Tomato Growing Thread 2022

According to Vertiloom, from where I purchased the seeds, the fruits weigh 10g each. But I've now read elsewhere that they are 25 to 50g. I hope the former is true, or supporting that low truss will be a nightmare!

 

@eatenbyweasels you might have to go down the hosiery route if they are that big .... :-)

 

I've been looking at my tomato plants but they don't seem to be growing nearly as much as they should with this warm weather we are having! Also the growing tips seem rather strange, they look most of the time as if they were beginning to wilt. In all my years of growing toms I can't remember having seen this before. The flowers don't seem to be setting either even though I've tapped the flowers a few times. I'm worried I'm not going to get any fruit for the first time in 20 years!

 

@Balc Hi. I have found the recent hot weather we have had causing some distress to all my tomatoes as well. The upper growth is twisting a little and most leaves are showing upward leaf curl. I am assuming, as they look otherwise healthy and flowering, that this is just the sudden and sustained heat stress with up to 16 hours of hot sunshine a day at the moment. Following early watering and a cooler evening temp the leaves relax a little until the next bout of sunshine. However, I hear the weather breaks soon, let's hope it is only a short break in the gorgeous weather.

I have used a vibrating toothbrush on my pollination runs and made particular point of seeing the pollen rush when touched, I have noticed that some don't as they aren't quite ready and I go back later in the day to do those to make doubly sure. I guess the heat can also effect pollen production.

 

Last year my Tasmanian chocolate produced an oddly striped fruit and a couple of others without the rich brown colour on the outside. Sliced, they looked and tasted delicious. Seeds from the one in the middle are now growing and flowering, I wonder what will be produced this year....

 

Bearing in mind that they grow lots of tomatoes in places like Spain and Italy where temperatures tend to be high for most of the summer I can't see why a warmer than normal spell of weather should stop fruit setting?

 

The list growing this year is;

Rosa de barbastro x2
Rosao de averbe x2
Verde de las landas
Black Russian x2
Ramalet 100 de colgar x2
Heidi
Seek no further (love apple)
Timpurii x2
Fred Limbaugh x2
Garotte bicolor x2
Caspian pink
Copper river x2
Smfl x2
Red indigo f3 x2
Yellow indigo f3 x2
Old brooks
Oxycan jewel
Fish lake x2
Ramalet bombeta x2
Zenas gift
Tasmanian chocolate x2 (the one with their stripes)
Delicious
True colours
Early orange stripe
Tomato b (don't ask)
Cherokee purple x2
Dolly parton x2
San marzanno x2
Tiny Tim x2
Venus x2

There are quite a few Spanish heirlooms and I wished I could do more, but the seed will keep for next year. Disappointingly, my pimento de Padron completely flopped, oh well next year....

 

@pete I agree, and fruit setting is happening with mine even though I know they are a little stressed with the heat. It's not so high to stop pollination, perhaps @Balc can carry on and wait a few more days and I am sure things will work out. Failing that, if it continues perhaps a picture of two might help to diagnose what's wrong..

 

I'm wondering if it's a humidity problem, they used to advise spraying the flowers with water on hot days .

 

During the day I'm keeping a couple of buckets of water in the greenhouse to try and help with humidity, but not sure if it's working.

 

You could water the path and the ground around the plants.