By Clint Thompson
Florida tomato plants will soon be in the ground for the 2024-25 season.
For some producers, like University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS) tomato breeder Jessica Chitwood-Brown, that means plants go in the ground this week. Commercial growers in central and southern Florida will start planting towards the end of the month.
Chitwood-Brown outlined the timeframe for Florida tomato farmers planting this year’s crop.
“In my area in central Florida and here at the research center we’re pretty early. We will actually start planting (week of Aug. 5),” she noted. “Most people will start transplanting towards the end of August, and they’ll keep transplanting through September depending on where they are. The further south you go the more that is delayed.
“For example, down towards the Miami-Dade area, towards Homestead, they will plant, starting in maybe October. I think they start around October and keep planting all the way … I think the latest things I saw this year were planted around Jan. 1.
“They’re hitting a particular market window with that strategy.”
Fall Temperatures
Fall production leads to challenges for producers, specifically pertaining to heat. High temperatures threaten yield production.
“You’re planting into the heat, so depending on when you plant, the plants are trying to flower under that really high temperature and that can cause losses of yield, which is why we at UF are breeding for heat tolerance,” Chitwood-Brown said. “It’s sort of opposite of the spring. In the spring you plant into the cool weather. Depending on where you are in the state, you’re hoping you’ve missed the last freeze. Here we start planting in January, and keeping our fingers crossed we don’t get a late freeze, which has happened. Then it gets hot towards the end of the season. But when you’re planting in the fall it’s the opposite, you’re planting into the heat and then it gets cooler.”