These are the continuing voyages of the USS Tomato. Boldly splitting infinitives, exploring new varieties and mainly trying to dodge the enemy – the Late Blight Empire.
My two main weapons against the dreaded blight are:
- Hide! I’m growing them all in the relative safety of the greenhouse.
- Early sowings, in the hope of an earlier crop which might mostly avoid late blight from a timing perspective.
I am trying out seven varieties this year. Four are cherries, three are regular sized varieties.
Sungold. I sowed these very early in January. I’ve potted them on twice, they are in 1L pots now. They did not enjoy the recent temperature fluctuations, and they sulked a bit on transplanting to the bigger pots but thankfully, most of them seem happy enough now, not too leggy.
Roma & Gardeners Delight. Sowed a bit later in January, these were in 7cm pots having been pricked out initially into seed trays. I don’t know why but all of them succumbed to an unpleasant and fairly sudden death. I wonder if I put too much fertiliser in the potting mix. I have consigned the lot to the compost heap, 18 little ex-plants. Boo hoo.
Tumbling Bella. Hmm well. These were in a tray that was right on the leading edge of the heated bench when the Beast From the East struck a couple of weeks ago. Although I had put some fleece down as additional protection, lows of -8°c were enough to penetrate my defences and this tray was a little frosted as a result. I lost the seedlings in the front half of the tray. The rearmost ones are hanging in there and beginning to recover some poise. I’ve potted them on to 7cm pots, no extra fertiliser this time, just in case.
Sweet Millions, Shirley and Money Maker. Afflicted by the same chill as poor Bella.
Since I seem to be struggling with many of my early sowings I have taken the precaution of sowing a second batch. These are indoors on a sunny window cill, on a heated propagator. Perhaps I should have started them all like this two months ago. Never mind, we’ll see.
Sowing tomatoes early was always a bit of a gamble but I thought I would mainly be dealing with low light levels. I had not anticipated such inclement Easterly weather. Mixed results so far then. How are your tomatoes doing?
I’ll be back in a month or so for another update from the Captain’s Log.
The Propagator 
The greenhouse is safer? Is that because it is spread by prodding insects?
LikeLike
It’s an airborne fungus-type thing. Ideal conditions for it are damp and cool (60-80°f) prevalent outside in September,and even in August when mine succumbed last year. In the GH it is warmer and enclosed so less chance (but not no chance) of being carried inside.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Oh, so it is a temperature thing. Well, and maybe a shelter thing too. Because most pathogens like warmth and humidity, I do not think of greenhouses as very safe.
LikeLike
I’m glad it’s not just me having a rough start to the tomato year. Your seedlings that have come through the beast attack are way ahead of mine.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes the cold and fluctuating temperatures have not been helpful to those trying to steal a march on the growing season. Still,at least the sungold are doing ok for now. The others will catch up I hope.
LikeLike
I’ve been growing tomatoes for 50 yrs and made a rookie mistake this year. I had a lot of tomato seeds left over from last year but I was out of labels so just folded the empty packets up to mark each batch. Well, they were ready to transplant but when checking the labels the paper was half eaten by the soil so no names were visible. I can only remember 2 that I planted so I’m hoping the rest do OK. I always try to grow SunSugar, but I also had some Flavorita which is a great greenhouse cherry variety. I picked up some Early Girls at the nursery because they were large and I’ve always had the earliest best tasting larger tomatoes since growing them for over 10 yrs now. Not sure how they will do in your neck of the woods, since I’m in Tx, but they’re definitely worth trying. Now I have about 50 plants that are just going to be surprises, but that’s also fun, too.
Enjoying your blogs,
Ivan
LikeLiked by 1 person
50 years! You have 45 at least years on me tomato-wise. We have had weird weather here the last month or so. Unusually cold snaps have done me no favours in the tomato dept. I’ll look out for the Early Girls variety, I imagine they’d do ok in a greenhouse. Thanks!
LikeLike
I only sowed the bush tomatoes yesterday (and I put them in the unheated greenhouse so they prob won’t germinate….and I’ll sow some Gardener’s Delight this weekend indoors.
LikeLike
I won’t be sowing any tomatoes for another couple of weeks. Normally I sow mine in mid to late March, but this year I need to co-ordinate sowing with forthcoming holidays. I don’t want “Garden Helpers” to have to look after tiny seedlings for me – especially when the weather is acting like a roller-coaster! Your Roma and GD seedlings look as if they may have succumbed to Damping Off disease, which is common when compost is in cold and wet.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yeah i know damping off well but have only seen that in trays of seedlings. The pots are warm (base heat) and not overwatered/free draining. Could be damping off but not sure. I reckon it’s too much food too soon.
LikeLike
I have found Shirley to be an excellent variety and grow it every year now. Hopefully the promised Easter chill will not be too severe
LikeLiked by 1 person
I hope I can get Shirley to grow enough for fruit!
LikeLike
That’s a lot of tomatoes! but then I have several new varieties on the go this year. I sowed mine indoors about two months ago and they were/are sad and leggy because they spent far too long on the window sill.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I covet a set of growlights. I might invest before next year’s sowing frenzy.
LikeLiked by 2 people
and IKEA sell a very reasonably priced unit – but I’ve no space for it ;(
LikeLiked by 2 people
Do they now. Good to know,thanks.
LikeLiked by 1 person