Pepolino F1

Each season I grow as many different varieties as space will allow and this year I'm growing a new variety called Pepolino F1.

The plant is a bush variety that grows well in a container and its tomatoes are elongated and similar to a plumb shape.

The taste is excellent and is a very good balance of both sugar and acid which gives it a traditional tomato flavour. However, the fruit are very small - about half the size of an average cherry tomato and although the plants produce lots of these little toms, I don't think I shall grow them next season.

There are many varieties to try, so a tomato has to be pretty special to grow it every year.

Growing Tomatoes & Wet Weather

It seems that we've had rain everyday in August here in the UK. Fortunately the temperatures haven't dipped too, otherwise there would be a danger of tomato blight.

One effect that rain has on tomato plants and their fruit is that it dilutes the taste. You'll get a more intense taste from a tomato whose plant has been slightly under-watered.

Tomato split is also the result of either over-watering or too much rain. This happens when the inside of the tomato swells faster than the outside skin is able to cope with and the skin splits.
I cut my split tomatoes along the line of the split and nobody knows the difference!

If growing tomatoes in a greenhouse, wet weather may affect your plants by condensation and humidity. Too much of either can cause fungal diseases (tomato blight again) and cause skin blemishes like ghost spot. This happens when grey mould spores fall onto the skins and leave small white rings.
Thanks to Pete E. for the photo.

Stopping The Tall Varieties

The stage at which you remove the growing tip of a tall variety depends on whether you are growing outside or in a greenhouse. You might allow four trusses outdoors and up to seven or eight in an unheated greenhouse.

The photo on the right shows what happens if you don't pinch out the growing tips! Thanks to Ted S. for the photo.

The other factor to consider is the length of your growing season which for the purposes of the above example would be from late May to the beginning of October of a frost-free period. The longer your growing season, the more trusses you can grow before you pinch out the growing tips, assuming that you have a tall enough greenhouse!

Growing Tomatoes - Watering and Disease

When watering, avoid splashing soil up onto the lowest leaves which may transfer soil infections into a plant through the leaves. Splashing water up onto growing fruit may also create ghost spot which is caused by grey mould soil spores and displays small transparent water-like rings.

It's also a good idea to pull off suckers, side shoots and leaf branches by hand rather than cut them because the blades of knives and scissors can spread disease from one plant to another.

Cherry Tomatoes - The First to Mature

Every season the race is on to see which variety matures first.

However, looking through the seed catalogues in the winter months provides the encouragement to select the earliest maturing variety just to see how soon I can be eating ripe tomatoes later in the season.

The first thing to note is that (in my experience) it is always the cherry tomatoes that mature first.

The next point is that it is not necessarily the variety with the shortest season that matures first, but the variety that sets its fruit at the coolest temperatures.

A plant can be waiting at the flowering stage with no sign of fruit set because the day and night temperatures are not conducive to fruit set.

Furthermore, some varieties will set fruit at cooler temperatures and it is only experience that can give you the knowledge of which is the earliest variety to set.

When you have a quick growing cherry variety that is cold tolerant and sets fruit at cooler temperatures, you have the earliest possible combination.

Of course the seed catalogues almost always say, this or that variety is early or cold tolerant but there is often a lack of information about early fruit set.

I've brought this subject up because this season many gardeners have reported that their plants have been slow to set fruit.

Fruit set or flower fertilisation occurs when day and night temperatures stabilise so that pollen reproduction can occur (usually June for most varieties). Sowing very early in the season could be a waste of time if you choose varieties that require higher temperatures to set their fruit.

Anyway ... after all that I managed to be eating Glacier cherry toms at the end of June from plants growing outdoors ... I'm happy with that!

Blossom End Rot

This is definitely my best season for reducing blossom end rot.

The watering plan has been to thoroughly soak the compost every few days and water normally in between. Of course we haven't had many hot spells where it becomes difficult to keep the compost moist, but nevertheless, I have had only a few cases of BER and I'm growing over seventy plants.

Two further points to make are, it took longer than usual for flowers to set therefore the plants are producing toms in warmer conditions (helps reduce BER caused by low temperatures) and also, the new compost and sterilisation of containers etc. this season means that there are no soil based diseases that hinder the uptake of nutrients and especially calcium.

Blossom end rot was a real problem for me last season but hopefully, I think I've got the better of it!

The three most important ways to avoid BER are:

1. Water thoroughly every few days.
2. Always use new compost to avoid disease.
3. Sow medium and large varieties (the most affected by BER) a little later in the season for fruiting at warmer temperatures.

Removing Leaves

Lower leaves of a tall variety, those below the first truss, may be removed when a plant reaches about 4 ft tall.

If you use a knife or scissors there is a chance that disease may be spread from one plant to another so it is best to pull them off with a sharp tug upwards.

Some of the lower leaves will be yellow and poorly looking and of no use to the plant's growth.

If too many leaves are removed at the same time, it can stress the plant so remove gradually over a period of a few days if there are a lot to remove.