Hi can't believe I'm going to comment on this but I have no choice. Hihi I pretty much learn everything from you guys 1870.homestead, simple Alaska and little mountain ranch so ironic I would make a comment. Im in zone 4a northern New Brunswick in canada. I grow 300 to 400 pounds a year of tomatoes both determinate and indeterminate. No special trick here except plant late... We plant after the 4 of june (transplant) starting our plants in the end of march. Tried early lost all of them. We only have one chance at this but by the middle of August we usually star to havest until the end in september. No shade, no special diet no nothing really just hope for the best. Last year was a bad one because of all the rain but manage to get 195 pounds for 50 plants. Not the best but got salsa and pasta sauce hihi. I know this is maybe not helpful but maybe give you a little encouragement. Our temperature are from 13 c at night to 38c in day (55 to 100) so guessing it should be close. Not the specialist here but we just water in the morning and pray for the rest. Hope you have a wonderful harvest and lost of salsa. Thank you for everything and thanks you for teaching me so much. Marie ( sorry for the English mistake I'm very french lol)
I am not too far from either of you here in Oregon, and I have found this year to be extremely hard to grow just about anything! Plants really suffered from the 100 degree temps we had, just not normal for our climate! Tomatoes' are a tropical plant, so I try to mimic where thew grow in the tropics, and started using shade cloth also. From my understanding, the UV gets too strong for them, so the leaf curls to protect itself. Been harvesting tomatoes for about 2 weeks, and leaf curl is gone!
We live in an Alpine area in New Zealand with a short growing season. My husband believes that if tomatoes get a cold check growing outside in the spring they never recover. He pulls them out and starts again. Important to keep them inside in a warmer environment until as late as possible in the spring to avoid them getting set back with the cold. Staking or trellising is vital to get a good yield. He removes runners and some leaves to improve airflow also.
I'm in northern Idaho and I start our tomatoes from seed, (they reseed like weeds if we let them drop) and I basically neglect them and they thrive. The only thing I can think that I do differently is to plant them with lots of marigolds all around and they may be benefitting from the beneficial effects of the marigolds inhibiting nematodes from damaging the tomato roots. Flowers planted strategically all around helps my garden so much!
Garden is looking so great! I think the greenhouse plastic + 30% shade cloth is your best bet. We lived in Idaho a long time ago and the cold nights make the tomatoes stagnate in growth, especially if they are cold early on in the growing season, they will get stunted in growth. I know you said the plastic wasn't working but I think with the addition of shade cloth it would work better. I'd keep the plastic closed at night due to cold temps and open during the day. We personally add shade cloth when daytime temps are consistently above 80F. We have leaves curling up on our tomatoes outside but in our high tunnel with shade cloth, they look perfect. 100 degree heat down here in the south! 🥵 Another option if you don't want to mess with the greenhouse plastic is to use the sunbelt ground cover around the tomatoes. My mother in law who still lives in SE Idaho (zone 4) says it was the key for her being able to get a really good harvest. It warms the soil and releases the heat over night. It's not natural but if it means an earlier and bigger harvest, might be worth it.
I’ve been watching ‘Little Mountain Ranch’ on RUclips and she lives in Canada and fights the same problem as you do with the weather. She buys her seeds from a company in the North. Her tomatoes look great. Look her up she’s fun to watch. She has a large family also. They have cattle, sheep, etc.
I too am in north Idaho (Careywood) I find the variety Sunrise Paste (a yellow paste tomato) does best. Last year I got 10 lbs of tomatoes per plant. They seem to do best started in the house, moved to the green house until it's fairly warm, then planted outside. I use a lot of 2 yr composted cow manure and find it needs extra nitrogen for the first month (all my veggies do) Hope that helps!
Shade cloth!!!!! Drop the plastic use 70% shade cloth. I am in SC. But regardless to much direct sun when it’s really hot, shade cloth is a game changer.
We live in SC also. We have 40% shade cloth, but few tomatoes and tose are not getting red. The plants look decent, but getting discouraged because we shoukd already have been eating them. Also, zucchini and yellow squash- NO FEMALE blossoms. Last year we only got 3 yellow squash and 1 zucchini female blossom. We envy those that say they get so many zucchini! We have bees, water, fertilize, have shade cloth, proper amount of morning sun... Just dumbfounded! My husband is considering not having a garden next year. So much work and no benefits. 😢
I grew 150 gallons of tomatoes right north of you. Early girl. Vinegar in a distiller outside will clean up the kem trails. Mix Epsom salt in water and spray it on the leaves in the evnings. My 2 cents
I am in Midwest Michigan and my tomatoes have always done mostly okay but this year, I added a handful of gypsum to the base of each plant and these tomatoes are doing amazing! I also agree with the other comments about the shade cloth. My tomatoes are shaded from the really harsh late afternoon heat. On the days that are over 85 degrees, tomatoes here really struggle.
I live in Careywood ID, just below you. THIS IS THE BEST YEAR FOR TOMATOES I'VE HAD! I am trying different things also and I have been asking my friend who is much wiser than me about these same problems that I have had in the past. She told me she starts hers indoors in November and keeps cutting them back so they have huge stalks come planting season and she also grows some varieties from Russia. She also suggested I use shade cloth, even up here. I bought soil that's Amazing from The worm farm in Otis Orchard, Wa just over the border. And it's the soil that is used for Marijuana in Washington but she said it will grow the best tomatoes ever! Its called sub cool soil that has to cool down for at least one month because its EXTREMELY HOT And so far this is the best year I have had in this climate despite the painfully hard winter and spring we had. I have learned to deep water only like once a week so the roots grow deep. I tried putting the starts on thier side to grow more roots and that just stunted them last year. I also put black plastic down at the edges of the beds, not around the base of the plant, to keep them warmer (not sure if it's helping but no weeds are great). However my peppers in the same soil are just puny and not doing anything! I hope someday to visit you guys on your farm and see all this in person! Blessings!
I was looking at a RUclips video because I was having a hard time like your tomatoes and they said to feed your tomatoes milk! I did and I couldn't believe how fast they grew over night.... amazing!!
I live in SE Arizona and I deal with leaf curl on my tomatoes too. I have done research on them and found that tomatoes don't do well when the temperature is over 90 degrees. The leaves curl up to contain the moisture in them. I have a shade cloth over mine now and it works great! Your ones in the shade are doing good because they aren't getting as much hot sun as the rest of them. Don't be making it warmer for them!
I'm in Virginia and my tomatoes started off strong. Then 4 trees to the east of me were cut down and the amount of sun they were getting was multiplied exponentially. All of my slicing tomatoes (all paul robeson) were affected. All 6 plants were hardy and full of fruit and blooms prior to the neighbor's trees being removed. One by one the plants all withered and died. I've since put up shade cloth and will likely do so going forward. Everyone thinks I'm nuts saying it was the instant increase in sun, but it was only the plants in the area with the most sun change. My paste and cherries are still thriving and they're in partial shade. This has been a crazy garden year for sure.
Thank you for all the work you and Caroline put into your videos! I have been organically gardening in the UP for over 23 years. I am wondering if you have tried connecting with other gardeners in your area that have had successfully grown productive tomato plants and have them save you seeds from those productive plants. Those plants have acclimated to your area. 15+ years ago a gentleman from our area let us dig out some blackberry canes from a patch that had been around for 100 years. They are still doing fantastic, 10’ tall canes loaded with berries. The varieties I purchased online and planted around the same time, are struggling and are not very productive. Hopefully you will get an adequate harvest this year! Happy gardening!
Hi, I am off grid on the West Coast of BC. I have 42 tomato plants in the garden (18 varieties). I start them all from seed. I might have missed you mention if you have addressed crop rotation. I never grow tomatoes in the same bed two years in a row. I move my tomato plants around through a four year rotation. My plants are huge and healthy and covered in green tomatoes and I never grow them near any potatoes. They won't grow near potatoes. Good Luck.
Minnesota here zone 4. A couple years ago i decided to only ground wa5er my garden. After about a month, my tomato plants were getting the curl. At first thought it was my neighbor who sprays, but nope, they hadnt sprayed. I heard some advice on a plant radio show. As it turns out, they were not getting enough moisture in the leaves. We hadnt had much rain that year. I started give them a light spray and using my sprinkler early mornings a couple times per week. The leaf curl cleared up. Im no garden expert, but this worked that year.
I almost suggested adding more humidity, but I also have trouble doing that as someone who lives in a fairly humid environment and that humidity causes issues with fungal growth.
When did You plant your tomatoes sets? At times tomato plants that are planted with a little organic long term fertilizer at their roots get curly dark green leaves until the fertilizer comes to a steady release by the soil mikrobiome. But since the curling is consistent and your plants are slow in growing I guess it might be stress by cold temperatures in early spring. Some years when I had pretty cool temperatures in late may/ early june, tomatoes and peppers didn’t do so well and the sets I planted out later without cool nights did better and growed out their siblings. Since I sell young plants on a small scale, I do plant out at different times (and sometimes the same varieties two to four weeks apart). Writing from South Germany Zone 5b with light freezes at times up to early june. Thank you for showing your beautiful garden, the decently organized beds with so much nice vegetables to harvest and all managed by your family😊 Greetings from Europe!🙋🏻♀️
I'm in SLC ut growing in 2 gardens. Between those they're growing 4 different ways. At home in just the ground and wood chips plant growth was really slow for all varieties cherries, brandywine, romas with little to no fruit and very burnt beans this year. At our work community garden we've been growing in hay bales second year of use inoculated with nitrogen plants are huge and fruits are medium but still green. Now the plants that are in are mound beds look like they're on steroids 😅 they are LOADED and just about to turn color. They've been fertilized with organic and synthetic on a schedule fish emulsion, 10-10-10 organic and bone meal. The weather has been so sporadic no shade cloth and we've been in heat domes had leaf curl and dropped blossoms at home. I guess moral of the story is STRONG ROOTS MAKE BIG FRUITS. Good luck
Hi there, I live on the Canadian Prairie - growing season is short, with cool spring, boiling summer and then fall before you know it! After years of tomato trials.. what I have found works well is really leaning on the roma tomatoes. They are so hardy, and in a tough season like this one where the plants don't look spectacular, their production is still extremely high. I also clip the leaves off the bottom and cover the soil down the row with thick straw. I find it really helps keep the roots cool and the soil stays moist which the tomatoes seem to love. I also had very good luck with cherokee purple tomatoes for slicers. Right from seedlings they did great. Love your garden videos! Hopefully this helps. Take care.
We use bokashi to fertilize and eggshells that we crush in a mortar and water every morning. It works realy well. We live in the arctic zone of sweden.
I noticed that the UV index is very high in your area. Try shade cloth. The leaf curl will not hurt the plant and the new leaves will be nice and green and flat. Maybe. Works for me in Utah with low humidity and UV index of 9-10.
Thank you for the tour, Josh. Here in Iowa, our only tomato plants that are growing well (dark green, heavily fruiting and tall) are the ones under a building overhang, with very little direct sunlight. My theory- CME/solar flares. Solar weather just like any weather goes through cycles and it’s currently increasing. Just my thoughts/experience.
I use shade cloth. I also grind eggshells, coffee grounds and banana peels and pore them around the plants. That seems to help as well. And my eggshells are from my chickens
Ian located in Nova Scotia Canada and I use. Chicken crap and compost tea, cow crap tea and all works well, not too much .one feeding for 2-3 weeks and just water.
We are south of you…closer to town so probably a little warmer than you. I can’t say that I ever had good tomatoes when we lived up in your neck of the woods. It gets colder at night than down here in the valley. Where we live now facing west side mountains, so with lots of midday and afternoon sun, tomatoes have done pretty good for me the last while. I do the raised beds with compost like you. Drip irrigation this year, open air, and cage up a few… I am also trying market style and they seem to be going well also. I might have one with leaf curl that was not planted in a raised bed but more in a pathway so less nutrients maybe ?? I also use Spray and Grow fertilizer a good chunk of the summer. It was recommended to me by someone who lived here for many years. She also encouraged me to give them a really good trim around August 15. Almost to the point they look like they had a bad haircut! It seems to shock the plant, and they concentrate on ripening the fruit that they have instead of growing more leaves before our first frost gets here. However, this has been a very strange spring and summer! So cold for so long and then incredibly hot too quickly. I had raspberries shriveling on the vine from the heat.😢 blessings to you all! Lowell and Kendra
My theory about tomatoes, I’m zone 7. last year I didn’t get any success on tomatoes my guess was weather 100f all summer, this year it’s around 80F-90F it’s getting not abundant but some good tomatoes.
Thanks for another great video. Enjoyed touring your beautiful garden. As far as the tomato leaf curl, it happens more commonly with indeterminate varieties but tends to go away as they mature and soil is well drained. Once my plants get about 2ft with flowers, I feed them a 4-5-6 organic granular fertilizer. Another more natural method is yeast mix of 1 TBSP of dry yeast(fresh is better), 1 TBSP sugar in 3 cups warm water overnight. Dilute mixture in 3-4 gal of room temp water. NOT COLD water or chlorine water. Pour one cup on soil of each plant. Try it on one plant as a test. Hope this helps. Happy Gardening! 😊
I live at the bottom of MC a few miles away. First, tomatoes have been failing for everyone this year. My garden hasn’t thrived with our crazy spring. As far as the tomatoes, I just keep mine pruned and let them do their thing. I don’t cater to them. I just don’t have the time. I grow Amish paste and Bonnie best. Both do very well and always have a great harvest. I know my micro climate is a bit warmer than yours, but I just leave them alone 😂. The rest of your garden looks fantastic. I’m starting the late fall garden starts tomorrow. After 3 years, the dang deer discovered the garden. I need to increase the height this fall. They ate all my brassicas, corn, and most of my squash. They are on the mend and hopefully will get something. The dogs and I are on deer alert and go out a few times at night to give a little scare. So far it’s working! Love your vids and your garden is always an inspiration to me. Your front area is so beautiful right now. I work at Good G. and pass your home everyday and always admire it. I can’t wait to see a vid on the project you’ve had going most of the summer 😊
I'm in Illinois and my tomatoes are curling. To many 90s and to much rain. Romas look like cherry tomatoes. Amish paste is doing good. It been a bad summer for earwigs also.
I live in CO at 7600 elevation in an alpine desert so not in the north, but we have cool nights in the upper 40s and a short growing season of less than 100 days. Tomatoes, eggplant, and okra are hard here. For tomatoes, variety is important. Patano Romanesco, Native Sun, and Silver Fir Tree are my staples as shorter season tomatoes. I am hoping to get a few more colors for variety in the coming years. I really like the idea of Russian tomato genetics for short seaon tomatoes. I'm focusing there for now. I am also trying shade cloth next year because of our elevation. I believe the cycle we are going through with the planet is increasing solar radiation, especially being over a mile high. Thank you for your content and for sharing your victories and struggles. God bless.
Hi Amber, I am in Aurora (Southlands near DIA) at 6000 elevation. I appreciate your comment because I totally understand it. I honed in on your mention of solar radiation because this past June during the first heat wave, I told my husband I had never felt such a “searing hot heat” here before. It truly was like nothing I had ever felt and trust me when I say, I am a gardener and know my heat, especially at our elevation. I am having a terrible tomato year myself as we have had two heat waves and now we are in another one. I have been using 40% shade cloth for years and now see I am going to have to bump it up to a higher %. Thanks again, Catherine😊
throw some shade cloth over that hoop tunnel.. we've been having a really hot, humid sunny summer this year in New Jersey. Tomatoes don't like temps over 90. Shade cloth did the trick. Leave curl and blossom drop stopped and the plants aren't struggling to stay hydrated. I used 30% cloth.
Montana gardener here... We have leaf curl here every year with the cold nights, hot days and very windy conditions. Last few years we have had amazing tomato harvests, this year we are way behind because June was so cold. Hope this helps.
What about trying them in a raised bed, planting them earlier and covering with plastic on colder nights, including the sides of the bed. Idea with the raised bed is that the roots will be in warmer soil than in the cold ground, allowing the root system to grow quicker and stronger before the real heat hits. Hopefully making a stronger plant. The top growth might seem stunted at first, planting them early when there are still cool nights, but once the temps heat up more they will take off with that stronger root system. My raised bed tomatoes look way healthier than my in ground. My beds are about 2 ft deep.
I use comfry water that i make. Leaves i tare them up and put them in a bucket and the water. It takes about 8-9 months. Sao if yoiu tart it now it should be ready for your planting. You will be surprised at how much all your plants will lovve it. Oh upstate NY so we are also zone 6.
Do you get a lot of wind in that area? I’m a northern gardener (zone 5b in Canada) and had a bit of leaf curl that also didn’t appear to be water, heat or nutrient related. A friend suggested it could be due to the wind, as my garden is on a hill without any type of wind break. The last couple of years I’ve planted my tomatoes closer to the house where they still get full sun but are a bit more sheltered, and sure enough, no more leaf curl. Not sure if it’s applicable in your situation, but wanted to mention it in case you find it helpful. Good luck!
Forgot to mention, I also have had better luck with determinate tomatoes given my shorter growing season. I still grow the odd indeterminate (I LOVE black krims), but they’re always more of a struggle for me than determinates. I highly recommend Inca Jewels from Renee’s Garden Seeds.
I live in the northeast in zone 4b. My first thought is soil temperature. For the first time I used landscape fabric for part of my garden. The tomatoes and peppers are loving it! I think it's because the black fabric absorbs the heat from the sun and keeps the soil warmer over night. It's not my favorite material to use in my garden but it has been amazing to see how well that part of the garden is doing. (I do have one variety that has had leaf curl all along so I'm not sure it will solve that problem but my tomato plants are all vigorous and growing well.)
I have found that cherry tomatoes grow best for us. I don’t have mine under a hoop and don’t special water or anything. I do heavily prune my plants and it helps with fruit production tremendously! As far as sliced tomatoes I too have the leaf curl and the plants don’t look as healthy- I’m not sure why. Try pruning the plants from the bottom that may help!
We always had leaf curl,and this year we but shade cloth and the tomato looks great, but we have some at our other garden that don,t have shadecloth and ther leaf is curl up.we live in the hot dessert in westtexas.
I'm not in the north (Louisiana), but our tomatoes seem to thrive with hot chicken compost. We had always used aged compost before and we barely got any tomatoes, but this year my husband used the chicken compost right from the coop floor and they have been giving us lots of tomatoes. 😊
@@KristinaBakerSmithOur meat chickens live on the grass in our backyard. We live on 1/3 acre in the city. My grass looks very good after about four days. Chicken poop is good stuff! Then the blood when we harvest in August goes right to the tomatoes.❤❤
Weather is weird this year - Maybe being mountain soil it’s to acidic. Water water water - mine are in clay soils (I’m working on it) but I still water everyday - with an tiny sprinkler emitter at each one runs for an hour - the time length is based on the heat of the week - but still everyday - Tomatoes don’t like long standing water but I’ve found they want to always be nice and moist. I am in southern Idaho and we are extra hot this year. But a handful of alfalfa pellets in hole at planting and a good drink of fertilizer of liquid Thrive a couple times through season. Maybe try Moskvich they grow in Siberia. Mine are all six feet I’ve cut back only to be able to walk through them. I let them be what they want to be - over trimming exposes them to much and stresses them - I keep them trimmed up about 6” from the ground until I just can’t get to the base anymore. No sun burns no cracking no blight crate loads of tomatoes. San Marzono - Juliet - Sun Sugar cherry tomatoes - Brandywine - Earlygirl - Lemon Boy this year. Once in a while I will see a plant get blossom end rot and I’ll nip it fast with added bone meal. Good Luck!!! Keep us posted🍅
I love these garden tours. I follow some other folks a d they always add rabbit poop either whole or powdered in the bottom of the tomato hole before planting. Seems to work well for them may give your a good shot right off the bat with good fertilizer.
Metro Detroit Michigan here. What you did this year was perfect. I'd say do this again next year but add shade cloth when temps get really high or you get more sunshine than normal. The curl is from too much heat. It's the weather this year. We had a rough start to the spring then it got stupid hot for a couple days and then quit. I got leaf curl also. Save seeds from the guys that did the best then plant them again just like you did this year. Brandiwine varieties do well in our climate but they are a tad smaller than others. Saving seeds will, like you said, get them more acclimated. Tomatoes are hard to grow on my property but i experienced all the issues you guys have and now I get success after trying for 6 years.... and my state is shaped like a mitten, so that tells you everything you need to know about what our climate is like. You're almost there. Don't quit. I think you've got the hardest parts figured out by now and did great this year, but the westher didnt cooperate.
You are into rotational grazing. I am into rotational gardening. I think it is essential to rotate beds. I rotate my brassicas, legumes, squash/melons and nightshades every year. Best practice would leave a fallow bed(cover crop ok) and follow a plan of rotation, trying to put your legumes in after your heaviest feeders.
True. Certain crop varieties are best to rotate, but if you mix fresh compost or other soils into the beds within the top 2 - 4" every year, all is usually good to go. The beds can become completely new beds if you add even more soils. Love the rotational gardening though. I highly respect the ancient practices.
Central Oregon high desert gardener; low humidity, short growing season and heat. I've only experienced leaf curl when my tomatoes are not getting enough water. They thrive with the soil staying wet, probably wetter than most would recommend.
We're in Kalispell, MT and everyone I know lost the grape vines but after cutting them off, they are coming back from the roots. That was a wicked freeze. I read that 90% of the cherry crop around Flathead lake was lost.
I'm in Canada and my tomatoes are in a shady spot from 14:30. They are fine. Jessica from roots and refuge installed a shade cloth over her tomatoes this summer, I suggest you listen to her videos. She show the results that varys with the positioning of the tomatoes.
Try shade cloth over the tunnel. No plastic, just shade cloth. It keeps temperature cooler in the day and doubles up as protection against wind. More importantly, for me in the UK, it helps against the sun’s harsh summer radiation. (Not that we’re getting much sun this year 🙄). I see your brassicas/beats are doing well under the insect netting. They’re also benefiting from wind damage. Same thing.
Garden looks good. I Live in zone 3b and I grow tomatoes without a greenhouse and without any sort of protection at all. For personal reasons, I only overhead water from the dugout - a deep water. In the decades of raising tomatoes here, I have never had leaf curl until this year and have it on only a couple plants. Because my tomatoes starts were getting leggy and looking horrible from potting soil, I did put them in earlier than I would like (end of May) because it was still cold and wet. I like the ground to be warm when I plant. However, they struggled through. There is good moisture below in my sandy loam soil but being it turned so hot (90 -100+) I have noticed a few curling. Our nights still get cooler. I feel that it is a combination of the extremes that are causing the leaf curl this year and to be honest, I am not worrying about it. As a northern gardener I also do not worry about getting vine ripened tomatoes - I will get a few but ripening in the house is it for me. Good luck.
I'm in Northern California and struggle with the heat and sunburn on my tomatoes & peppers. This year we covered our entire garden with 55% shade cloth and what a difference! I am bringing in about 5 lbs of tomatoes a day (they are smallish tomatoes) and there are still lots of green tomatoes on the vine. This is, by far, my best tomato year I've had in the last 20 years.
Last year we had wonderful tomato plants. The one thing we did differently was put a generous amount of egg shell powder in each hole when we planted the tomatoes. They are in our garden in full sun all day long. They were big, bushy, and the deep green color was amazing and we had zero leaf curl or disease of any kind. The harvest was huge! I don’t know if the egg shell powder was what made the difference since I have nothing to compare it to this year as the hoppers decimated my entire garden.
We put Eason salt in with the tomato plants when planted but you can put a little around the bottom and water it in it worked for use hope it works for you
I've thrown my hands up this season on my tomatoes. We live in Athol, Idaho. It has to be the crazy spring we have had. For me, I've chalked my tomatoes up to "it's just an off year" . Hang in there!
Lovely garden tour !! Wow, that darn Cabbage moth is everywhere in lush gardens. Nice protective covering for your precious crops. WOWZA, what an awesome bean-tunnel ! The weather here has been over 100 degrees all of July , poor plants. The green beans get burnt, the cucumbers get the 2-spotted spider mites . Gorgeous brassicas and all of the cool season crops. Great gathering your own seeds. My tomatoes are doing great in the heat, though the ones shaded part of the day are doing best. ( but, we have HIGH temperatures ) . I water by hand and they are doing okay. GROW tomatoes !!!!
I think you have a combination of issues this years, with the weather, etc. Imho, keep looking for a short season variety...maybe determinate instead of indeterminate? that will work for your particular location. North Idaho is pretty cool weather for what is essentially a tropical plant. But this year in particular (I'm in East TN) my tomatoes are terrible, too. You are not alone!
Hi Josh & Carolyn, hope this helps, I'm having this curl problem too and recently learned from Luke at MIgardener channel in a video called " 3 reasons why your tomato leaves are curling'" that Tomato leaf curl is often caused from excessive heat/sun exposure, or Leaf Hopper insect which spreads 'Leaf Curl Virus', or by pesticide contaminated soil which has been contaminated with Grazon or one like that.
Hi, Josh, we are in the Bitterroot and have been fighting the same thing the past couple of years. This year we have gone to no dig beds and I followed your set up with the cattle panels and greenhouse plastic. 🤷🏻♂️ We are still getting leaf curl on the tomatoes but our peppers, tomatillos and cantaloupe in the same tunnel have been looking pretty good. I really wondered about the wind, we have had a lot of it all spring and most of the summer. Lately we’ve had weeks of 90+ temps so I’ve been trying to get more water on them to combat the wind and heat evaporation. I know tomatoes do great in the central valley and they aren’t using any shade cloth. Looking forward to see what else you come up with.
I live in NW Iowa. You hear a LOT about crop rotation here. Iowa is mostly corn and soy but they rotate fields every couple of years. My husband is the gardener in our family and he also rotates where he plants our veg every year or two, says the plants start to struggle when he doesn't. I don't know if that's a regional thing or not but thought I'd suggest it as food for thought.
Last year, I stumbled upon a game changer for my tomatoes 🍅 a shade cloth. I would shade one strip along the very top, leaving all other sides open. This gives them all the benefits you talked about but without the high heat of day beating on them. My yield was double and very little leave curl and browning from sunburn. I also have them a comphrey tea/chop n drop. I don't think you have ventured there yet, but I would recommend you do so quickly 😉 such a difference.
It sounds weird, but planting a medium height grass with the tomatoes shades the bottom of the plant and keeps the ground moist. The best tomato harvests I have ever had are the ones planted with the grass.
We saw some leaf curl in our plants too. We are in Ottawa, Ontario Canada where our growing season is relatively short. We start seeds indoors and move to a small outside green house once they are just over a foot tall and then once the threat of frost is gone, into the garden. When we plant in the garden, we add bonemeal (for calcium and phosphorus) and composted cow manure (for nitrogen and potassium) to the planting hole and mix it in with the existing organic soil. We have neighbours on all three sides of the backyard and all neighbours have trees so the tomatoes are in shade at about 6:00 pm but have full sun the rest of the day. We add crushed eggshells around the plants every two weeks to deter slugs and to allow them to break down and add calcium to the soil. We also sprinkle a little epsom salt every few weeks for the magnesium. Though we have seen leaf curling in the potted plants, it seems to disappear within a few weeks of planting. This makes me think it may be a nutrient deficiency OR an issue with seeds. I have heard many people mentioning that they have had poor germination and poor growth with seeds they purchased. This year, we too had a similar problem, first time in 40 years.
I have no wisdom to offer, but just wanted to say that I LOVE your garden tours, they inspire me, and that I appreciate how you share some of the failures or shortcomings, because it teaches me. I hope you guys figure it out.
I'm in zone 4a Star Valley Wyoming. I start my tomatoes indoors and don't plant them out until June 10th depending on the weather. I plant them in a 28 ft long raised bed thats covered with greenhouse plastic (ends open during the day). In June we still get down in the 30s and 40s at night. This year I used a chicken coop radient heater at night during some of the coldest nights. If it gets too hot in July under the plastic, I will drape shade cloth over it. Chelsea at Little Mountain Ranch has also been helpful for me to watch as well where she is up in Canada. Let me know if you want more infomon my system.
We are in Indiana 6a. Many here are struggling with May planted tomatoes. We had a cold spell in early June where nighttime temps were in the low-mid 40s which stunted the plants and many never recovered. Thankfully I start my plants late (I want good yields not the first tomato at market) and saw the advance weather forecasts and kept my plants in the greenhouse until the nights were back in the high 50s-60s. From July thru September we struggle with weeks on end of >90 heat and scorching sun (no cloud cover) so in early July we cover the staked plants with 50% black shade cloth and use soaker hoses (not drip irrigation) to water deeply 2x per week. We also treat biweekly with either Neptunes Harvest Fish emulsion or side dressing of Epoma Tomato Tone. Best looking tomato plants ever that are setting nice fruit.
Im from southern Minnesota, in previous years we have been in a drought and ive had amazing yields in those drought years. My garden is in ground and even through the drought i would rarely water (we do have very rich soil and there is a good layer of mulch as well). This year my tomatoes leaves have been curling a lot and not growing nearly as big. The difference is that we have had record rainfall this year and with all that cloud cover we have not had the growing units those tomatoes need. We usually get a couple 100 degree days with high humidity and my tomatoes have always thrived in that heat. If it were me, i would water less often and pray for more of those growing units! That being said, i cant imagine your zone having enough growing units to grow tomatoes with shade cloth.
Zone 3 Alberta. I have always struggled with tomatoes that don't grow great so this year I grew them inside until they were much much larger (4 feet tall). And moved them outside mid to late June. BOOM they are growing and producing like mad!
We are just south of you on the border of Washington and Idaho on hwy 2. We put shade cloth over the strawberries and they are finally growing & fruiting! We have a couple tomatoes under shade cloth and some not. The ones under the cloth are doing great, but horrible leaf curl on the ones in direct sun! Btw, we're on the last week of raspberries.. Huge harvest!
Put hoop with shade cloth, water less until fruits then water more,with tomatoes you will have to prune too later, always adjusting it seems with tomatoes 😊
I am in BF Idaho rotating my crops every year. This year was a late start for tomatoes. I kept mine covered with shade cloth, until it got warm. I use Tomato Tone and Bone meal. Now that we are in extreme heat, I water them twice a day. They have fruit, and are looking great! Brandywine, Reprecco, Golden Cherry is some of what I planted. Love your channel!
I'm in northern WI with a climate similar to yours. I have had to play around a lot with varieties so I'm thinking your experiment is going to be insightful. We have cool nights here (43 degrees last night) and a lot of summer crops don't love them, but some varieties tolerate it better than others. If you do find variety makes a difference, please make a video about it!
Talk to Charles Dowding- similar climate. He talks about leaf curl frequently, and says it's the difference between daytime and nighttime temperatures.
I'm not sure how hot it gets in summer for you in Idaho, I'm in Vermont in a pretty cold area. The soil doesn't warm up here enough to allow my tomatoes to do anything but sit in the ground looking sulky for a month after I plant them, which can be as late as June 1st. The air can be 80 degrees, but if the soil isn't the right temp, forget it. They yellow, and don't grow, and poke along for weeks. I'm not particularly gentle with them about watering, I trim the suckers on them etc, and tie them up if they need it, but I don't go crazy caring for them. I just put them in the ground and let them be, because it's my theory that they are developing strong roots, and will put out foliage when they're ready to. I also plant alot of flowers around them for the pollinators. THEN, about the first or second week of July, all hell breaks loose, and they start cranking. They get to loving the soil temps here, and I'm thinking Idaho is probably somewhat similar, in that it takes a while for the soil to warm up? Tomatoes do NOT like cold soil, or temps over 90-95. Other than that, they usually are surprisingly hardy and quite forgiving. If you think your tomatoes are getting too much sun, see if they are dropping their blossoms. That's a sure sign. Leaf curl can be a sign of tomato leaf curl virus, but I've never had tomatoes with that, it's spread by whiteflies. The best way around that is to grow tomatoes that are resistant to the virus. I'd think if your tomatoes are just taking longer to produce, that might just be an effect of being in a colder environment than CA, though. Good luck on your learning journey!
Full disclosure: I’m from the south, currently in the south. I’ve grown in a lot of places and interestingly I have found the south to be the most challenging place to grow tomatoes. To be fair, I am not as far north as you. I think your more hands off approach for this year is a good one. You’re very smart to try and find varieties that will thrive in your environment. It sounds silly, but one thing I would consider doing is taking a few of the plants (or rooting cuttings) and plant them in other areas of your garden and see if you get the same results. People love to say tomatoes grow like weeds, and that’s true *when they are happy*. But for me tomatoes are to vegetables as chickens are to livestock. Sometimes they are inexplicably even fatally unhappy. Even though you have done all the testing, there could be something about that particular microclimate that they don’t like, so they are being all dramatic. It may not yield any different result, but it’s worth a shot. 🤷🏻♀️
My Dad had a garden in NW Montana for decades. He struggled with tomato plants until he was at a farmers market in his area one year and was looking at all these stalls that had an abundance of huge tomatoes and his plants at home had barely started to ripen what little they had managed to produce. He bought a couple of every variety and asked the sellers what they thought he was doing wrong with his. It all came down to the right variety and shade cloth. He saved the seeds from the tomatoes he bought, and planted those the next year. Bought some shade cloth and suspended it from some 8' tall posts when the days started getting into the 80's (as suggested by those with the awesome tomatoes) and he had his first great tomato harvest year. So I guess, find your locals that do it well, buy some tomatoes from them and hit them up for tips about solving your problem.
I live in the mountains of BC. I use soil temp to determine when I will plant out tomatoes and wait until it is 60F. I also use shade cloth - 30% for both my tomatoes and peppers. The hot intense sun (we've had a lengthy heatwave with daytime highs of 100F) is now backing off and so I took the shade cloth off and expect to leave it so for the rest of the season. Before using shade cloth my tomatoes would get serious leaf curl I think from heat stress. With the shade cloth the leaf curl is gone and the plants are less stressed. Hope this helps.
This season I didn't get a lot of peas as in the past or tomatoe production as well. I also grew 10 new tomatoe varieties. I did purchase shade cloth for next year hopefully.
Blood meal and marigolds. My grandfather's fam is from your neck of the woods. The tried and true blood meal and marigolds. I'm in KY now and crop supporting is the one thing that does not fail me. I also have geraniums near and Citronella verities near the tomatoes. Hope that helps. 😊
Southwest Idaho, my Romas and San Manzanos are doing great. 110 degrees and no shade cloth, my heirloom plants not so happy. Even with shade. So sorry. I have no advice but I love your garden!
I think tomatoes are difficult, finicky plants. I'm in central Texas and this is the time of year everything wants to die. Tomatoes are born wanting to die. That said, i got shade cloth and will plant some more next month for fall. I must be nuts. Good luck y'all!!
I live in CDA , not far from you and for the last 3 years we've had cold May and June and then all of a sudden it heats up. This year I am using 40% shade cloth once the heat came. My plants are doing much better and have set fruit.
I grew tomatoes one year in Adams, NY...This climate was a bear to deal with and we had moved up from South Florida so lasted 2 years and moved back to Florida. Okay, back to my success. We had great success growing it with tons of Basil. We probably had at least a Basil plant for every 3-4 tomatoes. I will say that wasn't much of a plan on my part. I literally threw Basil seeds in all willy nilly once I planted the tomato seeds. Didn't even do tomato transplants, just direct sowed. Maybe God was giving my stupid a grace period and gave me what I didn't deserve. But...Now living in NW Georgia I plant a bunch of Basil and Marigolds with my tomatoes every year just in case. Recently wondering if Basil was the golden ticket I read that it does increase Harvest. Also, in your climate I wouldn't let them get any shade, not even morning shade. My garden was in the middle of my back yard without a tree in sight. They were never shaded. I have those large hoops growing my butternut, acorn and pie pumpkins and the side that gets morning shade is 1/2 the size of the side that doesnt', both sides look happy and healthy though. I hope that helps, I am in Tomato Harvest right now and really shouldn't even be on here as I have so many tomatoes to process...Wishing you that sort of supernatural success.
We are in zone 5b (Maine) and we are doing ours in containers. We have all raised beds due to the clay and rocks in the soil. We also don’t have enough land cleared. We have 5 acres but it’s woodsy and very wet. Our tomatoes seem to really love containers. They all have flowers and some have fruit. All green still. We water first thing before the sun gets too hot and then at the end of the day if it doesn’t rain. Leaves look good here so far…
Thank you Josh for all your good teaching and sharing! Parsnips and carrots are not good companion plants. My carrots were small the year I planted them across from parsnips. Love your channel and sweet family! God Bless y'all!!
Hello, you may want to really try monitoring the time of watering, water in am, soil dry by evening. And shade cloth around 40 to 50 percent. Good luck, don't go without salsa
I’ve been having better luck with tomatoes since I started growing them in large pots and deep raised beds. I water them intensely and the pots and deep raised beds keep them from being over watered. The soil is fairly rich. The raised bed I mainly use is my winter compost in place bed in which I quit adding compost by May 1 and turn it into the soil May 31 and plant tomatoes then.
Also, are your night temperatures going into the low 50s and 40s. You may be giving up on the hoop house too soon. I think if you did deep pots in the hoop house and closed it each night and only opened the sides during the day for ventilation you might have better luck. The row covers others have mentioned might be a help too as it will hold in a little warmth overnight.
Hi can't believe I'm going to comment on this but I have no choice. Hihi I pretty much learn everything from you guys 1870.homestead, simple Alaska and little mountain ranch so ironic I would make a comment. Im in zone 4a northern New Brunswick in canada. I grow 300 to 400 pounds a year of tomatoes both determinate and indeterminate. No special trick here except plant late... We plant after the 4 of june (transplant) starting our plants in the end of march. Tried early lost all of them. We only have one chance at this but by the middle of August we usually star to havest until the end in september. No shade, no special diet no nothing really just hope for the best. Last year was a bad one because of all the rain but manage to get 195 pounds for 50 plants. Not the best but got salsa and pasta sauce hihi. I know this is maybe not helpful but maybe give you a little encouragement. Our temperature are from 13 c at night to 38c in day (55 to 100) so guessing it should be close. Not the specialist here but we just water in the morning and pray for the rest. Hope you have a wonderful harvest and lost of salsa. Thank you for everything and thanks you for teaching me so much. Marie ( sorry for the English mistake I'm very french lol)
I am in north Idaho and I have had leaf curl on my tomatoes as well I saw on a video to use shade cloth and lo and behold no leaf curl!!!
I had to put up shade cloth for the first time this year as well and the curling stopped right away.
I am not too far from either of you here in Oregon, and I have found this year to be extremely hard to grow just about anything! Plants really suffered from the 100 degree temps we had, just not normal for our climate! Tomatoes' are a tropical plant, so I try to mimic where thew grow in the tropics, and started using shade cloth also. From my understanding, the UV gets too strong for them, so the leaf curls to protect itself. Been harvesting tomatoes for about 2 weeks, and leaf curl is gone!
We live in an Alpine area in New Zealand with a short growing season. My husband believes that if tomatoes get a cold check growing outside in the spring they never recover. He pulls them out and starts again. Important to keep them inside in a warmer environment until as late as possible in the spring to avoid them getting set back with the cold. Staking or trellising is vital to get a good yield. He removes runners and some leaves to improve airflow also.
I'm in northern Idaho and I start our tomatoes from seed, (they reseed like weeds if we let them drop) and I basically neglect them and they thrive. The only thing I can think that I do differently is to plant them with lots of marigolds all around and they may be benefitting from the beneficial effects of the marigolds inhibiting nematodes from damaging the tomato roots. Flowers planted strategically all around helps my garden so much!
Maybe a shade cloth. We have a lot of heat in Kansas and have found those do help. Best of luck we love tomatoes as well.
Garden is looking so great! I think the greenhouse plastic + 30% shade cloth is your best bet. We lived in Idaho a long time ago and the cold nights make the tomatoes stagnate in growth, especially if they are cold early on in the growing season, they will get stunted in growth. I know you said the plastic wasn't working but I think with the addition of shade cloth it would work better. I'd keep the plastic closed at night due to cold temps and open during the day. We personally add shade cloth when daytime temps are consistently above 80F. We have leaves curling up on our tomatoes outside but in our high tunnel with shade cloth, they look perfect. 100 degree heat down here in the south! 🥵
Another option if you don't want to mess with the greenhouse plastic is to use the sunbelt ground cover around the tomatoes. My mother in law who still lives in SE Idaho (zone 4) says it was the key for her being able to get a really good harvest. It warms the soil and releases the heat over night. It's not natural but if it means an earlier and bigger harvest, might be worth it.
I’ve been watching ‘Little Mountain Ranch’ on RUclips and she lives in Canada and fights the same problem as you do with the weather. She buys her seeds from a company in the North. Her tomatoes look great. Look her up she’s fun to watch. She has a large family also. They have cattle, sheep, etc.
Chelsea was what I was going to suggest. High tunnel.
Agree, Chelsea does tons of tomatoes. That said, last year she had a problem and ended up buying hundreds of pounds of tomatoes to can and preserve.
She is fantastic!! One of my other favorite channels
I discovered her 2 weeks ago. Great great channel.
I too am in north Idaho (Careywood) I find the variety Sunrise Paste (a yellow paste tomato) does best. Last year I got 10 lbs of tomatoes per plant. They seem to do best started in the house, moved to the green house until it's fairly warm, then planted outside. I use a lot of 2 yr composted cow manure and find it needs extra nitrogen for the first month (all my veggies do) Hope that helps!
Shade cloth!!!!! Drop the plastic use 70% shade cloth. I am in SC. But regardless to much direct sun when it’s really hot, shade cloth is a game changer.
Yes! I live in So. AZ and all my tomatoes have shade cloth (i use 40 percent). It has made a HUGE difference.
I’m in SC also. I’m think of getting another high tunnel. One for just shade cloth in summer: it’s brutal
I’m in SC also. I’m think of getting another high tunnel. One for just shade cloth in summer: it’s brutal
We live in SC also.
We have 40% shade cloth, but few tomatoes and tose are not getting red. The plants look decent, but getting discouraged because we shoukd already have been eating them.
Also, zucchini and yellow squash- NO FEMALE blossoms. Last year we only got 3 yellow squash and 1 zucchini female blossom.
We envy those that say they get so many zucchini!
We have bees, water, fertilize, have shade cloth, proper amount of morning sun...
Just dumbfounded!
My husband is considering not having a garden next year. So much work and no benefits. 😢
I do it in washington state down by puget sound. Helps a lot. It's the sun. Tomatoes grow naturally under a canopy.
I grew 150 gallons of tomatoes right north of you. Early girl. Vinegar in a distiller outside will clean up the kem trails. Mix Epsom salt in water and spray it on the leaves in the evnings. My 2 cents
I am in Midwest Michigan and my tomatoes have always done mostly okay but this year, I added a handful of gypsum to the base of each plant and these tomatoes are doing amazing! I also agree with the other comments about the shade cloth. My tomatoes are shaded from the really harsh late afternoon heat. On the days that are over 85 degrees, tomatoes here really struggle.
I live in Careywood ID, just below you. THIS IS THE BEST YEAR FOR TOMATOES I'VE HAD! I am trying different things also and I have been asking my friend who is much wiser than me about these same problems that I have had in the past. She told me she starts hers indoors in November and keeps cutting them back so they have huge stalks come planting season and she also grows some varieties from Russia. She also suggested I use shade cloth, even up here. I bought soil that's Amazing from The worm farm in Otis Orchard, Wa just over the border. And it's the soil that is used for Marijuana in Washington but she said it will grow the best tomatoes ever! Its called sub cool soil that has to cool down for at least one month because its EXTREMELY HOT And so far this is the best year I have had in this climate despite the painfully hard winter and spring we had. I have learned to deep water only like once a week so the roots grow deep. I tried putting the starts on thier side to grow more roots and that just stunted them last year. I also put black plastic down at the edges of the beds, not around the base of the plant, to keep them warmer (not sure if it's helping but no weeds are great). However my peppers in the same soil are just puny and not doing anything! I hope someday to visit you guys on your farm and see all this in person! Blessings!
I was looking at a RUclips video because I was having a hard time like your tomatoes and they said to feed your tomatoes milk! I did and I couldn't believe how fast they grew over night.... amazing!!
Shade cloth...I use 50%. Works fantastic now that the sun has gotten so much stronger!
I live in SE Arizona and I deal with leaf curl on my tomatoes too. I have done research on them and found that tomatoes don't do well when the temperature is over 90 degrees. The leaves curl up to contain the moisture in them. I have a shade cloth over mine now and it works great! Your ones in the shade are doing good because they aren't getting as much hot sun as the rest of them. Don't be making it warmer for them!
That is correct. I live in SE Mississippi and have found this to be true.
I'm in Virginia and my tomatoes started off strong. Then 4 trees to the east of me were cut down and the amount of sun they were getting was multiplied exponentially. All of my slicing tomatoes (all paul robeson) were affected. All 6 plants were hardy and full of fruit and blooms prior to the neighbor's trees being removed. One by one the plants all withered and died. I've since put up shade cloth and will likely do so going forward. Everyone thinks I'm nuts saying it was the instant increase in sun, but it was only the plants in the area with the most sun change. My paste and cherries are still thriving and they're in partial shade. This has been a crazy garden year for sure.
Thank you for all the work you and Caroline put into your videos!
I have been organically gardening in the UP for over 23 years. I am wondering if you have tried connecting with other gardeners in your area that have had successfully grown productive tomato plants and have them save you seeds from those productive plants. Those plants have acclimated to your area.
15+ years ago a gentleman from our area let us dig out some blackberry canes from a patch that had been around for 100 years. They are still doing fantastic, 10’ tall canes loaded with berries. The varieties I purchased online and planted around the same time, are struggling and are not very productive.
Hopefully you will get an adequate harvest this year! Happy gardening!
I am having some of the same issues,aaa hopefully we get some answers today!
Hi, I am off grid on the West Coast of BC. I have 42 tomato plants in the garden (18 varieties). I start them all from seed. I might have missed you mention if you have addressed crop rotation. I never grow tomatoes in the same bed two years in a row. I move my tomato plants around through a four year rotation. My plants are huge and healthy and covered in green tomatoes and I never grow them near any potatoes. They won't grow near potatoes. Good Luck.
Shade cloth for afternoon shade, I live in zone 6 so I deal with leaf curl from too much heat and sun.
Minnesota here zone 4. A couple years ago i decided to only ground wa5er my garden. After about a month, my tomato plants were getting the curl. At first thought it was my neighbor who sprays, but nope, they hadnt sprayed. I heard some advice on a plant radio show. As it turns out, they were not getting enough moisture in the leaves. We hadnt had much rain that year. I started give them a light spray and using my sprinkler early mornings a couple times per week. The leaf curl cleared up. Im no garden expert, but this worked that year.
I almost suggested adding more humidity, but I also have trouble doing that as someone who lives in a fairly humid environment and that humidity causes issues with fungal growth.
When did You plant your tomatoes sets?
At times tomato plants that are planted with a little organic long term fertilizer at their roots get curly dark green leaves until the fertilizer comes to a steady release by the soil mikrobiome.
But since the curling is consistent and your plants are slow in growing I guess it might be stress by cold temperatures in early spring.
Some years when I had pretty cool temperatures in late may/ early june, tomatoes and peppers didn’t do so well and the sets I planted out later without cool nights did better and growed out their siblings.
Since I sell young plants on a small scale, I do plant out at different times (and sometimes the same varieties two to four weeks apart).
Writing from South Germany Zone 5b with light freezes at times up to early june.
Thank you for showing your beautiful garden, the decently organized beds with so much nice vegetables to harvest and all managed by your family😊
Greetings from Europe!🙋🏻♀️
I'm in SLC ut growing in 2 gardens. Between those they're growing 4 different ways. At home in just the ground and wood chips plant growth was really slow for all varieties cherries, brandywine, romas with little to no fruit and very burnt beans this year. At our work community garden we've been growing in hay bales second year of use inoculated with nitrogen plants are huge and fruits are medium but still green. Now the plants that are in are mound beds look like they're on steroids 😅 they are LOADED and just about to turn color. They've been fertilized with organic and synthetic on a schedule fish emulsion, 10-10-10 organic and bone meal. The weather has been so sporadic no shade cloth and we've been in heat domes had leaf curl and dropped blossoms at home. I guess moral of the story is STRONG ROOTS MAKE BIG FRUITS. Good luck
Hi there, I live on the Canadian Prairie - growing season is short, with cool spring, boiling summer and then fall before you know it! After years of tomato trials.. what I have found works well is really leaning on the roma tomatoes. They are so hardy, and in a tough season like this one where the plants don't look spectacular, their production is still extremely high. I also clip the leaves off the bottom and cover the soil down the row with thick straw. I find it really helps keep the roots cool and the soil stays moist which the tomatoes seem to love. I also had very good luck with cherokee purple tomatoes for slicers. Right from seedlings they did great.
Love your garden videos! Hopefully this helps. Take care.
Blood and bone meal for your leaf curl. It will help growth also
Mine were all like that this year too!
We use bokashi to fertilize and eggshells that we crush in a mortar and water every morning. It works realy well. We live in the arctic zone of sweden.
How much eggshell do you add to each plant?
We same issue here in Central Idaho, shade cloth was our answer.
Northern folks seem to agree more water and a bit of shade cloth might help this season. Best wishes!
I noticed that the UV index is very high in your area. Try shade cloth. The leaf curl will not hurt the plant and the new leaves will be nice and green and flat. Maybe. Works for me in Utah with low humidity and UV index of 9-10.
Thank you for the tour, Josh.
Here in Iowa, our only tomato plants that are growing well (dark green, heavily fruiting and tall) are the ones under a building overhang, with very little direct sunlight.
My theory- CME/solar flares.
Solar weather just like any weather goes through cycles and it’s currently increasing. Just my thoughts/experience.
I use shade cloth. I also grind eggshells, coffee grounds and banana peels and pore them around the plants. That seems to help as well. And my eggshells are from my chickens
Ian located in Nova Scotia Canada and I use. Chicken crap and compost tea, cow crap tea and all works well, not too much .one feeding for 2-3 weeks and just water.
We are south of you…closer to town so probably a little warmer than you. I can’t say that I ever had good tomatoes when we lived up in your neck of the woods. It gets colder at night than down here in the valley. Where we live now facing west side mountains, so with lots of midday and afternoon sun, tomatoes have done pretty good for me the last while. I do the raised beds with compost like you. Drip irrigation this year, open air, and cage up a few… I am also trying market style and they seem to be going well also. I might have one with leaf curl that was not planted in a raised bed but more in a pathway so less nutrients maybe ?? I also use Spray and Grow fertilizer a good chunk of the summer. It was recommended to me by someone who lived here for many years. She also encouraged me to give them a really good trim around August 15. Almost to the point they look like they had a bad haircut! It seems to shock the plant, and they concentrate on ripening the fruit that they have instead of growing more leaves before our first frost gets here. However, this has been a very strange spring and summer! So cold for so long and then incredibly hot too quickly. I had raspberries shriveling on the vine from the heat.😢 blessings to you all! Lowell and Kendra
Wow ! even with unhappy plants your garden looks great!
My theory about tomatoes, I’m zone 7. last year I didn’t get any success on tomatoes my guess was weather 100f all summer, this year it’s around 80F-90F it’s getting not abundant but some good tomatoes.
Thanks for another great video. Enjoyed touring your beautiful garden. As far as the tomato leaf curl, it happens more commonly with indeterminate varieties but tends to go away as they mature and soil is well drained. Once my plants get about 2ft with flowers, I feed them a 4-5-6 organic granular fertilizer. Another more natural method is yeast mix of 1 TBSP of dry yeast(fresh is better), 1 TBSP sugar in 3 cups warm water overnight. Dilute mixture in 3-4 gal of room temp water. NOT COLD water or chlorine water. Pour one cup on soil of each plant. Try it on one plant as a test. Hope this helps. Happy Gardening! 😊
I live at the bottom of MC a few miles away. First, tomatoes have been failing for everyone this year. My garden hasn’t thrived with our crazy spring. As far as the tomatoes, I just keep mine pruned and let them do their thing. I don’t cater to them. I just don’t have the time. I grow Amish paste and Bonnie best. Both do very well and always have a great harvest. I know my micro climate is a bit warmer than yours, but I just leave them alone 😂. The rest of your garden looks fantastic. I’m starting the late fall garden starts tomorrow. After 3 years, the dang deer discovered the garden. I need to increase the height this fall. They ate all my brassicas, corn, and most of my squash. They are on the mend and hopefully will get something. The dogs and I are on deer alert and go out a few times at night to give a little scare. So far it’s working! Love your vids and your garden is always an inspiration to me. Your front area is so beautiful right now. I work at Good G. and pass your home everyday and always admire it. I can’t wait to see a vid on the project you’ve had going most of the summer 😊
I'm in Illinois and my tomatoes are curling. To many 90s and to much rain. Romas look like cherry tomatoes. Amish paste is doing good. It been a bad summer for earwigs also.
I live in CO at 7600 elevation in an alpine desert so not in the north, but we have cool nights in the upper 40s and a short growing season of less than 100 days.
Tomatoes, eggplant, and okra are hard here. For tomatoes, variety is important. Patano Romanesco, Native Sun, and Silver Fir Tree are my staples as shorter season tomatoes. I am hoping to get a few more colors for variety in the coming years. I really like the idea of Russian tomato genetics for short seaon tomatoes. I'm focusing there for now.
I am also trying shade cloth next year because of our elevation. I believe the cycle we are going through with the planet is increasing solar radiation, especially being over a mile high.
Thank you for your content and for sharing your victories and struggles. God bless.
Hi Amber,
I am in Aurora (Southlands near DIA) at 6000 elevation. I appreciate your comment because I totally understand it. I honed in on your mention of solar radiation because this past June during the first heat wave, I told my husband I had never felt such a “searing hot heat” here before. It truly was like nothing I had ever felt and trust me when I say, I am a gardener and know my heat, especially at our elevation. I am having a terrible tomato year myself as we have had two heat waves and now we are in another one. I have been using 40% shade cloth for years and now see I am going to have to bump it up to a higher %. Thanks again,
Catherine😊
@@CatherinesLifeOver50 It probably is a little crazy but it seems the government is doing a lot of aerial spraying these days.
@@SerialSpinner-ss That is very scary! I hadn't thought about that as a possible source of my garden problems.
So many people are having troubles with tomatoes this year. Crazy!
The same thing here un sth. Germany, lots of green tomatoes but not sufficiantly ripening as in other years
throw some shade cloth over that hoop tunnel..
we've been having a really hot, humid sunny summer this year in New Jersey. Tomatoes don't like temps over 90. Shade cloth did the trick. Leave curl and blossom drop stopped and the plants aren't struggling to stay hydrated. I used 30% cloth.
Montana gardener here... We have leaf curl here every year with the cold nights, hot days and very windy conditions. Last few years we have had amazing tomato harvests, this year we are way behind because June was so cold. Hope this helps.
What about trying them in a raised bed, planting them earlier and covering with plastic on colder nights, including the sides of the bed. Idea with the raised bed is that the roots will be in warmer soil than in the cold ground, allowing the root system to grow quicker and stronger before the real heat hits. Hopefully making a stronger plant. The top growth might seem stunted at first, planting them early when there are still cool nights, but once the temps heat up more they will take off with that stronger root system. My raised bed tomatoes look way healthier than my in ground. My beds are about 2 ft deep.
I use comfry water that i make. Leaves i tare them up and put them in a bucket and the water. It takes about 8-9 months. Sao if yoiu tart it now it should be ready for your planting. You will be surprised at how much all your plants will lovve it. Oh upstate NY so we are also zone 6.
Do you get a lot of wind in that area? I’m a northern gardener (zone 5b in Canada) and had a bit of leaf curl that also didn’t appear to be water, heat or nutrient related. A friend suggested it could be due to the wind, as my garden is on a hill without any type of wind break. The last couple of years I’ve planted my tomatoes closer to the house where they still get full sun but are a bit more sheltered, and sure enough, no more leaf curl. Not sure if it’s applicable in your situation, but wanted to mention it in case you find it helpful. Good luck!
Forgot to mention, I also have had better luck with determinate tomatoes given my shorter growing season. I still grow the odd indeterminate (I LOVE black krims), but they’re always more of a struggle for me than determinates. I highly recommend Inca Jewels from Renee’s Garden Seeds.
I live in the northeast in zone 4b. My first thought is soil temperature. For the first time I used landscape fabric for part of my garden. The tomatoes and peppers are loving it! I think it's because the black fabric absorbs the heat from the sun and keeps the soil warmer over night. It's not my favorite material to use in my garden but it has been amazing to see how well that part of the garden is doing. (I do have one variety that has had leaf curl all along so I'm not sure it will solve that problem but my tomato plants are all vigorous and growing well.)
I have found that cherry tomatoes grow best for us. I don’t have mine under a hoop and don’t special water or anything. I do heavily prune my plants and it helps with fruit production tremendously! As far as sliced tomatoes I too have the leaf curl and the plants don’t look as healthy- I’m not sure why.
Try pruning the plants from the bottom that may help!
We always had leaf curl,and this year we but shade cloth and the tomato looks great, but we have some at our other garden that don,t have shadecloth and ther leaf is curl up.we live in the hot dessert in westtexas.
I'm not in the north (Louisiana), but our tomatoes seem to thrive with hot chicken compost. We had always used aged compost before and we barely got any tomatoes, but this year my husband used the chicken compost right from the coop floor and they have been giving us lots of tomatoes. 😊
I'm going to try that... we're having disease issues this year and that might be the boost they need. Thank you!
I have questioned the need for waiting to use chicken compost for a while. I dont see the need to wait for months to use it.
@@KristinaBakerSmithOur meat chickens live on the grass in our backyard. We live on 1/3 acre in the city. My grass looks very good after about four days. Chicken poop is good stuff! Then the blood when we harvest in August goes right to the tomatoes.❤❤
Weather is weird this year - Maybe being mountain soil it’s to acidic. Water water water - mine are in clay soils (I’m working on it) but I still water everyday - with an tiny sprinkler emitter at each one runs for an hour - the time length is based on the heat of the week - but still everyday - Tomatoes don’t like long standing water but I’ve found they want to always be nice and moist. I am in southern Idaho and we are extra hot this year. But a handful of alfalfa pellets in hole at planting and a good drink of fertilizer of liquid Thrive a couple times through season. Maybe try Moskvich they grow in Siberia. Mine are all six feet I’ve cut back only to be able to walk through them. I let them be what they want to be - over trimming exposes them to much and stresses them - I keep them trimmed up about 6” from the ground until I just can’t get to the base anymore. No sun burns no cracking no blight crate loads of tomatoes. San Marzono - Juliet - Sun Sugar cherry tomatoes - Brandywine - Earlygirl - Lemon Boy this year. Once in a while I will see a plant get blossom end rot and I’ll nip it fast with added bone meal. Good Luck!!! Keep us posted🍅
I love these garden tours. I follow some other folks a d they always add rabbit poop either whole or powdered in the bottom of the tomato hole before planting. Seems to work well for them may give your a good shot right off the bat with good fertilizer.
Rabbit poo is amazing. Llama beans are similar. Neither burn anything and are great slow release food.
Metro Detroit Michigan here.
What you did this year was perfect. I'd say do this again next year but add shade cloth when temps get really high or you get more sunshine than normal. The curl is from too much heat. It's the weather this year. We had a rough start to the spring then it got stupid hot for a couple days and then quit. I got leaf curl also.
Save seeds from the guys that did the best then plant them again just like you did this year. Brandiwine varieties do well in our climate but they are a tad smaller than others. Saving seeds will, like you said, get them more acclimated.
Tomatoes are hard to grow on my property but i experienced all the issues you guys have and now I get success after trying for 6 years.... and my state is shaped like a mitten, so that tells you everything you need to know about what our climate is like.
You're almost there. Don't quit. I think you've got the hardest parts figured out by now and did great this year, but the westher didnt cooperate.
You are into rotational grazing. I am into rotational gardening. I think it is essential to rotate beds. I rotate my brassicas, legumes, squash/melons and nightshades every year. Best practice would leave a fallow bed(cover crop ok) and follow a plan of rotation, trying to put your legumes in after your heaviest feeders.
True. Certain crop varieties are best to rotate, but if you mix fresh compost or other soils into the beds within the top 2 - 4" every year, all is usually good to go. The beds can become completely new beds if you add even more soils. Love the rotational gardening though. I highly respect the ancient practices.
Central Oregon high desert gardener; low humidity, short growing season and heat. I've only experienced leaf curl when my tomatoes are not getting enough water. They thrive with the soil staying wet, probably wetter than most would recommend.
We're in Kalispell, MT and everyone I know lost the grape vines but after cutting them off, they are coming back from the roots. That was a wicked freeze. I read that 90% of the cherry crop around Flathead lake was lost.
I plant basil with my tomatoes - I had blossom end rot and curl for years before I just started planting them together
I'm in Canada and my tomatoes are in a shady spot from 14:30. They are fine.
Jessica from roots and refuge installed a shade cloth over her tomatoes this summer, I suggest you listen to her videos. She show the results that varys with the positioning of the tomatoes.
Try shade cloth over the tunnel. No plastic, just shade cloth. It keeps temperature cooler in the day and doubles up as protection against wind. More importantly, for me in the UK, it helps against the sun’s harsh summer radiation. (Not that we’re getting much sun this year 🙄). I see your brassicas/beats are doing well under the insect netting. They’re also benefiting from wind damage. Same thing.
Garden looks good. I Live in zone 3b and I grow tomatoes without a greenhouse and without any sort of protection at all. For personal reasons, I only overhead water from the dugout - a deep water. In the decades of raising tomatoes here, I have never had leaf curl until this year and have it on only a couple plants. Because my tomatoes starts were getting leggy and looking horrible from potting soil, I did put them in earlier than I would like (end of May) because it was still cold and wet. I like the ground to be warm when I plant. However, they struggled through. There is good moisture below in my sandy loam soil but being it turned so hot (90 -100+) I have noticed a few curling. Our nights still get cooler. I feel that it is a combination of the extremes that are causing the leaf curl this year and to be honest, I am not worrying about it. As a northern gardener I also do not worry about getting vine ripened tomatoes - I will get a few but ripening in the house is it for me. Good luck.
I'm in Northern California and struggle with the heat and sunburn on my tomatoes & peppers. This year we covered our entire garden with 55% shade cloth and what a difference! I am bringing in about 5 lbs of tomatoes a day (they are smallish tomatoes) and there are still lots of green tomatoes on the vine. This is, by far, my best tomato year I've had in the last 20 years.
Last year we had wonderful tomato plants. The one thing we did differently was put a generous amount of egg shell powder in each hole when we planted the tomatoes. They are in our garden in full sun all day long. They were big, bushy, and the deep green color was amazing and we had zero leaf curl or disease of any kind. The harvest was huge! I don’t know if the egg shell powder was what made the difference since I have nothing to compare it to this year as the hoppers decimated my entire garden.
We just fertilize with bone meal. My plant are not huge but they are loaded with tomatoes.
We put Eason salt in with the tomato plants when planted but you can put a little around the bottom and water it in it worked for use hope it works for you
I've thrown my hands up this season on my tomatoes. We live in Athol, Idaho. It has to be the crazy spring we have had. For me, I've chalked my tomatoes up to "it's just an off year" . Hang in there!
Lovely garden tour !! Wow, that darn Cabbage moth is everywhere in lush gardens. Nice protective covering for your precious crops. WOWZA, what an awesome bean-tunnel ! The weather here has been over 100 degrees all of July , poor plants. The green beans get burnt, the cucumbers get the 2-spotted spider mites . Gorgeous brassicas and all of the cool season crops. Great gathering your own seeds. My tomatoes are doing great in the heat, though the ones shaded part of the day are doing best. ( but, we have HIGH temperatures ) . I water by hand and they are doing okay. GROW tomatoes !!!!
I think you have a combination of issues this years, with the weather, etc. Imho, keep looking for a short season variety...maybe determinate instead of indeterminate? that will work for your particular location. North Idaho is pretty cool weather for what is essentially a tropical plant. But this year in particular (I'm in East TN) my tomatoes are terrible, too. You are not alone!
Hi Josh & Carolyn, hope this helps, I'm having this curl problem too and recently learned from Luke at MIgardener channel in a video called " 3 reasons why your tomato leaves are curling'" that Tomato leaf curl is often caused from excessive heat/sun exposure, or Leaf Hopper insect which spreads 'Leaf Curl Virus', or by pesticide contaminated soil which has been contaminated with Grazon or one like that.
Hi, Josh, we are in the Bitterroot and have been fighting the same thing the past couple of years. This year we have gone to no dig beds and I followed your set up with the cattle panels and greenhouse plastic. 🤷🏻♂️
We are still getting leaf curl on the tomatoes but our peppers, tomatillos and cantaloupe in the same tunnel have been looking pretty good.
I really wondered about the wind, we have had a lot of it all spring and most of the summer. Lately we’ve had weeks of 90+ temps so I’ve been trying to get more water on them to combat the wind and heat evaporation.
I know tomatoes do great in the central valley and they aren’t using any shade cloth.
Looking forward to see what else you come up with.
I live in NW Iowa. You hear a LOT about crop rotation here. Iowa is mostly corn and soy but they rotate fields every couple of years. My husband is the gardener in our family and he also rotates where he plants our veg every year or two, says the plants start to struggle when he doesn't. I don't know if that's a regional thing or not but thought I'd suggest it as food for thought.
Last year, I stumbled upon a game changer for my tomatoes 🍅 a shade cloth. I would shade one strip along the very top, leaving all other sides open. This gives them all the benefits you talked about but without the high heat of day beating on them. My yield was double and very little leave curl and browning from sunburn. I also have them a comphrey tea/chop n drop. I don't think you have ventured there yet, but I would recommend you do so quickly 😉 such a difference.
It sounds weird, but planting a medium height grass with the tomatoes shades the bottom of the plant and keeps the ground moist. The best tomato harvests I have ever had are the ones planted with the grass.
I have found that no dig with mulch works really well. Also regular watering in the morning when needed
We saw some leaf curl in our plants too. We are in Ottawa, Ontario Canada where our growing season is relatively short. We start seeds indoors and move to a small outside green house once they are just over a foot tall and then once the threat of frost is gone, into the garden. When we plant in the garden, we add bonemeal (for calcium and phosphorus) and composted cow manure (for nitrogen and potassium) to the planting hole and mix it in with the existing organic soil.
We have neighbours on all three sides of the backyard and all neighbours have trees so the tomatoes are in shade at about 6:00 pm but have full sun the rest of the day. We add crushed eggshells around the plants every two weeks to deter slugs and to allow them to break down and add calcium to the soil. We also sprinkle a little epsom salt every few weeks for the magnesium.
Though we have seen leaf curling in the potted plants, it seems to disappear within a few weeks of planting. This makes me think it may be a nutrient deficiency OR an issue with seeds. I have heard many people mentioning that they have had poor germination and poor growth with seeds they purchased. This year, we too had a similar problem, first time in 40 years.
I have no wisdom to offer, but just wanted to say that I LOVE your garden tours, they inspire me, and that I appreciate how you share some of the failures or shortcomings, because it teaches me. I hope you guys figure it out.
I'm in zone 4a Star Valley Wyoming. I start my tomatoes indoors and don't plant them out until June 10th depending on the weather. I plant them in a 28 ft long raised bed thats covered with greenhouse plastic (ends open during the day). In June we still get down in the 30s and 40s at night. This year I used a chicken coop radient heater at night during some of the coldest nights. If it gets too hot in July under the plastic, I will drape shade cloth over it. Chelsea at Little Mountain Ranch has also been helpful for me to watch as well where she is up in Canada. Let me know if you want more infomon my system.
We are in Indiana 6a. Many here are struggling with May planted tomatoes. We had a cold spell in early June where nighttime temps were in the low-mid 40s which stunted the plants and many never recovered. Thankfully I start my plants late (I want good yields not the first tomato at market) and saw the advance weather forecasts and kept my plants in the greenhouse until the nights were back in the high 50s-60s. From July thru September we struggle with weeks on end of >90 heat and scorching sun (no cloud cover) so in early July we cover the staked plants with 50% black shade cloth and use soaker hoses (not drip irrigation) to water deeply 2x per week. We also treat biweekly with either Neptunes Harvest Fish emulsion or side dressing of Epoma Tomato Tone. Best looking tomato plants ever that are setting nice fruit.
Im from southern Minnesota, in previous years we have been in a drought and ive had amazing yields in those drought years. My garden is in ground and even through the drought i would rarely water (we do have very rich soil and there is a good layer of mulch as well). This year my tomatoes leaves have been curling a lot and not growing nearly as big. The difference is that we have had record rainfall this year and with all that cloud cover we have not had the growing units those tomatoes need. We usually get a couple 100 degree days with high humidity and my tomatoes have always thrived in that heat. If it were me, i would water less often and pray for more of those growing units! That being said, i cant imagine your zone having enough growing units to grow tomatoes with shade cloth.
Zone 3 Alberta. I have always struggled with tomatoes that don't grow great so this year I grew them inside until they were much much larger (4 feet tall). And moved them outside mid to late June. BOOM they are growing and producing like mad!
We are just south of you on the border of Washington and Idaho on hwy 2. We put shade cloth over the strawberries and they are finally growing & fruiting! We have a couple tomatoes under shade cloth and some not. The ones under the cloth are doing great, but horrible leaf curl on the ones in direct sun! Btw, we're on the last week of raspberries.. Huge harvest!
My tomatoes here in the Black Hils of South Dakota are languishing too, so small and not even blooming yet.
Put hoop with shade cloth, water less until fruits then water more,with tomatoes you will have to prune too later, always adjusting it seems with tomatoes 😊
I am in BF Idaho rotating my crops every year. This year was a late start for tomatoes. I kept mine covered with shade cloth, until it got warm. I use Tomato Tone and Bone meal. Now that we are in extreme heat, I water them twice a day. They have fruit, and are looking great!
Brandywine, Reprecco, Golden Cherry is some of what I planted.
Love your channel!
I'm in northern WI with a climate similar to yours. I have had to play around a lot with varieties so I'm thinking your experiment is going to be insightful. We have cool nights here (43 degrees last night) and a lot of summer crops don't love them, but some varieties tolerate it better than others. If you do find variety makes a difference, please make a video about it!
For tomatoes, mix up some Epsom salt & water, then water them.
Talk to Charles Dowding- similar climate. He talks about leaf curl frequently, and says it's the difference between daytime and nighttime temperatures.
I'm not sure how hot it gets in summer for you in Idaho, I'm in Vermont in a pretty cold area. The soil doesn't warm up here enough to allow my tomatoes to do anything but sit in the ground looking sulky for a month after I plant them, which can be as late as June 1st. The air can be 80 degrees, but if the soil isn't the right temp, forget it. They yellow, and don't grow, and poke along for weeks. I'm not particularly gentle with them about watering, I trim the suckers on them etc, and tie them up if they need it, but I don't go crazy caring for them. I just put them in the ground and let them be, because it's my theory that they are developing strong roots, and will put out foliage when they're ready to. I also plant alot of flowers around them for the pollinators.
THEN, about the first or second week of July, all hell breaks loose, and they start cranking. They get to loving the soil temps here, and I'm thinking Idaho is probably somewhat similar, in that it takes a while for the soil to warm up? Tomatoes do NOT like cold soil, or temps over 90-95. Other than that, they usually are surprisingly hardy and quite forgiving.
If you think your tomatoes are getting too much sun, see if they are dropping their blossoms. That's a sure sign. Leaf curl can be a sign of tomato leaf curl virus, but I've never had tomatoes with that, it's spread by whiteflies. The best way around that is to grow tomatoes that are resistant to the virus. I'd think if your tomatoes are just taking longer to produce, that might just be an effect of being in a colder environment than CA, though. Good luck on your learning journey!
Full disclosure: I’m from the south, currently in the south. I’ve grown in a lot of places and interestingly I have found the south to be the most challenging place to grow tomatoes. To be fair, I am not as far north as you.
I think your more hands off approach for this year is a good one. You’re very smart to try and find varieties that will thrive in your environment.
It sounds silly, but one thing I would consider doing is taking a few of the plants (or rooting cuttings) and plant them in other areas of your garden and see if you get the same results. People love to say tomatoes grow like weeds, and that’s true *when they are happy*. But for me tomatoes are to vegetables as chickens are to livestock. Sometimes they are inexplicably even fatally unhappy. Even though you have done all the testing, there could be something about that particular microclimate that they don’t like, so they are being all dramatic. It may not yield any different result, but it’s worth a shot. 🤷🏻♀️
My Dad had a garden in NW Montana for decades. He struggled with tomato plants until he was at a farmers market in his area one year and was looking at all these stalls that had an abundance of huge tomatoes and his plants at home had barely started to ripen what little they had managed to produce. He bought a couple of every variety and asked the sellers what they thought he was doing wrong with his. It all came down to the right variety and shade cloth. He saved the seeds from the tomatoes he bought, and planted those the next year. Bought some shade cloth and suspended it from some 8' tall posts when the days started getting into the 80's (as suggested by those with the awesome tomatoes) and he had his first great tomato harvest year. So I guess, find your locals that do it well, buy some tomatoes from them and hit them up for tips about solving your problem.
I live in the mountains of BC. I use soil temp to determine when I will plant out tomatoes and wait until it is 60F. I also use shade cloth - 30% for both my tomatoes and peppers. The hot intense sun (we've had a lengthy heatwave with daytime highs of 100F) is now backing off and so I took the shade cloth off and expect to leave it so for the rest of the season. Before using shade cloth my tomatoes would get serious leaf curl I think from heat stress. With the shade cloth the leaf curl is gone and the plants are less stressed. Hope this helps.
Try Epson salt, sprink the salts around the plants. Then water in small amounts.
This season I didn't get a lot of peas as in the past or tomatoe production as well. I also grew 10 new tomatoe varieties. I did purchase shade cloth for next year hopefully.
Blood meal and marigolds. My grandfather's fam is from your neck of the woods. The tried and true blood meal and marigolds. I'm in KY now and crop supporting is the one thing that does not fail me. I also have geraniums near and Citronella verities near the tomatoes. Hope that helps. 😊
Southwest Idaho, my Romas and San Manzanos are doing great. 110 degrees and no shade cloth, my heirloom plants not so happy. Even with shade. So sorry. I have no advice but I love your garden!
I think tomatoes are difficult, finicky plants. I'm in central Texas and this is the time of year everything wants to die. Tomatoes are born wanting to die.
That said, i got shade cloth and will plant some more next month for fall. I must be nuts.
Good luck y'all!!
I live in CDA , not far from you and for the last 3 years we've had cold May and June and then all of a sudden it heats up. This year I am using 40% shade cloth once the heat came. My plants are doing much better and have set fruit.
Me too
I grew tomatoes one year in Adams, NY...This climate was a bear to deal with and we had moved up from South Florida so lasted 2 years and moved back to Florida. Okay, back to my success. We had great success growing it with tons of Basil. We probably had at least a Basil plant for every 3-4 tomatoes. I will say that wasn't much of a plan on my part. I literally threw Basil seeds in all willy nilly once I planted the tomato seeds. Didn't even do tomato transplants, just direct sowed. Maybe God was giving my stupid a grace period and gave me what I didn't deserve. But...Now living in NW Georgia I plant a bunch of Basil and Marigolds with my tomatoes every year just in case. Recently wondering if Basil was the golden ticket I read that it does increase Harvest. Also, in your climate I wouldn't let them get any shade, not even morning shade. My garden was in the middle of my back yard without a tree in sight. They were never shaded. I have those large hoops growing my butternut, acorn and pie pumpkins and the side that gets morning shade is 1/2 the size of the side that doesnt', both sides look happy and healthy though. I hope that helps, I am in Tomato Harvest right now and really shouldn't even be on here as I have so many tomatoes to process...Wishing you that sort of supernatural success.
We are in zone 5b (Maine) and we are doing ours in containers. We have all raised beds due to the clay and rocks in the soil. We also don’t have enough land cleared. We have 5 acres but it’s woodsy and very wet. Our tomatoes seem to really love containers. They all have flowers and some have fruit. All green still. We water first thing before the sun gets too hot and then at the end of the day if it doesn’t rain. Leaves look good here so far…
Thank you Josh for all your good teaching and sharing! Parsnips and carrots are not good companion plants. My carrots were small the year I planted them across from parsnips. Love your channel and sweet family! God Bless y'all!!
All my tomatoes have had leaf curl this year. Never happened to me before. But I will say I’m getting lots of tomatoes despite it.
Hello, you may want to really try monitoring the time of watering, water in am, soil dry by evening. And shade cloth around 40 to 50 percent. Good luck, don't go without salsa
I’ve been having better luck with tomatoes since I started growing them in large pots and deep raised beds. I water them intensely and the pots and deep raised beds keep them from being over watered. The soil is fairly rich. The raised bed I mainly use is my winter compost in place bed in which I quit adding compost by May 1 and turn it into the soil May 31 and plant tomatoes then.
Also, are your night temperatures going into the low 50s and 40s. You may be giving up on the hoop house too soon. I think if you did deep pots in the hoop house and closed it each night and only opened the sides during the day for ventilation you might have better luck. The row covers others have mentioned might be a help too as it will hold in a little warmth overnight.