Topic: Tomatoes - well, that's it!

[tim]

- the last cleared out - but not too bad a residue from 34 plants? And when you think that the Santa started in late May!!
So it's fried green toms in oatmeal, with field mushrooms and bacon for lunch. - Tim

13/11 - had to REPHOTOGRAPH the things - what goes on??

And Stephan -  You have seen that T&M have Ferline as cover photo?

[Tenuse]

Goodness and I thought Santa didn't start work until Christmas Eve.

;D

Ten x

[ina]

Aha!!!!!!!!! I'm already thinking about next year! Thanks to a wonderful ex-beeb boarder who ordered the blight resistant firline tomatoes for me in England I will be practically assured of great tomatoes again. Year after year it was a disaster with blight and I just about gave up on tomatoes when these firlines came around, yippeee. We traded seeds, I ordered blauw schokkers (what we call capucijners,  a pea type that can also be dried like some beans) for her in Holland.

[Beer_Belly]

All our site has problems with tomatoes, I think I'll do what I did last year and grow my toms at home. Last year I had them in a bag in my garden but I think this year I'll try them on my sheltered balcony. I just need to figure out some kind of drip water system ???

[tim]

1. Late May? Stupid mistake - book says 26/5 - yes, for trusses setting, not ripening!!

2. Drip System?
  a, You can get mains or header tank drip feeders.
  b. Use capillary matting wicks from a reservoir.
  c.  Do as we first did - 'glug bottles'. Suspend upturned demi-johns or similar - if you can spare them from your wine making -  into trays with 1/2" or so of water in them. The neck of the jar should almost touch the base of the tray.  - Tim

[cleo]

Hi Ina-it`s old bah humbug.

Good luck with the firlines-the GQT trial showed them to be nor more resistant than others.

Sorry :'(

Stephan.

[ina]

All our site has problems with tomatoes, I think I'll do what I did last year and grow my toms at home. Last year I had them in a bag in my garden but I think this year I'll try them on my sheltered balcony. I just need to figure out some kind of drip water system ???

Something like this BB?





Try the firlines on your lottie next season, they may just work for you.

[ina]

Hi Ina-it`s old bah humbug.

Good luck with the firlines-the GQT trial showed them to be nor more resistant than others.

Sorry :'(

Stephan.

Don't be sorry Stephan. Other trials seem to have shown them to be more resistant and even that is not important. I've had my own trial and that counts for me. After four years of trying in my lottie, surrounded by other allotmenteers, some of them not taking blight in their potatoes seriously. I never stood a chance with my tomatoes when the blight happily spread around from affected potato plants that were not disposed of when they should have been. Last year I had great success with firlines so no humbug for me but plenty maters and tasty too. The ones on the balcony (see pictures) are not firline but they were back-ups in case the firlines didn't work.

BB, I had no drip system for my balcony bags, just guessed the feeding and watering with good results.

[ina]

These are the firlines. Stoooopid that I didn't take a picture later when they were nice and red. Better next time.

[tim]

- just LOVE the compost sacks! Trying pots on gro-bags next year.
And watering? Depends how often you're near them? - Tim

[ina]

I believe that in England you usually use bags laying flat. I read somewhere that tomato plants benefit by having as many roots as possible and to replant the seedlings several times, each time deeper so that the only the top leaves are above the soil, removing lower leaves as you go so that roots will grow out of the burried stem. The last container I use before their final planting is a tall yoghurt container so I end up with a very long root system, impossible to plant in a flat grow bag. So I use the bags standing up, planting the tomato plant very deep. In the lottie I dig a deep trench and lay the root stem flat, slightly bending the top up at the end of the trench and fill in the trench.

[tim]

I remember you saying that, yonks ago. Great idea.

But where have the pics gone - AGAIN!  Could it just be the HP site? - Tim

Hey! - this is spooky!! The pics were red crosses - until I wrote my message!!

[Beer_Belly]

Thanks for the tips Ina - especially th upright sack one - being English I planted mine in a flat one and had to water them daily to prevent them drying out.

[tim]

- difficult, if you are a bike ride from the lottie, but we aren't and ours get up to 3 times a day in the real summers. Half to one litre or so each, each time. Dilute fert each watering. - Tim

[rdak]

Ina,

That sounds an interesting tip. Does it apply to both bush and cordon types? I have only grown cordon types but I understand that bush types are quite different (e.g. not pinching out side shoots).

BTW, I never knew that you could plant the side shoots that you break off until someone on my plot showed me how many tomatoes he had got off side shoots that had been replanted.

[tim]

Side shoots - one shouldn't really leave them till they are strong enough to pot up (about  pencil thick, I reckon), but sometimes things get away from you and we have always done them for the Village Hall sale days. I think a touch of rooting powder helps? - Tim

[campanula]

never knew that either rdak - must try. This ismy first year on the lottie but my neighbours all seemed to have grown HUGE amounts of toms, straight in the ground.

[ina]

Hi rdak,
Does your question pertain to the extra long root system? I don't see why it would make a difference what type you are growing. It's just happens that tomato plants can be planted deep and will grow roots out of the burried stem and the more roots, the more it can absorb food and water seems to me.

[rdak]

yes, I meant did the 'burying part of the stem' method apply to bush and cordon types. I know a tomato is a tomato, but the bush and cordon varieties do seem to have quite different 'instructions' in the books.
Always thought the flat growbag method was strange given how they dry out so quickly.
Will definately try your way next year! thanks

[ina]

Hi,
As you could see on the pictures it did work for me. What I didn't tell was that I poked about 6 holes with a pencil in each bags, about 5 cm above the bottom, to avoid waterlogging. At times water did run out of those holes when I watered the plants. At first I had the bags closed at the top but the soil started to get mouldy so I just left them half open. I was affraid that the stems would rot. At the end of the season when I emptied the bags, the soil was perfectly moist and not too wet, all the way down and what a fantastic root system.

I'm starting to feel all proud that several people liked my way of growing tomatoes in bags and may even try it themselves. It was Tim who first commented on it last summer when we exchanged pictures. Grow bags as you know them in England (with dotted lines where to cut hahaha) are not available here. Also, you call it peat but we just call it potting soil. So I started asking questions about these grow bags with peat on the beeb board and decided I would give it a try but with a different twist. What we know as peat here is like a peat mulch and I thought it was weird to use it to grow plants in. I can't wait to read about how things turned out for you next season.