Tomato Growing Thread 2022

To be honest I've never had all the toms ripen at the same time on a plant, surely they form one truss followed but the next truss and so on, and even the toms on one truss dont ripen at the same time.

 

Some fascinating posts I think! Agree re. Ripening, somehow they can't ripen at the same time as trusses grow at different times!? However when they breed for horticulture same-time-ripening must be an important attribute because of picking and getting to market?? Must be said, in our house, tomatoes become someone else's responsibility once they're planted in final position! I do shout out a reply when I get asked, "is it the red tomato stuff I use today?" She's brilliant at gardening now year by year! I feel I'm not even supervising these days!

 

I'm not sure there is much connection between commercial F1 varieties and the F1s that most amateur gardeners grow.
I've never seen any of the varieties I've grown for sale in supermarkets.

 

I do see the point though regarding one truss ripening all at the same time when growing commercially for vine ripened tomatoes, but I've never had that happen to me.

 

Add to that, cosmetic quality. Supermarkets have and still do reject fruit and veg if it does not look appetizing.

 

I still think some of the British grown toms are better than Spanish.

TBH, I think the old orange coloured, never to ripen, Spanish tomato is the main reason supermarket toms get such a bad name.

 

I refuse to buy supermarket Toms, unripen with no taste, yuk

 

I only buy piccolo when I am in Morrisons. If they don't have any, like last weekend, then I get sugadrop, otherwise it's no toms in the trolley.

 

JWK's Gardener's Delight 2005 strain. Just as I was about to give up on them!

 

I for once did not sow my toms too early…..well sort of as I managed to fry the first lot when it was very warm in March……yes in Scotland it can be, occasionally. My first efforts fried on a south facing windowsill so had to start again.
Just as well really as it has been really cold for the last 2 weeks and having resown about 10 days ago ( in a heated propagator) the seedling are at the right stage to not get too leggy or big before being planted out in an unheated greenhouse.
In the past I have been far too impatient and often planted too early only for the temperatures to drop, toms got that all too familiar purple hue and then sulked.
While some way behind you growers in the south of England, I will catch up to a certain extent due to us having longer daylight. Just maybe in the future I will NOT start my toms before the last week in March which is about right for up here. Despite late sowing in an average year I usually get my first ripe toms by the end of June. Only sowed my Cucumbers yesterday as they sulk even worse if allowed to get chilly.

 

I'm not persuaded that there's no connection between F1 varieties bred for commercial and 'home' growth. I believe the variability in home growing plants is definitely an advantage but OBVIOUSLY NOT in the commercial sector where uniformity is king/queen!! However, as many here have said, appearance scores over taste for example! Commercial varieties DO have countless specific specifications(!!!) which are financially viable. However during breeding other characteristics can arrise. Thus our FAVOURITE characteristics in a tomato have come from 'breeding' . I'm sure top breeders can appreciate which area a NEW characteristic would suit. Seems to me that because there are 'different strokes for different folks' different varieties appeal to different people. So much seems to revolve round taste, that 'best' becomes meaningless somehow ?? Perhaps the variability of commercial characteristics leave out taste deliberately !!!! They can't be bred for folk like me who don't eat raw Tom's anyway !!!!! JOKING!!!!

 

Re your observations @Glynne Williams which I agree with, I am not too sure which came first, “chicken or egg”. Is it us the consumer or the big supermarket chains who demand uniformity and the perfect look of everything with little regard for taste?
I used to run my own smoked salmon business and smoked salmon the traditional way, SLOWLY under oak chip produced smoke.
Result is quite a dry, more like Parma Ham, slightly brown tinged flesh with the odd black smut. Taste, wonderful but did not look so, for want of a better word, perfect.
What customers wanted after doing a fair amount of market research, bright pink flesh of cotton wool consistency, uniformly the same colour and tasted of b all. Great for the smokers as it took half the time to produce what you now see sold pretty much everywhere, and bigger profit margins as the salmon loses less moisture in the modern method. For all I know nowadays the salmon might well be injected with water a la bacon and gammon joints!