Tomatoes...

Discussion in 'Edible Gardening' started by Jack Snakes, May 30, 2017.

  1. Jack Snakes

    Jack Snakes Gardener

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    Last year, I grew some gardeners delight tomatoes that I bought from homebase. They were delicious and I ate the last one off the plant in January this year...
    Anyway, I bought a few seedlings again this year from a different place which are doing reasonably well, which is nice... but I also found a clutch of seedlings growing in a pot that I am growing an avocado in. At first I pulled them out as I thought they were weeds, then I saw a yellow husk around the seeds... closer inspection revealed the remains of a tomato from last year that had fallen into the pot when I was planting the avocado seed... anyway, long story short, I planted them out and they are outstripping the bought seedlings by a considerable margin. Their colour is also excellent - lovely lush bright green instead of the dark purple things I bought as seedlings (this has improved somewhat since I repotted and gave them some grub)
    The question is, given that they were bought seedlings, and may therefore by F1 hybrids or whatever, will they actually bear fruit? Does the fact that they are growing signify that they will fruit? I have attached a picture... not sure why, but I think I just want a few people to tell me how fabulous my tomato plants look... :D 18816575_10211491116664926_267728260_n.jpg
     
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    • JWK

      JWK Gardener Staff Member

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      If they are growing from Gardeners Delight then I'm sure they will be OK as that variety is 'open pollinated' i.e. NOT an F1 hybrid.

      Even if they are seeds from an F1 hybrid you will still get fruit, it's just that the next generation on (i.e. F2) will lose some of the parent's attributes, so they may be less vigorous, less tasty or conversely they may be better - it's pot luck.
       
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      • Jack Snakes

        Jack Snakes Gardener

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        Thank you very much for that - yes, they are definitely Gardeners Delight. last year I had five plants one side of the greenhouse, and five "Cherriettes of Fire" the other... unfortunately, I saw a brown patch on one of my Cherriettes leaves when they were quite young, so gave it a good spray. The next day, to my horror, there were more - so I gave it another good spray and gave the other four CoF plants a good dousing for good measure... and my two grape vines in case it spread. On the third day they were looking very poorly... which was when I read the label on the bottle just before I was going to give them another spray...
        Now, Roundup may be utterly useless on nettles, brambles and dandelions, but it is singularly effective on tomatoes and grapes... :thud::thud::thud:
         
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        • JWK

          JWK Gardener Staff Member

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          Tomatoes only need the slightest whiff of herbicide and they keel over. I suppose at least you got rid of the brown patches !
           
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          • Jack Snakes

            Jack Snakes Gardener

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            ha ha aye... and one of my vines... the other one, though poorly, has struggled through and looks much better this year... :D
             
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