TOMATO GROWING THREAD 2020

They would have really suffered if planted out at my plot, probably about 4 Deg C there this morning.

I'm still influenced by the -3 deg C in early June there some years ago that even froze tomato plants in cold frames.

 

I keep seeing on here about not putting tomatoes out or still heating a greeenhouse. It's June for goodness sake.
I really don't get all this protection and cosseting that is given to tomatoes. Mine have been outside in the garden for at least a month and temperatures have been down to not much above freezing, blazing heat and are still growing strongly with flowers. They haven't suffered, I find the only thing they are not to happy with is continual rainy days.
This morning at 5.30 it was 4c, they are not suffering or wilting.
I am down south but it has been chilly at night here too so that isn't a factor, get them out and let them grow.
Rob

 

My two finally have some flowers growing - and opening, oh-so-slowly. No fruit yet.

 

My outdoor tomatoes aren’t doing too bad. Planted out around three weeks ago. I knew I was talking a bit of a chance, but the plants were showing signs of stress in their pots, besides, overnight temps at the time were around 10-12c.

 

@JWK
Hi, all but one of my toms have small flowers so far and no sign of any problems. No green house so 30 odd 6 inch plants in the kitchen would be a bit much so no alternative .
Over the years I've tried sowing/planting out earlier, later and apart from last year with the cold and wet June there never seems to be any real difference so the end of April out they go.
Six inches high this year from 2 1/2in pots into the large 12 inch pots straight away.
Yep, we all have different views, makes the world go round. Now if I had room for a greenhouse........

 

All your pictures of beautiful happy looking tomatoes with fruits are making me want a huge greenhouse!

Are those with fruits ahead, or am I behind?

 

They do look poorly, we've not had a frost here since....can't remember but under 5c and none of mine look like that. I'd give up if they did

 

I guess we all try and do our best based on our experience with specific gardens and varieties too.
While I agree, based on previous years, that eventually tomatoes will grow even if planted early and left exposed to the cold, that seems to stunt their growth considerably. For indeterminates that will mean loosing a few trusses at the end of season, because they will simply not have enough time to develop them.

I have no greenhouse, so eventually I had to plant out several of mine at the end end of April, because they were over 3 feet already. I kept several others indoors a bit longer
For giggles I also took two small ones and planted them out alongside the beans earlier on, meaning they got way more sun than those indoors.
That two are growing now, but they stayed tiny until the third week of May (as in less than a foot). Only now they are showing flowers.
Conversely, others which were sowed at the same time (last week of March, pretty much) but planted later and covered during cold nights are much larger and have lots of tomatoes on already.

One advantage about having them develop fast indoor is that one can start cloning from cuttings quite early. For me this is important because I cannot find seeds for the Aviditas, one of my favourite varieties.
They are F1, so I bought 3 grafted plants from Suttons for £10 and then cloned other 12 from cuttings, two of which were kept nice and warm and are now tall already and flowering.
Actually, they are way taller than those I put outside very early, but 6 weeks younger.
They are not going to be productive until July but will come very handy to increase production and fill any possible gap I might have left
I love tomatoes..

 

Unlike most people on this thread I am not a long time expert, but I think it is a mix of things.
Sowing your tomatoes, or buying them as plugs, early will give you an headstart of course.
But then the conditions they grow will make a huge difference.
Scarce light, cold temperatures, incorrect watering and planting outside plants which are not hardened sufficiently yet will all stunt their growth considerably, so flowers will show up later and some might fall if the temperature drops.

This is a tomato plant I planted out very small along with the beans, earlier than any other tomato:


You can see frost damage on the leaves and the plant is most definitely small, not much taller than my developing corn and beans.

This is the same variety, sowed as well at the end of March, but kept on my windows sill for 3 weeks more. It was then planted out 2 feet away from the little sister above:


The difference is quite staggering. It has flowers and some fruit, it is a giant compared to the other one.

A greenhouse is a great thing to have because it allows for plenty of light and warmer temperatures during the day. It also protects plants from heavy winds, hailstorms and so forth.
However, it might not be sufficient to protect plants at night .
During the day a greenhouse will store lots of heat, even too much at times.
But during the night that heat will slowly dissipate, and the greenhouse will not be much warmer than outside.

Like John said, if your plants are indeterminates (e.g. cordon tomatoes rather than bushes) you would be better off removing side shoots. Side shoots turn into additional main stems if they are not removed. Removing them will cause the plant to grow taller.
Side shoots will grow between the main stem and a leaf branch:



When small, you can remove them gently with your fingers, but if they are a bit larger it is better to use clean scissors to avoid hurting the plant or creating potential for infections :




If you remove sideshoots the plant will make potentially less flowers and fruits, but the fruits will be larger and possibly better tasting, because the plant has less to take care of. You are basically forcing the plant to put all its eggs in one basket and take care of them. Also, this might allow the plant to ripen fruits faster, meaning that at the end of the season you will not find yourself with too many green toms which will never ripen.

Indeterminate plants are called like that because the number of side shoots they can produce is not limited by their genetic code. So if the conditions are good, the plant will keep growing and make stems and flowers.
Determinate tomatoes are limited in the number of stems they will produce and are generally left as bushes with no removing of side shoots. Or so I understand anyway.

This is a determinate tomato (Lizzano) and I leave the sideshoots alone:



Bush varieties have generally small fruits, in this case large cherries pretty much:



If you remove a side shoot, you can plant it in a pot with very wet soil and leave it a few weeks somewhere warm with no direct light. It will then develop roots and essentially become a new plant which will grow and make fruits.
However, even in this case, temperature and insolation will make a huge difference.

These are 5 weeks old, they are from cuttings from an indeterminate variety and they were kept nice and warm on my window sill:



These are 3 weeks old, again from cuttings, same variety, but they were kept in my unheated mini greenhouses. They received more sun than on my windowsill, but it was also considerably colder than in the house. They are small, more heat would have been better:



You can plant outside and protect the tomatoes with fleece or sheets if the temperature goes down, but some damage is likely. Like with John's experiment, the bottom section of my outdoor tomatoes did take a beating during low temp nights, even if they were covered. I was guessing that this happens because air at the bottom will stay a bit colder when covering with sheets, but perhaps there are other reasons.



Incidentally, it is not mandatory to cut all side shoots. It is up to your preferences.
The year I removed them all, I got larger plum tomatoes but slow at ripening.
Last year I left lots of sideshoots on most plants and my family actually enjoyed that way better.
There were lots of fruits, albeit smaller, so they could pick a bowl every day..
My wife enjoyed that a lot and picking fruits and veggies became part of her daily routine before or after work.
With all the time I spend in the garden by myself, and all the house space taken by my gardening experiments, whatever makes my family happier I will grow.
So this year I am letting lots of tomatoes fork and planted a bunch of bush ones too..

This can also be done for decorative purposes.
For this arch, I removed all sideshoots but three, so the plant has now three stems and it will look better at the end of the season:






If you remove your side shoots, plant them to make more tomatoes. That will increase your yield. Whatever you did wrong this year will just be an advantage for you next year.
At least, that is what I keep telling myself.. every year :D