Wednesday 24 July 2019

My Tom Crop.


For the third consecutive year, my Tomato plants at Haddock's have been badly affected by disease, so, in mid-May, as soon as I'd noticed the yellowing and curling of leaves, I planted a few in pots up at the barn.

                                

I planted just two 'Portuguese' and one 'Cherry', just to see how they would perform.


Well, I'm pleased to see that they're doing well. We've been eating the Cherry Tomatoes for quite some while, and the Portuguese are swelling beautifully.


As for 2020, I shall plant all my 'maincrop' Tomatoes in pots up at the barn, and grow just a few 'Roma' and 'Cherry Toms' down at Haddock's where they seem not to be affected.

There's a solution to every problem.


33 comments:

  1. I envy you with your tomatoes.

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    1. You wouldn't envy my other ones! Luckily these ones are looking very good.

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  2. Looking good - we are still buying excellent, tasty tomatoes at the market for a very reasonable price.

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    1. Still at least a couple of weeks before we'll be eating ours, but we'll have a few.

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  3. Once we grew tomatoes near the Dead Sea, many years ago, from what I remember they are very sensitive to diseases .

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    1. I think our disease is in the soil. How I would get rid of it, I have no idea!

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  4. Plant something else in the tomato plot for a couple of years and that should clear the soil of the disease. Kale would be a good one.

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    1. I'm going to totally re-think Haddock's next year. Grow only what we really enjoy, and try to dig much deeper. It's strange how certain crops are flourishing, whilst others fail. All receive the same watering etc. I shall have one quarter of my plot entirely devoted to Kales and Chard.

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  5. Lovely toms those are in the pots. We too struggle with tomatoes here and there. Some grow well in one area while others do not. We move them, try new spaces each year, vary our watering and our organic sprays. It's all a crapshoot I tell ya!

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    1. All my life I've grown wonderful tomatoes, but just these past few years they've totally failed. I'm even wondering if someone isn't coming round at night and poisoning them.

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  6. Paul planted tomatoes in the vegetable plot, in the greenhouse and in pots by the garage wall. The first ones to ripen have been the garage potted ones. The ones in the greenhouse seem to be the slowest to ripen.

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    1. Against the wall of the barn is always very hot, but the Cherry Toms in both locations have ripened at the same time. I've just come back from watering at the barn; the Cherry Tom is COVERED in fruit. It would have been interesting to weigh them from beginning to end.

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  7. Trail and error I guess ........ maybe toms are like roses ..... never plant in the same place as Rachel says. Did you have a lovely birthday Cro ? Lots of excess I hope 🍷🥩🎂. XXXX

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    1. Thank you Jacqueline, I had a very pleasant, and very quiet, day. Just how I like it. Tonight we go to a very good local gastronomic restaurant; can't wait. I do hope it's not too hot!

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  8. I grow 95% of my toms in pots, either in the greenhouse or outside on a south facing wall. This year I had a spare so I put it in the veg plot and is actually doing quite well. The only problem with pots is they need daily watering and also liquid feeds to get a good crop.

    We have had a few Alicante and two large striped slicing tomatoes. I cannot tell you the name as I b ought them in a farmers market last year and kept the seeds. They have come up very nicely so they were a heritage type and not an F1 hybrid.

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  9. Oh boring but convenient, if you use pots you can grow in the same place every year as you use new compost. It makes planning the garden that bit easier.

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    1. The ones above are all in new compost, and I would definitely do the same next year. If you ever see any 'Portuguese' toms, buy them. They are non-F1 and the seeds can be kept for ever. Also the toms themselves are wonderful; no water in them, just delicious flesh.

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    2. We use home-made compost in our greenhouse pots, and they're doing well. (You do burn the failed plants that might/might not have blight?)

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    3. I never put anything diseased on the compost. I have an incinerator at Haddock's. But I quite expect that's where it's come from.

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  10. Growth seems so slow and difficult this year. We have no tomatoes yet. We are usually beginning to get them around now but this year they're only just beginning to set. We're at 750 feet in Yorkshire.

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    1. We have no problem with the Cherry or Italian (Roma) toms; maybe in future I should grow just them. I really thought I'd cracked it this year!

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  11. Crop rotation is your way forward unless you want to grow gm. But don't forget to Mind the Gap! ;-).

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    1. My veg garden is divided into four small divisions. I work on a rotation system every year; moving around clockwise. Unfortunately my Toms have refused to perform as asked, in three out of the four sections. I have no faith in the fourth.

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    2. Leeks? You only have to pee on them! Well, not quite but that's what they do up north. The guys who grow the big ones for the contests!

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  12. The same has happened to my tomatoes and I rotate my crops. I blame it on the record rainfall and storms we are having here. I tried everything to stop the disease but nothing worked. I have many tomatoes, but many of the vines are dying and where I can, I have tied them up so they hold the tomatoes till they ripen. I put extra tomato plants that had reseeded from last year into pots and they are doing fine.

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    1. It does seem that non F1 varieties are better at fighting off disease. My Portuguese and the Cherry Toms are two such examples!

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  13. Yes but it is disheartening when things to wrong after your hard work.

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    1. It's very frustrating. I went to great lengths this year to avoid any disease, but it found me anyway. At Haddock's I'll be surprised if I have more than a couple of Kilos.

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  14. My dad just said, grow your tomatoes where your beans and peas have been this year. leave the roots in the ground. I take it that means he thinks your soil hasnt enough nitrogen?

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  15. Ah just read on the internet, yellow leaves is magnesium deficiency? I have no idea how you put that in, I would presume there is a powder.

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    1. In which case it could be a lack of something rather than a disease. I'll ask at my garden centre if they have a soil testing kit. Thanks.

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  16. I get my best results from 'Red Cherry,' its disease-free, sweet -tasting and prolific. We've just started eating them. Other varieties split, rot and generally disappoint.

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    1. Yes, the Cherry varieties are certainly easy to grow. I had some last year that ALL split; I think it rained at the wrong time.

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