I have nine tomato plants that are now just under 3ft tall and seven of them have only produced one flowering shoot. The other two have their second flowering shoots just appearing at the top of the growth now. I have been pinching out the side shoots and have been very careful in case I pulled off flowering shoots in error. At this rate, the plants will end up ten or twelve foot tall if I am to get five lots of flowering spurs on each plant!
The plants are all very sturdy with very thick stems and quite a lot of leaves. Would taking off some of the lower leaves make them produce more fruiting spurs please? I intend to start feeding them today as the tomatoes are now beginning to form albeit just the size of pinheads.
The varieties are Caro Rich and Principe Borghese.
I wonder if your plants are getting too much nitrogen...that would explain strong and leafy growth in expense of flowers.
Did you do anything different this year when you planted them?...used different compost,, gave them manure or manure based fertilizer..?
Strong growth would not indicate they are lacking light as that would cause sparser flower formation.
Quote from: goodlife on June 21, 2013, 10:55:02
I wonder if your plants are getting too much nitrogen...that would explain strong and leafy growth in expense of flowers.
Did you do anything different this year when you planted them?...used different compost,, gave them manure or manure based fertilizer..?
Strong growth would not indicate they are lacking light as that would cause sparser flower formation.
Goodlife, thank you for your reply.
They are in my new greenhouse so get a lot more sun and light than they did in previous years. I have them in the growbag pots which sit on top of new growbags. See http://www.amazon.co.uk/Garden-Growpot-Growbag-Watering-Pot/dp/B0054Z26US/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1371817991&sr=8-1&keywords=grow+bag+pots
The compost I used in the top pots was from the old growbags from last year to which I had added some fertilisers which I bought after watching Jo Swift on GD trying to grow prize carrots. One is, I believe, a specialist limestone powder from Wales, one is Nutri Mate and the other Maxi-Crop Cal-Sea-Feed. Do you think this is what has caused the problems? I didn't put very much in the mix but maybe not the right stuff for tomatoes!
The ones I have growing directly into the growbags were planted much later and the plants are not as big but already have more flowers on them.
Given that I may have given those in the growbag pots the wrong fertiliser, do you think I should still go ahead and start giving them the tomato fertiliser now please?
Your help in this matter is much appreciated.
By the way, I have recently ordered and received 12 more growbag pots for next year because my plants were showing such a strong growth!
Most gardening sages do not recommend feeding tomato plants at all until you have fruits formed on the first truss, or the plants put all their energy into growing leaves not flowers/fruits. When you pot into their final pots, usually with fresh compost inevitably they will initially respond by growing like mad, but will run out of nutrients quite quickly and settle down to flowering.
I've never reused compost for tomatoes, on the basis that they are such hungry plants that the soil in the pots and growbags I have left at the end of the season growing in a similar way to the way you describe is like dust, a and goes on my flower beds! I suspect your added fertilisers are giving your plants a nice surge at the moment, when it starts to run out they should start flowering.
I cut the bottoms off 2 litre pots and sink them halfway into growbags, costs nowt and I can top up with a bit of fresh compost to keep the plants going until winter.....saves paying out for expensive grow bag pots!
Nutri Mate is growth 'stimulant' and calcified seaweed meal is kind of lime substitute with some minerals..neither have much 'feeding value' as such but improve the up take of other nutrients, plant health and soil conditions....so looks like 'the strong growth' you've mentioned is down to the 'stimulant'..seem to be working :toothy10:
I haven't used the product myself so cannot really say much about it..just what I've read about it.
Perharps some tomato feed would not hurt..but start with half strength solution for next few weeks and see how your plants get on with it..with the 'stuff' you've added..little tomato feed should go long way as seaweed and 'stimulant' should boost the effect and uptake of the nutrients.
I grow my toms in bottomless pots in GH border...the border soil don't get changed every year but I do top it up with 'fresh stuff' and add fertilizers etc to make it 'better' each year...and I do more through change of soil once the plants start looking like they don't do as well anymore, maybe every 4-5 yrs. The soil in bottomless pots (florist flower buckets with bottoms cut out) get fresh compost every year and the old compost used somewhere else.
Whoops, mine haven't got that many flowers either but then I don't until late in the season and I think I know why now. However a couple of the currant tomatoes (name unknown) seem to be going great guns. Don't know if I should have but I bunged the tops of the pots with comfrey and let it rot down.