TOMATO GROWING THREAD 2020

Question for all: is too much sun and heat bad for outside tomatoes? I’ve got some against a SW wall and the growing points are shrivelling and appear to be dying. Flowers wither and no further fruit is forming despite loads of toms on the lower trusses . This is all happening since the recent heatwave. Will the growing points recover as the temperature drops and summer turns to autumn? My greenhouse toms with the same aspect but with shading on the greenhouse panes are unaffected. Outside tomato variety is Costoluto florintino.

 

I grew this one some years ago

 

Problem is in cold wet England we try to find the warm micro climates.

Then you get a week at 35c plus and it back fires on you.

 

Thanks @JKW for your answer. I think you are right about the withered tips being unlikely to recover. The set fruit continues to ripen.

As an aside, Costaluto fiorintino seems to be a very good outside variety; it’s very prolific.

 

Sounds like an Italian variety.

 

I think that’s right. If it had been a normal summer my SW wall probably would have been perfect. Anyway the C F variety is a good doer outside. It’s a bit misshapen and has funny protrusions but a good flavour and it’s prolific. I recommend it.

 

Sungolds, small but sweet and prolific.

 

Manx Marvels are looking good, ripening nicely outside, I think they are an outside tomato?
Gardeners Delight going well.
Unknown variety I saved seed from ( tasty fruit from a corner shop), is doing well, I suspected a hybrid but not too sure now!
Big Zacs are getting big

And I will have a decent crop of San Marzano for pasta sauce.

Tomatoes doing well, glut of cucumbers (I hate them, Carol DID love them, not now I fear)

Won't talk about the rest of the veg plot

 

Our dog refuses to eat orange tomatoes, only eating red ones.

Do other dogs behave like that?

 

My first year of growing toms in the GH border..won't do that again...(normally grow in pots)..I have to say it's my own fault..seen as the border has had nothing growing in it for 20 odd years February time after removing all the gravel I thought it would be a good idea to give the soil a bit of goodness so forked in some FYM...see a proper gardener would no doubt have done a soil test but there you go...Annnyhow come planting time all was going well,too well.Huge lush plants but not a sign of many flowers or fruit setting,so in my wisdom I decided to fling a load of wood ash in the border,this appeared to do the trick.Now I have lots of fruits but very late in the day,only had 4 ripe toms thus far.So much for summer salads .Talk about closing the stable door after the 'oss has bolted..lesson learn't.Just need a bit of sunshine now and I'll be in clover

 

My early sown Red Alerts, grown in pots and kept inside a polytunnel until warm enough to evict them outdoors finished, with over 90% of the fruits ripenend and picked.

Tops taken off outdoor and indoor cordons, flowers and some lower leaves removed.

That was a short season this year.



Three easy ways to ripen your tomatoes | Gardening advice | The Guardian

"All you need to do is pinch out the top of your tomato plant once it has produced four trusses (bunches) of fruit, preventing it from growing any taller or bearing more flowers. If your plants are already significantly larger than this, pinch out their growing tip no matter the height and remove all green fruit that haven’t reached their mature size"


I reckon that last bit is nonsense, as it depends on whether you're growing medium/large tonatoes or cherries, because the latter could still have time to grow to full size and ripen (or be brought indoors to ripen).

 

For those who are wondering about sacrificing some of their toms to gather the seeds....

...you can have your cake and eat it - literally!

Just slice one or two of the tomatoes that you want to save seeds for, scrape out a few of the seeds into kitchen paper, then eat the tomato.