We May Lose Our Tomatoes. Polytunnel Tour Of Our Tomatoes So Far This Year.

[@terrykingsallotmentgardening]

If the tomatoes stop producing, you are over feeding and watering. Stop watering and feeding, then the plant thinks it's dying and will start producing flowers. I have had my best year with tomatos with no Blight so far, most were saved seed including F1's. ♻️Happy gardening, Terry King.

[@oddsocksgrowing]

Watered twice a week. And fed once a week if in fruit. To be honest we're getting more and more picking large amounts every couple of days. It's more spaced out this year than the last few years. Gives me a little more time to prepare the toms in the kitchen. No blight either for us so far this year. 🤞. Hope all OK your end?

[@terrykingsallotmentgardening]

@@oddsocksgrowing 👍❤️👍

[@myrustygarden]

Morning Helen, my tomatoes are so far behind last years. The plants are humongous up as it was so so very hot in July the flower drop was horrible. They are recovering now but so far I’m not impressed. But any harvests are good harvests so I’m not giving up hope. Oh right I better remember to go top the 10’ foliage agggaaaaiiinn 🤦‍♀️. Have a wonderful weekend, Ali 🌞🥵🇨🇦

[@oddsocksgrowing]

I can just imagine you up a ladder 😂 topping those toms. 😳. Yup that's how I'm seeing it this year. Any harvest is a good harvest. But knowing my luck, they'll all be rotted next week 😂😂

[@stevem-h3562]

well, we put ours in better soil and in better tubs and co-planted with herbs and other plants to keep the bugs off and in terms of volumes it seemed very slowly to work. There was tons of green but not much in the way of fruits for a good 2-3 months, then a spurt of growth in the fruits and it wasnt until very recently and the warm spell and more light where they've started ripening. Its been a good upward part of the learning curve, thats for sure and the standard of the fruits is excellent.... its just been a lesson that no matter how much you try and do things right, the weather has got you by the danglies, unfortunately. Hoping to move a lot of these crops to the new greenhouse next year so we'll see what difference that makes.

[@oddsocksgrowing]

The weather has been off this year. Mote cloudy days, cooler temps at the beginning didnt help. There is still lots of time to ripen, though, once one does they all come along. Greenhouse for next year for the win. 👍

[@siggiroberts7432]

Hello Hellen, you are not the only one, who's tomatoes are having this paticular problem. It seems to go around. And only tomatoes growing in pollies or greenhouses are affected. I grow mine outside and got no problemo so far ( famous last words). Just waiting for them to ripen.

[@oddsocksgrowing]

It's been such a humid year this year. Its the perfect conditions for this particular problem. We're still harvesting alot of toms. We've also cut away the vast majority of any damage. Tge plants are doing well. Our outdoor toms are all starting to ripen 😊. Slowly but surely they get there. Wish you luck with a great Tom harvest this year 👍

[@preppernut]

Worst tomato year for us, and it has been pretty warm. Aphids right from the beginning. I did a second seeding and just transplanted some that were 2 feet high into a bed where we took our corn out. And I am going to cheat when canning tomatoes. Instead of taking them out of the freezer and pouring off the liquid and then cooking them down, I will keep that liquid and supplement it with tomato paste to thicken it and then can them.

[@oddsocksgrowing]

It really has been a trying year, hasn't it. Good idea on the liquid from the toms. We also freeze until we have enough to can. I'm also going to dehydrate the skins and waste after sieving. To give me a good tomato powder to add to food. I made a lot of tomato paste last year. But it takes so many toms. But I've been told the dehydrated waste toms can give a similar flavour. So I'm going to give it a go 👍

[@AnyKeyLady]

Hi great that you have been talking about these issues. I have noticed a few people mentioned that they have grey mould. Our tomatoes in our pots seem to be suffering compared to the ones in the raised bed. Some of the first tomatoes we have had from the pots have had blossom end rot, despite fertilising them. I put that down to the amount of rain we have been experiencing as well as too much cloudy weather, despite the average temps. Yes, i totally agree it hasn't been the best year for tomatoes and i would usually be in canning mode at this point instead of getting the dribs and drabs crops we have been getting in previous years. Is that big mumma and the other romas you have in the poly tunnel indeterminates? I wonder if a hydro peroxide spray would help with grey mould? Is their anything else online that could help with grey mould? Hope you have a great weekend! Take care!

[@oddsocksgrowing]

Big momas are indeterminate, and the romas can be either. Think these ones were indeterminat. But I can't remember off of the top of my head. The humidity and weather have taken its toll on tomato growers this year. It's the perfect condition for certain diseases and pests. As for your blossom end rot, it is normally due to irregular watering. When growing in pots, it can be quite hard to get the watering right. As they can dry out quickly, or sit in too much water. The toms stress and find it harder to uptake the calcium. Even though there is normally plenty of calcium and minerals in the soil/compost they need. With the grey mold there are chemicals and little things you can do. But it can be tough. Cutting out the worse effected stems if possible. Dropping the humidity if possible. Reduce spread if possible. But it can spread like blight so fingers crossed we can keep it at bay 👍

[@AnyKeyLady]

@@oddsocksgrowing These are free flowing containers. It's been that kinda year with unusually high rainfall levels. Everything is outside. I keep teetering on using polytunnel plastic cover but literally can't with the high humidity and heat we get where i am in London. In our house come autumn our smoke alarms can go off due to humidty levels and something that i learned about the last few years. It's crazy! We have only got to 33c this year and it was dire in 2022 when it got to 40c. Fingers crossed no diseases yet. I am looking into granule tomato feed, which should help with the pots. Would love a dip in humidity as the small flies are a pain this year!

[@trottiscliffe]

Flowers dying off happens with chillies and seems to happen when watering. Toms and chillies are related.

[@oddsocksgrowing]

I agree, but water is regular. But it can also be extreme heat , lack of pollination, excess humidity and some diseases. The list goes on 😊.

[@Chattyman2]

My plants have been hit by leaf roll so bad this year. They are still growing but do not seem to have the vigor like previous seasons had

[@oddsocksgrowing]

Leaf roll is a pain of a virus. Spread by aphids, I believe? Is it just the tomatoes that have been affected or any potatoes as well?

[@Tamsins_Potager]

Lose...not loose

[@oddsocksgrowing]

Ha. Didn't realise that my spell check changed it to that 😂. It has been corrected 😅