Growing Tomatoes in Montgomery County, TX

I am currently enrolled in the Master Gardener's course for Montgomery County.  Our last class talked about vegetable gardening and specifically about growing tomatoes.  It was taught by Thomas LeRoy, Montgomery County Horticulturist, TAMU.

This is his 'Guide to Successful Tomato Production in Montgomery County'


Step 1 - At planting, work in about 1/4-1/2 cup of slow release fertilizer such as cotton seed meal, osmocote or something similar.  Water the plants well after planting and place a tomato cage or stake by the plant.  Using cages will make step 2 easier.

[Staking versus Caging - which is best?  Whichever you like.  Tom likes caging better.  Caging produces smaller tomatoes, but more lbs of tomatoes per plant.  He uses concrete wire to form his cages - cut into 6 foot pieces.] 

For a 12"-18" tall plant, remove the lower leaves, then dig a trench and lay
the plant down, turning the tip of plant up.  For smaller plants, plant as
you would a regular plant.

Step 2 - Covering the cages with the tops open with some material such as "Floating Row Cover" (a light polyester material) or white or clear plastic bags will protect the young plants from the drying wind and greatly increases plant vigor and production.  In the event of a late freeze, the covers will help with frost protection as well.  

Leave row cover on until plants are about 1/2 up the cage.

Step 3 - A weekly application of water soluble fertilizer, sprayed on the tomato foliage will greatly increase plant vigor and fruit production.  A hose-end fertilizer applicator is one easy way to foliar feed your tomato plants.  Soluble fertilizers like Rapid Grow or  Miracle Grow.

You can spray the foliar spray right through the row cover.  Then spray directly
on the foliage of the plant after removing the row cover.

Step 4 - When the plants have set their first cluster of fruit, side dress with two to three tablespoons of ammonium sulfate [21-0-0] and water well.

[Fruit-set is affected by night temperatures.  Night temperatures below 50 degrees F delays the time from pollination to fertilization causing flower drop.  Bloom Set is a hormone that makes the flower hang on longer during cold nights.



Night temperatures above mid 70's disrupts pollen shed causing flower drop on large fruited varieties.  Cherry and paste tomatoes continue to fruit during the heat after the larger varieties have stopped.

Don't remove any shoots above the last cluster of flowers.



If you pick tomatoes when 10-30% of the tomato shows a change in color, the interior of the tomato will be fully ripe and after ripening on the counter it will have full ripened taste.  The benefit to doing this is you can save the tomato before the birds get to it. 

Refrigeration will increase the storage of tomatoes, but it will change the taste.

Get your tomatoes out early in the season for more production.  Because we've had such a mild winter, you can even put them out now.]

HERE is a printable handout of this information (without my added notes in brackets.)

Varieties Recommended for our Area (average lbs of fruit per plant):



Bush Celebrity (61)

Solar Set (53)

Dona (53)

Carnival (54)

Heatwave (50)

Early Girl (50)

Champion (73)

Celebrity

Sun Gold

Cherry Tomatoes:
Juliet (57)
Baxter's Early Bush
Sweet Chelsea
Yellow Pear (heirloom)
Jolly

Paste Tomato:
Viva Italia

Tumbling Tom - cascades and comes back in the fall

Heirloom Tomato Varieties - They don't produce very well here.  They only produce 5-8 lbs per plant on average.


Some Additional Information:

TAMU Easy Gardening - Tomatoes

Tom LeRoy Tomato Trials in Montgomery County