Tomatoe not seeting Fruit (Columbia SC)

Make that "tomatoes not setting" ...

I planted late this year (first week of June) and in a new garden plot with very rich topsoil. I now have a Mortgage Lifter plant that is over 6 feet high, and Marion that is a little smaller, but neither is setting fruit. I have applied Miracle Grow tomato fertilizer. I fear the plants have too much fertilizer and too much heat. Am I finished for the season or can I expect tomatoes later in the season? Is there anything I can do?

--Don


This message was edited Jul 30, 2007 9:30 PM

This message was edited Jul 31, 2007 9:10 AM

How much sun do they get a day?

If the plants are healthy, just be patient. Tomatoes have a hard time setting in July and early August in this area. healthy plants will pick up in September.

The plants seem to be getting direct sun for more than half the day.
I will be patient and wait for tomatoes in September.
Next year, I need to get my tomato and basil crops coordinated; the basil is flourishing right next to the gangly, barren tomato plants.

Some tomato varieties just can't take the heat/humidity of the low country---or even the piedmont, doyledh (at least in my experience). I've tried everything under the sun to grow Mortgage Lifter and Brandywine here in Charleston, S.C., but was never able to get a reasonable crop. I'd get 1 or 2 tomatoes from a plant (always EARLY in the season, and really great tasting!) before it went into total decline. I stopped fighting the inevitable and started enjoying varieties that could deal with this climate. I've become a fatalist on tomatoes here in the low country. There was a huge tomato-growing industry here on Johns Island in the past, so I figured growing tomatoes here would be a snap---and it was! Tomatoes grow like hell in the early stages. But only because those commercial growers harvested them green, and shipped them green to be gassed later to redden them up. But they were tasteless, IMO. I think our climate here in Charleston is "marginal" for a good tomato crop---and it's a short season(4-5 weeks). But well worth it!. I ate my last tomato from the garden sliced on a sandwich today. Died and went to heaven...

Stono, the best tomatoes in the world used to come from Johns Island. I don't know what happened to the varieties they grew back in the 60's & 70's and the Clemson folks aren't old enough to remember the flavorful ones or what might have caused the decline.

This year I got some pretty darn good ones from a JI farmer (Thomas Johnson) at the Chas Farmer's Market one Saturday. Mr. Johnson told me I would like this year's crop because they had that old timey JI taste and he was right. There is also a farm down here growing some with a bit more flavor (and almost core free) than most. I will ask about the variety the next time I go to get some.

I didn't hit the low country until 1987 Ardesia, so while I have heard of "great tasting" JI tomatoes, I never met one up close and personal. The tomatoes I've tasted from the local suppliers just don't pass the test. Shortly after I arrived here I was driving around on JI and passed a tomato farm with lots of activity in the field. As an avowed "tomato freak", I had to stop and question what was going on. One of the locals explained to me that "ripe" (red) tomatoes were worthless to the grower, so he opened his fields to the general populace once they'd "gone red"... I thought that was the neatest thing, so I picked a bunch. They weren't the best tomatoes I've come across, by a long shot. Not to worry though. That tomato farm---and most around it have blossomed into acres and acres of the ugliest---and most tasteless ticky tacky you could imagine! Believe I'd rather the tasteless tomatoes than the incredibly tasteless ticky tacky...

LOL, the prices are not ticky tacky tho......

The prices on these ticky tacky flat blow me away! If you really want to get depressed, walk through some of these "National Developers" homes that they're selling for $300-$500k as they're being built. "Square and plumb" and "quality workmanship/materials" are nowhere to be seen. "Fast" has seemingly become the mantra of National Developers; quality doesn't matter. Just like the tomatoes. Ain't "progress" wonderful??! Sure makes me glad I'm old and won't have to witness the inevitable outcome...

StonoRiver wrote;"If you really want to get depressed, walk through some of these "National Developers" homes that they're selling for $300-$500k as they're being built."

I just can't understand why people choose these, but then, I know I'm weird. Here's what $349,900 will buy you in my area, if you look. I have loved this house since I first saw it, and can't believe it's for sale at that price. Now, if I just had some serious cash...

http://www.callelizabeth.com/IDX/ListingDetails.asp?MLS=147634



This message was edited Aug 16, 2007 8:06 AM

How beautiful! Sometimes i wish I could handle the cold weather up there. Once you get away from the Atlantic prices get a lot lower and you can get a real home for your $.

Now that's a real home, catmad!! Just gorgeous. For $349k down here you might could get a 2500 sq ft poorly built house on a postage stamp lot... location, location, location (and greedy developers, politicians, archaic or non-existent development/zoning guidelines...). Pray they never "discover" Pelzer!!

StonoRiver wrote;" Pray they never "discover" Pelzer!!"

Sigh. Too late. The prices are still good, but there are cookie cutter subdivisions popping up everywhere. They just aren't selling too well so far. Sadly, the Upstate is growing by leaps and bounds. I'm just hoping I can get my hands on enough land that I can stay here, at least for a while....