How are your tomatoes doing ?

unrecordings

peter_the_piper wrote: »

Hard green areas on the ‘shoulder’ of the fruit: This is known as greenback. These areas remain hard and unpalatable as the rest of the fruit ripens.

I do believe I might have Hard Back this year. The Ailsa Craig usually ripen evenly all over, but this year there's a still green at the top of the fruit - which may or may not ripen up. It's going to be a game of chicken with the first few to see if they ripen up properly or just start to rot if I leave it too late

Living_proof

I have just frozen about 100 cherry or small tomatoes - I can't keep up with them outside. The greenhouse still not faring so well with a little blossom end rot on the largest ones. Can you cut that out and use the rest?

Primrose

Im also freezing lots of my small tumbling tomatoes. They're small enough to freeze whole and are useful for winter soups and casseroles.

On the blossom end rot fruits it all depends in how ripe they are. I have used some affected by this in the past if they're pretty ripe but you really have to cut the bad ends off and just taste and see. If the good bits taste ok use them up quickly or freeze them in some form immediately. To be honest it can depend on how abundant my crop is. If I have a good crop you can afford to throw away the odd damaged one. If it,s sparse you feel to have to save as much as possible.

unrecordings

Living_proof wrote: »

I have just frozen about 100 cherry or small tomatoes - I can't keep up with them outside. The greenhouse still not faring so well with a little blossom end rot on the largest ones. Can you cut that out and use the rest?

Yep - Cut one and see. It's best to get them while they're a little bit orange otherwise when they fully ripen they just begin to rot proper

Just slice them a little above the rot and you should be left with a good bit. If they've fully ripened and gone sloshy, then bin em'

unrecordings

My Ailsa Craig have started to split now ***
I'm sure I've been watering enough, and these are in growpots
Ho hum

*** Been one of those days today, too hot, and then Dearly Beloved broke the handle on my favourite Haws watering can that they don't make anymore (although two carefully selected bits of bamboo and some expertly applied gaffa tape fixed it)

Primrose

I'm rejoicing at the sight of nice red tomatoes appearing on my outdoor plants now which are positively laden with fruit this year whilst praying for rain to reduce the need for constant watering.


At the same time I'm dread the effect the rain could have, i.e. bring unwanted humidity which will doubtless trigger the dreaded blight at the very worst possible time.


Some of my tumbling fruits are starting to split now. I think the combination of heat and watering is too much for them so I'm freezing them whole or eating them quickly. I know some people recommend removing some of the lower tomato leaves from the plants to help them ripen but in this weather that hardly seems necessary and in actual fact I think theyre probably better left on the plants to give the fruit a little shade and prevent them from slowly cooking in the sun's rays..

tootallulah

yogi_brrr wrote: »

Hehe! I bet it was! What variety are you growing? I also have tonnes of blooms and tiny baby tomatoes. They pretty much all got pollinated. Maybe that's the issue. The plants are struggling to support all this new growth... :huh:

I am growing Floridity, Tigerella, Sungold, Chocolate, Russian Blacks, Tomato Berry, Black Krim, San Morenzo.

4 of us neighbours all grow different types and then we do a big swap between us. I love the taste of Floridity so have about 6 of those and I grew Tomato Berry so have 4 of those, 2 of all of the others and most are outdoors on a south facing wall. Obviously this year even the big varieties are ripening well.

Most years I have enough in the freezer to see me through until February/March by which point I am ready to begin growing again. Every year I grow a variety I haven't grown before this year it is Tomato Berry - good taste, small heart shaped fruits, dark red. I am not sure what it is about growing tomatoes, is it only in England? I don't think it saves a penny but the taste is wonderful.

skogar

1st year growing tomatoes, outside as no greenhouse. I didn't really expect it to work. Tomatoes are red alert and 2 types suitable for hanging baskets losetto and 1 that I've forgotten the name of. The red alert was supposed to be a bush tomato but because it didn't seem to support itself was tied to a cane as were the ones that I originally intended to plant in hanging baskets. I didn't really know what Ielse should be done as I wasn't expecting to grow them as cordons. I've had some splitting - it's a struggle to keep up with the watering especially when away for the weekend but the tomatoes seem to be doing well and we've had a reasonable number off so far and plenty still to ripen. The problem is that this year has been so atypical I have no idea if I will be able t get tomatoes to grow outside next year or not. if anyone could give me some basic tips for next year it would be much appreciated as this year has been a bit haphazard. Are you supposed to do anything with bush tomatoes to make them grow more bushy or is it common to have to stake them?

Primrose

I grow both cordons and bush/tumbling tomatoes. The bush/tumblers are tumbling red and Tumbling yellow and always growi successfully outdoors (we're in the south east.).

The tumblers I grow in deep patio pots don,t need staking but sometimes once the fruit starts to appear some of the branches do need propping up with thick twiggy sticks to stop the weight of fruit splitting them off from the parent stem.

I grew Losetto one year in a border. It had lots of tiny fruits but I would have regarded it as too sprawling for a hanging basket and again think it would be more suitable for a deep patio pot where some branches could be propped up if necessary.

None of my tumbling/bush plants grow more than two feet tall.

Farway

I found the bush/ tumbling type mostly need some sort of support, and to be fair, some catalogues do say this for certain varieties.

I found Losetto sprawling, and IMO not worth the effort, except for maybe if you like tiny toms as decoration in a salad

I no longer grow the bush type, too sprawling for me

I now grow cordon because I know where I am with them, or my trusty Balcony Yellow, which I find is suitable for my wall / hanging baskets. I think some seed catalogues are to blame for misleading descriptions, and judicious Photoshopping, giving the impression you can get 40 pounds of fruit by growing "Supersweetredtom" in a thimble