Tomato Growing Thread 2012

Please Kristen,
what has caused it? Are they lacking something? It cannot be TLC !!

 

Ah titter ye not missus. I just brush them with my tickling stick :-)

I was told that if you take a leaf branch off the plant it would grow, and indeed it did
So I am giving it a try with the WHOLE stem :-) it is still green and strong tonight 48hrs on no wilt ?

My Makostako, I did not get them till late on, and it was so damn cold I did not put them in seed trays until a couple of weeks ago, now they are only one inch high in the cold greenhouse.
All this means is the same as last year, I get fine plants with lots of green tomatoes on at the beginning of OCTOBER ready for death

I believe there are cheaper homes available in warmer climes ie Greece
Soreley tempted

Jack McH

 

Go on go GO ON Jack. Then we can all come out for our cheap hols!!

 

Really really tempted maybe not Greece but definately Emilia Romagna in Italy

Then once established all would be welcome to visit, air fare and feed your selves, rent free

Jack McH

 

Do it JackMcPizzaMunching I'm sure Aunt Sally would love to visit...

 

Where abouts in E.Rmagna? Are you going there for your retirement hols? Can't wait to pack me "let's go visit Jack" bags,
You gotta have a dream, if you don't have a dream....- Can't see the whistle smiley,

 

Thank you

 

Kristen,
when you have a minute can you explain please?

 

Thank you,
Jenny

 

General concensus is not to feed at all (other than what they get from potting-on using fresh potting-compost each time) until the first truss has set (i.e. you can see pin-prick, or larger, fruit forming in the centre of the flower).

The thinking is that starving the plant encourages it to flower earlier / more. This does tend to lead to them looking less "lush" though ... contrary to what we normally strive to achieve. If you feed early (i.e. provide Nitrogen) they will look lush, but will feel happy and put more energy into lush, green, leaves rather than flowers & fruit ...

John's explained the Epsom Salts thingie ... Potassium can prevent the uptake of Magnesium (as can acid and very free draining soils), and thus the initial feeding with Tomato Fertilizer, which is high in Potassium, can exacerbate or bring on the condition, but starving the blighters in small pots before they set fruit doesn't help!

(As posted earlier I recommend getting Epsom Salts from Garden Centre rather than Chemist as I have found it significantly cheaper, eBay probably cheaper still, but you don't need very much, so convenience of supplier may be more important)

The plant robs itself of Magnesium when it gets short - so the chlorophyll in the old leaves is sacrificed and broken down to get the Magnesium and make it available to the younger leaves, hence you will see the condition on older leaves first (and usually the older leaves will not recover, or not recover fully, once they get to the point of having dark blotches on them - but no matter, you'll be cutting them off to let in more light and air at the base of the plant, fairly early on in the season, so its not a "tragic" loss)

Epsom Salts is a benign treatment, so no harm in applying it at the same time as starting the Potassium feeding cycle, or earlier, if you think it might be needed (although chlorosis [yellowing]of the leaves can also be caused by other mineral deficiencies).

I don't think my Comfrey is going to be ready in time as the first truss must be set by now (haven't looked carefully recently) and thus I should be starting to feed them ... so I'll have to resort to the stuff from a bottle ...

No need to buy Tomorite as any generic-brand-X Tomato fertiliser will do, and the Posh Brands are very expensive (relatively). I did a comparison some years ago, and my Nerdy thread is here:
Tomato Feed Price Comparison