Who's growing tomatoes

[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.

 

[Camo6]

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?

Google Blossom drop Techno. Might be something to do with Melbourne's late summer. I didn't do tomatoes this year but I've found my hops seem a bit slow to sprout laterals so far.

 

[technobabble66]

Thanks.
Not a single fruit on the Black Russian. 3 tomatoes on the other. I could safely say, with no exaggeration, there've been at least 50 flowers on each so far.
~3% yield.
Not happy, Jan!!

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

I think regular light fertilizing is the go...and keep them moist, especially in the heat.

Letting them dry out then watering is not the best method.

Have noticed when its hot they drink lots of water. So give them water morning,noon &night.

 

[Aces High]

Blossom drop is annoying. If they look great you might be adding too much nitrogen. This causes the plant to drop the flowers and just throw bucketloads more growth out. I think you can get fruiting fertilizer which contains less nitrogen, or just cut back on the fertilizer and add compost and mulch or just seasol which doesn't contain any nitrogen (don't use power feed though)

 

[Aces High]

just managed to delete my last post somehow. couldn't get it to quote property.

Anyway, I reckon it could be too much nitrogen causing the blossom drop. Nitrogen makes the plant grow crazy but stops the tomatoes from growing. I would suggest using seasol (but not powerfeed)


edit... apparently I didn't

 

[Feldon]

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?

Given that the plant is well fed and not missing an essential nutrient, I think the watering regime might be the cause of your flower drop problem.

When the plant is in high water demand mode, like today when its 40+ outside, if you dump a load of water on the roots the plant will suck up too much water too fast. The small capillaries in the tiny stem connected to the flowers burst,( at the last 'knuckle' near the flower). The small stem dies and the flower then drops off a bit later on.

So give them water to the roots when the plant is in low demand (eg. in the morning cool)when its not sucking everything it can out of the soil.

Edit: agree that too much nitrogen make a pretty plant, nice and bushy. But it is yield and flavour that's the name of the game. It not a beauty contest. They need potassium (potash) when flowering and fruiting more than nitrogen. Potassium is what gives them that old-fashioned home grown tomato taste. And if you snap off those scabby dead branches at the base before they completely die (still green where they join the main stem) it scares the **** out of the plant. It 'thinks' its in distress and sends bio-chemicals throughout the plant causing prolific flowering (I Will Reproduce Before Death!) and thus more tomatoes.

 

[wide eyed and legless]

NO feeding when the temperature goes over 27, 28 degrees Celsius, don't feed until the flowers appear, give them a bit of a shake when in flower to get the pollen falling ( I go around mine with an old electric tooth brush) and a little bit of tough love, don't keep giving them water every day.

 

[technobabble66]

Thanks for the comments!!

Ok, so it sounds like water stress and a less ideal ratio of nitrogen and potassium are the likely culprits.

Fwiw, they've been getting watered most mornings &/or nights (9-10am & 8-11pm) Or at least once every 2 days in cooler weather.

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

Agree on the slowing nitrogren and upping potassium

Found keeping the ground damp helps. I flood the garden when the top looks dry, but it also depends on your soil.

But it also depends on variety.

 

[Feldon]

Yeah, I think geography/climate has a bit to do with it too. Melb fluctuates so much that poor tomatoes don't know what to do.

(eg. about ten days ago I was walking the dog with parka and beanie on. Today its 40+)


Edit: Just watching the tennis. Poor *******s.