Growing in cocoa

[Organicfreak]

All good then I've still got loads waiting to start ripening

 

[Organicfreak]

So I picked some more today, there was nothing wrong with the tomatoes I picked but I squeezed a little whilst they were in my hand and they just split. Also is the gold lines on the other photo a issue?
Also these new colours have appeared on my leaves this week, are the leaves just dieing or is there something wrong?

 

[Chuck]

It appears that you had a big rain event or you accidentally watered too much as evidenced by the splitting of the fruit. The blemish on the fruit is old insect damage and nothing to worry about. The yellow blotches on the leaves may or may not be a problem. It is possible but very doubtful that it is the beginning of a mosaic virus, either tomato mosaic virus, tobacco mosaic virus or cucumber mosaic virus. All you can do is just wait and see if it develops. I have seen this many times and it mostly is just as you see, on a few leaves and then it goes away. If it is mosaic virus you will soon know as it spreads and gets worse very rapidly. Also, closely observe the blooms on the plants. If the blooms are perceptibly smaller or have brownish streaks on them this is a sure sign of infection. When and if a plant is determined to have the disease it should be pulled and destroyed immediately. Any and all ground litter including mulch should be removed and destroyed. Tomatoes and peppers should not be planted in that area for 1 year. But, don't freak out. Before you start pulling plants send pictures as mosaic virus is not as common as one would think.

 

[cpp gardener]

Considering the size of the plant compares to the pot, you probably need to water more often. Unless it rains of course.

 

[Organicfreak]

The fruit split after I picked it, in my hand when I accidentally squeezed them slightly. Maybee I have been watering too much, there was a few days where we had batches of heavy rain, including today, heavy rain for 1 hour or so.. but I've been watering it 1 litre everyday, 1.5 litre twice a week when I feed the plant.

The colours on the leaves started on the lowest and oldest leaf. It has spread around the plant ever so slightly, none of the upper leaves have those marks. I have chopped them all off, so I will wait and see if it spreads.

There was a few caterpillars and spiders on the plant from time to time which have been removed and sprayed with bug and fungus controll spray.

 

[Organicfreak]

Considering the size of the plant compares to the pot, you probably need to water more often. Unless it rains of course.

I water 1 litre a day, 1.5 litre twice a week with feed. Is the pot too small for the plant?

 

[cpp gardener]

It's a bit small, but considering the time of year and how you water, I wouldn't move it up.

 

[Organicfreak]

It's a bit small, but considering the time of year and how you water, I wouldn't move it up.

No I'm deffo not transplanting it now, tbh the plants been through stress. Few times my neighbours dog has dug out the soil and damaged roots. It's been knocked over a few times and 2 of the main branches snapped hanging on by a thread so I dernt move it, as I have it supported in position. I have also bent the two main heads not enough to snap, just enough for a little stress. The plants was actually 3 times smaller when I transplanted it into that pot. It's gone that big since end of July I would say, but because it already started fruiting I didn't want to transplant it.

 

[Sheal]

It's too late in the season to transplant the plant now. I think the leaves are starting to show dieback for the same reason. You could strip them off now.

I used to grow tomatoes in a greenhouse in buckets after drilling holes in the bottom. I'd water them thoroughly when the compost dried out, usually every alternate day in hot weather and fed once weekly or fortnightly. I had no experience of fruits splitting but they did suffer from leaf curl which isn't damaging to the fruit. I moved to the Highlands six years ago and can't grow them here as I don't have a greenhouse and the climate isn't good enough for growing them outside. Come September I stripped all the leaves from the plants to allow as much sun as possible for ripening.

With leaf branches stripped below. This particular tomato was a heritage plant which explains the different sizes in fruit it produced.

 

[Organicfreak]

It's too late in the season to transplant the plant now. I think the leaves are starting to show dieback for the same reason. You could strip them off now.

I used to grow tomatoes in a greenhouse in buckets after drilling holes in the bottom. I'd water them thoroughly when the compost dried out, usually every alternate day in hot weather and fed once weekly or fortnightly. I had no experience of fruits splitting but they did suffer from leaf curl which isn't damaging to the fruit. I moved to the Highlands six years ago and can't grow them here as I don't have a greenhouse and the climate isn't good enough for growing them outside. Come September I stripped all the leaves from the plants to allow as much sun as possible for ripening.

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With leaf branches stripped below. This particular tomato was a heritage plant which explains the different sizes in fruit it produced.

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They look lovely!!, I obviously watered way more than you have which probally caused my splitting. I think I'll follow you and chop all the leaves now. Will post some pics later. Thanks for the reply

 

[DirtMechanic]

They look lovely!!, I obviously watered way more than you have which probally caused my splitting. I think I'll follow you and chop all the leaves now. Will post some pics later. Thanks for the reply

I think tomatoes follow the classic wine idea of "a good year". Not too much water, nor too little. Same idea though, a nice concentration of flavor combined with abundancy.

 

[Sheal]

They look lovely!!, I obviously watered way more than you have which probally caused my splitting. I think I'll follow you and chop all the leaves now. Will post some pics later.

Thank you. Tomatoes can be temperamental and it takes a while to understand their needs.

 

[Organicfreak]

So I stripped it down, don't know if I went over the top with it. This is how the plant looks now and some tomatoes that have been picked.

 

[Sheal]

The plant looks fine. At this time of year tomatoes will need as much sun as possible to ripen and will be a slower process. If they don't seem to be ripening in a couple of weeks, pick them and put them on a sunny window ledge inside.

 

[Oliver Buckle]

They look good, a very satisfying result considering the dog dug them up and everything. Well done.