Problems with crimson crush tomatoes

[Anton]

It's a bit late now but any advice would be welcome for next season would be most welcome.
I sowed some crimson crush tomatos in the pots earlier in the year but they never came up. I took another packet and chitted them before sowing in pots. This time some of them emerged but they hardly seemed to be growing at all. The beefsteak variety I sowed directly into pots at about the same time (placed in exactly the same spot on the window ledge) surged ahead. I planted one crimson crush in another pot to make sure the root was intact.

Both crimson and eefsteak had leaves that kept curling up. I experimented with watering less, watering a bit more. After acclimatising both sets of plants I planted them in the ground in May. The beefsteaks are doing OK and the crimson are still growing, are green with no curling leaves but their growth is extremely sluggish (sees photo, they are still quite small (on the right), compared with the beefsteaks (a bit further to the left, after the lettuce in the background).

Advice for next season would be most welcome.

[ameno]

Leaf curling is usually a sign of stress. Usually either too cold or too hot/dry.

Assuming you used the same type of compost for both types of tomatoes, and grew them in the same place, then I'm afraid I couldn't tell you why one variety grew very slowly but the other did well. Usually the cause of something like that is either being too cold or low nutrient compost, but if conditions were the same for both types then that rules both of those out.

The Crimson Crush should still catch up, though. Just keep them watered, and maybe feed with a general fertiliser.

[Anton]

Thanks. My crimson crush story started with the plants, which all grew successfully and then when the seeds started being sold everything was fine until last year, when only five of the 10 seeds in the packet came up.
I think I will order plants together with the seeds next year to be on the safe side!