09-25-2020, 07:33 PM
"We do like tomatoes, but I heard they do not grow well in Hawaii."
Actually, they grow really well here. Oddly enough, the "Hawaii" tomatoes developed by the university are some of the worst performers we've found.
The keys to success aren't that difficult. You'll need to protect them from the rain to keep them from splitting, and you'll want to stick with thick skinned varieties. Use a good tomato-specific fertilizer with calcium so you don't get blossom end rot. You can get a season or two before the blights start affecting the plants and then you'll have to grow something else in the soil for a year or so. We grow ours in pots under a clear tarp, though there are some varieties we grow that do well in regular raised beds. Being a smooth-skinned fruit it's easy to clean them to make sure there is no RLW.
Actually, they grow really well here. Oddly enough, the "Hawaii" tomatoes developed by the university are some of the worst performers we've found.
The keys to success aren't that difficult. You'll need to protect them from the rain to keep them from splitting, and you'll want to stick with thick skinned varieties. Use a good tomato-specific fertilizer with calcium so you don't get blossom end rot. You can get a season or two before the blights start affecting the plants and then you'll have to grow something else in the soil for a year or so. We grow ours in pots under a clear tarp, though there are some varieties we grow that do well in regular raised beds. Being a smooth-skinned fruit it's easy to clean them to make sure there is no RLW.