2024 Garden Tour | What's Going On With Our Tomatoes?

Welcome to our 2024 garden tour! Come see what we have growing in the main crop garden and help us figure out our tomato issues. (If you have recommendations that we haven't already tried, leave them in the comments!)

Enjoy this video, and thanks for being part of Homesteading Family.

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[centreeki-librecenter]

Hi can't believe I'm going to comment on this but I have no choice. Hihi I pretty much learn everything from you guys 1870.homestead, simple Alaska and little mountain ranch so ironic I would make a comment. Im in zone 4a northern New Brunswick in canada. I grow 300 to 400 pounds a year of tomatoes both determinate and indeterminate. No special trick here except plant late... We plant after the 4 of june (transplant) starting our plants in the end of march. Tried early lost all of them. We only have one chance at this but by the middle of August we usually star to havest until the end in september. No shade, no special diet no nothing really just hope for the best. Last year was a bad one because of all the rain but manage to get 195 pounds for 50 plants. Not the best but got salsa and pasta sauce hihi. I know this is maybe not helpful but maybe give you a little encouragement. Our temperature are from 13 c at night to 38c in day (55 to 100) so guessing it should be close. Not the specialist here but we just water in the morning and pray for the rest. Hope you have a wonderful harvest and lost of salsa. Thank you for everything and thanks you for teaching me so much. Marie ( sorry for the English mistake I'm very french lol)

[kaybusby]

Maybe a shade cloth. We have a lot of heat in Kansas and have found those do help. Best of luck we love tomatoes as well.

[cynthiaschoonover]

So many people are having troubles with tomatoes this year. Crazy!

[cyndisgreenoasis]

I am in north Idaho and I have had leaf curl on my tomatoes as well I saw on a video to use shade cloth and lo and behold no leaf curl!!!

[khearl]

Shade Drop the plastic use 70% shade cloth. I am in SC. But regardless to much direct sun when it’s really hot, shade cloth is a game changer.

[amandar]

Try shade cloth over the tunnel. No plastic, just shade cloth. It keeps temperature cooler in the day and doubles up as protection against wind. More importantly, for me in the UK, it helps against the sun’s harsh summer radiation. (Not that we’re getting much sun this year 🙄). I see your brassicas/beats are doing well under the insect netting. They’re also benefiting from wind damage. Same thing.

[PatsyMellen]

I’ve been watching ‘Little Mountain Ranch’ on YouTube and she lives in Canada and fights the same problem as you do with the weather. She buys her seeds from a company in the North. Her tomatoes look great. Look her up she’s fun to watch. She has a large family also. They have cattle, sheep, etc.

[rockyusa]

This season I didn't get a lot of peas as in the past or tomatoe production as well. I also grew 10 new tomatoe varieties. I did purchase shade cloth for next year hopefully.

[debrahenderson]

I live at the bottom of MC a few miles away. First, tomatoes have been failing for everyone this year. My garden hasn’t thrived with our crazy spring. As far as the tomatoes, I just keep mine pruned and let them do their thing. I don’t cater to them. I just don’t have the time. I grow Amish paste and Bonnie best. Both do very well and always have a great harvest. I know my micro climate is a bit warmer than yours, but I just leave them alone 😂. The rest of your garden looks fantastic. I’m starting the late fall garden starts tomorrow. After 3 years, the dang deer discovered the garden. I need to increase the height this fall. They ate all my brassicas, corn, and most of my squash. They are on the mend and hopefully will get something. The dogs and I are on deer alert and go out a few times at night to give a little scare. So far it’s working! Love your vids and your garden is always an inspiration to me. Your front area is so beautiful right now. I work at Good G. and pass your home everyday and always admire it. I can’t wait to see a vid on the project you’ve had going most of the summer 😊

[happyquilt]

Wow ! even with unhappy plants your garden looks great!

[alison]

We are in zone 5b (Maine) and we are doing ours in containers. We have all raised beds due to the clay and rocks in the soil. We also don’t have enough land cleared. We have 5 acres but it’s woodsy and very wet. Our tomatoes seem to really love containers. They all have flowers and some have fruit. All green still. We water first thing before the sun gets too hot and then at the end of the day if it doesn’t rain. Leaves look good here so far…

[LittleKi]

Josh, here's my impression from afar. Are you growing in compost you produced yourself? Also, what are you doing for fertilizer? If you're using compost as mulch, it looks a bit woody. Long-term, this is fine but, short term, it can significantly tie-up nitrogen. Also, in the north, soil microbes are inactive when it is cold and wet. Nutrients just do not get mineralized out of soil at the same rate as in the south. So, you can have nutrients sitting in your organic matter that just isn't getting broken down. When I look at slow peas and slow beans, I really think low mineralization rates or residual herbicides. As a test, I would whack a few of them with some organic fertilizer and see what happens. If you really want a test, cringe and whack them with some MiracleGro and see if they take off. If they do, you'll know that nutrients might actually be your answer and then you can go back to playing with organic methods. Leaf curl can also be caused by over fertilization but yours just don't look robust enough that I would think that is the case. Leaf curl can also be caused by viruses spread by insects. There are particular things to look for but I am guessing you've already looked those up.

[kayleverson]

Thank you for all the work you and Caroline put into your videos!
I have been organically gardening in the UP for over 23 years. I am wondering if you have tried connecting with other gardeners in your area that have had successfully grown productive tomato plants and have them save you seeds from those productive plants. Those plants have acclimated to your area.
15+ years ago a gentleman from our area let us dig out some blackberry canes from a patch that had been around for 100 years. They are still doing fantastic, 10’ tall canes loaded with berries. The varieties I purchased online and planted around the same time, are struggling and are not very productive.
Hopefully you will get an adequate harvest this year! Happy gardening!

[justbychance]

I say variety choices. I have all kinds of variety planted and some just do better in certain areas. I've had some right next to others that curl badly and the next plant is amazing. Volunteers from year before of course seem to do best. I let them grow. I'm in East SD zone 5 torcher zone. 😊

[debarnold]

My tomatoes struggled badly in our greenhouse, but once I got them in the ground they recovered somewhat, but we aren't going to see a good harvest and I can't figure out why either. Going to definitely read through the comments for suggestions. Out biggest nemesis this year is grasshoppers, the worse I have seen. I'm just chalking all this up to an "off" year.

[goathead]

I grew 150 gallons of tomatoes right north of you. Early girl. Vinegar in a distiller outside will clean up the kem trails. Mix Epsom salt in water and spray it on the leaves in the evnings. My 2 cents

[mikegaumer]

Watch Living Traditions Homestead video about their struggle with tomatoes. They live in Missouri. I know you were looking for information from people who live in the north, however, this video that Living Traditions Homestead did this year on their struggle with tomatoes might help you. I wonder if the tomatoes need more magnesium and other minerals, etc. Hope this helps you!!

[sarahg]

I'm in northern Idaho and I start our tomatoes from seed, (they reseed like weeds if we let them drop) and I basically neglect them and they thrive. The only thing I can think that I do differently is to plant them with lots of marigolds all around and they may be benefitting from the beneficial effects of the marigolds inhibiting nematodes from damaging the tomato roots. Flowers planted strategically all around helps my garden so much!

[mh]

Minnesota here zone 4. A couple years ago i decided to only ground wa5er my garden. After about a month, my tomato plants were getting the curl. At first thought it was my neighbor who sprays, but nope, they hadnt sprayed. I heard some advice on a plant radio show. As it turns out, they were not getting enough moisture in the leaves. We hadnt had much rain that year. I started give them a light spray and using my sprinkler early mornings a couple times per week. The leaf curl cleared up. Im no garden expert, but this worked that year.

[AnnBaileyThunderlungs]

I’m just south of London (yes, England) and I have leaf curl this year too!??!