Tomato growing diary 2016

[allyby]

Well my wife polished off my first Sungold, now she has a beady eye on the first of my Sweet Millions.

[Containergardener]

Be quick allyby or you'll see none of them this season

[Jonny.D]

None are ready to eat though all doing well

[SusieG]

Look good Jonny ~ love the glossy black ones .......

What varieties are in the pics??

[SusieG]

Green tomatoes!!

Tomato 'Latah', just deciding if they're staying green or going to turn red ............

[Deano's "Diggin It"]

Well! Here's what state of play I am with mine this year, although like many others, it's not been the best if truth be known, but I still have high hopes with now getting a few more "Sunshiny Days"







"Come on British Summer Time" Your very much needed!

[NickG]

looking good Deano, could I ask as some one new, about how you have planted your tomatoes in pots and then in to grow bags? Do you still water from the top and are the pots literally just sat inside the bags? I am trying to work my game plan ready for next year lol

[Penellype]

If you look carefully you will see that the grow bags are sitting on these:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Hozelock-Lt...ow+bag+waterer

My guess is that Deano has cut the bottoms out of the pots to give the tomatoes more depth of compost. I have one of these - you water through the yellow opening at the front of the tray which holds 15 litres of water. I have 2 melons and a tomato in mine and water them about once a week (more in hot weather).

[NickG]

Thanks for sharing that Penellype, I have never seen one of those before, looks like I may need to start a tomato fund for next year's purchases haha.

[Jonny.D]

Look good Jonny ~ love the glossy black ones .......

What varieties are in the pics??

I don't know Susie as the sun bleached the writing on the plastic markers

[Deano's "Diggin It"]

looking good Deano, could I ask as some one new, about how you have planted your tomatoes in pots and then in to grow bags? Do you still water from the top and are the pots literally just sat inside the bags? I am trying to work my game plan ready for next year lol

If you look carefully you will see that the grow bags are sitting on these:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Hozelock-Lt...ow+bag+waterer

My guess is that Deano has cut the bottoms out of the pots to give the tomatoes more depth of compost. I have one of these - you water through the yellow opening at the front of the tray which holds 15 litres of water. I have 2 melons and a tomato in mine and water them about once a week (more in hot weather).

Nick! Of course you can!

"Lady P" is correct in the assumption that the bottom of the pot is cut off, that then giving the plant more depth of compost to put there feet in, the thing is with Tomatoes, I have posted this else where, but it's been a rough day at work, so far easier to repost rather than delve trying to find it, is because of their hairy stems, they have an ability to put out fibrous feeding roots if buried deeper, so the idea being, you set up a grow bag for it's initial water seeking roots, then shove a collar around it's stem, to then encorouge it to put out feeding roots from it's stem.

Water the bottom trough or whatever it maybe, then feed the top collar with your desired soluble feed, it's called "Ring Culture" if ya wanna check it out!

[maverick451]

Some photos of of where mine are at, Not a great growing year, not as tall as previous years, and Ive had a spot of blight on the odd leaf so had to spray them

Outdoor cordons, ignore the old towel



In the greenhouse

[Deano's "Diggin It"]

Mav! Are you using "Qaud Grows" If so, any good?

[maverick451]

Mav! Are you using "Qaud Grows" If so, any good?

Yeah I went a bit mad last year and bought a few of them


I do really like them, they definately do grow alot of tomatoes, this is a pic from last year, when my tomatoes were doing well, I only fill them up about once a week, they seem to keep the tomato plants fresh later into the season



They arent perfect thought, I probably too picky but there are a few issues

1) The size, I cant fit 2 along the edge of an 8x6 greenhouse, they are too big by about 4" or so, so I have to raise the level of one about the other which obviously eats into vertical growing space

2) They say they are good at providing even watering as the water wicks up from the resevoir but in reality the amount of water wicked up is directly related to the reservior water level, so if you use them as they are designed and just fill every week then you can get fruit splitting.

3) On going cost, each year you are suppose to buy new wicks and you will need need fertiliser solution, Im actually doing an experiment by just using tomorite in one quadrow, seems fine to me.

[Penellype]

I have a couple of the square quadgrow veg planters (which have bigger pots) and have tomatoes in one in my friend's greenhouse. Agree absolutely about the size and height issue (although if you have soil beds in your greenhouse you could bury the reservoir somewhat to avoid this). I'm doing a direct comparison experiment with Shirley in quadgrow and in a grow bed, although the grow bed plants were planted earlier. So far the quadgrow ones are much happier, having not yet wilted in hot weather whereas the grow bed ones have. Tuesday (forecast 30C) will be interesting.

Another important aspect is that your surface must be flat, otherwise one end of the planter is left high and dry. I have a chiligrow planter which is smaller and had this problem when I put it on my drive which slopes slightly.

I do find I have to water the compost occasionally as well as the reservoir as the top of the soil can dry out.

No need to buy new mats every year. they can be reused (don't worry if they have bits of root stuck to them, it won't stop the capillary action. You can also use strips of ordinary capillary matting which is MUCH cheaper.

Feed the plants with whatever you normally feed them with. There is no difference in nutrients between sitting a pot in a drip tray or putting a piece of matting in the compost and trailing it into a reservoir. The only thing you are changing is the way the water reaches the plant, and there are 2 huge advantages with this system:
1. the plants cannot get waterlogged
2. you are less likely to find they have dried out completely in hot weather.

I love these pots and I am gradually increasing my collection.



Spinach in a saladgrow planter (May 2016)



Pak choi, namenia and mizuna in a chiligrow planter (May 2016)



4 bush tomatoes in 11 litre pots on a saladgrow base with strips of ordinary capillary matting pushed through the drainage holes. Varieties Totem at the back and Garden Pearl at the front. (September 2015).



The same arrangement this year with Mountain Magic and Sungold at the back and fuchsia berries at the front, with leeks in a 2nd saladgrow next door. (July 2016)



Lady Christl potatoes in the quadgrow veg planter (May 2016). This year I planted 4 buckets of Lady C and 4 quadgrow pots. The buckets each had 3 seed potatoes, the quadgrow pots 1 each, except for one which had 2 small ones. All of the buckets got blackleg, the quadgrow plants did not. The yields from the buckets totalled 3.5kg (0.29kg/potato), those from the quadgrow pots totalled 2.7kg (0.54kg/potato).