THE TOMATO GROWING THREAD 2018

Can I just share a couple of my tomato plants that have fruited. Moneymaker and Indigo Cherry Drops.

 

Also can I ask how often you all water and feed your tom plants. Mine are in those halo grow pots and grow bags and although the grow bag is still moist the toms that go through the halos are only a tiny bit moist now. I haven't watered them for a week now. How do you really know how much say in pints of water do you give them.. I'm really worried I could overwater them and wouldn't know if I gave them to much.

 

JWK - Think I may need to water tomorrow then. Should I also feed them? I have those grow bag trays but do have 3 pencil size holes on each end of grow bag. I'm getting rather excited as my first tomatoes ever lol

 

I'd feed em while they're fruiting

When they'm near ripe, coil a hosepipe in the greenhouse so the water gets hot and water with that at the end of the day

 

Practically all of my big greenhouse toms are sporting megablooms! Quite excited about this because last year I got 3 tomatoes that weighed over 600g each from these megablooms!

 

Wow that sounds well exciting. Make sure you put pics up as would love to see them. I'm absolutely obsessed with eating tomatoes and have them every day but would rather taste home grown which I never have so cannot wait.

 

You'll be hooked! They taste miles better than shop bought ones!

 

Hi All,

Has anyone tried growing toms as dual cordons ?

The rear wall of my lean to is 8ft tall and the cordons readily grow that high and have never stopped them as some books suggest, quiet the contrary I train them to come back down under the roof or even back down the cane but that becomes rather congested, though I do get several extra trusses.

What I was thinking of trying, they are now 5ft high and they are still popping out the odd side shoot down near the base, so was thinking if I stopped the main stem when it reaches the top of the wall, and then let one of these lower side shoot develop into a second main stem and so get a continuation of trusses ...?

Sounds like it may work, but not sure if it would in practice ?

 

The only problem with growing your own is that the harvesting period is very short, typically 3 month and you often find they all come together in a big glut so I find you have to give many away.

I'm also trying some outdoor bush and cordons this year to see if they can help extend the picking period.

Perhaps you ladies know of some good ways to keep the essence of the toms for the rest of the year other than the typical chutney ?

 

I've done this. When side shoots take off unexpectedly (and I didn't notice in time), I've allowed them to grow but generally stop them at two or three trusses maximum. I've found it's worked with cherry sized toms. I think it partly depends on which month we're talking about; the earlier the more likely to be successful. No experience with bigger fruit varieties. This year I'm trying it with a cordon type with normal sized toms, which had the growing point damaged so I've left a couple of side shoots to continue growing along with the topmost point of the damaged main stem....if that makes sense. We'll see what happens.

 

Thanks,

Worth a try then, Have three different cherry toms plus the standard sized Shirley which is the one with the good looking sideshoot near the base that I was thinking of using, so will let it grow on and see how things develop.

Just cannot see how so many authors say stop toms after the 4th or 5th truss, perhaps its just that its about the eaves height of an apex greenhouse and they don't want to mess training/supporting it higher than the usual string or cane ??

 

I think a lot of our perceived wisdom comes from commercial tomato growers where they want things to be convienient for the way they work, hence cordon style growing of modern varieties. It seems to me that the older varieties are more amenable to being bushy, which is what tomato plants ‘want’ to do. They naturally grow side shoots that fruit. Our short UK growing season means we have to start early and then stop the plant making too much growth in order to ripen as much fruit as possible before the growing season ends, hence the advice to limit the number of trusses. I’m not an expert but have grown toms for over 40 years....just my opinion.

 

Yes you're right.

 

Hi Ricky 101 this is common practice, you would normally let the main stem and one side stem grow from early in the plants life so they both grow with the same vigour, I have done this for years. You can buy a grafted rootstock that have two different plant scions sometimes with different varieties, growing two different toms on the same plant, looks novel if you have two different coloured toms. Sometimes you get plants that naturally fork. ie, two growing tips where you can not tell which is the main stem and which is the side shoot , you simply train both stems.
The method a lot of people use me included is to grow a single cordon, then by the time it reaches the height of the greenhouse the bottom truss has been picked and lower leaves have yellowed and been removed, the plant is simply lowered letting the lower stem loop down. you can allow this loop to touch the soil and it makes extra roots, as you pick subsequent trusses you just keep lowering the plant until you run out of season. This is also the practice in commercial growing where the single cordon can be tens of metres long.
There are many methods of growing toms do what you wish, experiment, that is part of the fun.

When I grow the lowering method I like good root system so I drill loads of holes in the bottom of the growing pot, sink this pot a couple of inches into the greenhouse border allowing the roots to forage, I also treat the roots with Mycorrhizal fungi which I find beneficial, you will be amazed at the size of the roots when you dig the border at the end of the season. bit long winded that.
Hope this helps Sandy