Tomatoes - Growing in the Tropics

Growing tomatoes in the tropics can't be all that hard.. right!?!

Come on... Think about it. Tomatoes originate from the tropical and sub-tropical Andes mountains, and was cultivated by the Aztecs in Central America when the Spanish arrived. Given its tropical origins, you would think that it wouldn't just thrive, but that it would be easy.

Sure... And I'm a tomatoes uncle.

The truth is that tomatoes do really well in the tropics, but plant diseases that cause a few problems in temperate zones tend to be present in tropical growing zones all year long. Bacterial wilt, being our biggest problem... And so-called resistant varieties may be resistant to temperate versions of that disease causing pathogen, R. solanacearum, but here in the tropics, where the pathogen can breed all year long without taking a winter break. Well, the resulting pathogen is a super strain of the disease causing bacterium.

Okay, so maybe I'm exaggerating. Tomatoes grow really, really well here, as do peppers and various other members of the Solanaceae family. I remember when I was a kid, we'd find tomatillos growing wild in the jungle near our house. Of course, when I managed to identify the plant using the Encyclopedia Britannica, I was positive that I was looking at a tomatillo. Leaf shape, fruit shape, and husk seemed to match... But I'd be a monkey's uncle if I was going to eat fruit from a plant that I, a precocious child of 8 or 9 years old, had identified from sketches in a book. Now, I was positive it was a tomatillo. I was even positive the fruit weren't poisonous. But I'd also read the part that the plant was from the poisonous nightshade family, and my family wasn't exactly wanting for food... So, I decided to just chalk it up as interesting knowledge, and moved on. I'd totally forgotten about it until recently.

So, welcome to my tomato forum, because the Lord knows that if there's one thing people with a gardening bent like to do, it is to talk about their tomatoes. I swear, I saw the same person post exactly the same thing about his tomatoes on at least 4 different tomato blogs, including pictures. Makes you wonder how sane gardeners really are...

In my case, however, the verdict is in. I'm not what you'd call entirely sane. But none of us ever are.