Growing tomatoes is such a great and rewarding hobby. Home grown tomatoes also are much fresher and juicier than store bought tomatoes. You can just go grab one off the vine, and they will grow much bigger with some tomato growing tips.
i had the same problem last year. could not figure out for the life of me why i had so many flowers and no fruit.
i am also trying to work out when to pinch out the sideshoots. my plants are now fairly advanced and the outdoors ones are now flowering, but the sideshoots seem to be the only ones producing flowers. should i remove the lower leaf only stem instead to encourage fruit? utterly confused!!!!
Pinch out side shoots on tall varieties and you can also remove leaf branches up to the first truss. This keep the plants healthy and aerated around the base.
No need to remove side shoots on bush varieties like Tumbling Tom but some support may be needed when the plant is laden with fruit.
Gartenperle is an absolutely amazing tumbler variety ! Have grown it for the last 3 years and it has always produced a huge crop on fairly compact size plants. Does well outdoots too.
Another bush variety I would strongly recommend is Lilliput - my seed is produced by Franchi / Seeds of Italy who do a lot of other interesting varieties like San Marzano etc
Their notes on Lilliput >
Lilliput F1 (Determinate Bush) (Italy) Hybrid Cherry tomato. Heavy cropper with small round tasty fruits. Good for growing in containers if no room in the garden. Can grow to to 4 or 5 feet - it is more suitable to a container and usually needs to be supported. Excellent disease resistance (Resistant to Verticillium, Fusarium and Alternaria) with fruits weighing 20-30g
"One of the most amazing cherry tomatoes around. Apart from being highly productive, this variety is packed with sweetness and flavour and is easy to grow." http://peperoncino.co.uk
I have several very healthy tomato plants in grow bags on my patio. They are heavy with fruit, but are all green and none of them appears to be ripening. what can i do to speed the process up?
I've grown two tomato plants in pots on my patio for the first time this year. They've started ripening, but the skins are quite tough. How can this be prevented?
Thanks for the tip on the cordon or bush tomatoes plant. I didn't know about it until now. The comments here about growing your own are invaluable. So thanks to everybody for sharing you issues and tips.
I've started harvesting some of my plum tomatoes and although they have good flavour, they are not very juicy. Is it too late to correct this or should I have done something difference sooner?
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i am also trying to work out when to pinch out the sideshoots. my plants are now fairly advanced and the outdoors ones are now flowering, but the sideshoots seem to be the only ones producing flowers. should i remove the lower leaf only stem instead to encourage fruit? utterly confused!!!!
No need to remove side shoots on bush varieties like Tumbling Tom but some support may be needed when the plant is laden with fruit.
Free advice by email is available at: http://www.tomatogrowing.co.uk
Another bush variety I would strongly recommend is Lilliput - my seed is produced by Franchi / Seeds of Italy who do a lot of other interesting varieties like San Marzano etc
Their notes on Lilliput >
Lilliput F1 (Determinate Bush) (Italy)
Hybrid Cherry tomato. Heavy cropper with small round tasty fruits. Good for growing in containers if no room in the garden. Can grow to to 4 or 5 feet - it is more suitable to a container and usually needs to be supported.
Excellent disease resistance (Resistant to Verticillium, Fusarium and Alternaria) with fruits weighing 20-30g
"One of the most amazing cherry tomatoes around. Apart from being highly productive, this variety is packed with sweetness and flavour and is easy to grow." http://peperoncino.co.uk
http://www.seedsofitaly.co.uk/catalogue/3
I didn't know about it until now.
The comments here about growing your own
are invaluable.
So thanks to everybody for sharing you issues and tips.
Thanks,
Aanee xxxx
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Cairo