Wednesday was another day of blustery winds and although it was warmer than Tuesday the temperature remained lower than normal.
I’ve now got two tomato trials on the go. The first started some time ago which was to try to get some early tomatoes by growing on some plants on a sunny window ledge indoors compared to growing the same varieties in the greenhouse. The time has arrived for all the plants to grow on together in the greenhouse. Hopefully any cold and frosty nights are behind us now.
I’m guessing you won’t have any problems deciding which plant of Baby Boomer was grown in the greenhouse and which wasn’t. Indoors the plants has reached a rather leggy height of 550mm (22”) whilst the greenhouse tomato has produced a much more stocky plant about half the height. But the purpose isn't to produce the best plant but some early tomatoes.
The greenhouse plant is starting to produce some flowers but the indoor plant already has a small tomato set from the first truss of flowers.
I’m now going to try to concentrate all the efforts of this plant into producing fruit and leave only a couple of flower trusses as well as keeping all the side shoots removed. For comparison purposes I’ll do the same with the plant grown in the greenhouse.
The second tomato trial has only really just started. I’ve been given a seedling of a new tomato from Suttons Seeds called Crimson Crush. Its main claim to fame is that it’s completely blight resistant as well as producing slightly larger than average tomatoes which taste good too.
I have to admit that at the moment it doesn’t look the same as a normal tomato plant. The leaves look like you’d expect but it doesn’t yet seem to be growing a main stem. We shall see how it grows on. To give it a test it will be planted outside on the plot next to a few other varieties to check its blight resistance should the dreaded disease attack this year. It normally does and it the reason we’ve stopped trying to grow tomatoes outside on the plot. Will this variety prove to be a solution to our problem?
Posts
Coincidentally, I have just this morning received two free Crimson Crush plants from Dobies. The blurb makes them sound like a winner, so I think I'll give them a go. The literature doesn't say whether they are best grown as bush or cordon. Any idea?
ReplyDeleteHi Mark
Deletefound this web site which suggests they can be grown as a cordon or bush but are best grown as a cordon so I'll probably try that.
Click here
I'll look forward to seeing what happens with them all. I haven't heard of Crimson Crush before. I usually grow Ferline to try and avoid blight.
ReplyDeleteI've tried Ferline and it didn't work so I'm hoping Crimson Crush does better. Fingers Crossed!
DeleteThat are healthy looking tomato plants.I have little luck with them. The last tomato plant was uprooted by me since all the fruits rotten half way...
ReplyDeleteNever imagined that you would struggle to grow tomatoes in your climate.
Delete