Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

I'm in Orange county ca.

The coldest is a few days jan to march where we may get some frost.

Will tomato plants grow all year? So far in dec plants are going nuts with flower and fruit.

I figure i can cover on the coldest of days. I'm Trying to save time next year by holding over a plant or two.

I'm gonna try it but was curious about any others having success.

Tomatoes can go multiple years if the frost doesn’t get them. If you can cover them on the cold nights you shouldn’t have a problem.

CA is pretty much like many parts of Australia - particularly Western Australia.

Most West Aust AP'ers grow stuff all year round, though outside tomatoes would be seasonal.

In a hot house or green house you should be able to push the growing season.
Just need an option for cooling it down when the days get hot.

An example (from Victoria which is cooler/colder than WestAust and CA) is Food&Fish...
viewtopic.php?f=18&t=663&hilit=Tomatoes&start=2460
page 165 onwards talks about a great little hothouse setup.

Thanks for the info.

Thought of using a pvc pipe frame with thick plastic walls. Today have winds gusts up to 20 mph. Pvc and plastic may not hold in rough weather.

We will see and I'll keep you posted.

Figure to provide an update on holding over tomato plants. Using the PVC as a frame and covering the system during coldest nights resulted in plants staying alive. All 6 or 7 survived and even produced tomatoes during the winter months. During spring they were crazy with blooms and had tomatoes coming out of my ears. I pulled 3 of them have about 3 left and will cut them back and he them over 1 more year just for giggles.

I also managed to keep 3 chili plants. These are 3
About 3 summers old. Stems are built like little trees.

Holding over some varieties on veggies can be done.

Only one downside keeping the tomatoes for a few years, they will tend to have a crazy root system that will fill your bed and be a bit hard to remove.

True, when I pulled the others much of the roots came out with it, so far as I can tell. I presume the other remaining roots will be consumed by the worms in the system. So hopefully not too much of a nitrogen surge from rotting/decaying organic matter.