Tomato Growing Thread 2012

No all mine are in the GH
(The outside ones have suffered and at the moment the plant leaves are black and yellow and the fruit is half inch diameter and very dark green, I was hoping for a September indian summer :-(

The last to provide are the Ailsa Craigs and the money makers, both have large fruit but dark green still no chance now of turning

Jack McH

 

I was going to say that when you asked yesterday, but I wasn't 100% sure.

Its why one should pull up any rogue potatoes that come up the following year - if there was some blight the previous season the spuds in the ground can harbour it, and then it will spread to the new crop (and your neighbours).

But with Toms there isn't going to be anything left in the ground.

Having said that, I change the soil in my greenhouse every year; the soil will get "sick" mono-cropping, although using grafted plants can help in that regard, and some folk change their soil "every few years" rather than every year. Don't put it where you are planting Spuds next year, nor use last year's soil from where the spuds were - i.e. include it in the crop rotation as per other crops.

But I don't do that either! I mix half well rotted manure, and half the compost heap. Its reasonably well composted, but doesn't matter if it is fully composted - it will be lovely by the time it comes out of the greenhouse and I use it on the ornamental beds, which solves the problem of trying to make sure it is in the crop rotation. Compost + Manure, as a mix, is much lighter than just-soil (in my case "heavy clay"), so it is perhaps a less arduous job than if I had to change the greenhouse "soil".

 

Woodlice perhaps? This is the underside of one of my tomatoes where one had made it's home in a hole and had been 'grazing' on the skin around it, leaving a load of grey scar tissue.

 

It's the greenhouse I'm referring to Jack

 

Hiya John.

I'm pretty sure it is blight, as it LOOKS very much identical. I've seen on another forum reports of the same thing, ie slow motion blight.

I was just down the garden, and as I passed the greenhouse, I heard a 'rustlin' inside. Yup, two blackbirds

 

Can you advise me please? I have picked a nice ripe Maskotka and washed and dried the seeds. Can I use this seed for next year's crop? I am quite happy to trade some for some Gardeners Delight as a seedswap,
Jenny

 

Maskotka don't appear to be an F1, so the seeds should come true, but it's best to squirt the seeds into a small container with some water and ferment for a few days to kill off any pathogens. Have a look at this link http://www.realseeds.co.uk/seedsavinginfo.html

Off to look for one of my books with a further method of killing off nasties on tom seeds ............... EDIT: Found it! It's in 'The Tomato Book' (Simpsons Seeds/Tomato Growers Club) which describes a method of warming up the seeds in a dilute bleach solution (1:9 thin bleach/water) and keeping at 52 deg C for something like 15-30 mins, and done just prior to sowing.

 

Thanks for that link Scrungee. I'm gonna give it a go. T & M will have to survive without my custom.
Jenny

 

The only way I differ from the method in that link is that I use a short length of hose attached to the outside tap with a finger on the end to blast any remaining crud from the seeds through the sieve, and I then tap them out onto a double layer of kitchen paper and dab them almost dry, but they mustn't be left on the paper for too long or they'll stick to it, so I next tip them into a small dish, put them somewhere warmish indoors and keep rubbing them between my fingertips until they've all separated. Make sure they've thoroughly dried out before packaging.

I always find I have must better germination with my own saved tomato seeds than bought ones.

 

I've just cleaned up some seeds I've had fermenting for a few days. Don't worry about mould on top, just fish it out - the seeds underneath are fine:



Seeds after water blasting:



Tipped on to some kitchen paper:



Then put into a small bowl to dry. There's probably 300 plus - how much would they cost to buy? And more importantly they're normally better quality and have better germination than bought seeds.




EDIT: That variety above was 'Red Robin' a very small bush tomato suitable for pots/containers/etc. or even a kitchen window cill and I thought it had a better taste than Minibel, Vilma, Balconi or Tumbler, the other small bush toms I grew this year. Check out the price of a packet of seeds and see just how much you can save by saving your own. And you've also got something to swop for new varieties!

 

Yay Yay . I'm gonna dry out some of my Maskotkas. Theyv'e been top notch and are still yeilding about 6oz of lovely toms a day. Had some on toast for brekkie this morning- just quarter, sea salt and a grind of pepper and dot with a few bits of butter. In a microwave bowl and zap for 60 seconds. Simple heaven....

 

Here is my simple guide to seed saving

http://petersgarden101.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/seed-saving-tomato-seeds.html

 

We have colour