What effect would ALOT of rain have on tomatos?

In my garden (northern NJ) it has pretty much stunted their growth. The only
healthy, normal sized plants I have are a pair of Sweet 100's (cherry type)
that I planted in a narrow bed next to the house that I normally leave to the
gladiolas. It faces northwest and gets sheltered from the rain somewhat, and
normally requires a lot of watering.

Those tomato plants have some fruit starting to ripen, and are normal height
for this time of year. The rest of the plants, Roma's, Early Girl and more
Sweet 100's, have almost no set fruit and are the height they normally would be
sometime in early June. Last year, a drought year, I harvested my first
tomatoes in mid-July. This year, I just picked the first ones yesterday!

What a big diappointment. I guess this is what I get for wishing for rain last
summer!


-=epm=-

In matters of truth and justice,
there is no difference between large and small problems,
for issues concerning the treatment of people are all the same.
- Albert Einstein

Wow... that's exactly my situation.... I'm fairly new to this
(4 years) and I was hopefull with my new 'cages' I built from remesh.
My plants are only about 3.5 ft. tall and the fruit are golfball size



On 08 Aug 2003 17:48:46 GMT, (EvelynMcH)
wrote:

In my garden (northern NJ) it has pretty much stunted their growth. The only
healthy, normal sized plants I have are a pair of Sweet 100's (cherry type)
that I planted in a narrow bed next to the house that I normally leave to the
gladiolas. It faces northwest and gets sheltered from the rain somewhat, and
normally requires a lot of watering.

Those tomato plants have some fruit starting to ripen, and are normal height
for this time of year. The rest of the plants, Roma's, Early Girl and more
Sweet 100's, have almost no set fruit and are the height they normally would be
sometime in early June. Last year, a drought year, I harvested my first
tomatoes in mid-July. This year, I just picked the first ones yesterday!

What a big diappointment. I guess this is what I get for wishing for rain last
summer!


-=epm=-

In matters of truth and justice,
there is no difference between large and small problems,
for issues concerning the treatment of people are all the same.
- Albert Einstein

"EvelynMcH" wrote in message
...
In my garden (northern NJ) it has pretty much stunted their growth. The
only
healthy, normal sized plants I have are a pair of Sweet 100's (cherry
type)
that I planted in a narrow bed next to the house that I normally leave to
the
gladiolas. It faces northwest and gets sheltered from the rain somewhat,
and
normally requires a lot of watering.

Those tomato plants have some fruit starting to ripen, and are normal
height
for this time of year. The rest of the plants, Roma's, Early Girl and more
Sweet 100's, have almost no set fruit and are the height they normally
would be
sometime in early June. Last year, a drought year, I harvested my first
tomatoes in mid-July. This year, I just picked the first ones yesterday!

What a big diappointment. I guess this is what I get for wishing for rain
last
summer!



I agree! We had 16" of rain the first two weeks of July and it really put a
damper (so to speak) on our tomatoes - and peppers as well. Not only a
lower yield, but plants are all coming down with wilt now.

Cheryl

In my garden (northern NJ) it has pretty much stunted their growth. The only

I live in the meadowlands NJ area and my tomatoes are about 8 1/2 feet. No
fruit for the first 4 or so feet. Lower tomato yield than last year which was a
good year for me even with the drought (big water bill). Most pepper plants are
pretty small compared to last years. My parsley which kept on turning white and
dying last year, is going gangbusters this year. Looks like my first attempt at
caged potatoes was a complete bust.

Kevin Miller wrote:
What effect would ALOT of rain have on tomatos?
If the tomatoes were in the ripening stage they would probably split
and the flavor would be on the "watery" side. Most all the nutrients
would most likely be leached away from the root zone so you will have
to apply some sort of fertilizer to keep them growing.

Bill

I live in the meadowlands NJ area and my tomatoes are about 8 1/2 feet.

I'm jealous. Mine are maybe 6 feet, and that's only the two plants next to the
house. Most of the rest are maybe waist-high. (I'm in northwestern Bergen)


-=epm=-

In matters of truth and justice,
there is no difference between large and small problems,
for issues concerning the treatment of people are all the same.
- Albert Einstein

Kevin Miller wrote:

split
and the flavor would be on the "watery" side

Exactly, we've had a deluge every afternoon for the last 3 or 4 days. Some
ripening tomatoes split, but ALL the sungold that were starting to ripen split.
Thank goodness the upper part of the plant still has tons of intact green ones.

On 08 Aug 2003 22:02:57 GMT, (KK
from NJ) wrote:

Kevin Miller wrote:

split
and the flavor would be on the "watery" side

Exactly, we've had a deluge every afternoon for the last 3 or 4 days. Some
ripening tomatoes split, but ALL the sungold that were starting to ripen split.
Thank goodness the upper part of the plant still has tons of intact green ones.

We're having every-afternoon deluges too, it's been terrible
for about two weeks. Everything is soaked all the time.

My garden is probably better off than most, as the mushroom
soil in the tire-planter raised beds drains quickly, but
it's a morass of weeds - can't get out there to weed. The
grass is about a foot tall - can't cut it, it's always
sopping wet.

This is just a terrible, awful year here for gardening here
in the Northeastern USA. First we had a cold and
catastrophically wet spring (over six weeks without ONE
single day without rain!), and now we're have a
catastrophically wet summer. It's been pretty cool here
too, temperatures mainly in the 70s.

We went to a nearby town (about 30 miles away) to do an
errand yesterday, and saw creeks and small rivers flooding
all over the place.

Pat

EvelynMcH wrote:

In my garden (northern NJ) it has pretty much stunted their growth. The only
healthy, normal sized plants I have are a pair of Sweet 100's (cherry type)
that I planted in a narrow bed next to the house that I normally leave to the
gladiolas. It faces northwest and gets sheltered from the rain somewhat, and
normally requires a lot of watering.

Those tomato plants have some fruit starting to ripen, and are normal height
for this time of year. The rest of the plants, Roma's, Early Girl and more
Sweet 100's, have almost no set fruit and are the height they normally would be
sometime in early June. Last year, a drought year, I harvested my first
tomatoes in mid-July. This year, I just picked the first ones yesterday!

What a big diappointment. I guess this is what I get for wishing for rain last
summer!


-=epm=-

In matters of truth and justice,
there is no difference between large and small problems,
for issues concerning the treatment of people are all the same.
- Albert Einstein


We started picking tomotoes just last week. The cherry/grape tomotoes
are finally taking off, but the Early Girls, etc., are
stunted-presumably from the weather.

Kevin Miller wrote:


What effect would ALOT of rain have on tomatos?

I've read the other responses and I am curious how well-founded the concerns
about nutrient leaching are.

"A lot of rain" also translates into "a lack of sunlight" and "a severe test
of the drainage / aeration" of a plot.

I use 24/7 weep irrigation ( http://www.irrigro.com/ ), but have worked my
soil to the point where it has a high percentage of organic matter in it
and I think my nutrient loss is negligible ... at worse.

I think the issue of too much rain is more likely to be poor drainage than
nutrient loss. I note that rain forests get gobs of rain ... but grow
fantastic amounts and varieties of vegetation. Drowning of feeder roots
will keep nutrients from being taken up just as surely as a lack of
available nutrients would. Poor drainage also increases the mortality of
earthworms (etc) who would have improved the drainage if they had lived
long enough.

I can not, even by discharging my hose directly onto an area for several
minutes at a time, form a puddle on my soil that lasts more than 10-15
seconds or so. I cannot force my earthworms to the soil surface. My soil
(clay, sand and compost) is never crusty, either ... it is now August 9 and
yesterday I was digging in my soil with my fingers to transplant a marigold
that was being shaded out by the tomatoes to a better spot with more light.
The hardest part of the digging was working my way through a mat of roots
running through the mulch layer.

I got the same rains everyone else (in southeastern Michigan) got but my
soil is loose 4' deep with baled straw in the bottom 2 feet and compost
mulched onto the top few inches. As the straw decays, the soil settles and
this settling is made up with compost mulch. In essence, I have great
drainage / aeration and readily penetrable soil for the first 4' of depth.
My plants don't believe in either droughts or floods.

I put in a huge amount of effort to get this garden started, but it is
paying off. I planted Mortgage Lifter tomatoes (from seed) on April 19 and
they are now about 6' tall (trellised) and quite heavy with large green
fruit. We had some cool nights when the fruit was first being set so I have
some cat-facing ... but no splitting anywhere. Last year my Early Girls and
Better Boys both went a full 10' with one Early Girl topping out at 11.5'
(a foot and a half taller than the trellis). The National Pickling cukes,
planted the same day, are at the 10' mark and growing like crazy. So far,
they have given us 20 qts of pickles and a couple yellow footballs (hidden
cukes that got too ripe). Last years garlic and onions are out of the
ground and dried for storage. Last years rather coarse compost mulch has
mellowed into something very fine that looks like I ground and sifted it.
As beds come bare, I am working the mulch into the top foot or so with the
intention of re-applying a fresh top layer as soon as they are replanted. I
am getting ready to make some serious changes to the garden so I am letting
beds get bare ... something I would not otherwise do.

I got the same rains others got but, looking out my window, I see no
evidence of significant nutrient leaching; only a 'rain-forest-garden'
growing in Detroit.


Bill
--
Zone 5b (Detroit, MI)
I do not post my address to news groups.

On Fri, 08 Aug 2003 12:18:02 -0500, Kevin Miller
wrote:

What effect would ALOT of rain have on tomatos?

Cracking and splitting, for one thing. Mine seemed to have slowed down
production quite a bit, too. (SE Virginia -- zone 7b or 8)

Noydb wrote:

Kevin Miller wrote:


What effect would ALOT of rain have on tomatos?


I've read the other responses and I am curious how well-founded the concerns
about nutrient leaching are.

"A lot of rain" also translates into "a lack of sunlight" and "a severe test
of the drainage / aeration" of a plot.

I use 24/7 weep irrigation ( http://www.irrigro.com/ ), but have worked my
soil to the point where it has a high percentage of organic matter in it
and I think my nutrient loss is negligible ... at worse.

I think the issue of too much rain is more likely to be poor drainage than
nutrient loss. I note that rain forests get gobs of rain ... but grow
fantastic amounts and varieties of vegetation. Drowning of feeder roots
will keep nutrients from being taken up just as surely as a lack of
available nutrients would. Poor drainage also increases the mortality of
earthworms (etc) who would have improved the drainage if they had lived
long enough.

I can not, even by discharging my hose directly onto an area for several
minutes at a time, form a puddle on my soil that lasts more than 10-15
seconds or so. I cannot force my earthworms to the soil surface. My soil
(clay, sand and compost) is never crusty, either ... it is now August 9 and
yesterday I was digging in my soil with my fingers to transplant a marigold
that was being shaded out by the tomatoes to a better spot with more light.
The hardest part of the digging was working my way through a mat of roots
running through the mulch layer.

I got the same rains everyone else (in southeastern Michigan) got but my
soil is loose 4' deep with baled straw in the bottom 2 feet and compost
mulched onto the top few inches. As the straw decays, the soil settles and
this settling is made up with compost mulch. In essence, I have great
drainage / aeration and readily penetrable soil for the first 4' of depth.
My plants don't believe in either droughts or floods.

I put in a huge amount of effort to get this garden started, but it is
paying off. I planted Mortgage Lifter tomatoes (from seed) on April 19 and
they are now about 6' tall (trellised) and quite heavy with large green
fruit. We had some cool nights when the fruit was first being set so I have
some cat-facing ... but no splitting anywhere. Last year my Early Girls and
Better Boys both went a full 10' with one Early Girl topping out at 11.5'
(a foot and a half taller than the trellis). The National Pickling cukes,
planted the same day, are at the 10' mark and growing like crazy. So far,
they have given us 20 qts of pickles and a couple yellow footballs (hidden
cukes that got too ripe). Last years garlic and onions are out of the
ground and dried for storage. Last years rather coarse compost mulch has
mellowed into something very fine that looks like I ground and sifted it.
As beds come bare, I am working the mulch into the top foot or so with the
intention of re-applying a fresh top layer as soon as they are replanted. I
am getting ready to make some serious changes to the garden so I am letting
beds get bare ... something I would not otherwise do.

I got the same rains others got but, looking out my window, I see no
evidence of significant nutrient leaching; only a 'rain-forest-garden'
growing in Detroit.


Bill
The key is the amount of organic material, or humus, that you have in
your soil mix. With large amounts of humus, as in a rain forest or
your garden, there will be little leaching. But, with most
recreational gardens, there is a woeful lack of organic material in
the soil and so the soluable nutrients will surface run-off or be
pulled down with the water into the water table. That's the reason we
have so much stream and well contamination here in Oklahoma.

Bill