Tuesday and Wednesday were rather similar days being cloudy and muggy throughout the day but clearing early evening to give a nice sunny end to the day.
As we are members of the RHS, Sue decided to e-mail them taking advantage of this part of the members service and see what advice they had to offer regarding our plot greenhouse tomato problems. I must admit I'm very pleased with their response which was almost within 24 hours. They think that the tomatoes are suffering from stress due to high greenhouse temperatures. Now I must be honest this could be true as trying to control the temperature in a greenhouse several miles from home is a bit tricky. It does have an automatic vent which opens as the day warms up but it does get very hot inside the greenhouse with only this vent open. I can't really put my finger on why but it just seems wrong to leave the door slightly ajar all the time on the plot greenhouse and we also thought that keeping the door shut would help protect from blight.
Not all the varieties of tomatoes are equally badly affected. Our three Sungold plants are doing okay and are the best looking plants in the greenhouse. We grew this variety after all the blog recommendations it received and it certainly has lived up to its billing. We tested three tomatoes today and they tasted really ‘tomatoey’ especially after all the shop bought mass produced ones.
The good news for us is that our plants don’t have some dreadful lurgy which is gradually destroying all our plants and if we can improve the ventilation we might yet salvage some sort of crop. Does this sound like someone who isn't going to grow tomatoes next year?
I've managed to open a couple of low down vents on the old aluminium greenhouse which haven’t been used for many a year. I've fastened some old chicken wire over the opening to hopefully deter any larger creatures from entering the greenhouse. I know there are several frogs inside the greenhouse who jump around when I'm watering. There’s a couple of vents around the other side of the greenhouse and I might see if I can get them open too.
This may mean cooler temperatures in the greenhouse by night. The temperature in the early hours of Wednesday morning fell to 9.6°C so it’s possible this may delay ripening of our fruit but that’s a far better option than no tomatoes at all. It now remains to be seen if any of the badly affected plants can make some sort of a recovery. One poor plant has had all its black fruits removed. It didn't have any normal green tomatoes and all the current flowers have died without setting fruit. It would be rather amazing if it now actually managed to produce any fruit.
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I found it hard to maintain a greenhouse on the plot 5 miles from home the regular watering became hard to deal with such that I dont have one now
ReplyDeleteI know just what you mean David about keeping a plot greenhouse watered.
DeleteI noticed that the temperature in our home greenhouse with all the windows and door wide opened managed 32°C this afternoon.
I do hope you get some tomatoes now that it's cooler in there. And of course you'll be back with them next year, tomatoes are impossible to resist I think. All those tantalising varieties to choose from. Glad the Sungolds are doing okay.
ReplyDeleteYou just cannot buy tomatoes that taste anything like homegrown ones so I'm sure I'll be having a go again next year.
DeleteI find that planting tomatoes are really hard things even in my tropical country! ;(
ReplyDeleteI thought tomatoes who love growing in a tropical climate. Not easy plants to grow well but lots of people try.
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