Tomato Growing Thread 2022

Discussion in 'Edible Gardening' started by JWK, Jan 1, 2022.

  1. JWK

    JWK Gardener Staff Member

    Joined:
    Jun 3, 2008
    Messages:
    32,497
    Gender:
    Male
    Location:
    Surrey
    Ratings:
    +50,096
    I've got a soil test kit and am in the middle of checking mine with the wilting brown leaves. It only does the main nutriments and pH. Also got some CalMag on order and will dose the few plants affected.
     
    • Like Like x 4
    • Ademission

      Ademission Super Gardener

      Joined:
      May 3, 2021
      Messages:
      268
      Gender:
      Male
      Occupation:
      Electronics Engineer
      Location:
      North Oxfordshire
      Ratings:
      +681
      Hi JWK,

      Please let me know how you get on with the Soil Test Kit and the Calmag? The brown leaves will need to be cut off as they won't recover but future growth if it is Calcium deficiency should be without browning. If you don't mind, will you please post details of the soil test kit you have purchased? I'd like to have a look at it.

      Ademission
       
      • Like Like x 2
      • JWK

        JWK Gardener Staff Member

        Joined:
        Jun 3, 2008
        Messages:
        32,497
        Gender:
        Male
        Location:
        Surrey
        Ratings:
        +50,096
        @Ademission This is the soil test kit I got, I haven't used one for a number of years so just bought this TestWest product that gets reasonable reviews and not too expensive:

        20220714_221401.jpg
        It's like a chemistry set, with liquids and powders, a few test tubes and a pipette. The instruction book has 4 colour charts to compare against the result. There is supposed to be enough chemicals to do 60 tests, in theory that should do 15 complete sets of pH including the 3 major nutrients (N, P & K). My kit looks like there is only enough to do 30 and some reviews say that too.

        The following is a test of the worst affected plant, which shows low nitrogen and high phosphorous (the middle two test tubes):
        20220714_153135.jpg

        Compared to the best growing tomato plant I have, with high nitrogen and low phosphorus:
        20220714_165248.jpg

        I've got the same results on other plants comparing strong growing vs stunted.

        So on face value I'm getting low nitrogen and too high phosphorus in the soil of plants with stunted growth. I do not understand how that has happened as I've been feeding them all the same and started with the same soil/compost mix in their pots.

        Google suggests that excessive phosphorous causes stunted growth in tomatoes, although I can't find any trusted scientific sites to back that up.

        It will be easy to add more nitrogen but impossible to remove excess phosphorous (in the short term). The other problem is all tests show my alkaline soil at pH 7.5 is at the top end of what tomatoes tolerate.

        I'm going to lower the pH tomorrow with sequestrene (because I have some handy) and use nitrogen but I'm uncertain about using CalMag as it may make things worse.
         
        • Informative Informative x 4
        • Like Like x 1
        • eatenbyweasels

          eatenbyweasels Messy Gardener

          Joined:
          Feb 24, 2022
          Messages:
          544
          Gender:
          Female
          Occupation:
          Inmate
          Location:
          East Yorkshire
          Ratings:
          +1,867
          Just arrived from Ukraine!
           

          Attached Files:

          • Like Like x 6
          • JWK

            JWK Gardener Staff Member

            Joined:
            Jun 3, 2008
            Messages:
            32,497
            Gender:
            Male
            Location:
            Surrey
            Ratings:
            +50,096
            The writing is reversed!
             
            • Like Like x 1
            • Funny Funny x 1
            • eatenbyweasels

              eatenbyweasels Messy Gardener

              Joined:
              Feb 24, 2022
              Messages:
              544
              Gender:
              Female
              Occupation:
              Inmate
              Location:
              East Yorkshire
              Ratings:
              +1,867
              It's in Russian!
               
              • Like Like x 1
              • Funny Funny x 1
              • JWK

                JWK Gardener Staff Member

                Joined:
                Jun 3, 2008
                Messages:
                32,497
                Gender:
                Male
                Location:
                Surrey
                Ratings:
                +50,096
                Not Ukrainian then, not that I can understand either :biggrin:
                 
                • Funny Funny x 2
                • Like Like x 1
                • eatenbyweasels

                  eatenbyweasels Messy Gardener

                  Joined:
                  Feb 24, 2022
                  Messages:
                  544
                  Gender:
                  Female
                  Occupation:
                  Inmate
                  Location:
                  East Yorkshire
                  Ratings:
                  +1,867
                  My browser tells me it's Russian, which surprised me, too, under the circumstances.
                  Just been adding English labels to the packs for quick reference.
                   
                  • Like Like x 2
                  • Informative Informative x 2
                  • Alisa

                    Alisa Super Gardener

                    Joined:
                    Apr 21, 2014
                    Messages:
                    606
                    Gender:
                    Female
                    Location:
                    Portsmouth, Hampshire
                    Ratings:
                    +1,805
                    Yes, part of packaging are in Russian (cyrillic), part in Ukrainian (cyrillic with a mixture of latin - i letter) :)
                     
                    • Informative Informative x 4
                    • Like Like x 2
                    • Balc

                      Balc Total Gardener

                      Joined:
                      Mar 6, 2022
                      Messages:
                      2,440
                      Gender:
                      Male
                      Occupation:
                      Retired
                      Location:
                      Huntingdon, Cambs
                      Ratings:
                      +9,688
                      I'm starting to get tomatoes on almost all the plants, on their first trusses anyway! Just that there are only 2 or 3 per truss! Nevertheless the plants are growing strongly again & there are signs of flowerbuds forming! :)
                       
                      • Like Like x 4
                      • SunnyGin

                        SunnyGin Gardener

                        Joined:
                        Jun 22, 2022
                        Messages:
                        165
                        Gender:
                        Male
                        Location:
                        Emsworth
                        Ratings:
                        +583
                        @Balc that is good to hear. I still have a lot of blossom drop but at least I have fruit developing below, On earlier trusses.
                         
                        • Like Like x 4
                        • sandymac

                          sandymac Super Gardener

                          Joined:
                          Jan 16, 2017
                          Messages:
                          378
                          Gender:
                          Male
                          Occupation:
                          engineer
                          Location:
                          durham
                          Ratings:
                          +917
                          I had blossom end rot on three tomatoes all on different plants and all on the fourth truss, i believe it was due to the fact i was on holiday for two weeks and the plants were on water only from quad grows hooked up to mains water via timer and receiving no feed for those two weeks . no rot on any other trusses ??
                          Regards Sandy
                           
                          • Like Like x 3
                          • Informative Informative x 2
                          • Friendly Friendly x 1
                          • Hanglow

                            Hanglow Super Gardener

                            Joined:
                            Oct 27, 2021
                            Messages:
                            842
                            Ratings:
                            +3,097
                            Had three ripe bloody butcher and two semi ripe sungolds so far. Growth appears to be steady. No more blight....for now
                             
                            • Like Like x 6
                            • Balc

                              Balc Total Gardener

                              Joined:
                              Mar 6, 2022
                              Messages:
                              2,440
                              Gender:
                              Male
                              Occupation:
                              Retired
                              Location:
                              Huntingdon, Cambs
                              Ratings:
                              +9,688
                              Glad to hear people are harvesting tomatoes! I won't be harvesting any for some time yet having been put back by "wilting" for nearly 2 months. Nevertheless. my plants are starting to make up for lost time. I think between the general fertilizer & the warmer temps they will now give me a harvest. My be rather later & not nearly as much as I was expecting but we will get there - eventually!

                              I bought some tomato fertilizer this morning & planned to give the plants some on Monday but due to the extremely high temps forecast, up to 40C on Tuesday!, I think I will wait till Wednesday. I believe that fertilizer in very hot conditions blocks the plants' ability from taking up the necessary water.
                               
                              • Like Like x 3
                              • Informative Informative x 1
                              • SunnyGin

                                SunnyGin Gardener

                                Joined:
                                Jun 22, 2022
                                Messages:
                                165
                                Gender:
                                Male
                                Location:
                                Emsworth
                                Ratings:
                                +583
                                Bit of an update
                                red indigo f3.jpg garotte bicolour.jpg black russian.jpg Limbaugh and friends.jpg Tasmanian chocolate.jpg dolly parton.jpg marzanno fire.jpg kidneys.jpg

                                The last one is not really kidneys, it's a Cherokee purple gone crazy. Normally, they are quite pretty and uniform.
                                 
                                • Like Like x 5
                                • Agree Agree x 1
                                Loading...

                                Share This Page

                                1. This site uses cookies to help personalise content, tailor your experience and to keep you logged in if you register.
                                  By continuing to use this site, you are consenting to our use of cookies.
                                  Dismiss Notice