amount of sunlight to grow tomato
Plants so indicated do generally need full, all-day sun in the Northern tier of the country, but as you move into my Southern Pennsylvania down to around DC it really depends on the season. Last year was cool and cloudy and the plants craved as much sun as their little solar collecting leaves could gather. In an emergency, you can safely water plants at their base in the evening; just be careful not to wet their leaves. But morning is always the best time to water. You can even safely wet plant leaves in the am if the sun will soon dry them off. Your full sun in the afternoon may simply be too much sun for tomatoes in hot areas of the country and/or during the kind of heat waves the East Coast has been having this year. Tomatoes produce their best fruits when daytime temperatures stay between 70 to 80 degrees F and nighttime temperatures stay between 60 to 70 F. Because of the plant's sensitive blossoms, tomatoes may fail to produce fruits if temperatures drop below 50 degrees F or stay above 90 degrees F for prolonged periods of time. This is only a guess, but I suspect that sunlight from say, 11-2 is worth a lot more than sunlight from 8-11 and 3-5. I get direct light from about 8:15 to 3:45, which seems to be plenty. Although, my brother gets probably an additional 2 hours of light, and his peppers are a leg up on mine. First, ditch that artificial plant food; those chemical salts are especially nasty in hot weather, when they make it difficult for the plants to take up water efficiently. In seasons to come, you'll also want to plant your tomatoes especially deep, so that their roots can reach down into the coolest part of your soil. I've tried to grow tomatoes in 3 different part-shade locations in my yard but never got much production. In one of those locations I had 4 hrs of direct sun (10 am - 2 pm). In another, I got about 5 hrs of morning sun (7 am - 12). The third, I got 6 hrs of afternoon sun (11 am - 5 pm). I did have some flower production in all locations, but not much fruit. I finally gave up on trying to keep my veggie garden hidden in my back and side yards, and set up 2 small raised beds in my front yard to grow tomatoes, where I get full sun all day. Afternoon sun provides the light your tomato plants need to thrive without the intensity of the noonday sun. Several hours of direct sunlight after 2 p.m., in addition to morning light, is typically desired for growing tomatoes. Tomato plants that receive less than 8 hours of sunlight a day produce fewer and smaller fruits. Tomatoes thrive in full sun and fertile, well-drained, slightly acidic soil with a pH between 6.0 and 6.8. For healthy growth, tomato plants require at least 8 hours of direct sunlight a day. However, the hours of sunlight do not need to be consecutive. This means that tomatoes can be grown successfully in both morning and afternoon sun as long as the number of hours adds up to 8 or more. Tomatos require a full day of sunlight. A native of South America, the tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) is a frost-tender perennial most commonly grown as a summer annual. Tomatoes are among the most giving of summer fruits, with healthy plants offering up to 15 pounds of juicy, nutrient-rich fruits. Tomatoes require plenty of sunlight in order to produce flowers and fruit. Tomatoes require a bare minimum of six hours of direct sunlight, though a full day of sun is preferable. Tomatoes grown in shadier conditions will be leggier and more sparse, producing fewer flowers and fruits and succumbing to diseases and pests far more often. We tend to think of tomatoes as THE classic plants of summer, but most varieties suffer when daytime temps stay above 90° F. or nights don't drop below 75° F. Now, these extremes won't kill the plants, but they will destroy the current crop of pollen on the flowers.
At least 8 hours of direct sunlight a day