Who's growing tomatoes

[Ducatiboy stu]

Got Black Russians,Gross Lisse and Roma's.

The Roma's are going nuts, just wont stop fruiting.

The Black Russians taste fantastic so far.

 

[Lord Raja Goomba I]

Grosse Lisse plus a purple one and another heirloom whose name I don't remember.

The near cyclonic winds here in the last week have battered my plants.

But bought them as seedlings and niw they're bushes starting to fruit.

 

[Hintadupfing]

Grosse Lisse, Black Russian, Green Zebra, Big Yellow, Yellow Cherry Pear, Mortgage Lifters, Tree Tomatoes, Big Red. They're all going exceptionally crazy - I came back from 2 weeks holiday to find my garden overgrown with tomatoes at one end, all laden to breaking-point with fruit, and a mad hops jungle at the other.

 

[_HOME_BREW_WALLACE_]

Cherry's and ox heart tomatoes. Just started fruiting, still to ripen yet.

 

[Feldon]

I'm blaming the cool weather here in Melb., but my few plants in pots are going nowhere. Might die of old age before they fruit up.

 

[mr_wibble]

I've got a whole garden full of feral cherry tomatoes.
Maybe putting the rotary how through them was not such a good idea.

My grosse lisses went nowhere though. Maybe I should have watered them.

 

[maxim0200]

Yep i am but its my first time so only stuck them in the ground and watered them,
The buggers have grown like a weed and the 3 plants i have are bigger than my corn!
No ripe fruit yet.

 

[Cube]

I've had great success with tomato growing. However in my experience growing tomatoes next to chilli is a very bad thing. Tomatoes bring the bugs in and they love chilli also. No tomato growing - a great season with chilli. Grow tomatoes I get smashed with white fly, caterpillars, fruit fly, etc.

Sure i can spray the crap out of everything but I found that I had a better use of my time elsewhere.

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

Yeah....I have been lucky so for...no flys or bugs so far.

 

[Wolfman]

Only planted cherry and Roma this year in pots. Last year had big bushes and no fruit? This year looking more productive. Just need the weather to warm up a bit!

 

[Steven @ Home Make It]

Nice to see some people being at one with the tomatoes

If anyone interested here a sauce recipe we use
works best with roma tomatoes

[SIZE=25pt]Aussie Tomato Sauce. [/SIZE]

16 lbs. (7.3 kgs) tomatoes,
4 lbs. (less than 2 kgs.) sugar.
1 oz. (1 tablespoon) cloves.
1oz. (1 level tablespoon.) Cayenne.
4 tablespoons of salt.
1&1/2. Pints of vinegar (840 mls.)
2 whole cloves of garlic.
Bottles and caps

In a large saucepan bring all the above ingredients to boil, gently simmer for 3 hours (lid on). Strain, bottle into sterilized jars when cold. This tomato sauce is used for pies, pasties & frankfurts,

For this part some precautions should be taken for handling hot products Prepare, the sterile jars or bottles by placing them in a hot 200 degrees oven for 15 minutes .immediately place jars on a tray whilst still hot, ladle the hot sauce into the jars allowing a space for expansion, shake jars so no air pockets will be present in sauce. Twist the cap on jars securely, turn jars upside down, let stand in this position for 10 to 15 minutes, turn upright, and leave to cool. you should get a seal on the lid that means it has suck the lid down and you get no bounce back unlike an opened lid
Store in a dark place, this sauce can be added to a variety of dishes as its ready to use.

For best results, selection of tomatoes is the most critical factor and good cap and bottle selection as well.
Always buy bottles and caps the week before to ensure enough supply for the day you want to make the sauce.

In general to sterilize jars we suggested the following methods

1. Heat sterilized
2. Commercial powder Sterilizer
3. Boiling method of sterilizing

you only make good sauce for good quallity ptrduce and good practices

 

[Feldon]

Well, how things can change. Had a few days of 40C here in Melb., and few more to come it seems. The tomatoes have responded with vigour, almost swelling up before my eyes. Still green but I think will be blushing red by the weekend at this rate.

Trick is to give them water early morning after they've cooled down from the previous day. If I give them a drink while they are still hot (even at sunset or into evening) I've found that a lot of the young flowers drop off, which means less toms.

 

[DJ_L3ThAL]

My heirloom plant has some yellow flowers but no fruit, it's bad if they flower as they are going to seed, yea (I'm a vegie noob)?

 

[JDW81]

Mine went in late this year, but the melbourne heat has really kicked them along. Hopefully they'll start fruiting soon.

 

[JDW81]

My heirloom plant has some yellow flowers but no fruit, it's bad if they flower as they are going to seed, yea (I'm a vegie noob)?

Nah, tomatoes don't run to see like herbs do. Flowers mean fruit is on the way.

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

Mine are still powering with new growth. The Roma bush as producing fruit like I have never seen. Seems that the fruit wont ripen untill they are all ready. Have had full sized green fruit for over 4 weeks with new fruit still coming.

I have been just running the hose and flooding the garden every few days to keep the soil wet with a weekly feed of power feed & seasol.

Bloody things wont stop growing and flowering.

 

[wide eyed and legless]

I have Gardeners Delight and Tommy Toe, LRG you probably have the Purple Russian.
I was reading that some Italian gardeners at the end of the season cut their tomatoes at the base and cover them up over winter and they will grow again following year so they may be bi annual.
I have them in the unheated greenhouse over winter and last year had tomatoes in winter for the first time.

 

[Aces High]

Yeah mine have been going nuts for about 2 months:

Currently grosse lisse, tigarella (heirloom variety), roma, unknown self sown, cherry also self sown. I had 1 single bunch of 14 tomatoes all ripen at once. Its pretty cool to harvest a 14 tomato truss, wish I had a photo of it.

Getting a bit crazy into permaculture, so all this was achieved without any use of chemical fertilizers or sprays. I did relent and use tomato dust once and then felt guilty about it.

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

I have used no chemicals and dont want to. I have suffered leaf spot but only on old growth. They are still going mad so figure that plant health can help overcome disease.

Fully recommend Seasol & Powerfeed weekly.

Have picked a few Black Russians and they are to die for. Beautiful and sweet.

 

[browndog]

Can't grow a decent tomato to save myself, anyone care to share the secret?

-Browndog

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

Not a great pick, but the Roma on the right would easily have a bucketful of toms, and it is still flowering

Going to make passata with them.

 

[Feldon]

My heirloom plant has some yellow flowers but no fruit, it's bad if they flower as they are going to seed, yea (I'm a vegie noob)?

Each yellow flower turns into a tomato (hopefully).

You want them to go to seed (and you'll find those seeds inside your tomatoes)

 

[Aces High]

Same here Stu, all the old leaves go brown but the tomatoes are just fine. I've been using horse manure tea (basically a 200L olive barrel, throw a bag of horse manure in and fill with water, then dilute down 10 to 1) The hop bine loves it as well. Also worm juice from the worm farm and compost.

 

[warra48]

browndog,

They're hungry feeders, make sure your soil is well conditioned with plenty of compost etc.
You need good drainage, they don't like wet feet, but you must also not let them dry out.

Other than that, follow the advice of Ducatiboy stu.

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

Same here Stu, all the old leaves go brown but the tomatoes are just fine. I've been using horse manure tea (basically a 200L olive barrel, throw a bag of horse manure in and fill with water, then dilute down 10 to 1) The hop bine loves it as well. Also worm juice from the worm farm and compost.

Know exactly what you are saying.

Big drum filled with manuare,fish guts &frames, water and yeast slurry. Needs a lid cause it stinks like all ****

Cup or 2 in a watering can every week.

Have only been in this place for 6 mnths but the soil is awsome. A fantastice loam that drains easly. Only needs the regulare seasol powerfeed mix

 

[Aces High]

Yep that's the stuff, works a treat on everything.....smells like ****. Always seems to get on your hands

 

[hellbent]

Is the question "Who's growing tomatoes" or "Who's trying to grow tomatoes," Our bushes are pretty small and plain at the moment but help is in sight, Supermarkets have truss tomatoes at $2.99! :icon_cheers:

 

[technobabble66]

Okay. Ducati et al, I need some advice.
I have 2 tomatoes. A Black Russian & a generic tomato. They're both in a 2.5m x1m x1m planter box. They're at one end & a new Chinook is at the other. All 3 are growing like crazy. In fact I've been stunned at how big the 2 Tommie's have grown. Lots of flowers.

The big problem is the flowers all just fall off. They all look fine, then go brown & drop. WTF?!?
I thought it was water/heat stress, but I've been watering them religiously over the last 2-3 weeks and this is the first hot day in 2 weeks.
They also get plenty of fertilizer & seasol.
They're also next to some dwarf beans that produced a decent crop, so there's definitely something buzzing around fertilizing flowers.

Any suggestions?

 

[benno1973]

Planted tomatoes in autumn last year and they grew happily throughout winter. By the time Perth spring kicked in, they were big enough to fruit, and they started doing so with a passion. The hot weather here has killed them off since, but we got a lot of nice early crops of cherry toms, as well as some other unidentified variety.

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

No idea...keep the water up....not all flowers produce.

Be suprised if you get nothing of them in the ling term.