3 years and have been successfully growing
tomatoes the first 2 years. But I noticed last year that I didn’t get nearly
the same number of tomatoes that I harvested in previous years. I have a raised bed that I started with a blend of about 4:1 of cheap compost and our desert soil. The soil level is at least 2 1/2 feet deep. Each year I have continued adding compost from my own yard and vegetable scraps, at least 3-4 inches of compost each year. I have periodically used a Star Nursery fertilizer as well (the one designated “for vegetables/fruits”).
Irregular Production
production. Our desert climate is not the best climate for tomato production. We have a very
short spring sometimes. The spring months as well as the corresponding fall
weather, are the best times for tomato production here. When it gets too hot,
tomatoes stop producing. Tomatoes are very sensitive to both hot and cold
weather and have a more narrow acceptable temperature range than peppers or
eggplant which are in the same family.
stops 95°F. If bees are not working during the cooler parts of the day, you
will get poor fruit set. Pollinators are very important and if they are not
working when you need them or they have a very narrow window of opportunity
then production will be down. Fruit set in the cool spring usually means you
will get tomatoes in June and July and then they stop producing Et al. in August
because it was too hot for fruit set.
Soil Improvement
+compressed.jpg) |
| Desert soils that are raw (never in production before) are ripped deep with an irrigation trencher prior to preparation to open the soil for organic matter additions. |
You have to be very careful about compost and if
you use cheap compost your garden could be in trouble. When I prepare our
desert soil for production I use an equal mix of good compost and native soil
to begin with and I construct raised beds with outside walls. I will use
compost that I know is good quality or make my own. I emphasize this… there
is no good quality compost available for sale in Las Vegas. They are making
some compost at the Las Vegas Springs preserve which is pretty good stuff but
they are not allowed to sell it.
of production I add about half of the amount I used the first year. The
third-year I add about the same amount as the second year. By the third year,
that desert soil will become extremely productive. At that point, I only add
compost to the area that I’m planting, not the entire growing area.
12 to 18 inches. However, I do rip the soil as deep as I can with an irrigation
trencher when I first began constructing the raised beds.
compost without knowing what’s in it. I am going to put a caveat here… the
last time I looked one bagged compost that didn’t seem too bad was Kellogg’s.
However, I believe they were using biosolids from Southern California. I
believe the bag said not to use it for vegetables. I think this was available
either from Lowe’s or Home Depot but I have not looked for quite a while.
Good Varieties
 |
| Yellow pear tomato |
You don’t mention which varieties of tomatoes
you are using and that can have a huge impact on production. Usually, varieties
like Early Girl, Celebrity, Jet Star, Big Boy, Better Boy, and a grape
tomatoes, yellow pear and cherry tomatoes will set when others do not. A couple
of those plants are good indicators that least you are getting pollination.
varieties and make sure they get in early. Try to keep them out of windy
locations and you mention full sunlight but make sure they have a minimum of
six hours.
Pollination and Pollinators
just getting flowers that are heat tolerant, you need flowers that are blooming
at the right time as your tomatoes. Having bees coming to your yard during the
heat will not help tomato production. They need to be blooming at the same time
and this usually means spring flowering perennials and fruit trees.
mason bees. Rather than encourage that type of be which might struggle in our
climate I would encourage you to look at our native leafcutter bees which
pollinate alfalfa and other legumes. You might also consider clovers and other
legumes as a mix for attracting bees.
Finally the Hint
There are two ways of getting tomatoes to set fruit without pollinators. One is the use of applied hormones you can spray on the flowers to set fruit (parthenocarpically) without bees. These are sprays you can buy in the nursery.
The second method is a technique that green house growers use when they grow tomatoes because they dont have pollinators in their houses either. An electric toothbrush. It appears that the physical visit of a bee to the flower is not the only thing that trips the setting of fruit but the vibration caused by the wings of the bees. So when temperatures are good and you see flowers, walk over to your tomatoes and gently flick the flower clusters with your finger or use an electric toothbrush and vibrate the flower clusters for a few seconds to improve flower set.