Crop fact sheet · Warm season · frost tender
Tomato
Not in season right now in Houston. Dates below.
Your dates in Houston
| Window | Order seed by | Start indoors | Plant | First harvest |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spring 2027 | Dec 14 | Jan 4 | Feb 22 – Apr 12 | from May 3 |
| Fall 2027 | Jun 24 | Jul 15 | Sep 2 – Sep 16 | from Nov 11 |
Worked out from AgriLife planting windows (days before/after average frost) and Houston's average frost dates. "Order seed by" is our own 3-week heads-up, not an AgriLife date.
The numbers
- How to plant
- Set out transplants 0.5" deep, 42" apart, rows 42" apart.
- Days to harvest
- 70–90 days
- Yield per 10 ft of row
- about 10 lb (100 lb per 100 ft of row)
- Replant every
- 38 days for a steady harvest
- Keeps producing
- about 5.7 weeks
- Start indoors
- 7 weeks before planting out
- Sun
- Full sun
- Family
- Solanaceae (for rotation)
Water
Water slowly and deeply to build strong roots, and do not let plants wilt severely or yield and fruit quality will suffer. Avoid big swings in soil moisture, which cause fruit disorders.
Feeding
- At planting: 2 to 3 lb of 10-10-10 per 100 sq ft mixed into the top 3 to 4 inches, or 2 level tablespoons per planting hole.
- Early season: Scatter 1 level tablespoon around each plant about 6 inches from the stalk, work in lightly and water.
- First fruit set: Side-dress at first fruit set, then 1 to 2 level tablespoons per plant every 3 to 4 weeks. Avoid excess nitrogen, which delays maturity and cuts yield.
Not sure what your soil needs? Get a soil test first.
Texas heat
AgriLife's tomato production guide says bloom drop and poor fruit set occur above 92 F because pollination fails, and high humidity makes it worse (optimum is 80-85 F days, 60-70 F nights). Oklahoma State (EPP-7627) adds that night temperatures outside 55-70 F inhibit pollination. In the AgriLife Easy Gardening table the fix is mulch, water and heat-tolerant varieties. For late-June/July plantings AgriLife names Heatwave, Sunmaster, Solar Fire and Solar Set.
Pests to watch
- hornworm
- stink bug
- whitefly
- spider mites
- flea beetle
Diseases
- early blight
- bacterial spot
- Fusarium wilt
- Verticillium wilt
What to do about them: pest sheet · what's wrong with my plant?
When it's ready
Best picked at full color. Fruit picked at the pink (breaker) stage, when the blossom end first shows pink, will finish ripening at room temperature.
Storing it
Ripen pink fruit at room temperature and refrigerate only after it reaches full color. Green tomatoes keep 1 to 3 weeks at 50 to 70 F; ripe fruit 4 to 7 days.
Texas tips
- For a fall crop, transplant about 100 days before the first expected frost.
- Stake or cage: trellising reduces fruit rot and makes harvest easier.
- Set transplants slightly deeper than they grew; leggy plants can be laid at an angle.
- Masabni (AgriLife) suggests 3 to 4 staggered plantings, starting new seed about every 5 to 6 weeks, and switching to heat-tolerant varieties for late-June/July plantings.
Varieties that do well in Texas
Celebrity, Better Boy, Big Beef, Carnival, Homestead, Bush Beefsteak, Juliet, Small Fry, Cherry Grande, Heatwave, Solar Set, Solar Fire, Sunmaster, Porter Improved, Roma