Your comments and tips

04 Mar 10, Steve (Australia - cool/mountain climate)

This year I grew four sorts, Black cherry, marmande, Kotlas and one other I forget. All from the Lost Seed Company. For the first time ever I applied monsterous neglect and I've had my best ever crops. At least 20 kilos so far and still growing strong. Other than an automatic watering over three weeks in December I have done almost nothing. No shoot removal, bad supports, they have sprawled into one huge mess of about 6 square metres which cover the ground so much that weeds have no chance at all. (I haven't weeded since I planted them). I just stick an arm into the pile and pick beautiful toms. I've even left chewed one to drop and rot as it's too hard. I think I've finally discovered the secret to tomato growing.

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27 Feb 10, Lyn (Australia - temperate climate)

My tomatoes have been disappointing this year as well . The Black Russian and Cherry's producing hardly any fruit .The pot grown Romas which i let bush out and basically ignored did the best.So maybe a little neglect is the way to go. Marissa if you live in Adelaide there has been a fruit fly outbreak so maybe that's the cause of the maggots. Apparently you need to tell the local council if that's the case .

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15 Feb 10, Marissa (Australia - temperate climate)

Hi everyone I have 8 tomatoe plants and experiencing a lot of leaves wilting, fruit rotting at the bottom but the top half is still green plus little black flying insects attacking it and laying eggs in it so when I cut a tomato in half it has maggts inside. Can anyone tell me what to do?

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08 Feb 10, Claudia (Australia - temperate climate)

My tomato leaves are yellowing and dying off but I still have plenty of fruit which has been ripening daily. I used the Diggers seeds for the first time and have Tigerella & Tommy Toe Reds. They are in old steel caged plastic water tanks just over 1 meter squared. If anyone has any suggestions I would greatly appreciate it as this is my first time at planting & want to maintain fruiting as long as I can. Thanks

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25 May 12, malcolm (Australia - sub-tropical climate)

i have the same trouble i donte know the answer but i have done some reaserch its lack of irion or to cold i have one tomatoe out of 4 plants with all plenty of fruit i have just saulfited iron for grass try that godd luck ps sorry about the spelling

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05 Feb 10, Lyndall lightbody (Australia - sub-tropical climate)

Hi lyndall here again still serching for a particular reason my tomato flowers are falling off and not baring any fruit! It's not from too much water and they are very well drained??

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03 Feb 10, Homebrewpig (Australia - cool/mountain climate)

Well I done the experiment of putting boiling water in the area that the tomatoes where planted then added organic fert. and the results were great. First time I got good tomatoes.

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29 Jan 10, DelBoy (Australia - temperate climate)

I've had trouble with my tomatoes too this year. Last year I had 3 x cherry and 3 x Roma plants which all gave me loads (too many) tomatoes. This year I planted 3 x cherry and 1 x Roma (in a different section of my garden). Two of the cherry plants gave me a handful each of tomatoes and grew to maybe 15cm in height. The Roma is still producing huge tomatoes but is only about 40cm tall. The last cherry plant is about 1.4m tall and still producing flowers and delicious fruit. I've treated all plants equally well, feeding them and watering them all equally. They all get equal sun. The only difference? The small cherry plants came from Bunnings and the other 2 came from K-Mart!

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26 Jan 10, Chris (Australia - temperate climate)

Lyndall, Flowers not producing fruit could be due to too much water. with regard to the height, last year I let all the side shoots grow and that stopped vertical growth compared to this year where I have religiously trimmed out any shoots from the leaf joints and my plants which were planted 23 November are between 1 and 1.4 metres high. My theory is that if you let the side shoots grow a bit it will stop trying to grow vertical because the plant needs to keep flowering and the only way to flower is to produce new growth. This growth comes from the main stems or new stems nearer the bottom of the plant. I have 4 plants so am going to let to bush out more and keep 2 growing vertical. If you let the plant grow up through the wire the possums will do the trimming for you.

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24 Jan 10, Barb (Australia - sub-tropical climate)

Lyndall, don't worry, your tomatoes will work out what space they have - probably fall over or grow sideways a bit, but that's OK they don't have to grow upwards all the time. Marina, wilt is apparently exacerbated by poor drainage, so check if your soil is too 'heavy' and mix in compost or 'no-dig' garden ingredients to help the soil drainage if need be. Better not to 'drench' the soil - soil is full of microbes both good and bad, so help your soil with worm-wee, compost or even seaweed/fish emulsion will helps the good guys fight the bad guys for you. Drying your stakes in sunlight should kill off any fungus you don't want. I turn my stakes over each time I use them, so whatever came from last crop's soil is now up the air.

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