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Madison Co. Virginia | Determinates can still hang on for a surprisingly long time. I planted 'Red Deuce' in my mom's hoophouse in April of 2025, since she was too busy otherwise to use that hoophouse. I got a nice crop off of them through late June, then when production lagged, I turned over any future production to my mom. They kept producing right up until October; not a huge quantity, but enough to keep her farmstand supplied.
One real advantage of determinates is the ease of trellising them. Drive a T-stake at each end of the row, and drive in a 4-foot piece of #4 rebar every four to six feet apart. Run four passes of twine through the crop in a typical 'Florida Weave' pattern, as the plants grow. Indeterminates are much taller, and need a much stouter trellising system.
A friend of mine has dialed in on his ideal method of raising tomatoes. He's supplying his own farm store, and selling surplus at a produce auction. He makes four plantings of 'Red Deuce' and 'Red Morning'; the first one in a heated hoophouse, and the rest are no-tilled into a field of terminated rye. Those give him a very even production from early June through frost. Everything is using the 'Florida Weave' pattern. | |
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More stuff I didn't know. about tomato's
