No Left Over Tomatoes

I have three tomato seedlings left in the hothouse to use as spares, with forty making it to the greenwaste bin, as I had no further use for them and couldn't keep them. The hothouse is now empty enough to start propagating some cuttings now.

Getting Left Behind

This year among my old seed was a packet with a Spanish variety name, then marked as "Rare", so I decided to grow the seed. In the pack were ten seeds, so as a first try I grew five seeds and kept five seeds, just in case. The first five all failed to germinate, so it was all or nothing now, so I used the remaining seeds and after a few weeks, got two seedlings. Then at the time I pricked them out, a small tiny set of cotyledons showed themselves, so I stuck this little seedling in a cup too.

This little seedling has struggled to get any size, but even as small as it is, it still looks healthy. The two seedlings I originally got, have found their way into the garden and are growing since planted out last week.

What to do with this tiny seedling, well I think I'll pot it up into a bigger pot and watch it for a while. I didn't notice until recently that it's growing two growing tips, so I'm hopeful of getting it to grow.

This is it in its cup today.

De-Leafing - First Time

First job of the day was to remove (de-leaf) any leaves that were touching, or close to touching the ground. The reason for this is to remove any avenue for diseases from the soil to find their way to your plant. It doesn't harm the tomato plant and using a sharp knife is the best option. Remember that cleaning your knife often will remove another avenue for disease - hygeine is always important with using a knife or cutters on a tomato plant.

Washing Your Blossom Bags

As someone who bags my blossom to get purer seed, I also look after my bags too, as they tend to get dirty quite easy. Although they were washed when I last used them, Jan has washed them again so they're clean to start the season off with.

When using bags, the pollen from the flower truss accumulates in the weave of the bags and the best way to clean them is with warm water with some bleach in it, which instantly releases the pollen and also sterilises your bags.

These bags come in a variety of sizes and it's up to you as to what size you prefer, for me it depends on the fruit size of the variety you're bagging.

Bagging Started

I started to bag a few tomato plants in the hothouse this morning. I have a couple of Totem and a Lime Green Salad that have their first trusses, not that they're always the ideal truss to take, but a start.
I'll know at the end of my season that my seeds are as pure as I can make them and I can offer seeds that will grow true. This is something some say they do, but don't and is always something to remember when seed swaps happen.

Planting Finished This Season

Well, my tomato planting for season 2018/19 is now finished with all plants in the ground, with 50 plants and 44 varieties in total, with 5 determinate plants growing in the hothouse this year. Jan and I have just labeled each plant, so that when bagging starts, it will make life easier knowing what plant we're doing. All being well we'll get some nice fruit from the varieties I've selected this season. Here are a couple of photos of how I've done the garden beds here.

Garden Bed #1 Planted Up

After spending almost a week boxing the garden bed in with sleepers, I have finally got it planted up with tomato seedlings.

I can say that I never had a shortage of tomatoes to fill it with either, just the opposite. I'm looking at adding 15 plants to the next bed, then that's it on top of the 27 plants in so far. It's been a hard slog trying to get it finished in time, but it all came together nicely.

Most importantly, a list of what I have in to date.

Speckled Roman
Negrillo de Almoguera
Truffaut Precoce
Bychok
Tappy's Heritage
Arkashin
MS
Sakharnyi Zheltyi
UK2000 (x2)
Chocolate Stripes
McSee's Grape
Russo Sicilian
My 'Rare' plant#1
Collioure Long Plum
Belgium Giant
Vodar
Poil Blanc
Greek Witness
Monomakh's Hat
Donskoi
Purple Russian
Rosado de Ademuz
Rosado de Huelva
Morning Rose
Toedebusch Pink
Cow's Tit

I'll have some grow outs and a few specials in the next garden bed, which I'm hoping to get 15 plants in.

**Update on the planting.

Adding these few from Bed #2.

Wandocka Giant

Karma Pink

Duncan's

Siletz

Morado
My 'Rare' plant#2

Orlinyi Klyuv

Nicoleta

Grub's Mystery Green

Banana Currant

Crisana

Village Red  
Giant 
Black Krim

With other plants in Hothouse and garden.

Totem
Korall
Prairie Fire
Black Cherry
Lime Green Salad

New Tomato Plant

If you have a tomato plant and want more, say for a certain variety, here's a way to do it on the cheap.

When your plant grows a new sideshoot or lateral, wait until it gets about 15 cm long and cut it off with a sharp knife. Give it a trim so that it isn't too leafy on top, then take a plant pot and fill with a good potting mix and thoroughly wet it. Using something as a dibbler, make a hole big enough for the cutting/lateral and plant it in the mix. For the next 10 days or more, keep the cutting moist as it will grow roots and become your new plant.

Here is what your cutting should look like on the top, and on the bottom when it has roots..

A New name for a New Tomato.

Every once in a while a new tomato shows up in your plants and the excitement grows as you plant it and watch what it grows into. One such tomato is currently evolving in my hothouse, after changing from a regular leaf to a potato leaf. These new varieties are usually given a 'working name', but it has to be a name not already in use, either in full or part there of. I've been thinking of what to call it, then on the way home from Traralgon today, it appeared on the side of the road in front of me. There on the road was the sign for the District of Wandocka, which is now called Denison, a neighbouring dairy farm area close to where I live. The seeds were labeled 'Giant' when I went and picked them up, so I'll include it in the name.

You guessed it, my new tomato will be called "Wandocka".

New From Old #2

A couple of days after cutting the leaf from my Duncan's plants and here is the result starting to make itself clear as it grows, a new growing tip, a very weak growing tip.

Something Different

I like surprises, especially when growing tomato plants and today I got one, with the last lot of seedlings I germinated. One of them has thrown an elongated leaf plant, somewhat different to a Potato Leaf or a Regular Leaf tomato foliage.

I tend to think it's going to be different, not sure how just yet though. Not only was the variety something worth growing, this plant makes it doubly different. Just recapping on the seed for these, they were offered on a Facebook Garden Group, so I got some, now this will make growing two plants even more interesting - one of each.

Below are two seedlings from the 4 germinated, the lower one is a definite Regular Leaf plant, what this variety should be, but the top one is 'different'.

I knew there'd have to be a simple explanation to the Lanceolate leaves. A change in leaf shape to Potato Leaf, so I'm not sure now if it will change the fruit size and shape, but we'll have to wait and see. I'll need to give it a working name now, so what will it be. lol

Woz's Zucchini's - Jade Numbat

I'm hoping to get these two zucchini's through to maturity and have both growing in a large tub. These are Jade Numbat Zucchini's, not exactly sure on their origins, but I think Raymondo is De-hybradising them, or growing extra filial generations to stabilise the plant. I'll give them a go as Jan likes her zucchinis and they will be well used here.

They've actually grown their first true leaf since being potted up.

New From Old

You may remember the seedlings that were blind in an earlier post. One of the plants had actually grown a leaf, but not a growing tip.

In this photo is how I've gone about to make sure this seedling becomes a healthy plant, as the heading suggests, 'New from Old.

I took a knife and cut the leaf off the plant (A), exposing just the cotyledons - the reason was that there was an axillary bud visible and I wanted this bud to grow and become my new tomato plant. That axillary bud has now formed a healthy side shoot or lateral (circled) on what I hope will be a healthy plant and by allowing it to grow. It will replace the missing growing tip with a new one and be something I can grow in my garden and be happy with.

Continuing on with the weak, almost non existing heads on this variety of tomatoes, it's time to look at the rest of them and decide what to do with them.

In the photo below, the growing tip is very weak and may not produce a strong enough growing tip to take this plant through until maturity of the fruit. There are two side shoots showing (circled) so that makes the task easier as to which one to choose. In this instance, you would never take the one  at the bottom if there is one above it, something the top plant didn't have. The lowest sideshoot is what I call the watershoot and is often very week and not always able to grow with the same strength as the one above it.

So what will happen here is, the top sideshoot will be allowed to grow, while the lower one will be removed, then the top of the plant will be removed.

Bugs On Your Tomato Plants

At some point you will come across pests on plants, whether they be tomatoes or other vegetables, but we'll concentrate on tomatoes for now.

You will get visits from all sorts of insect pests on your plants at some point throughout the season, with Whitefly, Fungus Gnats, Aphids and Caterpillars being the most common. So what are you going to use if you see any of these pests on your plants. I'll give a brief rundown on a few things to try - after you identify what it is you want to eradicate.

1. Whitefly
You can give them a spray of water if you can get the nozzle on your hose to spray a fine jet. Most often you'll need to be a bit more brutal and use an oil/soap mix. (Recipe below)

2. Fungus Gnats
Fungus Gnats are a tiny black fly and will often be seen emerging from the soil around the base of the plant. First thing is to mulch around the plant to help move them on. Using the oil/soap mix will work too.

3 Aphids
Don't wait too long to act as they will increase their numbers dramatically if left unchecked. Use the oil/soap mix, making sure they get a good covering as the oil will block their pores and ability to breathe and this will help reduce their numbers early on.

There are Natural Pest Control Sprays from Bunning's like Beat a Bug, made out of Chillies and Garlic, but a word of caution is not to spray it on the actual fruits on a tomato as I've found the flavour can be absorbed into the fruit.

This one is popular and is safe to use around all your plants, it's the Oil/Soap Mix I mentioned above.

Oil/Soap Spray Insecticide
A homemade insecticide made from vegetable oil mixed with a mild soap (such as Dishliquid) can have a devastating effect on certain troublesome insects, such as aphids, mites, thrips, etc. To make a basic oil spray insecticide, mix 1 cup of vegetable oil with 1 tablespoon of soap (cover and shake thoroughly), and then when ready to apply, add 2 teaspoons of the oil spray mix with 2 litres of water, shake thoroughly, and spray directly on the surfaces of the plants which are being affected by the little pests. The oil coats the bodies of the insects, effectively suffocating them, as it blocks the pores through which they breathe.

4. Caterpillars
You are almost guaranteed to get Caterpillars on your tomato plants at some point, usually if you do get them, you'll need to spray regularly until gone. For caterpillars, you need to buy Dipel from your garden supply outlet/Bunning's, do it now and be ready.
Dipel is a bacteria which when sprayed onto the foliage of your tomato plant and ingested by the caterpillar, will stop the caterpillar from eating and it will die in a day or so. It's not a quick kill method, but it is the best and safest one going. 

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Always try and get a positive identification on the pests you encounter on your tomato plants as it makes it a lot easier to treat and remove them.

Hardening Off Your Plants

Hardening Off your Tomato Plants.

As with all plants grown in a warm humid hothouse environment, your tomato plants will not be accustomed to the harsh Spring sunshine and will need to be hardened off. This is a term given to the 'toughening' of the foliage and is best done by leaving your plants in the shade or filtered shade for a day or so, then introduce it to the sun so wilting doesn't occur.

I like to allow at least three days for hardening off and the plants can then go into the garden without any problems. In the first few days after planting, just make sure you can see moisture in the soil around the base of the tomato plant. Remember don't wet the foliage when you water, a watering tube into the ground is an ideal way of watering your tomato plants.

If you feed your plants at anytime, they benefit from from either a liquid tomato fertiliser (Thrive have one) or a tomato formulated powdered fertiliser about 200mm around the plant, as tomatoes will feed close to the surface, so this is where to apply it.

Until your plants are established, keep them happy with regular watering.

First in Pots

I've made a start on planting some tomato plants, these three will live in the hothouse unless it gets too hot. I planted 2 x Totem & 1 x Lime Green Salad into a soil/mushroom compost blend.

Watching Them Grow

Today's Update.

With a few seedlings still in the seed trays, all else is looking good, with the majority of those varieties potted up actually putting on some size. Amazing, after the seed trays were empty, I got a Tappy's Heritage pop up and is doing well.

The only plant that is failing is a single Nicoleta which is blind so the earlier few blind plants are all I've lost this year, which mush be a record, with Damping Off being my biggest enemy in past years.

To show what's doing OK, I'll post these photos showing different sizes I'm up against, with poor germination and starting late, something I hope to rectify in the future.

 Russo Sicilian, Banana Currant, Tappy's Heritage

 Truffaut Precoce, Toedbusch Pink, Monomakh's Hat

 Donskoi, Vodar, Bychok

MS, UK2000, Sakharnyi Zhelty

Giant Tomato

As I only need one plant of this variety to grow in the garden this season, I sowed four seeds for a "Giant" tomato from seeds given to me by a chap at Stratford. After almost a week, one germinating seedling is emerging, so my one plant looks to be a reality.

**Update on these - 4 seeds sown - 4 seeds germinated.

By the time the day was over, three seedlings had emerged.

Village Red - Again

In 2010 I grew a self sown tomato plant, which was a sport from a yellow tomato I grew for someone in Canada. I tried growing it for a few years, but got some real mongrel fruit, so I gave up on it.
This year, I'm back trialing it again, with four seedlings from the original plant, of which I'll pick one and see what I get. After the first planting, I got a heart tomato, so I should get a heart tomato again this time. Here's a couple of babies from seed saved in 2011/12 seed save and still viable after 7 years.

Village Red - Seeds from F1

The original Potato Leaf Sport - Self Sown
 

The Wait for Plants

Apart from 4 seeds I sowed a few days ago, my heat mats are now devoid of tomato seedlings. I'm still to work out exactly what I'll grow this season, but I'm sure we'll have something tasty.

Here is the hothouse as of this morning.

 Empty Heat mat

 Seedling Tomatoes

Seedling Tomatoes & Hibiscus