Allotments 4 All
Produce => Edible Plants => Topic started by: lizagrowbag on August 04, 2009, 16:32:25
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first time ive grown them they are all outdoors and have lots of fruit on them
but are all still green is this normal? should i take them off the plants and put them in a window sill to ripen or not?
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Well leave em on really - mine are a bit late this year as well. If you can avoid the dreaded blight then there is plenty of growing season left for them to ripen.
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Yep Same here Mine are just starting to turn
Have put some banana skins under as it suppose to help
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I picked my first ripe ones last night, they unfortunately didn't make it into the house as I snaffled them.
The were Black Beauty's and good old Harbinger. And tasty they were too. ;D
I find placing a red card near them makes them turn quicker.
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I think there are many of us with outdoor toms that are in the same boat. They prefer warmth to ripen and we haven't had a lot of that recently. >:(
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if you keep feeding them they take ages to ripen !! if the plant thinks it's dying, they fruit quicker, maybe not so much, but definitely quicker.
Q. are you growing for tomatoes, or tomato plants? (please think before answering what may seem as a smart-a*se question)
rgds, Tony (I've been eating outdoor toms for weeks) ;)
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Thats a really good question tonybloke, my toms are huge in my little shed cum greenhouse but I'm disappointed with the amount of fruit, although there are still lots of flowers the fruits are green, with a few just turning. I wonder if I should stop feeding them?
Lushy
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Oh, fash not! This is the first reasonable pick we've had indoors.
And don't Spring Onions grow!
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I've only got one with any colour at all, and that's in the greenhouse- plenty of time yet.
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I picked my first tomato yesterday. Tonight when I got home I found 4 more ready and a lot of the others are beginning to turn now.
They are outdoor ones. The stayed green for ages and the first one I picked seemed to start colouring then promptly stopped as the weather got cooler and wetter for about ten days.
A little sunshine will do us all good but the tomato crop especially :)
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Picked my first real decent takings over the weekend.
(http://www.allotments4all.co.uk/smf/gallery/9323_05_08_09_8_29_40.JPG)
That was one days worth - a couple of pounds in total over two or three days..
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my tomatoes are very slow to ripen too. there have been half a dozen red ones but they all have a big brown scab on the bottom. Does anyone know what it could be? ???
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my tomatoes are very slow to ripen too. there have been half a dozen red ones but they all have a big brown scab on the bottom. Does anyone know what it could be? ???
Blossom end rot - irregular watering means the plant can't take up calcium properly.
http://www.rhs.org.uk/Advice/profiles0701/blossom_end_rot.asp (http://www.rhs.org.uk/Advice/profiles0701/blossom_end_rot.asp)
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The only one of ours that looked like it was going to go red has now started to go all brown and scabby. Should i cut it off? will the rest of them have enough time to ripen? Its producing loads but they are still all green. is it time to look out the green tomato recipes?
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The only one of ours that looked like it was going to go red has now started to go all brown and scabby. Should i cut it off? will the rest of them have enough time to ripen? Its producing loads but they are still all green. is it time to look out the green tomato recipes?
Blighted toms don't go scabby, they go brown and soft and rotten. What does the rest of the plant look like - does it have signs of blight?
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(http://www.allotments4all.co.uk/smf/gallery/10076_09_08_09_12_27_54.JPG)
Yay i got it to work!. A couple of the leaves have gone a bit like the one in the foreground but we just pick them off. This stem was damaged a while ago by rubbing against the stick and its where most of the problems are. The rest of the leaves look healthy enough except for the very bottom one - but i think thats just because its old?
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those fruit do look blighted but yes the plant does look relatively healthy. remove the blighted foliage and fruit and hope for the best :-\.
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I agree with thifasmom.
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Right! Offending branch removed - we'll see what happens to the rest. Shame really.
Thank you :)
Claire
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It looks like blight, but the disease probably won't spread while the good weather lasts. If we get a few wet days, pick what you have quick and make masses of chutney.
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OMG, I have found that most of my big tomatoes are being attacked by giant catapillars. they have layed black eggs, like the ones that you get on nastertiums but they are at least an inch long when tuned into catipillare. I have picked off all I can see and as they have eaten into the tomatoes, have lost loads. I have taken them out of the greenhouse and put the plants outside. Not expecting much from them but at least the small tomatoes might have a chance in the greenhouse. I only hope I am not too late. ???
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OMG, I have found that most of my big tomatoes are being attacked by giant catapillars. they have layed black eggs, like the ones that you get on nastertiums but they are at least an inch long when tuned into catipillare. I have picked off all I can see and as they have eaten into the tomatoes, have lost loads. I have taken them out of the greenhouse and put the plants outside. Not expecting much from them but at least the small tomatoes might have a chance in the greenhouse. I only hope I am not too late. ???
can you describe the caterpillar or do you have any photos and what laid the eggs, it can't be the caterpillars as caterpillars don't lay eggs they have to pupate into a moth or butterfly before they can do that, most possibly you are seeing their poo.
I'm not sure what moth/ butterfly caterpillar over here fancies tomatoes/ the plant, but i know in the States they have a moth i believe whose caterpillars can decimate a crop in a short space of time (the name eludes me but I'm sure some here will know it) but to my knowledge it doesn't live in the UK.
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just did a bit of research and found there is evidence of the South American tomato moth 'Tuta absoluta' has been making itself a nuisance in certain parts of Europe and was first detected in the UK in March 2009. It is coming in on imported tomatoes from Spain where it is becoming a major problem. check this link out http://www.fera.defra.gov.uk/showNews.cfm?id=402 (http://www.fera.defra.gov.uk/showNews.cfm?id=402)
if you google images of the moth and the caterpillars you might be able to confirm whether this is what you found on your plants, and if yes i think you will need to notify the necessary individuals because it appears it is a notifiable pest according to this link which has really good pictures of the pest as well. http://www.fera.defra.gov.uk/plants/plantHealth/pestsDiseases/documents/ppnTutaAbsoluta.pdf (http://www.fera.defra.gov.uk/plants/plantHealth/pestsDiseases/documents/ppnTutaAbsoluta.pdf)
i hope this helps and also i hope this is not what you have :-X.
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http://images.google.co.uk/images?sourceid=navclient&hl=en-GB&rlz=1T4GGLG_enGB307GB307&q=tomato+caterpillars&um=1&ie=UTF-8&ei=InOOSsf6AYL5-AbJr6DyDQ&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&ct=title&resnum=4
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http://images.google.co.uk/images?sourceid=navclient&hl=en-GB&rlz=1T4GGLG_enGB307GB307&q=tomato+caterpillars&um=1&ie=UTF-8&ei=InOOSsf6AYL5-AbJr6DyDQ&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&ct=title&resnum=4
tim i think these are photos of the Tomato Hornworm which is the one i was reffering to that is a pest in the States and surrounding regions http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tomato_hornworm (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tomato_hornworm)
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Sorry - didn't mean to duplicate.
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Sorry - didn't mean to duplicate.
no need :), until i researched i thought this was the only major attacker of tomatoes :-\
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Looking at the images on google, it looks like the Pieris Rapae caterpillar that is causing my problem.
Wonder what I can do about it ???
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On further checking it seems like it is the small white cabbage type butterfly. Wonder why it's getting my tomatoes. I have had a lot of the white butterflies this year. :(