Texas Summertme Challenge

[Wildcat82]

My goal is to have fresh tomatoes year round here in south central Texas. FYI - Summer is always tough on tomatoes here with temperatures from roughly late May to the first part of October in the 90's. Last year, Big Beef, Arkansas Traveler, and Heatmaster didn't produce at all in the heat though Tycoon did produce about 10 baseball/plum sized tomatoes per plant in pots that only got morning sun. I'm switching gears and doing a growout of the most heat tolerant cherries I can think of this summer to see which varieties produce and have good flavor in the heat.

My slicers will go in the ground next week while my cherries will planted mid-April.

My cherries are:
1. Porter
2. Black Cherry
3. Coyote
4. Chadwick (i.e. Camp Joy)
5. Sun Gold
6. Sweet 100
7. Jasper

Curious what others feel are the best heat setting cherries? Any others you think I should try?

[worth1]

Wild cherry.

[karstopography]

Good luck. Seems like I used to see cherry tomato plants that had fruit on them here on the coast in August and beyond, but wasn’t into growing my own tomatoes back then.

My BIL just right above Ft.Worth in SouthLake had loads of tomatoes of all sizes on his plants July 31st when we were up there last summer. Big slicer types, I can’t remember which particular cultivars, but they looked indeterminate. He might have had some cherries also. It was blazing hot that day, like it usually is late in July and his plants looked so green and healthy, the plants were big, too, and it looked like he wasn’t into pruning them a ton. I was shocked how great they looked. His garden was in 100% full sun. I know one of the big ones was German Queen. I realize Ft. Worth is quite a bit north of San Antonio, but it is very hot in the Metroplex in a typical summer and the nights are generally warm.

I’m trying sweet 100 and Sungold this season. I didn’t grow any cherry tomatoes last year. I usually have fantasies about all summer long tomatoes, but the squirrels move in and wipe them out even before the heat or disease necessarily does. I pulled tomato plants up last season early in July that had small tomatoes on them, but knew the squirrels would get them before I would.

I’ve got a new anti-squirrel plan for this year. Maybe this year I’ll have some sort of fresh tomatoes, even if only cherries, throughout August and into September.

[Wildcat82]

Good luck. Seems like I used to see cherry tomato plants that had fruit on them here on the coast in August and beyond, but wasn’t into growing my own tomatoes back then.

My BIL just right above Ft.Worth in SouthLake had loads of tomatoes of all sizes on his plants July 31st when we were up there last summer. Big slicer types, I can’t remember which particular cultivars, but they looked indeterminate. He might have had some cherries also. It was blazing hot that day, like it usually is late in July and his plants looked so green and healthy, the plants were big, too, and it looked like he wasn’t into pruning them a ton. I was shocked how great they looked. His garden was in 100% full sun. I know one of the big ones was German Queen. I realize Ft. Worth is quite a bit north of San Antonio, but it is very hot in the Metroplex in a typical summer and the nights are generally warm.

I’m trying sweet 100 and Sungold this season. I didn’t grow any cherry tomatoes last year. I usually have fantasies about all summer long tomatoes, but the squirrels move in and wipe them out even before the heat or disease necessarily does. I pulled tomato plants up last season early in July that had small tomatoes on them, but knew the squirrels would get them before I would.

I’ve got a new anti-squirrel plan for this year. Maybe this year I’ll have some sort of fresh tomatoes, even if only cherries, throughout August and into September.

Last summer was weirdly cool here. Temps stayed in the mid 80'stil mid July. Don't ever remember that happening here since at least 2000. I know DFW gets just as hot as San Antonio but maybe they also had a long spring too.

Squirrels have never bothered by tomatoes - my hens are a headache though. Hopefully I grow enough cherries they will leave enough for me. I think the squirrels (?!?) attacked my peaches last summer so I'll probably have to set some traps. Squirrels are tree rats.

[Tormahto]

A chicken wire cage should work on squirrels, on chipmunks, not so much.

[karstopography]

A chicken wire cage should work on squirrels, on chipmunks, not so much.

I plan on stapling the barriers to my rough cedar boxes, in a way where there aren’t any gaps a squirrel can get through and up vertically several feet and attached to my tomato support bamboo poles. If the squirrels manage to climb the barriers, I’ll put a mesh cover over the top. I have other ideas also should these measures be insufficient. I do have plenty of chicken wire and polymer meshes, even a copper mesh to protect individual tomatoes.

Last year, I had things under control with my barriers, but made the idiotic decision to go out of town during the peak of the production and naturally, a storm hit and, well, the barrier was breached and the squirrels got their taste of the forbidden fruit and then it was on, no stopping them. My teenage son was left in charge of tomato defenses, well, he wasn’t trained properly in that arcane discipline and that’s on me.

The squirrels seem to forget they like tomatoes year to year, but if one gets a taste, it’s all over, they tell the whole neighborhood and everyone comes for the buffet. I told my wife, no trips this year during prime tomato time.

[Tormahto]

A chicken wire cage should work on squirrels, on chipmunks, not so much.

I plan on stapling the barriers to my rough cedar boxes, in a way where there aren’t any gaps a squirrel can get through and up vertically several feet and attached to my tomato support bamboo poles. If the squirrels manage to climb the barriers, I’ll put a mesh cover over the top. I have other ideas also should these measures be insufficient. I do have plenty of chicken wire and polymer meshes, even a copper mesh to protect individual tomatoes.

Last year, I had things under control with my barriers, but made the idiotic decision to go out of town during the peak of the production and naturally, a storm hit and, well, the barrier was breached and the squirrels got their taste of the forbidden fruit and then it was on, no stopping them. My teenage son was left in charge of tomato defenses, well, he wasn’t trained properly in that arcane discipline and that’s on me.

The squirrels seem to forget they like tomatoes year to year, but if one gets a taste, it’s all over, they tell the whole neighborhood and everyone comes for the buffet. I told my wife, no trips this year during prime tomato time.

"If the squirrels manage to climb..."

[karstopography]

[/quote]

"If the squirrels manage to climb..."
[/quote]

If they never get a taste of the tomatoes, they won’t try to climb several feet of the loose and springy polymer netting. Squirrels aren’t apparently thrilled about netting and getting tangled in it, they are wary of the nets. They won’t climb everything and anything without some motivation. They are like vampires and blood, tomato juice puts them in a frenzy. If they do manage to climb up and over, I’ll completely encage the tomatoes.

The thing about barriers is they become not so user friendly to humans after a while. I don’t want a fort knox like structure out in the garden or chicken or razor wire minefields and such, ruins the aesthetics and all. I don’t want a permanent barrier like a greenhouse without the glass. I haven’t had them chew through the polymer yet. It’ll work, so long as I maintain the integrity of the barrier. Storms dropping debris on the barriers ruined the integrity last season.