Tomatoes

[leondz]

Seeing as home brewers need a vague amount of patience and like producing their own things, THBF seems like a good place to ask - is anyone else doing particularly well with their tomatoes this year? Got any tips to share?

 

[A T]

Tomato food :lol: Sorry i only grow weeds but if you need any tips there i'm ur man :thumb:

 

[dandan]

We have a few tom's but there small and green still, usually end of july/august when they is a load of them, there in the greenhouse having a daily water, nowt added in the way of tom food!

We have a abundance of strawberrys at the mo :thumb:

 

[Moley]

Our tomatoes are looking pretty pathetic at the moment.
Runner beans are flowering nicely.

Dandan: Strawberry wine can be a fairly insipid waste of time, sorry.

However, raspberries are coming along nicely and our plum tree is going to be loaded this year.
Free booze (apart from a bag or so of sugar) :party:

 

[jamesb]

My tomatos are going ok (first year I've had a greenhouse). No developing fruit yet, but the flowers are giving all the signs of developing.

Tips? Pinch out the growing tips when they're about 4' high. Most people say to pinch out any sideshoots too but I always leave a couple in and am always rewarded with extra fruit.

Feed twice a week. Cheapest and best food I've found is at Wilkos.

Shake the plants when the flowers are out occasionally to help pollination.

Pity my runner beans aren't doing as well. I never have any bloody luck with them.

 

[falafael]

My toms are **** at moment, at best about 18", my runner beans are doing great, had first crop of my peas and they were bloody well tasty, potatoes doing great as is my broccoli, had some lettuce yesterday for sandwiches, been eating raspberrys as they appear, same as my cherries...carrots are also doing well, and my chives keep on coming back, as i keep eating them!!
:thumb:

 

[ni9e]

My toms are small and green at the moment this is my first year growing them so not sure what to expect my potatoes are flowering as is the pumpkin the kids are growing. Loads of strawbs should be ready for the weekend and the roobarb needed harvesting before so I got a roobarb crumble cooking in the oven :party:

 

[aeddon]

personaly I would not leave side shoots to grow unless it was a bush variety. Tomatos are naturaly bushy plants and snipping out the side shoots ensures adequate airflow reducing the chance of disease. Letting side shoots grow diverts energy away from the primary growing tip and the toms nevre reach their ful potenial as the plants doing to many thnigs at once.

Its recommended pinching out the top growing shoot at 4 truss's when growing outside to make sure all toms ripen, but depending how developed they are i always get between 5 and 7 truss's out of them. My plants are growing outside and are now about four foot tall. They currently have 4 truss's and seeing as its stil early in the growing season and we might have a hot summer, i'm gona let them grow to 6.

If you have healthy sized plants, the side shoots will develop a truss very early, once about 3" tall, snip it out and pop it in some compost and you'll get 2 or 3 truss's on a small plant by the end of the summer. Toms dont need sunlight to grow as other plants do they rely more on heat, the victorians tried to grow them all year round with maure heated greenhouses. If yoiu have a greenhouse heater you can grow for months after outdoor plants are dead.

 

[leondz]

If you have healthy sized plants, the side shoots will develop a truss very early, once about 3" tall, snip it out and pop it in some compost and you'll get 2 or 3 truss's on a small plant by the end of the summer. Toms dont need sunlight to grow as other plants do they rely more on heat, the victorians tried to grow them all year round with maure heated greenhouses. If yoiu have a greenhouse heater you can grow for months after outdoor plants are dead.

Excellent tips, thanks, I'll get something else in the prime sunny spots!

My toms are **** at moment, at best about 18", my runner beans are doing great, had first crop of my peas and they were bloody well tasty, potatoes doing great as is my broccoli, had some lettuce yesterday for sandwiches, been eating raspberrys as they appear, same as my cherries...carrots are also doing well, and my chives keep on coming back, as i keep eating them!!
:thumb:

Cor you're doing alright, where are you growing it all? I'm betting at least the lettuce is sheltered somehow!

 

[aeddon]

to be honest there's very little that needs the direct sunlight of a greenhouse, even chillies can get scorched. Some shade netting for the harshest of the summer is almost always needed.

I find very little problems with sweet and chilli peppers, toms or cucumbers. Never tried melon but imagen they'd be amazing. I always seem to get spider mite with the auburgines tho

 

[dandan]

Some of our tom's are ready!

 

[corby_brewer]

So what are you planning on brewing with those then dan? :)

 

[tubby_shaw]

So what are you planning on brewing with those then dan? :)

You may joke but it has been tried :sick:
Not by me I hasten to add :nono:

 

[dandan]

I did a search on the interweb and found this

* 5 pounds ripe tomatoes
* 4 cups granulated sugar
* 1 teaspoon yeast nutrient
* 2 lemons, juice only
* 2 campden tablets
* 1/2 teaspoon pectic enzyme
* 1 package wine yeast
* water

But think i will give Tomatoe wine a miss!! (Tomatoe wine sounds wrong :sick: )