Tomato Growing 2024

"BER" - lazy! Blossom end rot (dare I guess) to those who struggle with it!

 

I had blossom end rot on some of mine in the beginning. But was surprised it really affected ends of tomatoes only. Cut away and ate all the tomatoes.
I gave calcium nitrate to plants, both spraying and watering.

 

All together now!

One red tomato hanging on the plant…. One red tomato hanging on the plant



I did pick it this morning, along with a few ‘SunBaby’ and my very first aubergine

I’m quite impressed what I have achieve in my ever year gardening

 

@DiggersJo how dare you call me lazy!!

 

Okay I take that back! Mysterious...

 

Still nothing ripe but some are turning a little yellow so maybe, eventually, I'll get to taste one.
Do some varieties ripen late or is it just a weather thing?

 

Well I think the beefsteak types are usually later, but a lot of it is probably based on when you started.
But the weather also plays its part.

 

Hi, has anyone here used any of the S-Chelate Plant Nutrition | Micronutrients Supercharging Plant Growth fertilisers including the new Protom specially developed for tomatoes?

 

the calcium concentration in the fruit is controlled by its genetics and is local inside the plant, it is rarely caused by calcium defficiency in the soil. foliar can help because of this. the low water causes the plant to be unable to distribute, or perhaps intentionally pull it away from, the fruit. which appears to be genetic. watering to prevent stress will help in varieties with it.

some tomatoes dont do it at all. something related to the stress reaction and fruit drop: most plants drop fruit if stressed but some dont, and others even sacrifice themselves to fully develop the fruit. eg. pumpkins drop fruit easily if water stessed.

 

Every day's a school day eh @Loofah?
@JWK was mentioning the lowering of stems [ie laying along the ground] and I seem to remember that Bob Flowerdew [the best name anyone's ever had! ] used to do that. It's obviously easier if you can grow outdoors, or have a large greenhouse or polytunnel. I'm sure there will be vids. on youtube etc. The biggest problem would be slug activity I expect.

I don't have room to do that, but I often just let the plants do their own thing later on in the season, so some are fairly 'lax'. It doesn't seem to affect the fruit crop in any way, and I expect that would only happen if I allowed stems to rub and create damage etc, or the airflow wasn't adequate. The variety would be a factor too, but I only grow the cherry or plum types, which makes it easier.
I've also experimented this year by letting the plant at each end of the little growhouse to grow two stems [still nipping out any sideshoots] while the others have one. I wanted to see if the crop was heavier on those with two stems. I haven't noticed a huge difference - yet, but I suppose I'd have to weigh each set of fruit I remove to get a proper result. I doubt I'll manage that!

 

@fairygirl I think both garden Which and Beechgrove have done the experiment , allowing for two main stems vs one. Unfortunately I can't remember the details but the information should be available to look up , especially the Beechgrove fact sheets.

 

I must have missed that on B'grove @Allotment Boy , but I forget so much now that it's possible I've seen it and just don't remember! I get fed up with the gardening programmes on a regular basis too, for various reasons, so I don't always watch.
I don't read the Which magazines/reports either, but I expect I can find the various results of both if I look. Thanks