Tomato Growing Thread 2023

Hi from a Newbee! Mealy bug is a nightmare, I have thrown out whole plants because of it but have never had it in the greenhouse, another result of climate change perhaps. I think there is a biological control for it and you can dab them with a cotton wool but dipped in alcohol (methylated spirits) though I found I always missed some on my house plants and ended up throwing them rather than let it spread.

As for tomatoes, very interesting to see how you have all done with blight resistant varieties. I have always stuck to growing in the greenhouse because Cornwall's mild damp climate is what blight loves however I would like to try some melons next year (they have gone up a lot in the shops) so thought I would try some resistant tomatoes outside so I can free up some space.
I tried Skykomish and Primabella which so far touch wood have not got blight though they are behind the greenhouse toms. There I have Rosella, Sungold, Skykomish and Russian Black (or Black Russian I forget). Skykomish has a good flavour, Primabella less so but fine for cooking. It has very shiny thickish skin and I wonder if that helps it to throw off the blight.
One other I grew in the school garden when I worked there was Koralik which put up with horrendous wind and rain, fruiting into October and also self sowed itself and didn't get blight. It is a bit sharp tasting though my husband likes sharp tomatoes.
So next year it will be Skykomish, Primabella and I'll try Crimson Crush too outside.

I forgot - Real Seeds House tomato windowsill tomato. I started this off early under cheap LED growlights and grew on the windowsill until I could put out in the greenhouse in bigger pots so getting early fruits. I also gave some away and everyone is pleased with them. Last year I gave one to my grandaughter and she had fruits at Christmas on her windowsill.

 

Thanks Baalmaiden! I've had, SO FAR, blight in all my cordon Tom's outside, and even in ONE of my previously blight resistant CRIMSON CRUSH a bush type planted outside. Obviously it's very worrying so I will try the ones you mention!!!

 

The toms on the balcony are doing alright this year again. Last year they had wilt & I hardly got ant fruit. It had never happened before in nearly 20 years of growing them on the balcony. This year after the very late start, due to the very cold spring, they have taken off & 8 of the 9 plants have several trusses of fruit. The only plant that has no fruit is one I accidentality broke when planting up the growbags. I put the rootball with an inch or two of stem into the growbag & used a small part of the main stem as a cutting. Well the rootball part didn't grow as I'd hoped but the cutting took & is growing, albeit very slowly. I had hopes that I might get at least 1 truss from it but that's looking increasingly unlikely. Nevertheless I count it as a small success being the first time I've ever tried taking a tomato cutting! (Besides it has spent all its time outside in the growbag).

I was looking more closely at them this afternoon & the 2 trusses that are ripening on the self-sown plant are in need of picking! I'll pick them tomorrow & have them for lunch - if they make it as far as the kitchen!

 

I've never had problems with caterpillars on my tomatoes. The only caterpillars I've had on the balcony have been the Cabbage White, on Nasturtiums, which I haven't got this year, & one species of caterpillar that eats the leaves of the geraniums & pelargoniums. I notice this one, not just for the holes in the leaves, but from the way it joins leaves together. When I see leaves like that I pick them off and throw them out of the balcony, into the grass. This year is an especially bad year for them.

I picked another tomato yesterday and like the first found it to be sweeter than normal for Gardeners Delight. Being as it's from the same plant & truss that's hardly surprising! Again I can't compare it with the other plants because there are no others with ripe toms yet. Even the 2nd truss on this plant is now ripe enough to pick!

 

What a year for us tomato growers! Ive had blight on supposedly blight resistant (burlesque). Tomatoes spoiled by the continuous wet weather and the attendant slugs and snails and an infestation of Bright–line Brown-eye moth caterpillar (AKA tomato moth) in the greenhouse. The little sods managed to munch their way thru a huge number of tomatoes before I spotted them. The weather has delayed cropping by a good few weeks for me. However, Im still picking (some green burlesque are in isolation in case the blight appears on them) and have still got a good harvest and still lots of green ones still to ripen. Meanwhile…its raining again ‍♀️

 

Dunno why the symbol for female appeared on th end of that!! It was meant to be a shoulder shrug!! Guess this forum doesn’t support apple emoticons!!! That’s so 2 decades ago!!!!!

 

I don't think it supports any outside emojis, I use the ones that are provided at the top of the message area.

 

Away for ten days. So a bit of harvesting going on

Outdoor crimson crush, then inside bigger ones then inside cherries and some peppers. Although I have left a lot of the cherries for now

 

****** Would anyone save and sell seeds of Barry's Crazy cherry? I want to try this variety next year.

 

I picked the half a dozen Gardeners Delight toms that were ripe from the self-sown plant yesterday. There are 5 or 6 trusses still to ripen on this plant.

I watered the 3 growbags with tomato fertilizer. All the plants are growing very well and, except for 2,are all as tall or taller than me! The 2 that are smaller are the 1 with the lighter foliage, reaches nearly up to my shoulders, & the cutting that's only a few inches tall

 

And Chio Chio San too.

 

One of the 'Gardeners Delight' plants has deformed/distorted foliage but I'm unsure whether it's from growing conditions, (it's in the shadiest corner of the balcony), or if it might be a virus. I did a search online earlier but couldn't get any conclusive information. I'm adding it to this post to see if anybody might know what's wrong with it.
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I saw something similar when I was searching for images for distorted leaves on tomatoes. If that were the case then the others should be similar but it's the only plant that is showing these symptoms! Two other plants share the same growbag but they are fine!

 

@Balc , have the local council been doing any spraying in the area.