Tomato Growing 2025

I've had my tomatoes ( Sungold, Tumblers and Choc. cherry this year ) in an unheated GH for a few weeks now. I did sow them earlier this year but don't have room or sufficient light to keep them indoors. They have been slow and none planted out in their containers - just in small pots. I would agree that provided they aren't extremely cold, they will just stall until the temps level out between day and night. Purpling of the leaves is a warning sign to watch out for.

 

I've had peppers and my one early tom in the greenhouse for about a month, first in the propagator over night and now on the bench, I've also got some small tom seedlings on the bench now as well,
I've put the thermostat up to 10c, I think what really causes problems is cold cloudy days, and its been really warm in there recently during the day with all the sunshine.

 

I'm growing a few varieties this year and i wish to save seeds later.
Do i need to place bags over trusses of any of these varieties to avoid cross pollination?
Maskota
Yellow brandywine
Alisa Craig
Gardeners delight
Sungold, i dont think i can save these?

 

Yesterday I moved the second half of my plants into final pots (till planting out). Staying in the greenhouse during the day, will soon start leaving those in the greenhouse overnight. Just a few the tiniest are staying indoors for now.

 

They're all open pollinated, other than Sungold.

The smaller varieties on your list are unlikely to cross pollinate, as their flower structure (they tend to have a short stigma trapped inside the cone of anthers) leads to self-pollination even before the flowers are fully open. However, it's still worth bagging them to be 100% sure, as a few smaller varieties have the exposed stigma trait and will make merry with any stray pollen wafting about.

That said, your Brandywine is a more likely contender for crossing, especially with the earlier, fused fruits, so if you only bag one variety, that's the one to go for.

 

Thanks, actually the Alisa Craig and Gardeners delight i have growing this year are from seeds i saved last year! I hope they turn out ok.
Last year i had Alisa craig, gardeners delight and Sungold in the polytunnel, probably about 1-1.5m apart, do you think cross pollination was a possibility?

 

There's always a very small chance, which is why I bag for seed saving. You won't know until you harvest. Fruit colour and leaf type won't be much of a clue because red fruit and regular leaf are dominant. Smaller fruit and a cordon habit are also dominant, so if your Ailsa Craig presents you with small cherries, or your Maskotka turns out to be a six foot vine, you might have grounds for suspicion.

 

I wish I'd tried saving seeds from my Black cherry toms. Having used the whole packet over 3 or 4 years, they suddenly became unavailable. The Chocolate cherry which I bought as a substitute didn't have as good a flavour - to my taste anyway. The fruit looked the same - perhaps just a tads larger. However, a friend to whom I always give some every year thought they were just as good as the Black type.

 

I have Black "Russian" Cherry. From my research it's just a strain of BC that ended up in Russia and then found its way back again. Can send you some seeds if you like. PM me if interested.

 

That is really kind of you @eatenbyweasels . PM on it's way

 

its also worth bagging if it has unique recessives like the Multiflora gene as it wont appear in the second generation crosses

If you look at other solanum flowers you can see why tomatoes self pollinate so easily: this was an deliberate selection by the ancient americans as it stopped them crossing with wild tomatoes which are all tiny and actually grow all over the place. The same thing happened with lettuce: wild lettuce is everywhere in england so if they cross pollinated readily your crop would be nasty.

This didnt happen with potatoes as they could clone them via tubers, you can see the female organ easily. there is way more potato genetic diversity still out there as a result but most are slightly poisonous. the americans would freeze dry them on the mountains and wash the starch to remove the poison, as is done with cassava still, so this wasnt a problem for them.



potato and nigrum. not my photos

I wonder if there are ornamental flower potatoes?

 

Anyone else for seeds before I file them all away in alphabetical order in my tupperware? #OCD

 

Repotted my greenhouse ones into 500ml yoghurt pots where they will stay until planting. Which is usually end of April, weather depending. Still need to do the outside ones which will be repotted again before going out in may some time

I did look at my temperature recorder and with the cold nights it was still getting down to outside temperatures and below 5c for 6 hours which I think is too long really. We have a 1c and 3c forecast for the next two nights too