Tomatoes. What next?

janibrown

Hippeechiq wrote: »

Thanks for your replies Lotus-eater & Kittie

I was only saying to my OH today that my Grandad used to whitewash his greenhouse glass to keep the temperature down - mine isn't glass though, its UV protected green Polyurethane, so am not sure how successfully it would adhere. Also, reading up on whitewashing, it says to use white matt emulsion, quicklime or white latex paint.....none of which I have.

Money is an issue for me, so I was hoping for a cheap and cheerful solution. Alas I don't think there is going to be one.

Why dont you try the window cleaner that drys white and you can polish off later cant remember the name of it but its in a pink bottle and lasts 4 ages when dry its like a chalk residue on the glass/windows very cheap and would do the same job I think, its only about £1.50 so not much to loose its in a pink bottle think its called windowleane or near that anyway

[Deleted User]

I used windowlene for shading the greenhouse once

Thanks morg, good to know

[Deleted User]

Gosh it is a month on already and thankfully my tomatoes are doing very well. I started taking off lower leaves when I had the first truss and stopped all the plants at 4 trusses. I continued to take a leaf off at a time when I thought it was shading the growing tomatoes too much and I finished that job today, collecting a large black bag of leaves. I find that job satisfying because suddenly I can see the tomatoes and they are often bigger than I thought.

I have collected a bowl of sungold this week and have been careful to cover 2 outdoor sungolds and 2 gardeners delight with haxnicks plastic as we have had days of showers and today a part smith blight alert and I have no intention of spraying them with anything. Troughs of marigolds keep the nasties away and other than that, I have my fingers crossed

I`ve been very careful with watering and do so according to the weather as it is all too easy to overwater and mine will need less now that I have cut off more leaves

My alicantes are being very productive and the fruits on them are large and perfect. Same goes for principe borghese in that there are a lot of fruits all perfectly formed. Sungold and gardeners delight, well I`ll wait for the verdict on those although I do see a lot of fruit. Alaskan fancy was/is a waste of time, there are fruits on there but I am not struck as they formed bushes with dense leaves, I did think that they were semi determinate but I got that wrong. Anyway I`ll see what they are like now I have expsed the fruits by hacking (cutting) the leaves off

I carry on using a very good organic tomato fertilizer every two weeks, its thick and dark and smells nice. Just got to be patient for now but I have made plans for next year, about what varieties I will and will not grow and how much protection they will get

[Deleted User]

I have been doing an experiment with my tomatoes and the result is excellent. I am picking any that have just started turning red and also orange ones and the ones that have turned pale green. Lots of them, all different sizes and I have been keeping them in a basket lined with newspaper and then I cover them with newpaper. I started just over a week ago and am now getting lots of very ripe and fragrant tomatoes in the basket and they are turning deep red and without any blemishes. All the tomatoes are ripening very successfully in the basket and I have started another lot in newpaper and in a cardboard box. I add to it every 2 days until full enough and then I`ll start another one

It leaves the tomatoes on the plants with more nutrients and they are also turning faster than I would normally expect. We don`t have an awful lot of summer left for ripening and there is also the threat of the dreaded blight so I am getting them in asap

Sambucus_Nigra

I was harvesting toms in a greenhouse in Oct in Derbyshire and 23rd Nov in Oxfordshire and Nr Swindon last year...so don't rule out late toms just yet!

[Deleted User]

I want to get on with bottling etc so having them ripe sooner rather than later is a big bonus and I don`t have a proper greenhouse

Sambucus_Nigra

Aah, see I like to eke them out.

Have you put a ripe nana skin in with them?

adelight

kittie that sounds like a brill idea, i shall try it if i run out of space for the toms in a month or so (they're indoors)

[Deleted User]

yikes, we are in blight time. I`m not hanging around to have all my outdoor tomatoes wiped out and have just picked any bigger than a marble and which have changed from a dark green. All gardeners delight that is, alaskan fancy look very strong and the leaves are completely blemish free so I`ll watch them carefully. Principe borghese are covered in fruit so they were all covered up in plastic last night. Being very watchful now is the name of the game. I now have 5 boxes, baskets, bowls of tomatoes in all stages and all cosy in newspaper. Alicante are doing well in patiogros ie pvc covered but I am picking them every other day. Rain most of the day today and forcast overnight and 2 smith periods last week so blight is certain

Hippeechiq

Sorry for the late thanks, but real life determined I be offline for a couple of months. Thanks though for the suggestion of Windowlene - it's a good idea, however the weather turned somewhat cooler and wasn't/hasn't been needed. Nice to know I've a solution if I need it though

I wonder if I could pick your brains again. I am growing 4 Shirley Tomato Plants & 4 Cherry. The Cherry haven't produced as prolifically as they initially promised and I'm unsure whether that's been down to severe temperature fluctuations (what a summer, eh?) or my lack of knowledge, as this is my first year of growing anything.

However, the fruit they are baring are lovely. The Shirleys had given me no trouble at all until a month back when I noticed leaf problems....mottling is the best way I can describe it, and although I've scoured the internet, there are so many "could be" reasons for this that I'm none the wiser - although Tobacco (Mosaic) Virus does look to be the closest match, which seemingly means I should destroy all of my plants?! :eek:

I'm at a loss to know what to do, especially given that I have 100 tomatoes growing between the 4 plants

The first 7 I have harvested look like the picture below, the smaller of the two I picked this morning because of the "circles" on it as I'm concerned that it's yet another problem rearing it's ugly head.

The leaves incidentally, tend to droop when it's hot but recover in the evening and appear mottled with the light shining through them (not possible to capture with my camera)

I've posted a pic of the Shirley Tomatoes with a leaf to see if anyone can shed light on what the problem is. All suggestions would be gratefully received.



The Cherry Tomatoes being grown in the same polycarbonate greenhouse look a picture of health on the other hand, although as mentioned above, many flowers didn't set, or set and then fell off.



Do you think it may be blight Kittie? I'm unsure how to tell.