How to Plant Solar Fire Tomatoes

Solar Fire tomatos grow well in very hot weather.

Growing tomatoes in the blistering hot weather of southern Texas or Florida can be a real challenge. Many tomato varieties respond to excessive heat by failing to set fruit and cracking when irrigated. To combat this, university systems in Texas and Florida as well as commercial vegetable plant growers are continually developing heat-tolerant hybrids. One of these hybrid tomatoes is Solar Fire. Solar Fire is a determinate variety of tomato that grows to medium size and requires no pruning, sets fruit at warmer temperatures, resists cracking when irrigated and is resistant to a variety of tomato diseases.

Things You'll Need

• Seedling tray
• Potting soil
• Watering can
• Plastic wrap
• Shovel
• Garden hose

Instructions

1. Purchase solar fire tomato seeds from commercial seed growers such as Reimer seeds or the Harris Moran seed company. You can also purchase solar fire tomato plants and have them shipped to you from a specialty grower. Growers who sell solar fire transplants include Tomato Growers Supply Company.

2. Start seeds indoors six to eight weeks before transplanting them in a garden. Fill a seedling tray with peat moss. Hollow out a planting hole in the center of each cell of the seedling tray and place a tomato seed into the tray. Cover the seed with peat moss and water until it is as damp as a wrung-out sponge.

3. Cover the tray with plastic wrap and place it in a sunny windowsill until the seedlings germinate. Remove the plastic and continue to monitor the seedlings. Provide water whenever the soil feels dry to the touch.

4. Move the seedlings outdoors into the shade during daylight hours once all danger of frost has passed. Continue to do this for a week to harden off plants.

5. Open a planting hole in well-drained soil that receives eight hours of sunlight daily. The hole should be deep enough to bury the root and stem of the tomato up to its first true leaves. The tomato will develop roots along the stem. Place the tomato in the hole and fill in the hole with more soil.

6. Water the plant so that the soil becomes as damp as a wrung-out sponge.

References

• Texas A&M University Extension: Solar Fire Tomato
• Texas A&M University: Solar Fire Tomato--The Rodeo Tomato For 2006
• University of Florida IFAS Extension: UF's New Solar Fire Tomato Can Take The Heat

Resources

• Reimer Seeds: Solar Fire Tomato
• Harris Moran: Solar Fie
• Tomato Growers Supply Company: Tomatoes--Midseason