Tomato Growing Thread 2022

Thanks @Loofah not heard of clay pebbles, already bought pea shingle yesterday so will go with it as it’s my first time trying ring culture.

Has anyone had success with the Halo method? Also thinking of trying this (if I can buy any halos now) with some Gardeners Delight in grow houses.

A very experimental year so it’ll be fingers crossed from now on.

 

My propagator is covered with them. They were expensive but do hold water and cool things in very hot circumstances. My worry is not so much the air warming up but the heated area getting beyond range of thermostat, I.e. though the electricity is off the bed is overheating! I try to shade it but essentially I stop using it. The clay 'marbles' hold/lose water for a while before total overheating. One worry is how long I've had them - 15 years? Can they deteriorate?
My gardener tells me I've already replaced them 5 years ago. That's my memory again! Remember now I used the old ones when planting out my hardy Salvias!! And I replaced the heating cable, that's what stimulated the replacement!!! Isn't it wonderful when you remember things! She really is the best carer I've ever had! She hates that!

 

Hello
I gave up on packet seeds a few years ago for the same reason.

Today I use seed from supermarket tomatoes.
Find a variety to your liking and save the seeds.
They grow true to form and the small named tomatoes are the best.
You need to extract the seeds at the end of the season. Dry them and put then in an envelope in a cool dry place and start them off as normal the following spring.

Good luck

 

If the cable is turned off by the thermostat I can't think it matters how hot it gets within reason.
I use sand and keep it wet or damp all the time.

 

I was under the impression that you are supposed to use damp sand, any thing with insulation qualities are best avoided as the heat can then build up and burn out the cables.
But I don't think the heat from the sunshine when the cable is switched off should be a problem.

 

Which supermarket varieties are you re-growing, Past It?

Most supermarket toms are F1 hybrids these days but the F2s of some varieties are pretty close to the parent. I've seen good results from ASDA's Petite Plum (aka Delisher) and also from an F2 of Floridity.

F3 can be a bit of a genetic scatter gun, though, as my sister found out when she sowed twice-saved seeds of Honeycombe. What a mess!

I suspect predictably depends on how complicated the "pedigree" was of the original F1.

 

First fruit to set on Bloody Butcher. It's a fused one, which isn't unexpected at a low setting temperature.

 

Only one seed from my 2007 seeds of "Sci-Fi" germinated this year. I think 15 years is probably the sensible upper limit for seed keeping. Anyway, like two of last year's seedlings, it hasn't developed into a cordon. The top is terminating in a big flower cluster, there are side shoots popping out everywhere and the central stem is slightly fasciated. I'll keep a few seeds out of interest, to confirm that any old-seed-related changes are reversed when fresh seed is produced.