Still picking tomatoes

[Odsox]

My tomato experiments continue ...

My last years Tigerella tomatoes are still growing, flowering and ripening fruit, although the plants look a little bit the worse for wear now.
They are growing in my unheated conservatory where the night temperatures hover around 10c and mid-day temps of between 20c & 25c depending on the sunshine (or lack of)
They are growing in a commercial hydroponics unit which has a small aquarium heater which keeps the circulating water at a steady 21c. So it seems that as long as you keep the roots warm the air temperature doesn't matter so much as long as it doesn't freeze.
Anyway, the tomatoes are remarkably tasty still although not up to summer time standards but far superior to shop bought ones, although I must admit I haven't bought any in a shop for many a year so my memory could be a bit naff.
They are ripening just fast enough for me to have a cheese and tomato sandwich for my lunch every day.

I see from my diary that these plants were sown on the 9th March 2009, so I wonder if the will make it to their "birthday".

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[grahamhobbs]

Nice one Odsox, bit jealous of the conservatory seeing that. Aren't tomatoes actually perenials?

[Odsox]

Aren't tomatoes actually perenials?

Yes they are, but usually of course they just die when the winter weather arrives.

This is an ongoing saga Graham of my attempts to have ripe tomatoes for 12 months every year.
I saw some comments on a website a couple of years ago about it ought to be possible, which struck a chord with me.
2 years ago I almost managed it but by using storage tomatoes for the winter, but they ran out quite some time before the next years ones started.
Last year I almost managed it again with "micro toms", which was really cheating a bit as the fruit is a bit minuscule and you would need a handful for a sandwich.
So this year I'm trying again and as well as the ones pictured I have 3 pots of container type tomatoes that are now flowering but no sign of setting any fruit yet.

Last year I picked my first "real sized" tomato on the 17th of May, so that's my target.

[grahamhobbs]

Tigeralla I believe is an early tomato, but perhaps there are some earlier 'siberian' ones. But 17 May is pretty amazing anyway, I'm doing well if I get anything before the end of June.

[JillStephens7]

Wow that's impresssive.

How do they grow - do they make new shoots from the base after a while, or keep getting taller? Do you 'prune' them? I don't understand how tomato growth would look over such a long period?

The plants look really healthy. I don't know much about hydroponics, if you could reccomend any websites/ suppliers to have a look at I'd be interested to find out more about the space needed and cost etc. Jolly interesting.

Thanks and best wishes, in amazement Jill

[Odsox]

I tried "Sub Arctic Plenty" and although they grew well early on in the season, they made pretty big plants and the flavour was nothing special.
At the moment I grow "Totem" which is much better behaved and has at least some resemblance of tomato flavour. They make a reasonable sized bushy plant in a 6" pot which sits nicely on my south facing window sill.

Jill, the hydroponics unit I have is the 3 plant one from here .. http://www.greenhousesensation.co.uk/pr ... w-nft.html
A bit expensive but it does last for years. It takes up about 3 foot of floor space and the toms grew up to the roof, although I chopped a lot off last week.

[JillStephens7]

Thanks, that's great.

Will definitely put some thought into this. If I grew peppers in it I reckon it would pay for itself in a year or so once I found a way to get one in the first place; if I could get a longish season, good harvest and then bottle some or something.

Thanks again, Jill

[gdb]

WOW! Very impressed. Still got Toms in January?

They wont grow here even in July! (Not because we dont get lots of sun I hasten to add. But because by the time the evenings are mild enough it's too late to plant 'em and I dont have a glasshouse).

[Green Aura]

You can go off some people you know!

We've discovered we can't grow tomatoes up here at Christmas, like we managed in Manchester. I actually think it's more to do with the polytunnel rather than the latitude (or is it the other one?). There are still green tomatoes on the plants - we left a couple in - but the last one's we picked at the end of November were really thick-skinned and had acquired quite a bitter taste, so we've not tried them since.

[Millymollymandy]

I ate my last Sungold cherry toms on Boxing Day and was well chuffed! I'd picked them in November. They were outdoor toms.

I'd love to have a conservatory but we're not allowed one where we live! (not that I intend to pay for one or the building work even I was allowed one! ).

Well done Odsox!

[JillStephens7]

Wow MMM, that's great

I think I'm going to give up growing stuff and just move near one of you don't know how you are managing it grrr

[Millymollymandy]

Jill, that's not normal for here it was just a freak mild autumn although the toms survived a number of mild frosts in early October then carried on flowering and fruiting (and even ripening outside!). Weather's making up for it now though!