Tomatoes Loving the Hot Weather and Setting Fruit

Seattle has been having an unusually warm summer, with average highs in the mid-70s to mid-80s in June and July. My tomato plants have been loving this weather and have set fruit earlier than they have in the three years I've been growing tomatoes.

The tomato beds on July 14th 

Two Sungold and one Green Zebra plant are 3-4' tall by July 14th

A third Sungold plant is also about 3.5' tall 

The first two Sungolds, planted from 1 gallon containers, were about 2' tall when transplanted on June 9th. Both already had two 1-cm fruit set and several open flowers at the time they were transplanted. New fruit set took less than 20 days from transplant since the flowers had already formed and about 40-45 days from transplant to color break. Newer fruit are also taking about 25 days from fruit set to blush. This is much faster than the 30-35 days from fruit set to blush (or about 70 days from transplant to color break) in 2012, when the average daytime temperatures were about 5-10 degrees cooler.  

The first fruit breaking on the first Sungold plant on July 14th

 The same truss on the first Sungold plant on July 16th

The first fruit also breaking on the second Sungold plant on July 14th

The same truss on the second Sungold plant on July 16th

A Green Zebra was planted on June 9th from a 4" pot and also took less than 20 days to set fruit. By July 16th, it had four fruit, the largest being about 1.5" in diameter.

The largest fruit on a Green Zebra plant is about 1.5" in diameter on July 16th

The larger black tomatoes also started setting fruit by July 16th. These included Cherokee Purple, Paul Robeson, Black Prince, Black Krim, Vorlon, and Rosella Purple, one of the plants from the Dwarf Tomato Project.

Cherokee Purple had set fruit by July 14th

Black Prince plant on July 14th

Black Prince also started setting fruit by July 16th

 A Paul Robeson plant with a megabloom by July 14th

A closer view of the Paul Robeson megabloom 

 Black Krim on July 16th

Another megabloom on a Rosella Purple on July 14th

Flowers but no fruit on Vorlon by July 14th

Fruit set on Vorlon by July 16th

The other black tomatoes (Spudakee and Black and Red Boar) had several open flowers but no fruit set by July 14th. 

Flowers but no fruit on Spudakee by July 14th

Last year I grew Isis Candy from seed, but the fruit formed were not the expected reddish-orange fruit with characteristic starburst. Instead, I got perfectly round 1" red fruit that got sweeter, almost as sweet as Sungold, by the end of the season. I saved seed from a few of the fruit, and I grew a few plants. I'm calling them "NOT Isis Candy F2", and I planted two plants and gave away a few plants to friends to grow out. 

 Flowers but no fruit on a NOT Isis Candy F2 plant