Quantity of Tomatoes

[poypoyking]

So all the pictures from the show thread are making me hungry and curious. How many tomatoes do you average on a plant? Or if you don't keep track of numbers how many pounds of fruit do you average per plant?

This is my first year going hardcore (well, for me anyway) and I am not completely sure what to expect out of my non-cherry types.

[landarc]

I can't think of any way to come up with a true average, different plants produce different amounts of fruit. I do not keep records, but, I don' think any of my plants produce less than 20 tomatoes per plant and some were way above that.

[darthslater]

Feb 25, 2010 10:10:07 GMT -5 poypoyking said:

So all the pictures from the show thread are making me hungry and curious. How many tomatoes do you average on a plant? Or if you don't keep track of numbers how many pounds of fruit do you average per plant?

This is my first year going hardcore (well, for me anyway) and I am not completely sure what to expect out of my non-cherry types.

Poy, there is no set in stone amount of tomatoes a plant will produce. however 20 plants is nothing to sneeze at if they are well cared for. make sure to meet all required plant needs such as fertilizer, optimum light and water. I mulch very heavily with straw to avoid soil splashing on the leaves. I go by the pesimists out look . I look at the very least one plant will produce. So I can assume anything greater than 5 real saleable ones is a bonus.
Per plant not including the ugly ducklings or split or catfaced.
Some people report 100 pounds of tomatoes off of one plant, some. as few as two.

Darth

[poypoyking]

So do you add additional compost during the growing season then? I was already planning on trying to find someone who sells straw to limit the splash effect.

[landarc]

No, I do not disturb the roots or soil once planting is done. Mulch heavily with straw is good. Fertilizing can be done with liduids, foliar or powdered and watered in. Most important is making sure you start off with good soil. Amend it and add some nutrients at the start, before planting.

[jcm05]

You can never add too much compost in my opinion. However, once the plants are established just use it t topdress or as mulch so as not to disturb the root systems. I use straw mulch myself just after planting and then add to that grass clippings every couple weeks over the summer as an extra source of organic nitrogen as it breaks down.

Quantity per plant is tough to asses unless you take great notes. Production varies greatly between varieties and due to the environmental conditions.

What varieties were you thinking of planting?

[poypoyking]

Hmm, there are a few, but I will try and remember them here at work.

Grace Lahman (Pink)
Malchite Box (green)
Green Zebra (green)
Cuor Di Bue (red)
Yellow Pear
Dr Wyche's Yellow (orange)
Pantano Romanesco (red)
Golden Sunray (orange)
Carbon (black)
Purple Russian (black)
Black Krim (black)
Black Cherry (black)
Vorlon (black)
Sungold (orange)
Anas Noir Pineapple (striped)

There is at least another yellow and pink yet from my sister that I am not sure what i will be getting, maybe one more besides that.

[camochef]

poypoyking,
Your question cannot be answered accuritely. I've had plants that have produced over a hundred lbs of tomatoes in a single season. and I've had others that have only produced 4 tomatoes of just under a lb each. I've had years where the same plants in a row vary greatly in their output to say nothing of year to year differences in the same ground. When you add different locales and weather conditions things really begin changing.
I add compost as a top dressing throughout the year, I fertilize with granular fertilizer about two weeks after placing plants in the garden depending on weather conditions and then add fertilizer about every three/four weeks without letting it touch the stems of my plants. I also prune all my tomatoes after the first flowers form, I remove all leaves and suckers below that first set of flowers. Makes your plants look like little trees but it enhances air circulation and I feel reduces diseases. Not all agree but it works for me.
Last year was the first year I saw diseases in my gardens, and that was due to the colder and wetter year we had in this part of the country, still I was much better off than most of my friends and neighboors, and I had a lot more tomatoes than they did.
I had 256 tomato plants in the gardens last year plus some volunteers that I let grow, and garden #1 hardly showed any signs of disease at all. Garden #2 did get some foliage diseases, but I was able to control them with pruning and removal of the diseased foliage.
I grow all my tomatoes in cages, which also helps to allow air circulation, with 4-5 feet between each plant in a row, and many rows have 5-6 feet between them. never less than than 4 1/2 ft.
It's always a learning process and I feel it's just as important to keep good notes/records as it is to water and fertilize. I can pull out books from previous years that tell me when I planted seed, transplanted, planted out, fertilized, watered, pruned, picked, how long the plant produced when the first frost hit .It's all in each volume, and it's worthwile information to refer back to. I know exactly where each variety was planted during each year. Maybe anal to most but a wealth of information to me!
Good luck with your coming gardens and may you find the experiences worthwhile and enjoyable!
Camo

[jeffinjonestown]

Feb 25, 2010 19:40:26 GMT -5 camochef said:

poypoyking,
....
It's always a learning process and I feel it's just as important to keep good notes/records as it is to water and fertilize. I can pull out books from previous years that tell me when I planted seed, transplanted, planted out, fertilized, watered, pruned, picked, how long the plant produced when the first frost hit .It's all in each volume, and it's worthwile information to refer back to. I know exactly where each variety was planted during each year. Maybe anal to most but a wealth of information to me!
Good luck with your coming gardens and may you find the experiences worthwhile and enjoyable!
Camo

LOL, people think I'm anal for writing all that stuff on a calendar in 3 different colors of ink for different types of veggies. I really should start a notebook or spreadsheet for it, as flipping through calendars is kinda tedious.

I'm way early this year compared to last year (he says, laying calendars side-by-side), with all 8 of my Glick's, my Rutgers, and cherry maters germinated and up to 5" tall.

[jcm05]

Mar 4, 2010 16:27:29 GMT -5 jeffinjonestown said:

LOL, people think I'm anal for writing all that stuff on a calendar in 3 different colors of ink for different types of veggies.

Welcome Jeff.

[tomc]

Um a cherry tomato may set several hundred fruit. A good slicer might produce near to a hundred fruit. A good beefstake will be superior if it makes three dozen fruit. A good oxheart might make as few as ten fruit.

Now all that said, the yummiest of oxhearts make a fruit that (to me) makes up for its lack with quality..

[dld]

If I can get 10 fruit a plant I'm happy!

[poypoyking]

Yeah, last year I got close to 500 a plant from my cherry tomato plants, while only 20 each of Grace Lahman and Malachite Box. Some of those were picked green just before we settled into perma-freeze though. So I would say 15 or 16 ripe during the season. I had about 3 weeks or so in the middle of fruiting time that I did not get anything from those two, and then they started producing again.

[dld]

Just being nosy and comparing a tomato variety , poypoyking what did you think of the malachite box flavor?

[poypoyking]

Loved it. It was slightly tart but a great tomato flavor, and some of them got pretty large (1 1/2 lbs or so). Great on a BLT or a grilled cheese (nothing like hot tomato to burn the mouth) or for just eating. I was very sad when the plant was done. So far it is my favorite from the green tomatoes I have tried, but my experience is limited to about 5 varieties.