Tomato growing diary 2016

[maverick451]

Hi penellype

Great post, just a couple of questions

Do you think disease could be passed from one year to the other by reusing the wicks? thats what I am worried about, I was looking for some way of sterilizing them earlier this year but couldnt really find anything.

In regards the feed, youve probably seen this but roots of the tomato plant actually grow into the water and form a huge root system in there, they seem to love it, the feed I think is a special hydroponic solution that can be taken up directly without harm, im slightly worried that normal feed might be not be suitable for direct uptake

[Penellype]

I think if I had a plant that had obvious disease such as blight and there were roots attached to the matting I would throw it away. If you want to sterilize it you could experiment with pouring boiling water over it. I'm not sure what the matting is made of or whether it will stand this treatment though.

I have seen that the roots grow down into the water. I've not had any issues with feeding the plants, although I do tend to feed by pouring the solution onto the compost so that it can soak in. I'm not an expert on hydroponics, but logic tells me that any nutrients that plants absorb through their roots will be dissolved in water. I think nowadays you have to be very careful that sellers are not taking advantage of using technical language to sell you a more expensive product that actually behaves no differently from the cheaper "normal" equivalent. I'm not saying the quadgrow people are doing this - they give a year's supply of feed free with each planter and their feed may be extremely good for the sort of plants the pots are designed for. It may be that hydroponics has special requirements because the plants have to get all of their nutrients from the water, but the quadgrow system does include compost. I may be wrong, but I think if you use an ordinary tomato feed at the recommended rate on the packet you should be ok.

[maverick451]

Thanks Penellype

We can only try, next year I think ill do more experiments, maybe ill start a quadgrow thread!

[snowbunny]

My tomato plants are all tiny, having been planted out way too late, and under-watered for most of the season so far. Poor things.
I am growing:
Black Cherry
Sun Belle
Gardener's Delight
MoneyMaker
Roma
and an unidentified Spanish salad tomato

So far, I have picked a handful of all the cherry varieties, and the others are currently ripening. I can't say there will be a bumper crop of any of them, but that's my mistake.

My opinion so far is, Gardener's Delight and Roma are both somewhat unexciting, but Black Cherry and especially Sun Belle are beautiful, and will be returning to the plot next year.

[Deano's "Diggin It"]

Indeed nice post Mav n Lady P!

Yeah! Been looking at "Quad Grows" "Salad Planters" n "Chilli Grow's" for a while!

Really seems like a worthwhile investment!

[Scoot]

Still no ripe tomatoes for me. Anyone wiyh me?

[bramble]

Picked three Kenilworth King George, two Sweet Millions, three Gemma and a handfull of Sungold this afternoon.
Nothing can compare with the taste of a homegrown tomato.

[maverick451]

Ive had a few cherry tomatoes and two crimson crush, wow those crimson crush taste good.

I think you can get pretty good cherry tomatoes from the shops but imo the medium tomatoes grown at home are a million times better than the ones in shops.

[maverick451]

Little update, the good weather last 2 weeks has bought them on well

Crimson Crush seems to be my earliest cropper of the bigger tomatoes


Another crimson


2nd Growing area, im growing these plants in large pots as opposed to the quadgrows and while they look healthy they havent been as productive, although some are larger wo will ripen later


Loads forming in the greenhouse


Truss of Apero

[maverick451]

Im trying a new variety in the greenhouse call Pannovy which has promise


Sugar gloss also is a new one to me that has grown well


Will do taste tests next time.

[bramble]

Brilliant pics there Maverick, looks like your going to be eating tomatoes for the forseeable future.

[Scoot]

When do people nip out the growing tip, date wise!

[bario1]

My toms are disappointing this year, Galina have only set two fruit on each truss, and Sungold are the size of marbles for some reason! Maskotka in baskets are doing well though, noticed my first one turning orange today.

[bramble]

Scoot, sorry cant give you a date. It varies, depending on the weather, whether the toms are still growing well, and also how tall the whole plant has grown.

[Scoot]

Scoot, sorry cant give you a date. It varies, depending on the weather, whether the toms are still growing well, and also how tall the whole plant has grown.

My plants are nearly at the top of the blowaway now so was thinking of bending them round the roof a bit. Im sure I ususally nip the growing tip out in August sometime. I cant remember though.