May 2012 Tomato Analysis

For the month of May 2012, we harvested 22 tomatoes -- 12 Husky Cherry Red(2), 9 Husky Cherry Red(1) and a Red Currant.

How does this compare to other years? It's in the middle of the pack.

2012 -- 22
2011 -- 0
2010 -- 1
2009 -- 11
2008 -- 60
2007 -- 98

What does this tell us? Not much of anything. 2007 was our best year but 2008 was our worst year -- we had planted too early.

However, we can get some clues by the plants I was having concerns about.

I had issues with leaf curl with Big Zebra. Not now. It's sitting directly under the lemon tree so it gets the least amount of sun. The two heat waves helped to dry the underside of the leaves. The plant lost the slight gray look and appears quite healthy. Recently I discovered a growing tomato on it.

There were issues with Red Boar(2) planted in the redwood raised bed. The main stem seemingly split into two twin stems. These stems got long enough to start splitting open the stem at the fork but not long enough to get supported by the cage. Eventually the cage was able to supply support. The plant still has an main stem issue but looks really healthy. It has a really good color with new blooms.

Italian Heirloom looked quite thin and wispy for a beefsteak plant. It's taken off and the main trunk is thickening.

We had pulled Bloody Butcher and Vorlon(2). We replaced them with Clint Eastwood's Rowdy Red and Aunt Ruby's German Green. The two new plants look great. They're a little behind the others only because they were planted later than the others. They're doing just fine.

Pineapple(2), the grafted tomato was planted on May 12. It was looking okay when originally planted. The lower leaves were yellowing and it had a scrawnly look. No longer. It's only about a foot tall but the color is gorgeous and it's reaching for the sky.

Both Snow White plants didn't look too great about three weeks ago. Scrawny and small. However, both have taken off and both have growing tomatoes on them. However, the plant grew sideways until it reached the cage, then grew vertically. Three or four of our plants have a pronounced "elbow" before growing vertically. This appears to be a downside of a wide cage.

The only plant that looks like it's struggling a bit is Kellogg's Breakfast. The plant is actually rather tall at about four feet in the air. But it has only two real branches. It's quite leggy with yellowing leaves at the bottom. I think we'll get a few tomatoes off of this plant but not many.

But...we have one somewhat struggling plant out of 93. That is great! However, last year we had several plants just stop once they got growing tomatoes on them. Assuming that doesn't happen this year, look out. We're going to have a great 2012 harvest. 

Tomato Analysis for May

For May 2009 we harvested 11 tomatoes overall, 0 in the front yard and 11 in the back yard, encompassing two plants.

In May 2008 we harvested 60 tomatoes, all in the front yard, encompassing four plants.

In May 2007 we harvested 98 tomatoes, all in the front yard, encompassing three plants.

I wouldn't make too much of the numbers.

This is the first month we've harvested back yard tomatoes in May. But this is mostly due to the fact that all the container plants are in the back yard this year.

In general...

The back yard tomato plants look fabulous. Not a bad one in the bunch. There are a few plants without tomatoes on them, but by and large they shouldn't have tomatoes on them as they were planted late in the season. By my unofficial count, 10 of the 36 plants are missing tomatoes. Of those 10, all six planted in May do not have tomatoes – entirely normal and understandable. Barring anything surprising we could have quite a large crop of tomatoes coming from the back yard.

The front yard, however, has been set behind due to prior bouts of vandalism. Mexico is the only plant to survive all the vandalism. Overall, the tomato plants are doing well even though they have been planted late in the season or have been damaged. By my count, 9 of the 21 are missing tomatoes.

The weather has been cooperating lately. It has been quite temperate, not getting above about 85 degrees and not getting too cool, either. This gives a chance for the late plants to catch up, produce blooms and later on, tomatoes. But if we have an extended period over 95 degrees in temperature in June, a lot of these plants in the front yard will produce very little fruit.

Something to note: In general, the front yard tomato plants grow and mature faster than the back yard tomato plants. There's simply less shade (more sun) in the front yard. That's another indicator that the front yard plants have a lot of catching up to do, and also an indicator as to how much damage was done.

Tomato Analysis For May

Since we're at the end of the month, let's do a comparison to last year's May totals.

I picked 7 more Red Currants to bring the May month total for 2008 to 60. Last May, we picked 98 tomatoes.

Last May, 3 tomato plants out of 34 harvested tomatoes (8.8%) while this May, 4 tomato plants out of 52 harvested tomatoes (7.7%).

The first tomato picked last May was on May 2 while this year the first tomato picked was on May 16. Last year the first tomato picked was SunGold, which also turned out to be the most productive. This year the first tomato picked was Red Currant, which looks like it will be the most productive.

I'd say that most of these differences are negligible with the exception of the last paragraph. This year's crop “feels” like it's about two weeks behind last year's crop. That may not prove to be true in the long run, but we'll see.

Last year, the highest harvest total occurred in mid-July (July 13 and 14, to be exact). In 2006, the heaviest harvest dates were in early July. This year, I'll estimate the heaviest harvest date will be around July 22 or 23 based on what we know so far.

All the plants look healthy, some better than others, but all appear healthy.