legend to my list for next year. I want to grow 2 or 3 early ones next year like my siletz that I started in February.
Reply Annie's Granny
11:41 PM on June 12, 2009 
Finding those first tomatoes has to be the most exciting time in the garden! My earliest is listed at 75 days, transplanted on 4/30, and at last count had about 15 tomatoes on it. Next year I really want to try Stupice for early tomatoes.
Reply kitsapfreedomgardener
11:45 AM on June 13, 2009 
hsheather - even with protection, I am at best keeping up with others in the region because we have minimal sun conditions for good veggie growing. My tomatoes get just a little over six hours of full sun - just enough but nothing more. It's due to our tall trees surrounding the property. At some point, I am goiing to have to take a few down. My husband will have a heart attack over that though so I am waiting until it just has to be done.

Dan - Legend is a good full size tomato that produces early. It has an added bonus that it is open pollinated AND yet has been bred to resist late blight infections. Since we get cool wet falls here - blight is an ever present problem.

Annie's Granny - I would highly recommend a plant or two of Stupice. They are very sweet and nearly seedless, produce clusters of fruit and are very very early. They are small saladette sized tomatoes though - which is in part why they are so early but they are also parthenocarpic and will produce fruit without having to be pollinated - so the blossoms will set fruit even in chillier conditions where other tomatoes will form flowers but not fruit until the weather warms up a bit.