August 2013 Tomato Analysis

We harvested 1320 tomatoes in August. That compares somewhat favorably to July's 1970 tomatoes (A harvest dropoff is completely expected for the west San Fernando Valley where we live, we just hope that the numbers don't fall off a table...). Here's how it stacks up to prior years:

August 2011 -- 3863
August 2009 -- 3250
August 2012 -- 3240
August 2007 -- 2806
August 2010 -- 2165
August 2013 -- 1320
August 2008 -- 1004

Again our numbers are the second worst we've had, only beating the 2008 year. In 2008 we ended up harvesting about 4300 tomatoes so we seem to be on about a 5000 harvest pace this year based on the numbers.

However based on what I see for our plants we'll never get there. The late August heat has absolutely taken the life out of most of our tomato plants.The only good one left is Black Cherry and that won't get us to 5000.

So we'll see what happens. We'll probably beat the 2008 harvest this year but we won't get much beyond that, I believe. 

August 2012 Tomato Analysis

In August of this year we harvested 3240 tomatoes. It was a good month in spite of it being hot almost the whole month. Toward the end some of the tomatoes were getting a big ragged. But overall it was quite a good month.

How does the this year's 3240 stack up against the other August years?

2011 -- 3863
2010 -- 2165
2009 -- 3250
2008 -- 1004
2007 -- 2806

Well, it's third place out of six -- middle of the pack -- but only 10 tomatoes behind 2009. 2009 was our highest yearly total of all time, 11,155 tomatoes for the year. 2007 would have beat it but we stopped counting in October (a three week honeymoon will do that...).

As of this writing we've harvested 10,345 tomaotes for the year. So the 2009 all time high will almost assuredly be broken. Conceivably we could even break it this month.

What will happen in September? Traditionally we pull a lot of plants this month. Based on our scorching August I know this year won't be an exception. A fair amount of plants are getting the "fungusy" look and will probably be pulled in the near future.

Snow White(2) and SunGold are getting new blooms. These plants will almost assuredly get a second wind at some point, but will it happen in September? That's not clear. These blooms could go sterile as well, considering how hot it still is. The two Husky Cherry Red tomatoes will come back to some degree as well.

Prediction for September: We'll harvest 900 tomatoes for the month, putting us a little over 11,000 for the year. 

August 2011 Harvest Analysis

The August harvest numbers were excellent, 3863 tomatoes. Putting it in context, July 2011 had 3876 harvested tomatoes. July is always our high harvest month.

The extra high numbers are due partially to the fact that there was no harvest on July 31. If I had harvested that day I would have harvested over 4000 tomatoes for the month and the August total would have been less about 200 tomatoes.

The bigger reason for the high number was simply one tomato -- Matt's Wild Cherry. I'm sure this monthly harvest number (1637) is by far the highest number for a month I've ever had. Looking it up, it's actually closer than I thought. In June 2008 I harvested 1337 Red Currant tomatoes.

The August total for this year (3863) is the highest August I've ever had. The previous high was 3250 harvested tomatoes in 2009.

My wife has been processing a lot of these August tomatoes in the dehydrator. It's been an excellent way of handling tomatoes that are on their "second wind" -- the tomatoes that are 1/2 to 1/3 the size, okay tasting but nothing special, with a thicker skin.

At the beginning of the month, the front yard/back yard totals were even. During the month the front yard tomato harvest increased by nearly 1000 tomatoes over the back yard tomatoes. That started to turn about a week ago with more harvested back yard tomatoes than front yard tomatoes. Now the front yard harvest is about 850 more tomatoes than the back yard.

Regardless of the final totals, we'll have had a successful year. Lots of very tasty tomatoes. 

August Tomato Analysis, September Estimate

For August, my initial harvest estimate was 2700 tomatoes. This was estimated again in the middle of the month upward to 3500 tomatoes. We ended up at exactly 3250 tomatoes harvested for the month.

Due to the significant drop in harvest numbers at the end of the month, we will not make 10,000 harvested tomatoes this year.

On August 1 we harvested 224 tomatoes. On August 31, 30 tomatoes. Quite a significant drop!

Last year, we harvested 1004 tomatoes in August and 204 in September. The September/August ratio comes out to 20.3% of the August harvest.

Two years ago, we harvested 2806 tomatoes in August and 647 in September. The September/August ratio comes out to 23.0% of the August harvest.

Using those figures as a guide for this year's numbers would make this year's September harvest from 660 tomatoes at the low end to 749 tomatoes at the high end. That would make 700 a reasonable estimate for September's harvest based strictly on numbers.

How about based on what I see? This hot weather will kill any August blooms. But both Snow White tomato plants have new tomatoes on them. Black Cherry still has about 75 tomatoes to ripen and looks strong enough for a second wind if the weather cools down.

But the container plants are basically done, though. White Currant still has a couple dozen growing tomatoes. Red Currant is basically done and I'm not expecting a second wind from that plant. Cherry tomatoes are a “cheap” way to get high harvest totals but outside of the plants mentioned in the last paragraph, we don't have those plants available.

However, there's a lot of tomato plants with 10 or 15 tomatoes on them, ready to ripen. This includes plants we haven't heard from recently, such as Black From Tula or Black Krim or Cuor de Bue. These plants are getting some of their strength back, even in this recent heat.

I can probably see around 400 or so growing tomatoes overall. Based on what I see, 700 harvested tomatoes for September seems like a reasonable estimate.