Tomato Growing Thread 2023

When I were a lass, 'appen I was a commercial tomato greenhouse labourer and spent many a dull hour taking off the first three leaves of each plant. This was to give ground clearance and improved air circulation. The process would be repeated at least once more during the growing season, as the lower trusses were harvested and the lowest remaining leaves became tired and stopped photosythesing efficiently.

In my own garden/greenhouse, I remove anything touching or close to touching the soil and anything showing signs of yellowing. I also trim/de-leaf where foliage is very dense, to promote airflow and encourage ripening.

 

I don't recall the plants being lowered. I think the boss just picked the tallest workers to harvest the toms once the trusses became high and the rest of us would be sorting and packing for wholesale or working on other crops. This was in the 1970s and it wasn't a state-of-the-art set-up even back then. A fair amount of toms were picked green and stacked in boxes. One job was to go through the boxes once a week, hand-selecting anything showing the slightest colour to send to market.

 

I don't trim much at all at the start of the season, apart from anything touching the soil or is yellowing. In August though I'll start trimming more aggressively as fungal diseases become more prevalent.

 

Harzfeuer, Lost Marbles, Bloody Butcher, Tumbling Monsters and Sci-Fi. All waiting to get really ripe for seed saving.

 

Isn't that a modern, hi tech approach, often grown hydroponically and about 15 to 20 ft tall plants.

 

Wow!!!...those look amazing @eatenbyweasels

My Sungold are ripening nicely and the first Golden Sunrise is starting to turn yellow, but all of my red toms are still a gorgeous shade of green.

 

It's so annoying waiting for ripening to get going properly, especially when you have a "mystery" tomato on the go. I have a potential mix-up of a couple of plants in the greenhouse, but what looks like Black Truffle going by the fruits, has regular leaves whereas BT has potato leaves. The other plant in the potential mix up also has regular leaves and smooth fruits, so where on earth is BT and what on earth could this be?

 

It's nearly 11pm and as usual I am sat-up in bed reading "The Tomato Thread" from this forum.

As it is my first time in growing tomatoes I'm hoping that if I digest just half of what I have read it will make me a Happy Bunny to pick up the reins again for next year
I admit I new nothing about growing veg/fruit and thought a truss was part of a roof

My 4 plants are growing outside with a bamboo cane in the middle of the pot to tie the stem as it grows, then canes on the outside of the pot with twine tied around each cane to support the tomatoes - trouble is the trusses are not behaving and are growing in the wrong place, which doesn't make any difference really as the twine keeps slipping down the bamboo canes "go on have a chuckle I don't mind"

After all this silliness I am pleased to say my plants are looking healthy and seeing the tomatoes grow gives me a thrill that I have achieved what I set out to do!

It is going to be a season for learning and already I have jotted down that I need DIY wire cages for 2024 + start training my plants a lot earlier.
Photo's to follow as its too dark at the moment

 

Harzfeuer first tasting. Watery and bland. Will monitor flavour as season progresses but not enamoured at this stage.

 

In better news, Cherry Roma is still growing like a weed and fruiting relentlessly. I've added a horizontal string above the light bulkheads to let it vine above the doorways.

 

Good morning everyone- here are my follow-up photo's.
I've taken 3 photo's:
1 showing the Super Marmande semi-bush determinate.
And the other 2 are Beefsteak- which I found are in fact indeterminate instead of a 4ft bush as requested from the garden centre

First is my small Beefsteak which has been pinched off after the first truss -big mistake, but nevertheless, I think still looking good.


Another Beefsteak which has now reach his second truss


Super Marmande -semi-bush (one of two plants)


Feeding them BIG TOM every 10 days