16,949 Garden Web Discussions | Growing Tomatoes
I just wanted to follow up on the Burpee Brandywine Red variety. I harvested a fall crop of green, but starting to ripen (on the inside) tomatoes (we had an early frost). I have attached a picture of a ripe tomato after it ripened fully in my garage.
I have also attached pictures of the skin. I always have trouble making a definitive determination, but does this look like yellow skin to you? I know it's tough to capture everything in a picture, but to me it looks clear (I also have the benefit of seeing it in person).
The flavor is very strong and acidic as you might expect from a classical tomato. It was a little mushier than other varieties that ripened under similar circumstances. Since I didn't grow it side by side with Brandywine Pink it is hard for me to discuss flavor similarities/differences. Altogether the flavor was OK, but it seemed to be lacking balance and I found it a bit bitter. Maybe this is attributed to the non-ideal ripening conditions.
Hi,
I've seen many posts for stunted tomatoes, but all apply to the
plant. My plant is growing fine, its the fruit that has problems.
I am growing my tomatoes hydroponically indoors under LED lights in clay pellets. I am able to control grow room temps,
humidity, and nutrient temps within the recommended ranges.
I have four Kumato plants. Plenty of blooms, many set, I
have mature fruit on all of the plants.
My question concerns blooms that set to a BB size tomato
and grow no further. I have some that have been like this
for two months. I have other blooms that set and grow
fruit to the size of a large marble, then it stops.
On the four plants, I probably have 20 tomatoes like this. If
I could discover the cause of this problem I could greatly
increase my yields.
Conditions:
Using three part Flora nutrient in a flowering and fruiting formulation.
18 hours lights on, 6 hours off. Tomatoes do not need shortening days to produce flowers like some plants do.
Feeding six times per day for 15 minutes. Clay pellets, so the roots are getting a lot of O2.
Temperatures never get above 77 degrees F. Night temps drop to 62 -65 degrees F
Nutrient temps range from 65 - 70 degrees.
I maintain the nutrient PH between 5.8 - 6.3 and between
1100 - 1500 ppm.
I use Reverse Osmosis (RO) water and supplement with General Hydroponics CalMagic (Calcium and Magnesium).
Thanks for any ideas you might have.
I think what you are describing is fruit abortion and I've linked to a Google Search below where there are several links that deal with that topic.
Hope that helps,
Carolyn
Here is a link that might be useful: Tomato Fruit Abortion
"Taste" is a complex matter and it can also vary from one person to another. However, the "sweet" and "sour" are obvious and can be measured, in terms of sugar contents (Brix) and acidity (pH).
So if your definition of "tasty" is sweetness, then it can be easily obtained by selecting varieties that are genetically sweeter.
Soil , amount of sunshine,and weather are yet important factors. Sunshine and dry climates make tastier and sweeter fruits in general..
Seysonn
This post was edited by seysonn on Sat, Dec 13, 14 at 16:36
Paul,
We plant another whole round of tomatoes in August here, in Aiken.
We get tomatoes til the end of November, beginning of Dec, sometimes later depending on the weather.
I also think you are not feeding your tomatoes plants, miracle grow and epson salts work wonders in this sandy soil.
If you have them in pots, it works on them too.
I don't plant Determinates, only the long producing plants the Indeterminates, and usually get tomatoes all summer, and go buy some new plants in August, and have them til winter.
Good Luck.
g'day mate, definitely a nutrient deficiency, and most probably nitrogen. it can be caused by lack of nutrients and/or under watering or over watering.
firstly, i assume your pots are big enough (> 20 litres) and that you used proper potting mix.
you should water it thoroughly until water comes out the bottom. how often depends on your weather, stick your finger in as deep as it can go....does it feel moist? that will give you your answer.
also, do u fertilise? you really should do this weekly, half strength all purpose fertiliser like thrive flower and fruit, or yates tomato fertiliser. skip organic stuff, it doesn't work that great in pots.
G'evening down there,
I "me too" anti's post. The nitrogen is not being replaced in these pictures. In the USA we would boost with MiracleGro or if we were in a rush something like Dyna-gro. The plants are sensitive both ways so be careful not to overcorrect or that will be just as bad. If you do it now, you can save all your plants using a soluble fertilizer and the Cherries should start up right where they left off pretty quickly.
PC
Well money is always a concern on heating as I watch propane use closely as I rarely run the heater during the day unless its rainy and cold. I am always trying to improve things to save on heating costs. This GH is positioned east-west and gets full sun, I have a single 52in exhaust fan I use when warm enough otherwise I keep it closed off. Internally I move air with 4 box fans from the ceiling. The tomatoes are on a suspension system in the center as the peak is 12ft and I have tomatoes to the top now. My biggest problem is with whiteflies attacking my peppers, I have traps out and spray daily. The tomatoes are doing well, good growth and still bearing new tomatoes.
If your tomato plants have stuff in the soil that's killing them, you can always do this (for tomato plants specifically): pull or dig the plant out (and as many of the roots as will come) and put the roots in water for two or three days (there's no reason it should die in the water, but it should grow out its roots some). Then repot in new soil. Keep the plant away from direct sun during this process (and for a short while afterward, maybe).
You also might consider rooting cuttings from your tomato plant. People say you can do it in soil. I root them in water, though, so far (just stick it in water and wait a couple weeks, and it should grow roots). If you add something crazy like diatomaceous earth or 24-8-16 fertilizer to the water it probably won't grow roots (and will likely die). However, the plants tend to lose nutrients after being in plain water so long. So, maybe an even, mild fertilizer would help (like 7-7-7). A tomato cutting I took last night and added 7-7-7 fertilizer to is still looking healthy. So, it won't immediately kill it, at the very least. Remind me to update this after a couple weeks to tell you if it worked better than plain water.
Some people say to add hydrogen peroxide to cuttings to help them root. I've tried this and it cleaned the cuttings, but it actually made them so they didn't grow roots in the portions of the plants that were under water. So, it seems kind of counterproductive. I haven't tried the food grade kind (the food grade kind is much safer, at least if you dilute it considerably due to its potency, considering the regular kind may have organophosphates, heavy metals or other chemicals in it). After I changed the water (and added no hydrogen peroxide), they grew roots (but not before).
[Hydrogen peroxide does seem to be great for helping seeds to germinate faster, though (soak the seeds for an hour in a diluted solution of it and water). I've tried that. I'd recommend the food grade kind there, too. If you use the regular kind, drain the solution and rinse the seeds before planting (so the chemicals don't pollute your soil).]
If you root tomato cuttings in soil, keep them out of direct sun. I think that's why my first attempt at that failed. Plants with disturbed (or no) roots seem to wilt quickly in direct sun.
This post was edited by Shule on Tue, Dec 9, 14 at 23:51
Temperature stops fruit set and ripening if it gets too high, so you have to avoid the temps somehow.
My successful tomatoes have been tiny (Matt's Wild Cherry) or varieties from India (heirloom from one the SO's co-workers from India) or found thriving in Baja California.
One technique that works is to use short-season varieties developed for far north to get in the harvest before it turns hot, or for late-summer planting and an early fall harvest.
Another is to accept that the plants will sulk all summer with little activity and set fruit when it cools off in the autumn.
Black Krim. I've grown both Cherokee Purple and Black Krim and prefer the Krim.
I also always grow Anna Russian. Huge, heart-shaped fruit, dense flesh and good for canning. Last year, however, I think I got one fruit from two plants because the rabbits love them too. Every time one got close to ripe there'd be a huge bite out of it the next day.
Caryl
I wouldn't worry about it. You will probably have zillions of tomato volunteers springing up there next year, but since you don't plan to grow tommies there again, all you'd have to do is hoe the area or pull up the seedlings if you don't want them.
Linda
^^^^agree; if you can handle the smell, there shouldn;t be anything to make people sick in it. I'd save the cat litter for the kitty box and not use it on the tomatoes. If you want and the ground isn't hard, just hoe the mushy parts under now, or bring a wheelbarrow full of sand/soil from elsewhere and cover the especially offensive parts, or speed them on their way by dispersing them with the hose.
If you can't remove them though and the plants were diseased and something like gray mold sets in, that's too bad, maybe best just to chalk it up as an organic experiment and leave them to solarize, ferment/rot, the natural way.
PC
Yuck!
It's exciting that you stumbled on a named variety and all that, but why would anyone bother to grow a tomato that tastes bland when there are zillions of great-tasting OP varieties out there?
Linda
why would anyone bother to grow a tomato that tastes bland
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
I will grow it as "stuffer".
It is like "sauce" tomato. The taste of tomato is not that important. When you make sauce, you (can) add all kinds of things to it, a dash of salt, a pinch of sugar, a touch of vinegar, red bell pepper, garlic, basil ... So who is going to know how the tomato tasted ? It is the same with stuffer. The taste and flavor of the stuffing should be so dominant that the taste of tomato won't be noticed.
Seysonn