As a northern veggie gardener,
it was always dissapointing when an early frost
would kill off the tomato plants.....
( full of tomatoes, of course )

I had dreamed that in places like Calif,
with no killer frost, tomatoes would be perennials.

We've recently moved to Southern Arizona.
In theory, this is tomato weather.
Sunny days, cool nights.

We have a cherry-tomato plant in back,
it's making tomatoes..... but slowly,
and the leaves are turning yellow.......
The plant is looking sickly....

I'm going to need some help here;

1. When planting tomatoes,
will I need to make any special preparations ?

2. Can I reasonably expect to see tomatoes 8 or 9 months a year ?

3. Any special variety to better deal with the Arizona climate ?


rj

RJ wrote:
As a northern veggie gardener,
it was always dissapointing when an early frost
would kill off the tomato plants.....
( full of tomatoes, of course )

I had dreamed that in places like Calif,
with no killer frost, tomatoes would be perennials.

Even in perfect weather, tomatoes are annuals. Depending on the
varriety, the actual length of time they're productive may be longer
with perfect weather, but other varrieties will have a short fruiting
timeframe, and that's it.

If the weather is right, you can stagger the starting time of plants so
you can have some fruiting all the time, but they're still going to die.
They're annuals, not perenials.

--
Warren H.

==========
Disclaimer: My views reflect those of myself, and not my
employer, my friends, nor (as she often tells me) my wife.
Any resemblance to the views of anybody living or dead is
coincidental. No animals were hurt in the writing of this
response -- unless you count my dog who desperately wants
to go outside now.
Blatant Plug: Fahrenheit 9/11 ships 10/5. Order your copy now:
http://www.holzemville.com/mall/911.html

RJ wrote:
As a northern veggie gardener,
it was always dissapointing when an early frost
would kill off the tomato plants.....
( full of tomatoes, of course )

I had dreamed that in places like Calif,
with no killer frost, tomatoes would be perennials.

We've recently moved to Southern Arizona.
In theory, this is tomato weather.
Sunny days, cool nights.

We have a cherry-tomato plant in back,
it's making tomatoes..... but slowly,
and the leaves are turning yellow.......
The plant is looking sickly....

I'm going to need some help here;

1. When planting tomatoes,
will I need to make any special preparations ?

2. Can I reasonably expect to see tomatoes 8 or 9 months a year ?

3. Any special variety to better deal with the Arizona climate ?


rj


I think tomatoes are a tender annual, so it's *possible* to keep them
alive from year to year, but it's unlikely -- but you have a better
chance than if they were a hardy annual. (Hardy annuals are hardwired
to die after one season.) But you'll find that in a subtropical
climate, the tomatoes will die from some wilt disease or another.

If it's really frost-free, you might try growing "tree tomatoes"
(tamarillos). They are kind are a close cousin of tomatoes; a tropical
tree with huge heart-shaped fuzzy leaves and they start bearing fruit
the second year.

Plant normal early and mid-season tomato varieties, and you can replant
a couple of times a year.

Bob

Not true. Some tomatoes can be grown as tender perennials.


"Warren" wrote in message
news:En18d.171435$D%.117124@attbi_s51...
RJ wrote:
As a northern veggie gardener,
it was always dissapointing when an early frost
would kill off the tomato plants.....
( full of tomatoes, of course )

I had dreamed that in places like Calif,
with no killer frost, tomatoes would be perennials.

Even in perfect weather, tomatoes are annuals. Depending on the
varriety, the actual length of time they're productive may be longer
with perfect weather, but other varrieties will have a short fruiting
timeframe, and that's it.

If the weather is right, you can stagger the starting time of plants so
you can have some fruiting all the time, but they're still going to die.
They're annuals, not perenials.

--
Warren H.

==========
Disclaimer: My views reflect those of myself, and not my
employer, my friends, nor (as she often tells me) my wife.
Any resemblance to the views of anybody living or dead is
coincidental. No animals were hurt in the writing of this
response -- unless you count my dog who desperately wants
to go outside now.
Blatant Plug: Fahrenheit 9/11 ships 10/5. Order your copy now:
http://www.holzemville.com/mall/911.html

--
Humankind has not woven the web of life.
We are but one thread within it.
Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves.
All things are bound together.
All things connect." Chief Seattle
"RJ" wrote in message
...
As a northern veggie gardener,
it was always dissapointing when an early frost
would kill off the tomato plants.....
( full of tomatoes, of course )

ok, the first thing that comes to my mind is, when frost killed the vines,
did you pick the green tomato's and wrap them in newspapers individually and
put them in a dry place and have ripe tomato's all the way into December?
(and some great "fried green tomato's" with others?)

I had dreamed that in places like Calif,
with no killer frost, tomatoes would be perennials.

You could stagger the tomato plants to produce longer, but eventually the
sun's light would trigger responses in the plants that it was time to die
and for the plant to cease it's reason to go. The tomato's are, after all
the plant's way of ensuring next years plant. A receptical for the seeds. If
you've ever had a tomato to ripen unnoticed and drop onto the garden soil,
only to find after winter and spring, small seedlings of tomato's.......the
gel that envelopes the seeds are protective. The freezing and rotting
prepares the seed for the spring's germination. I had Sungold plants for
six years because of dropped fruit. Nature has always been there
first.............

We've recently moved to Southern Arizona.
In theory, this is tomato weather.
Sunny days, cool nights.

But saying that, you need to get tomato's that grow better in Southern
Arizona. Some tomato's don't set fruit over temperatures of 90o F. So you'd
need to get tomato's that are acclimated to Arizona's temperatures.


We have a cherry-tomato plant in back,
it's making tomatoes..... but slowly,
and the leaves are turning yellow.......
The plant is looking sickly....

Yellow indicates a lack of nutrients. And if it's now, the plant knows it's
time to start dying. When did you plant your tomato's? I would even think
you would be able to plant tomato's in July for fall harvests. You need to
get hold of the Agricultural department's extension service to find out.
Next year, be sure to give your tomato's and peppers and eggplants some
Epsom salts. Great source for what they need, and it prevents blossom end
rot as well.

And if you don't see a lot of bees to pollinate your tomato's and such, you
can buy Blossom start to spray on your tomato flowers to set fruit.
Hopefully you at least have bumble bees to pollinate your flowers on the
plants. That's who pollinate my tomato blossoms. Bumblies.

I'm going to need some help here;

1. When planting tomatoes,
will I need to make any special preparations ?

Yes, you have alkiline soil. You need to ammend it with good compost. (two
parts green to one part dry, brown and slightly moistened and turned
occaisonally to rot and break down into rich, natural black stuff. grass
and leaves, egg shells, peelings, grounds, tea bags, etc. NO bones or meat
or dairy, and in about six months, you'll see compost at the bottom.

2. Can I reasonably expect to see tomatoes 8 or 9 months a year ?

I would think you would there. I have tomato's when I grow them from mid
June thru October. That's five months out of 12, and given that I gathered
all the green ones at frost to be wrapped in newspaper and put in a box in a
dry place, I had garden tomato's until almost Christmas. (when I grew
tomato's).

3. Any special variety to better deal with the Arizona climate ?

You need to get hold of your extension agent in your county to find that one
out. I'm sure you can locate names of all sorts of neat tomato's, peppers
and such that do well there. (you can also go to Gardenweb.com and look
under Arizona gardening forum, and Tomato forum and even Tomato pests and
diseases forum.)

madgardener who hopes this helps more (Cerius is right, there IS a perennial
type of "tomato". Wanna share the name? It eludes me at the moment)


rj

On Sun, 03 Oct 2004 17:13:08 -0700, "RJ"
wrote:

As a northern veggie gardener,
it was always dissapointing when an early frost
would kill off the tomato plants.....
( full of tomatoes, of course )

I had dreamed that in places like Calif,
with no killer frost, tomatoes would be perennials.

We've recently moved to Southern Arizona.
In theory, this is tomato weather.
Sunny days, cool nights.

We have a cherry-tomato plant in back,
it's making tomatoes..... but slowly,
and the leaves are turning yellow.......
The plant is looking sickly....

I'm going to need some help here;

1. When planting tomatoes,
will I need to make any special preparations ?

2. Can I reasonably expect to see tomatoes 8 or 9 months a year ?

3. Any special variety to better deal with the Arizona climate ?


rj
Here on the Southern Texas gulf coast I let my tomatoes grow year
around most years until the plants start looking really bad. I use
indeterminates.