Tomato Growing 2024

In warmer countries they don't want direct sunlight on tomatoes, they get sunscorched then. Tomatoes only need warmth to ripen. Unfortunately we lack both at our latitudes!
I think their natural habitat would be rambling beneath an upper canopy of trees etc

A few years ago when we had an actual summer my Alisa Craig's got quite badly sunscorched. Tasted fine but their skins were rather tough and ugly. The san marzano ones I was growing at the time were fine mostly, but they ripen a fair bit later

 

I reckon the Dwarf Tomato Project varieties could be worth a try in a "scorch porch". Easy to chuck a shade over when it gets too hot.

Edit. Also, the micro dwarf types remain very portable and can be popped back and forth, inside and out, to avoid excessive rain, humidity or heat.

 

I think you will find its quite normal for tomatoes to be grown in full sun in fields In places like Italy and California.

They do sometimes scorch under glass but I think that might have more to do with airflow, dampness on the leaves and the magnifying effect of the glass.

 

Thanks the for tips, am I right then that the mass leaf cull is more of a palative care procedure?

The natural enviroment for most of the solanum genus and relatives is say, a sandy rubble pit somebody dumped their rubbish in. You can find Solanum Nigra/Edible Black Nightshade growing along train lines in europe for example.

Toms, potatoes and physalis are from the andes where they get a huge amount of sun (infact some of the harshest sun on the planet) but not so much heat due to the altitude, and often not more than morning dew for water. They are perrenials and from what I can see, the wild types (Closer to whats called "Pimpinellifolium") can grow like weedy vines. Peppers however are more junglish ib moister more nutritious conditions, and perhaps due to the shade they grow into small trees, a bit like Elderberry usually is here but a bit smaller. Theyre even "poisonous" like elderberry, capsaicin warding off most pests.

 

I think its the same with some other plants that naturally grow wild, just like poppies, they need disturbed soil to get a hold, often with the seed lying dormant in the ground for years until conditions are right.
I've had Datura and Physalis coming up for years after digging over in spring, infact with some you never need to buy new seed.
Tomatoes self seed as well if left to their own devises.
The plants are not hardy but the seeds are almost indestructible.

 

Just sown some self saved House tomatoes originally from Real Seeds. They will be indoors for a while with help from grow lights and then grown in pots in the greenhouse to get early toms. I'll give away a few too as they have been popular with friends and family previously. I'll wait a bit to sow other varieties.

 

I noticed this morning that my 'Gardeners Delight' cutting has finally died! It had managed to survive, with no protection from me, under the table on the balcony several nights of -3C frosts! But it seems it couldn't take our February "heat wave"

I never expected it to even survive a couple of degrees above freezing let alone several nights of frost! In all the 20+ years of growing tomatoes on the balcony this was the first time I had ever left one growing on the balcony during the winter, I'd always cut them down & got rid of the vines by late October. It was also the first time I'd ever grown a tomato cutting! The poor thing managed to flower but never did it produce any fruit.
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A moment's silence, please, for @Balc 's mysterious cherry tomato. Its genes live on.

 

@JWK , I can't be sure as when I planted out the seedlings at the end of May I forgot to label them! I'd kept them separate so as to tell you how they had performed but while planting them out in the growbags they got mixed up with the other seedlings I'd sown from last year's seeds. Sorry!
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Good to see it growing so strongly!

I still have a couple of the tomatoes in the kitchen! They are slowly drying & have turned dark red, almost black! Perhaps I'll tease out a couple of seeds & sow them myself!

It will be interesting to see how your plant gets on - so, please continue to post occasional updates.
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Will do. It'll be interesting to see if it breeds true or not.

 

Mum's Sungold popped up this afternoon. Still waiting on Chocolate Sprinkles. I've added an Amur Tiger and a Brazilian Beauty, destined for my friend's greenhouse. Mr Weasels likes Black Russian, so I've rolled the dice and sown one.

 

Bedtime reading.....
Cloud cover, Photosynthesis, and Brix Levels - | Damara Bio-Agri

 

Morning, I started the season . On the 20th I placed seeds into aloe vera (don't ask , aloe considered to be one of the stimulators, and as I just renewed my old aloe plant, I have plenty of leaves in the fridge). Yesterday moved seeds into the soil.
So far "toy" microminiature toms like Fat Frog, Voroniy Glaz, Blaue Zimmertomate and 3 others, plus sweet peppers Lesya and hot De Cayenne. Main tomatoes will be sown later in the beginning of March.