Tomato Growing Thread 2023

Mid March sown, good germination and pricking out, hardened off and majority planted out in sheltered position. Ddraig Goch, cordon, Crimson Crush, outside bush, blight free, and a cordon cherry. I haven't been worried about planting them ALL outside. With the amount of Global Warming we currently experience, our Summers' are warmer!! However my main reason STILL has to be the bloody WHITEFLY!!!! Eventually they get outside so I've got three in the greenhouse (none in heated one!) where I do battle against them. Two of the indoor ones are planted in upturned, halved growbags as per the Scottish gardening program!!! Well worth trying I think. They're growing quite well actually. It's the Ddraig Goch in the picture. We've planted the three varieties in three blocks. Beware Blight!!??

 

I think with white fly you have to think about what are they overwintering on.
I believe glass house white fly are a different type to those you might see on plants outside.
Not that I see any outside these days any way.

 

Whitefly are resistant to most insecticides and commercial growers use biological control to keep the numbers under control, a small parasitic wasp I think.

 

The ones on brassicas always seem bigger.

 

I tried over wintering some chilli plants in the conservatory, white fly everywhere, never again.
Picked our first Black Cherry tomato, now for a fight over who gets it..........oh hang on she's eaten it, oh well saved a tussle lol.

 

They are a different species to the smaller glasshouse whitefly.

 

I never get many on the balcony, just a few occasionally when I brush against a plant or when I'm twisting the stems around the strings or perhaps tapping the flowers. I've never had many so I've never bothered to do anything about them. But if they were to become a bit more of a nuisance I still have some Neem oil I bought last year that I could make up & see if that gets rid of them.
.

 

I picked a few cherry tomatoes from one of my outdoor plants a few days ago. They seemed a bit 'solid' but were still very nice.
There are lots more to come. Maybe I'll leave them a bit longer before picking them next time

 

New variety today a Garden Pearl, will I get to taste it?............................unlikely lol

 

Re: whitefly
They affect my Tom's in heat by essentially covering ALL the plants with a sticky covering and filled the air with nostril filling prodginy!! Crop ruined.
Attempted control
1. When they first showed I used YELLOW STICKY STUFF hanging about. Caught a lot, but you could hear the laughs. The old conservatory is heated so perfect conditions for both Tom's and insects!
2. ORGANIC INSECTICIDE They worked BUT on everything and I had to keep it up killing ALL pollinators as well!
3. FUMIGATION Seemed to work, but after 2-3 months they were back!
4. BIOLOGICAL CONTROL (the way!!) Waited 6-9 months to remove residues, then bought the little wasps. It worked! All those black infected whitefly!! Hooray!! Great!! Aren't I clever!! Eventually my heating was turned off (as usual) then we had one of those cold snaps! Didn't realise that this affected the wasps. They died!! Obviously didn't appreciate this until the whitefly showed themselves in force!!!
5. Discovered NEEM oil on here! Some success but we had really decided not to grow Tom's in the heated conservatory and as the 'flies' were also in the cold greenhouse, not there either!
6. So PLANTED OUTSIDE (,!!!) or rather CHANGED VARIETIES Found Ddraig Goch and Crimsson Crush, both enemies of blight (though none so far here for few years)

Essentially we get our Tom's LATER (telling myself it doesn't matter) My wife is now THE GARDNER so I have less control and work outside. I sow, prick out etc and suggest hardening off. She carries stuff to cold greenhouse and, after I've planted a couple, does the rest, and waters, feed and, having understood, side shoots the Dragon!! She's planted three in an old plastic greenhouse, growing well, and having seen a method on Beechgrove, planted some in halved growbags placed upright. Re whitefly though this is OK as she hates the fly more than the TORIES!!!

 

Azoychka, first almost ripe beefsteak of the year for me. Barry's crazy cherry and blue goldberies also ripening

 

My beef steaks are just turning a pale white-ish green, seeing this photo of your tomato makes me think as a first timer that I am on the right track.

 

Just listened to an interesting programme on commercial tomato growing in Lancashire. Growing in coir bags with automated feed and watering, LED lights and biological controls; plants grow 15 m long and they need 50 trusses per plant to be profitable.
Particularly interesting was the bit about pollination; where they can can see if the flower has been pollinated by a small brown bruise on the flower caused by the bumblebee biting the flower.
BBC Radio 4 - On Your Farm, Lancashire tomatoes