Talkback: Tasty tomatoes - Page 2 - Talkback

19/05/2008 at 18:09

Please can you help. My tomatoes looked lovely and healthy a few days ago but now are curling up with mottled black and white leaves. They have been well cared for, so where am I going wrong? What is blight?

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10/06/2008 at 16:40

having just transplanted some of my tomato plants from my greenhouse to my allotment,[outside],the leaves have gone very anemic and yellow in colour,is there anything i can do to help them?

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28/06/2008 at 10:35

having grown some very sturdy tom plants in a greenhouse, but still with no fruit. i now seem to have little roots growing from the stems and branches... can anyone tell me if this is a good sign or bad?

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03/07/2008 at 17:00

Help new to growing tomatoes,leaves all curling rounds and dark areas on them ,have got one plat with flower but not on other tomatoes plants ,What am I doing wrong,please please help.

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10/07/2008 at 19:07

Hi me again ,have stripped all tomato plants of curled up yellow and brown leaves and can not believe they seem to be coming back to life.But still no sign of tomatoes yet fingers crossed.On a good note first time for growing cauli broccali and peppers and lettuce green beans all seem to be thriving. Any tips on the pesky tomato plants should they be indoors,mine are all out. Happy gardening.

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15/07/2008 at 00:01

Can you give any advice about the scare of contaminated compost. I have an allotment in Manchester and purchased manure in February. How can I find out if it is safe?

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29/07/2008 at 20:16

My tomatoes are growing nicely with lots of fruit but I think I need to spray with a fungicide to be sure of healthy fruit. Is it OK to spray fruit and leaves now?

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30/07/2008 at 15:33

My neighbours tomaotoes were ripe weeks ago (he wasn't sure what type they are other than it was a girls name) but my tomatoes in a greenhouse about 10 feet from his are big and fat but are still all green, they're moneymakers. Surely they should be getting ripe by now or this normal for moneymakers?

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10/08/2008 at 01:03

I am also growing Gardener's Delight for the first time this year. I plan to bring the toms inside to ripen but I've read that ripening them with ripe bananas can diminish the taste. I have three plants each with three to four trusses. I could remove three trusses (one from each plant) now and hope the other trusses will develop more. I am considering defoliating more of the plants to aid ripening in my glasshouse.

To Grace - I was so impressed to read that you have your own greenhouse. I've only been taking an interest in plants for a year and part of me wishes I had started sooner in life... I'm in my 40's now. Keep at it, it sounds as though you are doing great!

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18/08/2008 at 19:08

End of Aug and no ripe fruit (sigh)but plants very healthy both greenhouse & outdoor. I tried new trick to encourage great root system: when transferring from small pots to open soil; plant out VERY deep so only 12cm pokes out (strip off all leafs which would be below ground). Infill planting hole really lightly - dont heel in or anything. Doesnt help fruit to set, but you get amazingly strong healthy plants !

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18/08/2008 at 22:58

I don't have any toms but wondered if any of your readers could advise whether it is possible to get bonsai tomato plants (i live in a small flat)

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30/08/2008 at 18:20

Hi Lorraine again...What a disaster There I was saying cauli and broccoli doing well then a attack of green furry caterpillars, they ate the lot so sad and disappointed where did I go wrong. Toms are now growing on plants after the leaves all went yellow and curled up so I stripped leaves and got toms how strange.all still green though!!!What next will they ever ripen? Next job when should i cut lavender back that is taking over the garden? Happy gardening.

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02/09/2008 at 11:32

I've just lost 5 bush Marmande and potentially about to lose the other 8 to blight (decimated in 24 hours). No loss really as only the lowest trusses were fruiting and had no chance to ripen. However, 9 Shirleys are doing well, 6 outside bearing large (green) fruit and 3 in the greenhouse just beginning to redden. Notes to self for next year: sow indoors earlier, pot up earlier in greenhouse, space them out to prevent spore travel, spray with copper fungicide, move abroad; awful year again wasn't it!?

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04/09/2008 at 12:30

I have grown my first ever crop of tomatoes very successfully, but need to ripen them. They are in a draw with a ripe banana, and I know this sounds stupid, but no-one says whether to peel it or not. Help please.

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10/10/2008 at 20:52

My tomato plants were all lovely and healthy into August and plenty of ruit trusses and then we had 3 weeks of poor weather and rain etc - all the tomatoe plants went brown and seemed to be dying. I think it must be blight and didn't know - I took off all the tomatoes and tried to ripen them by putting out in what ever sunshine we had or keeping in a bowl in warm kitchen - most of them went rotten and had to be thrown away - I put everything including the plants into my compost bin... now I've read that all blighted plants should have been destroyed and put out with rubbish - help what shall I do about my compost bin its 3/4 full and breaking down nicely I thought - now it seems its infected with blight???

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03/08/2009 at 14:24

I am growing some tomatoes for the first time. I have three plants in a long trough growing niely up a trelace. I had noticed that the bottom leaves had gone yellowish and heard that this meant to start feeding them. Which I did and they are recovering nicely and I now have some small fruits growing too. What I would like to no is what is the best food to give them. I have some wilkinsons own brand tomato food and I also have some miracle grow that can also be used on toms. However it has at least twice the amount of nutrients that the tom food has. Which am I best with please? Ben, Norfolk

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24/08/2009 at 20:54

you need a high potash feed,(that is high in potassium). I use tomatorite and wilkos own brand too. I got loads of fruits but am waiting in anticipation for them to ripen! I feed mine every wednesday but think you can do it more often... I read somewhere that too much feed can damage too, so that why i do it once a week. I have grown tomatoes a couple of yrs ago but didnt get much out of it because i didnt put much effort in. This year i caught the gardening bug and love it!

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15/10/2009 at 08:24

I was given two tom' plants by a friend so have no idea what variety they are and it's also the first time I have grown them. As I live in a flat they are in my bathroom and I have to say have done really well. It was only this weekend that I picked the fruit (they have only just recently ripened) and boy were they tasty! I don't seem to have had much bother with them, just the occasional feed and bug spray.

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02/01/2010 at 15:40

Just got into growing tomatoes last spring and had alot of success with ‘Gardener’s Delight’ variety. http://www.practicalhomeandgarden.com/growing-tomatoes Im going to try using one of these upside down planters this coming season - wondered if anyone else has had much success with them - I have read moxed reveiews - http://www.practicalhomeandgarden.com/how-to-make-your-own-upside-down-tomato-planter

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03/08/2010 at 16:05

when do i pick my tomatoes do i wait for them to go red or do pick then green and ripen them indoors