Growing Tomatoes in West Texas

by John Cappadonna

By John Cappadonna, Master Gardener

If you have struggled to grow large tomatoes in the past, then listen up. The problem with tomatoes is that they are tropical plants and pollinate effectively only within a specific temperature range. That range is above 50˚F but below 65˚F at night and below 85˚F during the day. These numbers are not exact; they may vary by a few degrees due to factors such as humidity or moisture levels.

In the spring, those temperatures only occur in April here in West Texas. Once again, this varies slightly by year. There may be a few days in March and May that fall within the right range. If you shoot for the April sweet spot, you won't go wrong.

Here comes the rub! For a spring / Summer crop, you must plant your transplants between February 15th and March 1st. To do that, you need to start your seeds indoors on January 15th. Most nurseries and garden centers don't have their tomato plants out that early. You will most likely have to start your seeds indoors. I like my tomato plants to be between 4 and 6 weeks old when they are planted. If I plant my seeds indoors on January 15th, they are just right.

I watch the long-range forecast beginning about February 15th, and as soon as conditions are favorable, I get them in the ground. Here in Midland, our average last freeze is March 27th, so it is necessary to protect the newly planted seedlings. I do that with a layer of AG-19 row cover. In the photo, you can see that I have shade cloth and row cover on. This is not necessary to install the shade cloth, but I did just for convenience. You must leave the row cover on for about a month to protect the plants from frost until the frost risk has passed. Around April 1st, I remove the row cover and install my cages before the plants get too large. At that point, the plants will begin to flower. I go out each morning at about 10:00 AM and hand-pollinate using an ultrasonic pollination tool. I check each and every blossom and touch the tip of the vibrating tool to any receptive flowers. Tomato flowers are only receptive to fertilization for about 50 hours. If they are not pollinated at that time, they abort and fall off. This hand-pollination process continues for about 40 days. At the end of that time, my determinate plants will slow flowering significantly. By then, you should have 20 or 25 tomato fruits on each plant.

Tomato plants will self-fertilize, but they need some outside force to dislodge the pollen. That could be wind, an animal shaking the plant, ora bee. In West Texas, bees are seldom responsible for pollination. I hand-pollinate using an ultrasonic tool to maximize fruit set. On 8 Celebrity Plus plants, I would expect to produce about 200 tomatoes. Of course, this also varies year to year depending on the conditions.

I know a lot of people love heirloom varieties, I do too, but you will make a lot more tomatoes planting determinate varieties like Celebrity, Celebrity Plus, or Tycoon. The reason is that heirloom varieties are almost always indeterminate, and they only set a few fruits at once, so you only get a handful of fruits before the heat shuts pollination down.

There are exceptions. Most cherry tomatoes are much more heat-tolerant and will continue to produce even during hot weather. I am sorry to say I don't know why, but it is true. If you can't get your tomatoes planted until April, plant a cherry tomato. Cherry tomatoes also benefit from early planting, but they will continue to produce through hot weather. My three Super Sweet 100 plants produced approximately 3,000 fruits last season. No, that is not a mistake! 3000 marble-sized tomatoes! I planted them on February 26th. My 16 Celebrity Plus and Defiant determinate varieties made approximately 400 tomatoes. Last year was a good, perhaps even exceptional, year due to the prolonged spring and mild summer, which enabled exceptional fruit set.

Of course, to make this work, you must have good soil. Good soil = good garden. Now is the time to start planning and preparing your beds!

If you have questions, call the AgriLife office in Odessa at 498-4071 or in Midland at 686-4700.   Additional information and our blog, with access to past articles, are available at westtexasgardening.org.  Click on “Resources."