tomato's turning red when on holiday

[marathon]

I'm off on my hol's on the 21st July until the 3rd of Aug and none of my tom's are red yet some should be turning very soon.

What do people do when they are on holiday. Do the red tomatoes stay good long enough for your return, do you let other people help themselves or do other people store them for you?

[jessica38]

I let whoever is looking after them for me help themselves to any that are ready to be picked.

[Matt.]

They'll stay fine for ages so don't worry about them on the vine. The biggest concern for me would be the whole plant drying out if you don't have helpers who will water for you. This is especially the case if planted in growbags or containers. By late July the plant should have reached its maximum size so if the top wilts it doesn't matter as much but nevertheless I'd cut off almost all the leaves to reduce water loss through transpiration. Your plants will look decimated but the water saving is significant.

[marathon]

They'll stay fine for ages so don't worry about them on the vine. The biggest concern for me would be the whole plant drying out if you don't have helpers who will water for you. This is especially the case if planted in growbags or containers. By late July the plant should have reached its maximum size so if the top wilts it doesn't matter as much but nevertheless I'd cut off almost all the leaves to reduce water loss through transpiration. Your plants will look decimated but the water saving is significant.

Great stuff, that's put my mind at rest

The guys on the site keep an eye everything for me but as the plum's were being grown for sauce making I suddenly realised that maybe I wouldn't see half the crop. Even the fruits that set first (which was weeks ago) don't appear to be full size yet and then they will still need to turn red.


I don't mind about the other plants as I think I went a bit OT with the salad and cherry types but hoping to have some red ones before we go




I've set up an irrigation system for the PT so watering isn't an issue.