TOMATO GROWING THREAD 2020

I think most people start too early, if you dont have the right equipment, heat and lights, you're going to struggle.

 

Hi. This is my first time posting, so I hope this is in the right place.

I am currently growing some Super Sweet 100 and some Ailsa Craig in container in a greenhouse. Last year I grew just Super Sweet in the same containers and location.

The current plants have been in the greenhouse for about a month now.

I have had a few days recently, when the tops of the plants were drooping, but increasing the watering seemed to deal with that. I also put some Tomorite on them about 4-5 days ago.

Suddenly, yesterday I noticed that a couple of the plants had fairly extensive deformation of the leaves, making them twist into an S shape.

I moved the worst affected plant into the garden, and also applied some Bordeaux Mixture to the plants remaining in the greenhouse. It's the first time I have used Bordeaux, but wanted to head off anything fungal on the remaining plants if at all possible.

I took pictures of all the plants, before applying it, and I have linked some of them below. I was just hoping to get your thoughts on what the problem might be. Having read a bit more today, I am now wondering whether the issue could be viral or simply physiological.

Some plants are definitely more affected than others.

Any thoughts would be much appreciated.

 

Thank you.

I'll certainly hold off on any more Bordeaux, I've had the ingredients for two years and always held off from using it until now, but then panicked a bit.

I did notice that there had been 2 days of Full Hutton Period about 10 days ago, and put two and two together and got five.

Would you expect the leaves to untwist, or will the stay like that with new leaves unaffected?

There is now fruit on about half of the plants (including the one that was most affected, and which I moved outside) which is why I decided to feed.

 

You tend to get twisted leaves when the plants are doing well.
I've always considered it a good thing.

 

JWK is one of our tomato experts......... which is why I ignore his advice and do my own thing..... Only joking, John knows how to grow toms and very generous with his expertise (and saved seed).

Heed JWK and you can't go far wrong.

(I'll still ignore and do my own thing though - on the side, it's called learning by error?)

 

Sorry, wrong thread :D

 

I guess sometimes it is too tempting not to..
My supercrammed tomatoes look happy enough, but the one I trained over an arch all by itself is clearly the happiest, with red fruits and the most (and the largest) trusses.
Considering I have given it 4 stems, it is quite impressive compared to the others with just one or two..
But growing a bunch of plants has its appeal too :D

 

The aviditas are starting to ripen for real, but we tried a few and they will need a bit more sun to taste good.
The lizzano are quite tasty already, but they started ripening earlier.
Well, plenty of time left I guess

I was a bit worried because I received an Hutton period alert, but the plants seem to be healthy enough, fingers crossed..

 

Some progress with the cherry bed.


The Tumbling Tom is the first off the mark.


Most of the Sainsburys Piccolo have formed three trusses of blooms.

 

What I did with the spares.



However, back in mid May when they were about to be potted up...


And, eight days later they were green again.



In fact, all of my seedlings are yellow and sickly looking by the time I plant them out as I don't feed them until they have settled into their new locations - which the re-greening indicates.

 

On the other hand, the Morrisons "Grape" tomatoes were not doing so well.


This was on Sunday.


And, a few moments later.


A Sharpie included for scale.



Eight out of the ten original seedlings that were planted in late May slowly died and have been replaced. They had failed to settle in as the soil had been drying out at a rate faster than I could water it.

As the raised bed is next to a huge wild cherry tree, I always set aside some backups as a contingency so this situation was not unexpected.

The soil had been so parched that, between April and mid June, very few weeds even germinated or grew in the raised bed. The majority of my catch crop of French beans also withered and died.

It was not until mid June, when the rains hit, that the weeds began to run rampant - meaning that the soil was now moist enough to support the replacement tomato seedlings.