Just tried planting tomatoes in the shade on purpose and got way more fruit

I have this spot along my fence that only gets about 4 hours of direct sun a day. Everyone says tomatoes need full sun so I always ignored it. But last spring I got a late start and had extra seedlings so I stuck 3 of them back there just to see what would happen. By August those plants were loaded with tomatoes while my full sun ones were dropping flowers in the heat. The fruits were a bit smaller but there were way more of them and they tasted just as good. I learned that in my yard afternoon shade actually helps during those 95 degree stretches. Has anyone else had better luck with plants in less sun than the directions say?

2 comments

2 Comments

sandraflores4d ago

Is this really THAT big of a deal though? Like you're acting like you cracked the code on tomato growing but ONE season doesn't prove much. I had a similar thing happen with my peppers one year and then the next summer the "shade spot" just grew moldy plants.

jordan_webb4d ago

Wait, but did you actually count the total weight of fruit from each spot? I tried this exact thing last year and my "shade" plants produced more tomatoes but they were tiny and the plants got all leggy and diseased way faster. Meanwhile my full sun plants gave me fewer but way bigger tomatoes that actually ripened on the vine instead of needing to be brought inside. Plus the flavor difference was massive for me. My shaded ones tasted watery and bland compared to the ones that baked in the afternoon heat. I think you might just be getting lucky with your specific microclimate or maybe those were some unusually heat tolerant varieties.