Monday, May 17, 2010

Growing Tomatoes in Kihei



Tomatoes are the queen of the garden. It is true that tomatoes can be grown all year in Hawaii but there are a few things to know about growing tomatoes in Kihei.

Tomato blossoms are somewhat fragile. Temps above 85 degrees can sterilize the pollen or dehydrate the blossom before it produces fruit. Blossoms can also be damaged by powdery mildew which is ever present in the air at sea level. And, temps above 85 degrees tend to cause severe cracking in tomatoes over 2 ounces.

Paul Robeson
A medium size black heirloom tomato from Russia

Paul Robeson
(In the 3 to 6 o'clock positions)

I've found that tomatoes over 2 ounces grow better when planted from seed in September or October. Most heirloom tomatoes need 120 days from seed until the first ripening fruit. When these types of tomatoes are started in September/October they'll usually ripen with minimal cracking in January/February, the coolest months of the year.
Cherry and the small plum/grape tomatoes have a longer growing season in Kihei as most of these tomatoes don't crack from the heat. For best results, I recommend planting cherry tomatoes from August through April. Seedlings or transplants beginning their their growth cycle during the summer tend to struggle due to the higher temps and intense sun.

Pink Bumble Bee & Sunrise Bumble Bee

I start tomato seeds in quart size milk cartons that are cut in half or other small recycled containers filled with organic potting soil. In about 1 month they're large enough to transplant into 15 gallon size Smart Pots filled with an organic potting soil.

Tomato Plants in Smart Pots Growing Behind The Pepper Plants

At the time I transplant the seedlings, I amend the potting soil with blood meal, fish bone meal, ground egg shells, agricultural epsom salt (for magnesium), green sand and an all-purpose fertilizer. All of the products I use are OMRI or organic. The plants need daily water and generous monthly applications of an organic all-purpose fertilizer.

Lisos Grandes
 A prolific variety from Spain


Lisos Grandes Plants Beginning to Fruit in a Garden Bed

Love Apple Farm has a detailed post on how they grow their famous heirloom tomatoes.


Powdery mildew, mites, white flies, aphids and leafminer flies can affect my tomato plants throughout the year. Spraying the plants with the various OMRI products is time consuming and expensive. I've found the best remedy is to keep the plants well fertilized.

Dana's Dusky Rose (7 oz - purple)
Don's Double Delight (1.5 lb red stripe)

There are a few pests that affect the fruit and the worst one is the melon fruit fly. These flies begin mating in mid-April and continue through summer months and will attack ripening tomatoes and tomatillos. In my garden, they haven't bothered the 1 ounce size cherry or small plum/grape tomatoes.

The female melon fly sticks the ripening tomato and deposits eggs under the skin and the eggs develop into what look like white maggots. The only option is to protect the fruit from the flies which is not that easy with tomatoes. This is another reason to plant the larger tomatoes in the fall and grow cherry tomatoes in the spring and summer.

If the tomato plant isn't too large it could be protected from melon fruit flies with a tulle tent, the individual tomatoes could be protected with small paper bags, organza drawstring bags or the fruit can be harvested early and allowed to ripen inside the house or outside under some type of protection. Even if the tomatoes are no longer attached to the plant, the melon fruit flies will still attack them

Yellow Furry Boar

Birds will damage the ripening tomatoes, especially the cherry tomatoes. The best defense against birds is to use the plastic netting available online at many of the garden stores. I've found this product locally at both ACE and Kula Hardware. Although more time consuming, small paper bags or organza drawstring bags work for birds too. Twice within the last 4 years, I've found what looked like a tomato horn worm on or in a tomato but so far they haven't become a problem in my garden.

I've been asked about tomato blight diseases and I recently watched a number of YouTube videos on this topic. I don't think blight disease has affected my plants but it does require laboratory testing to actually determine.
Ocean Gardener has written posts about blight affecting his plants in Kula.

An organic program for treating tomato plant diseases:
Hydrogen Peroxide & Baking Soda Home Remedies for Garden Tomato Plant Diseases

How to Make an Aspirin Spray & Drench for Tomatoes To Activate Natural Defenses

Tomato plants will regrow if they're cut back or if they're damaged by high winds. Sometimes when the plants are damaged by powdery mildew and the main stems look okay, I'll cut the plant back - it will usually regrow and produce tomatoes again.

Flamme

One of the most productive small tomatoes I've grown is the Flamme (aka - Jaune Flamme). It's yellow-orange, about the size of a golf ball and it is so ono. It holds up well in the heat with minimal cracking as do the cherry tomatoes.

Tsungshigo Grape

Cherry and grape tomatoes are the easiest tomatoes to dry. I slice them in half, remove the seeds and dry them in a dehydrator. They're delicious added to pasta or as salad garnish. They can also be partially dried and preserved in olive oil with rosemary or other herbs.


TomatoFest is a good source for organic, heirloom, open pollinated tomato seeds.

If you can't find a source for a favorite tomato seed, or any other favorite see
Seed Savers Seed Exchange
is an excellent resource for purchasing hard to find seeds from a network of gardeners/farmers.

And for some of the most outrageous organic tomatoes available on the planet check out 

29 comments:

  1. Aloha ,
    A member of tomatoville shared this site with me. You have given me hope. I am presently growing some U.H. Manoa N-63 and Kewalo cherry. I almost gave up on heirlooms , but the Cherokee Purple was the winner. It only gave me 3 tomatoes , but I was happy with them. Mahalo ,
    Tom ,Honolulu

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    1. Hi Tom - where do you live in Hawaii? I just started to plant my winter tomato seeds and will be planting more through Sept. If you live on Maui I will have extra seedling plants I can share with you in October. I had good luck with Cherokee at first when Maui was still in a drought but the last few years they haven't done very well. (I need to update my tomato post.)I have a few others that have been real producers - I can mail seeds to you if you live on a different island. You cam email me at kitchengardenmaui@gmail.com Aloha, Jane

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    2. Oh sorry I see you are in Honolulu - email your address to me and I will send you seeds of varieties that have grown well for me.

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  2. Aloha Jane,
    I live on Oahu. I have tried Baker Creek seeds. Cherokee Purple ,Fox Cherry , bell peppers,none really did to well in containers, for me. I did get rid of all my potting soil and switched to Hydroton and coco coir with some perlite. I also got seeds from U.H. Manoa and their doing great. One fox cherry is still hanging in there, but has some leafroll. I thank you for the offer of sending me seeds. But really I have plenty of Baker creek seeds that I can send to you. I'm done with heirlooms for now. I have 3 kind squash, tom thumb peas, cherokee, leeks, peppers all 2017 seeds. All yours to share if you like. Let me know.
    Aloha,
    Tom

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    1. Hi Tom,
      If you aren't adding fertilizer to your potting soil that may be the problem. I highly recommend using Nutririch - you should be able to find it in Honolulu. September is the best month to plant larger tomatoes and December is the best month to plant peppers but they both need fertilizer to start with and fertilizer added each month in order to grow and produce. Here is a link to a post about the product. http://akitchengardeninkiheimaui.blogspot.com/2010/06/fertilizer-recommendation-for-maui.html
      Aloha,
      Jane

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  3. Yes,I used Miricle grow liquid mix. Now with the hydroton, I use Fox Farms grow big. The plants did fine before, just no tomatoes. The flowers just blew away. That's why I changed seeds. I have 15 tomato plants 3 inches tall, 8 kawalo cherry 12 inches tall, 6 green pepper same size and 6-7 pepperochini peppers 3-4 inches tall. Seems like they are all happy. I am interested in Hauula tomatoes next. We'll see how it turns out.
    Aloha,
    Tom

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  4. Well I don't know why you aren't getting any tomatoes. The only thing I can say from my experience is that most vegetables and herbs can't handle the intense sub-tropical summer sun and the heat so I try to time my tomatoes and annual peppers to produce their main crops prior to July as from July until October the summer climate where I am is just too adverse for growing most herbs and annuals.

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    1. That is exactly what happened. The N-63 from U.H. is hybrid from wild tomatoes and something else. I'm still going to keep trying to see what will work. But for now I need to find a way to make space for what is growing now.
      Have a good one. Aloha

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    2. You should have better luck getting your seedlings to set fruit as we are coming into the cooler months. I could go on an on about the challenges of growing anything here during the summer. Well good luck with your fall tomatoes!

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  5. Aloha Jane
    I have been busy and finally got some time to update you. After some reasearch, I found that my plants were not getting enough nutrition. I changed somethings and got with the Foxfarms plan and what a difference. The tomatoes came like gangbusters. Now I'm growing Fushimi peppers,pepperichino's& japanese cucumbers. I did have a spat with Aphids and took care of them with Dawn dishwashing soap mix. Now just keeping my ph and nutrition in check,and things are doing fantastic. Thanks and Aloha,
    Have a great day. Tom

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    1. Wow that's great to news!! I'm the one having trouble this year as we have had some unusually cold nights that have damaged my tomato and basil plants. But the last of the radicchio was loving the colder temps.

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  6. Just found your blog today while looking for some local tips. What a great resource! I am new to growing and live in a high rise in Honolulu so I only have room on the lanai to grow things in pots. But I've had a lot of success with tumbling tom yellow tomatoes in a hanging basket. They're delicious little tomatoes!

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    1. Mahalo for your appreciation! That's so cool that you're growing on your lanai. I lived in Honolulu from 1991 through 99 but I didn't have a garden then. I've seen Tumbling Tom at Home Depot - I'll have to try growing that one.

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  7. Hi Jane I’m on Maui in Lahaina would love to chat with you about growing. Maybe extra seedlings?

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    1. Hi Jessica - I will start to plant seeds this month and I always have extra seedlings. I have some sweet potato starts for Beauregard (orange)and Garnet (orange) they will be transplantable in about a week to 10 days. Are you on FB?

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  8. Thanks for sharing.
    I'm growing tomatoes in Keaau and got tons of production this summer and fall in my first year here. I've used the UH seeds and got the best results from the cherry tomatoes. . The bigger types split from rain, so I need to pick them while they're still green. One local grower suggest covering the root ball in high rain areas and hand watering, which I might try as well.
    I used no chemical fertilizer this year. I grew 100% organic with pretty minimal effort.
    I used compost no dig method, topped with mulch and occasionally water with simple compost tea.
    I'd recommend to adopt an organic gardening approach to protect the land, the animals and insects, and yourself. In the past when I grew with chemical fertilizers I had lots of flower drop and couldn't really get fruit to set.

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    1. Wow that's great! My garden has been organic from the start I don't really know anything about growing with chemicals. I have to cover things to deal with the bugs but it's worth the effort

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  9. Hello, visiting a friend in Kihei from my home in Arkansas. My friend in Kihei is interested in growing tomatoes for the first time. I'm comfortable providing instructions for Arkansas. I see that some methods are the same but some are very different. I'm looking for resources for her - simple localized instructions, plant recommendations, etc. I'll be too far away to provide detailed assistance. Do you have suggestions, please?

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    1. Hi Brian - now is a good time to plant tomatoes in Kihei. The easiest way to get started is to purchase the tomato plant starts from the box stores (Home Depot, Walmart, Lowes). They have varieties that usually grow well in Kihei. The winter months are the best time to plant in Kihei.

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    2. Thanks, Jane! Good advice. In Arkansas I would prepare the soil (in the ground or in a container), ensure great southern exposure, bury about 60-80% of a good leggy plant, water it in well for a while and then back off to an inch of water a week, while watching for known local pests, pick suckers from indeterminate plants, and feed at the times recommended locally. And we have to rush the plants since we have limited growing season here; I'm not even sure if you have a seasonal limit to your growing season (can you grow a single plant all year?? :-) ). These are the kind of local Maui instructions I'm looking for--what are your local pests, length of growing season, feeding times, biggest risks (mildew, fungus, insects) and prevention / mitigation... Rodale Press and other publications are written for the mainland. Suggestions?

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    3. I cover most of this in my post. It's too hot to grow tomatoes from July through September. Even though the temps are between 87 to 92 the summer sun is very intense at this latitude and damages the blossoms. Tomatoes need a lot of water here and regular applications of fertilizer. Nutri-Rich which I cover in my blog (just search it)works really well and is very economical.

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  10. Aloha!
    We live in Olowalu and I am having difficulty growing cherry tomato's in my greenhouse. Thank you for the advice. I will try your recommendations. I am originally from the midwest and would like to have a great garden as I did there. It has been a tough challenge for me. Mahalo for all you do!

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    1. Mahalo for your appreciation! I'm not sure why you would have problems on Oluwalu. It's been cooler than normal but in a greenhouse the dip in temperatures shouldn't have affected your plants. Everything needs a lot of water at the lower elevations especially when it's windy. Good luck!

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  11. I'm taking your advice and starting tomatoes anew from seed this month. Hopefully can avoid the curling leaves and stunted growth that I believe was viral and, later in spring early summer, the whitefly...p

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    1. The only two real issues I've had with tomatoes are powdery mildew and mealy tomatoes. The powdery mildew is just a fact of life gardening in Kihei at least it's an intermittent issue so it doesn't happen all the time. And I did find lots of varieties that don't produce mealy tomatoes. Tomatoes need a lot of fertilizer and a lot of water. Try Nutri-Rich it's available at BEI in Waikapu. It works for everything and is so reasonably priced. I have a post about it - look for "My Favorite Fertilizer" on the side bar.

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  12. Aloha! I'm so happy that I stumbled across your blog. I am at about 300' elevation on the Hamakua Coast of the Big Island. It is mid-March and I'm taking your advice about only planting smaller varieties of tomatoes at this time of year. Having said that, do you have a specific favorite variety that you recommend?

    Meanwhile, I'm going to start my planning for fall planting. Having lived in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida before moving here, I eventually learned to employ the same strategy for planting tomatoes in the fall as summers were just too brutal there.

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    1. I apologize I just saw your comment today. Flamme is probably my favorite as it's so ono and has a long growing season. Other favorite varieties are Rose d'Berne, Sunshine/Pink/Purple Bumblebee, Black Cherry, Maglia Rosa. It seems our coastal climate is similar to south Florida coastal climate. But I think Florida does get some cold spells during the winter months which I don't experience in Kihei.

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