Thanks @Sheps, nice toms @LunarSea, I'm growing Maskotka for the first time but mine are only just starting to change colour, looks like being a good crop though( blight permitting) 🤞
Thanks @Sheps, nice toms @LunarSea, I'm growing Maskotka for the first time but mine are only just starting to change colour, looks like being a good crop though( blight permitting) 🤞
The banana skins might have made a difference. When the fruit had formed I went out to the greenhouse every morning after breakfast with a skin and placed it under the plant.
Clay soil - Cheshire/Derbyshire border. I play with plants and soil and sometimes it's successful
Usually @LunarSea splitting fruit is from uneven watering I am told. This year my greenhouse has only been watered by my watering system, so very constant, I still have the odd split fruit. My thought is that it's not watering but weather that causes it, well watering comes into it. First the plants grow putting on leaf, then trusses. At this time we had the heatwave, so lots of growth. After fruit set the weather changed, dull, cool, but not cold so growth continued, but not ripening. Now the fruit are large ready to ripen, but not the sun/heat to do it. So they have set their skins, which means they cannot expand anymore without splitting. Mine are ripening now, but the odd one has split, which casts doubt on the uneven watering idea.
Yes @purplerallim I agree. "Uneven watering" is an over-simplification. I do think it might have something to do with water availability but maybe in my case the home-made compost mixture isn't holding it around the roots properly. All my plants get similar watering (once or twice a day in hot weather, every other day in cooler, overcast weather) but the difference in the fruit on the two adjacent Maskotka plants with different compost is quite striking.
Interestingly the third Maskotka plant (sown a bit later as insurance but from the same packet of seeds) is in the same bought compost as plant B above but all its fruits are much larger Just waiting for my Tutti-Frutti to ripen. Never tried them before.
Clay soil - Cheshire/Derbyshire border. I play with plants and soil and sometimes it's successful
The high winds a few days ago blew over the onion stalks so with rain forecast I lifted them, a bit earlier than I would normally, but they'll dry off ok in the greenhouse.
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The banana skins might have made a difference. When the fruit had formed I went out to the greenhouse every morning after breakfast with a skin and placed it under the plant.
I play with plants and soil and sometimes it's successful
This year my greenhouse has only been watered by my watering system, so very constant, I still have the odd split fruit.
My thought is that it's not watering but weather that causes it, well watering comes into it.
First the plants grow putting on leaf, then trusses. At this time we had the heatwave, so lots of growth.
After fruit set the weather changed, dull, cool, but not cold so growth continued, but not ripening. Now the fruit are large ready to ripen, but not the sun/heat to do it. So they have set their skins, which means they cannot expand anymore without splitting.
Mine are ripening now, but the odd one has split, which casts doubt on the uneven watering idea.
Interestingly the third Maskotka plant (sown a bit later as insurance but from the same packet of seeds) is in the same bought compost as plant B above but all its fruits are much larger
I play with plants and soil and sometimes it's successful
Golden Sunrise
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