Topic: Tomatoes- inside or out?

[Jeannine]

Jitterbug,there are several strains of Brandywine, I think I have about 9, my point is that they have different maturing times, most are main season, but there is one that is a liitle earlier so is a better bet.

Times below for comparison purposes only as it is US scale are days after transplanting out into it's final spot.

Yellow Brandywine...90 days
Yellow Brandywine...Platfoot Strain  85 days
Brandywine Sudduths Strain 85 days
Brandywine ( the one people are usually talking about) 80 days
Brandywine OTV  85 days
Brandywine red.(potato leaf) 80 days
Brandywine red ( regular leaf) 80 days

Compare this then to say
Tumbler  55 days
Gardeners Delight  65 days
Sungold 57 days
Big Beef, my favourite biggie 73 days
Beefsteak ( the original) 96 days

Picking varieties if you are growing outside is as important as taste.

Hope this is helpful to someone. XX Jeannine

[Emagggie]

Having a google around re. different kinds of tomatoes I came across a site which advocated cutting most of the leaves off the plant as tomatoes need air and water more than sunshine. :o It was actually an advertisement for fertiliser, but offering 'growing advice' too. drastic hey?

[Barnowl]

No expert, but for cordon/indeterminate I now start removing leaves from the bottom of the plant upwards as the fruit develop.

[caroline7758]

Read the same advice from a jGuernsey commercial grower in the Guardian a few weeks back.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/weekend/story/0,,2018826,00.html

"When first truss begins to form remove all leaves below."

[Emagggie]

This was the ad I read. The part I refer to is quite a way down, headed "you're not growing tomatoes, you're growing leaves!"

http://www.joyfultomato.com/?gclid=CMGql7aPjYsCFSgEEAodUEl1RQ

[Trevor_D]

Yes, I always remove the leaves below the bottom truss. And it sometimes pays to remove leaves higher up to let air circulate: Roma is notorious for refusing to grow as a tidy little cordon and produces a solid bush-like plant unless you are quite ruthless.

The plus side of this is that while you are busy pulling off leaves & side-shoots and tieing in new growth, you will spot any signs of the dreaded blight early on.

[greyhound]

Er .... why would you try to grow Roma as a cordon?  It is a bush tomato.

[Trevor_D]

Agree, but if you just let it do it's own thing you get masses of leaf & side-shoots and very little air circulating. So when blight arrives, it's certain to get it. What I meant was, you need to be ruthless with it and take off side-shoots & leaves that obstruct free air flow. It's never going to look nice and tidy like a genuine cordon, but I find I get a heavier (& more certain) crop if I "manage" it a bit.