TONS OF TOMATOES for TX

[drthor]

I took a lecture a few year ago called "Tons of tomatoes".
I forgot the name of the man in the video, but he was raising "for fun" tons of tomatoes here in Dallas, Texas.
He said that his date of transplant outside was FEBRUARY 11th.
He'd warm up the soil with plastic mulch and planted his tomatoes. He'dprotect them in case of freeze.
He said that he has been doing this for years. with recor harvests.
I have started my tomatoes mid December and they are growing well. I was going to transplant them outside on February 11th ... but now I am scared !
Anybody had done this method in my area?

[Hairy Moose Knuckles]

No Sir, I haven't tried doing it that early. I usually try for mid march. Doesn't mean you can't try it though

[barefootgardener]

Well I am not in Texas, but want to say you have some nice looking tomato plants!

[sfmathews]

Being held at Northaven Gardens this year:
Sat 3/17 2:30pm "Tons of Tomatoes!" by John Hunt, Dallas County Master Gardener, First Men's Garden Club

[Dewayne mater]

I can't imagine planting out that early. The primary problem with it is the cold soil. Mulch isn't going to heat up the ground where the roots are and cold soil results in little to no growth of the plant. The basic idea of planting out as early as possible is very valid, as our summers are quite inhospitable to tomato setting. I agree that mid march is when to shoot for, but a look at the 10 day forecast then may well call for a snow storm! No reason to plant out if so. Let them keep growing under lights and when it looks like there is only maybe a night or two of freezing to protect from, plus sunshine in the day time to heat the soil, then plant out. Suze has some great posts on this topic, you might want to search for.

[Dewayne mater]

One more thing though, if you want to go with earthtainers or other containers, they can be set out during the day and brought into a garage at night if you are highly anxious and inclined to start early. Did my first tainers last year and they clearly warmed up faster, got plant growth faster and set fruit faster than in ground plants by 2-3 weeks. This resulted in much higher numbers of fruit set per plant too.

[drthor]

Sat 3/17 2:30pm "Tons of Tomatoes!" by John Hunt, Dallas County Master Gardener, First Men's Garden Club


Yes, this is the lecture I took a while ago.

[feldon30]

Wonder why his lecture takes place after the time the information would be useful. A lecture in December or January would make infinitely more sense.

[sfmathews]

Agreed. I did attend that class some years ago. He used all hybrids. Mostly celebritys and carnivals.

Originally Posted by feldon30

Wonder why his lecture takes place after the time the information would be useful. A lecture in December or January would make infinitely more sense.

[newatthiskat]

About 2 years ago we had a freeze on April 6th and 3 years ago we had snow on April 1. I remember the 2 years ago well. I had my third shoulder surgery (first on left shoulder) i should have been out of my mind in pain and anasthesia. All I could think about were how my tomato plants were going to die and I was so worried my husband and daughter got out in the cold and put out tarps and everything else we had. They saved the plants. Best year I had LOL. Paid almost getting killed to have a good tomato year.
So would Iplant out in Feb..no way. The earthtainer Idea is a good one though..hmmmm. Reybo wanna come help me rebuild mine?
Kat

[dice]

I think really that the way to do this is to have whole movable
raised beds on wheels, with trailer hitches. Instead of the
back-straining labor of dragging earthtainers or even simple
20-gallon nursery tree containers back and forth between the
sunny garden area and the garage, you back up to them with
a pickup truck, hook them up, and drive them to where you
want them, outside in the yard in the morning and back into
the garage in the evening.

The trailer hitch tongue on the end of the raised beds should
probably have a hinge so that you could raise and lower it to
fit different hitch heights on the towing vehicle.

[dipchip2000]

And put a hitch ball on the front bumper also for those that cant back a trailer and need to push it instead of pull it.
Wellllllllllllllll it might work?

ron

[feldon30]

I've thought of a tomato garden on a flatbed trailer with greenhouse sides. I'd start in Houston in summer and drive it up North in the summer. Hmm, that might be even more expensive than my backup plan -- an air conditioned greenhouse.

[veggie babe]

You have great looking plants, I would be afraid to put them out this early but they are your toms so do what you like. If I wanted to experiment ok, but I wouldn't plant all of them. Your call.

welcome to TV,

Neva

[Mojo]

I will say this: for a few years in the early part of the decade, you could've easily put out plants by Valentine's Day around here and gotten away with it. But we've been burned with late freezes here the last few years. I'm scairt to do it unless we're talking super-cheap hybrids from the farmer's market (SuperFantastics: 12 for 99¢, only at Canino's!) which I wouldn't mind the cost but would object to the slots I'd have to waste. Anyway...