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Dec 8, 2024 2:04 PM CST
Thread OP
Carlsbad, California
I live in California zone 10a with mild winters. I have couple of tomato plants of determinate variety that produced good crop till September/ October after which slowed down but I continued feeding and they continued to produce and still have fruit and flower though less quantity
My question is to know if I should continue feeding or stop now as temperatures now are in 40s and 60s.
Please advise.
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Dec 11, 2024 6:51 AM CST
Name: Sally
central Maryland (Zone 7b)
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I would guess the plant slows it's growth partly due to temps and partly to reduced hours and intensity of daylight.
I would also reduce feeding.
My best guess. Too cold here to have the same experience.
Plant it and they will come.
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Dec 12, 2024 11:07 PM CST
Name: PotterK
Seattle, WA
Your tomatoes are determinate? So they should bear a single crop, in a spurt, then die back. Yes?

And have they done that yet? If not, are the fruits still developing? If so, will they make it to maturity before it gets any colder?

Late in the season tomatoes tolerate stress. It stimulates fruit to mature/ripen. So gardeners often reduce water in the late summer. I'd bet the same holds for feeding.

If they are determinate and nearly finished, then quit the feeding.
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Dec 13, 2024 3:35 PM CST
Name: Zoë
Albuquerque NM, Elev 5310 ft (Zone 7b)
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The important question here is: are the plants in the ground or in pots?
As long as your plants are flowering and bearing fruit they require nutrients. If they are in pots, then definitely continue feeding them, although less than in midsummer if the plants aren't producing as robustly as they were. Same thing applies to in-ground plants, but your fertilizer regimen depends on the soil's needs, which probably aren't as critical as in pots.

Unless you've got a variety bred for cold weather, you'll find that they will stop producing fruit at the temperatures you mentioned anyway. Fertilizer won't change that; they're done.
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Dec 15, 2024 12:05 PM CST
Name: Ed
South Alabama (Zone 8b)
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In regards to determinate tomatoes, do they make the first "main" crop and if left to grow (during normal growing seasons) do they did dribble out tomatoes over a longer period of time? The big indeterminates seem to overwhelm with production. I'm thinking that a flush of tomatoes at the beginning of the season would be good for canning/freezing and then a slower flow of them would be good for fresh eating the rest of the summer. I think @Weedwhacker mentioned something to me some time back that they don't completely stop producing after the main crop. Thoughts? Smiling
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Dec 15, 2024 12:21 PM CST
Name: Zoë
Albuquerque NM, Elev 5310 ft (Zone 7b)
Bee Lover Salvias Region: New Mexico Herbs Container Gardener Composter
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Ed, that's correct. Determinates usually bear a lot at the same time (not necessarily early; could be mid season) but the ones I've grown continue at a lesser volume until the end of the season. This statement about determinates from above is erroneous:
"So they should bear a single crop, in a spurt, then die back."
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Dec 15, 2024 2:42 PM CST
Name: Sandy B.
Ford River Twp, Michigan UP (Zone 4b)
(Zone 4b-maybe 5a)
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I agree -- what Zoë said.
“The new dawn blooms as we free it, for there is always light –
if only we’re brave enough to see it, if only we’re brave enough to be it.”
~Amanda Gorman~

C/F temp conversion
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Dec 15, 2024 3:21 PM CST
Name: Ed
South Alabama (Zone 8b)
Garden Procrastinator Region: United States of America Region: Alabama Enjoys or suffers hot summers Tomato Heads Vegetable Grower
Solar Power Bee Lover Birds Seed Starter Butterflies Container Gardener
Thanks Zoe and Sandy. That is what I was thinking. I'll go ahead with plans for a few determinates so to have some short plants to put insect netting over. Hoping to thwart those stink bugs this year from ruining the tomatoes!!! Thumbs up
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