Organic tomatoes?

[HelloKiwi]

My tomatoes are green still but have grey-brown blotches on some of them, which I throw away as soon as I see them. I don't want a diagnosis, but it got me thinking - I never see organic tomatoes for sale in the supermarket, so maybe they are just too hard? I will accept this if its so, I don't want to have to *work* at it, lol.....I've never seen charts of "Diseases afflicting silverbeet" anywhere, you know?

Are tomatoes a bit pesky?

[maggienetball]

I don't know about where you are but we have organic tomatoes a plenty in the supermarkets here.

I grow organically and find no real problem. It's about getting the temperature, ventilation and humidity right if you grow indoors, or the weather conditions for out. I grow in a greenhouse cos outdoors was too unpredicatble for me over here.
That's the control freak in me coming out I guess!

I find my tomatoes tend to be smaller than non organic ones, but that's fine by me. Full of flavour and no growth hormones.

You could always do a trial bed to see how it goes, that way you may no lose out on a whole crop.

[Smooth Hound]

Also i dont know if you get blight over there but they are suseplable to it, i cover mine with a netting, especially when its damp with a mild wind., if you have them in a greenhouse then you will need to ventilate but also keep such things asd blight out, so you could make a netting door to put across, so the air can circulate

[maggienetball]

Yes. I use one of those door fly guards. The ones made for caravans with multi coloured plastic strips fit my greenhouse perfectly!

[QuakerBear]

I've only ever done organic tomatoes, but then last year I did loose them all to blight. Maybe I've just been lucky before that. Do keep them well pruned though.

[Millymollymandy]

I find tomatoes too hard to grow in a hot climate. The only ones I've ever had success with are cherry tomatoes, because the rest have always got that green collar thing where they don't ripen properly and what looks ripe is all floury and horrible.

[HelloKiwi]

I find tomatoes too hard to grow in a hot climate. The only ones I've ever had success with are cherry tomatoes, because the rest have always got that green collar thing where they don't ripen properly and what looks ripe is all floury and horrible.

Thank you to all, those are all good ideas that I can most likely use. And I see now that I don't need to give up right away.

I didn't know it was important to keep flies away from indoor tomatoes.

Millymollymandy could you please say a bit more about the green collar thing? It does sound a bit like mine. I pulled all the buggy plants up yesterday, and have now taken off all the green fruit that still look ok, in case they might ripen up properly on the bench.

I do have lots of green 'vegetable bugs' chewing holes in those plants and the remaining healthy ones, but they don't seem to have affected the other tomatoes, even the ones of the same breed. Its all very puzzling.

Hubby thinks that these sub-arctic tomatoes just don't like the excessive sun and heat, as you can't be adapted to both hot and cold at once.

[Magpie]

I'm a bit further south than you, and have also had interesting results from my tomatoes. I have always only had a hanful off them, as I grow them outside, and I guess we just don't have the temperatures for them. So this year, a friend gave me some seeds for San Fransisco Fog toms, and I bought some Baxter's Early seeds, as well as some interesting looking others. Well, those 2 that I thought would be best suited, are the smallest plants, and have yet to even flower, wheras one of the others has some little fruit on them already...
It has been a warmer-than-usual summer here, but not scorching, so I don't know - I think growing a wide range each year must cover all your bases!

[HelloKiwi]

I'm a bit further south than you, and have also had interesting results from my tomatoes. I have always only had a hanful off them, as I grow them outside, and I guess we just don't have the temperatures for them. So this year, a friend gave me some seeds for San Fransisco Fog toms, and I bought some Baxter's Early seeds, as well as some interesting looking others. Well, those 2 that I thought would be best suited, are the smallest plants, and have yet to even flower, wheras one of the others has some little fruit on them already...
It has been a warmer-than-usual summer here, but not scorching, so I don't know - I think growing a wide range each year must cover all your bases!

This may be right magpie, and I do have several going:

Sub-arctic
Green
Money maker
Low-acid one-off from the dairy
Dwarf beefsteak (the best performer so far, prolific)

I only wish I could eat toast, as they would be so nice sliced on top! :)

Do you get snow where you are? We never do.

[Millymollymandy]

I don't know what 'green collar' is called in English only in French! It's where you get a green ring around the stalk which stays hard and unripe, although I find the rest of the tomato is just floury tasteless mush anyway. Even without the green collar I grew some lovely looking plum tomatoes but they were floury mush inside as well.

Some cherry tomatoes I've grown OK but the skins have been so hard they've not been worth eating unless skinned.

The only variety I have ever had success with in hot weather is Gardeners' Delight, which I am going to try again this year.

The green collar problem is supposed to be caused by extremes of temperatures so what can you do?

[maggienetball]

What about San Marzano? They're plum tomatoes that are grown in Italy as well as elsewhere.

I've grown them indoors before and they're tasty. As they're grown in Italy, maybe they'll survive the extremes in temperature?

You can buy the seeds online

[Millymollymandy]

I don't think I want to go through the disappointment again!

[HelloKiwi]

I don't know what 'green collar' is called in English only in French! It's where you get a green ring around the stalk which stays hard and unripe, although I find the rest of the tomato is just floury tasteless mush anyway. Even without the green collar I grew some lovely looking plum tomatoes but they were floury mush inside as well.

Some cherry tomatoes I've grown OK but the skins have been so hard they've not been worth eating unless skinned.

The only variety I have ever had success with in hot weather is Gardeners' Delight, which I am going to try again this year.

The green collar problem is supposed to be caused by extremes of temperatures so what can you do?

I haven't heard of that one M, it sounds very disappointing. My first few beefsteaks this summer were floury and mushy but for some reason the later ones are not. I hope you find someone nearby who has a good tomato for the area. If they can grow them in England, and in Italy, it must be possible in France.....

[maggienetball]

I watched the "Wartime Kitchen Garden" last night and was delighted to see that it mentioned "green collar" disease of tomatoes. It said that the disease rendered the tomato inedible, just floury mush!

Caused by serious nitrogen defficiency in soil. Remedy PotAsh. They used ashes from wood fires and piles around bases of plants and watered it in. Problem gone

[quote]I don't think I want to go through the disappointment again!
[/quote] 9I really can't get to grips with this quote thing)

Well now you don't have to! Let us know if you try again and what happens

[Millymollymandy]

I don't see how it can be that because I've only once tried toms direct in the ground, and my soil is nitrogen rich!

Every other time I have grown in pots with potting compost, and tomato fertiliser (high in Potassium) added every week and over the years it obviously wasn't the same kind of potting compost or tomato fertiliser.

(Potash isn't nitrogen though, is it, it is high in potassium. Dried blood or equivalent would be the remedy for low nitrogen levels. ).

Thanks anyway Maggie.