Tomato Growing Thread 2022

All looking tasty to me @eatenbyweasels

 

Some new one coming in,

Top left yellow indigo f3
Next to it, red indigo f3 then tiny Tom.
Seek no further love apple in the centre on its own, Then usual suspects

 

Never realised there were so many different varieties of tomatoes til I joined this site!!! My ignorance entirely!! Perhaps I'll try one or two next year? Great gardening though which has taught me a great deal. In keeping with many gardeners I tend to have some basic skills. Regarding Tom's these skills are usually applied to a few varieties only. As I can't eat raw Tom's I have to be led somewhat by my wife's taste, or as I now call her, the gardener (cos of my poor movement abilities) So Gardeners Delight was grown for many years. I played with various 'cherry' types for a while as well, but last year found Ddraig Goch and Crimson Crush (a bush type even!)
Been concerned by the 'wilt' problem experienced by Balc and thought it perhaps it similar perhaps to problems I experienced in the greenhouse some years ago. Presumed it was fungal so excavated all the soil and replaced it with fresh soil good garden compost and some cheap growbag compost! No probs!! Then and some cheap growbag compost. No problems after that until INVASION OF THE WHITEFLY!! That's why I grow most Tom's outside. No problem other than no early crops! So my two varieties (above) have done well last year and so far. Added to this Crimson Crush reputed to be Blight resistant/free!
I'm concerned about the 'wilt' problem experienced by Balc.
'In the old days' I steam sterilised my loam, considered peat to be sterile and only used /made John Innes composts! Are modern composts sterile?? Does anyone buy/use guaranteed sterile composts??
Suppose it could be a pH That's why I've been growing my plants predominately outside! No real problem other than having to wait for fruit!
However my main thoughts regarding growing problems has to do with soil based fungi. I consider many composts are perhaps not made from sterilised stuff??? 'In the old days' I used to steam sterilise loam, at least, and considered peat to be 'clean' (John Innes in those days) Must be said I can't remember the names of the soil fungi. I seem to remember you could also sterilise soil in situ???? If you ONLY grow in containers then I assume you could buy guaranteed sterile compost???
It could also have something to do with pH I suppose?? NOT PH AGAIN

 

Sorry folks!! My tablet suffering so that some of the rubbish I write disappears before I press post reply' so I'm repeating my words!!! Sorry!!

 

First azoychka ripening. Well, half of it st least

 

Little harvest today.

 

@Hanglow Are you sure that's not a bicolour. If it is, hold on to the genetics.....

 

I've had no problems with growbags that I have used over the years. I'm VERY surprised at all the negative comments I've read on here as I've NEVER experienced any of them! I've always had good results.

I normally grow 3 x bag but this year I put 4 in each (3 bags) as I didn't have room for 12 plants. I didn't want to throw away the extra 3 & thought I will just have to water more often & feed them more often. During the first month/6 weeks they were growing very well & I was very happy with their progress then the "wilt" struck!

I explained in a previous post they weren't dry or waterlogged. I hadn't started to feed them yet as there should have been feed enough in the bags for a couple of months & anyway you aren't supposed to start feeding them till the first truss has set. At the time of the "wilt" they only had a few flowers on most of the plants.

Even if the heat we had about that time had caused them to wilt they would have recovered during the night but I when I took the first photos I posted on here it was about 7-7.30am & they were as badly wilted as if they had been in full sunshine all day with dry compost - which was most certainly not the case!

The sun reaches the plants about 1pm for a few hours (perhaps till about 4-5pm) though they are the hottest hours of the day I always make sure they are watered so as to be able to enjoy the few hours of actual sunlight they receive. That has been my practise for many years now.

Certainly growbags take up less space than pots &, until this year at least, they have done well & I've got some very good crops. I've never tested the compost for PH & we live in an area of hard water. I've never tried adjusting the PH levels with lemon as I've read others do. I water with a tomato fertilizer according to the instructions on the bottle & even up to twice a week when the crop is at its heaviest.

 

As I have 100s of photos of the tomatoes I've grown on the balcony over many years & I could upload a selection of them showing the results. Or I could post a link so if anyone is interested they could see them on Google Photos.

 

Hello all,

My first two Black Russian tomatoes. Wasn't sure what to expect as I've never grown them before. After growing Maskotka and other cherry style tomatoes they look huge.


Black Russian tomatoes

Regards to everyone

Ademission

 

@Ademission This was my first year with black Russian too. I must admit I was a little disappointed in the size of them, I don't know but I seemed to think they would be bigger. However, what a reliable plant ! It's an interesting one in the all trusses are pretty much uniform like most cherries but also in its truss and then two leaf branches (means I've always got somewhere to hang my plastic truss supports from) and it's still growing higher with the best of them. It's well worth pushing this one on as any fruit at the top will likely still grow and ripen into the autumn whilst your busy harvesting and munching on the lower trusses. Just a shame I snapped off the Apex on one of the two plants. It hasn't thrown out a viable new leader so once fruit is harvested that will be it I guess, I might try a burst of nitrogen but it's so late now. And it is a pretty fruit with a nice taste :-) always a bonus :-)

If you are looking for cherry size (ish) and like a selection of colours and tastes on the plate certainly one to add to the planting planner.

I'm just keen to see how far it grows and if there is a giant at the end with a singing harp.

 

Thinned out a few leaves on the Grushovka bush tomato next to the greenhouse and got quite a surprise at what was hiding underneath.

 

My Black Russians last year were seriously tasty.

 

SunnyGin & eatenbyweasels,

I just realised that the picture of the Black Russian tomatoes I posted earlier had nothing in the frame to scale them. I've re-taken the picture with a £1 coin next to them. I also weighed them (166g and 158g respectively). In my book, they look huge though the Beef tomatoes I saw in other people's earlier postings were much bigger.



Best regards

Ademission

 

Tomorrow's breakfast. I'll let you know!

Ademission