Tomato Growing Thread 2022

Gardener out last night watering and picked half dozen, mostly Roma, but rest very poor!!

 

Hello Glynne,
Sorry to hear you are having a bad year with your tomatoes. Where in the country are you?
To be honest, it's been a bumper year for us in Oxfordshire. Both the greenhouse and outdoor tomatoes are growing well (see photos). It may be the difference between hydro and soil though our soil tomatoes are prolific but a little behind the ones in the greenhouse.


Maskotka in greenhouse (hydro).


Black Russian in greenhouse (hydro)


A huge Black Russian not ripe yet (hydro)


Garden Pearl outdoors (soil).


Cherry Falls outdoor (soil)


Maskotka and Cherry Falls outdoor (soil)


As previous (soil)

We did have problems early on with Calcium deficiency but a weekly dose of Calmag has corrected that problem and all is OK again now.

Good luck

Ademission

 

Ademission, what an amazing crop allround! It's what I've seen on this site. Not just a few 'odd' varieties but many really well grown tomatoes! Thanks very much, as that's what this site is for in my opinion! We live in the Midlands but that's not the reason our results are bad! It has far more to do with ability!!

 

@Ademission loving the crops you have there. I concur this year has been bumper and continues to be so But it is an unusual year.

 

Hello all,

Just picked the "Huge Black Russian" tomato that I mentioned in my last posting. It weighed in at 210g and that's 40g above my previous biggest. It was just starting to split.


Black Russian

Ademission

 

@Ademission that's a lovely tomato. What seed source were they as the black Russians I have are cherry sized.

 

Some more pickings today, usual crowd except the two large ones which are copper river . There are also some black russian cherry sized fruit (think they were a give away seed from grow your own magazine).

 

SunnyGin,

My source is a bit unusual.

We received a Christmas present back in December of a "Wacky Tomato Kit". I've photographed the box (see below). I believe that it was bought from Amazon (90% sure).



It had various seed packets inside of which we only planted two. Black Russian and Radana.



Both have grown ok and we will probably sow some of the others next year.

After your last post, I looked up Black Russian on the interweb to see how big they typically are. It said that the fruit could reach 6oz to 10oz which I think is about 168g to 280g. It also warned that the trusses should be supported due to the weight of the fruit. They also mentioned to limit the trusses to 3 or 4 (see Growseed website).

This would back up the sizes I'm seeing and in fact, I may get even bigger fruits!

I hope this helps.

Best regards

Ademission

P.S. The ones I photographed were grown hydroponically but I have some large fruit on the ones in soil too.

 

@Ademission ah, that might explain it a little bit, I'll double check the particulars on my packet, if there are any...

I'm also not limiting truss sizes or number as I've no idea how long the season will be. Even the large fruiting varieties I am not limiting fruit number as the majority of plants this year are all new to me apart from 7 or 8 varieties. So the new ones I'm letting grow with no adjustment, to see if I like them for next year and note adjustments as necessary. I've already noted some growth habits of a semi determinate plum I am growing and as I like it very much next year's pruning will be different. The F3 cherry I have grown is also going to be modified next year as it really needs more height so I'll place in a suitable position for vining vertically and horizontally where I can.. The multiflora caught me on the hop with its abundance of flowers so that will be adjusted with a support frame next year and so on and so on...

 

@Ademission I've now checked my seed packet and it correlates with with what is listed on the web but both plants had given tomatoes which are cherry sized with long trusses of fruit., Still tasty but not what is shown on the packet. What fun, I'll need to source some more for next year and grow side by side.

 

My cherry tomatoes in the hanging basket look like they had a scare the sun has discloured the leaves yet there load of red cherry tomatoes had some earlier they were delicious

 

It never ceases to amaze me how sometimes the dwarf varieties throw out so many tomatoes. I grew a few of the Tiny Tim and gave all but 1 away for other people's children as they are a nice easy plant to grow and don't take over and hope the kids get onto the excitement of growing stuff (food doesnt all come in a plastic packet or coated in chocolate...)

 

Hi sunny yes I agree dispite the odds plenty of little toms Next year I plan to buy 4plants to plant into4 hanging baskets they seem to do well what ever the weather

 

SunnyGin,

Interesting, I don't know of a smaller version with a similar name? A bit of a puzzle.

Ademission

 

Janet,

If you use hanging baskets, please be careful that they are positioned correctly and watch them like a hawk as they are prone to drying out in hot weather. Big pots offer a more stable growing environment and need less daily maintenance. How often do you water your baskets?

Regards

Ademission