Newbie needs help with Tomatoes

[real_bramah]

Hi -I was wondering if anyone could help - i m trying to grow tomatoes in spain and I'm having a few problems, the plant look pretty healthy but I have 2 problems occuring.

a) The tomatoes that have grown seem to judt stay green. They do not seem to be getting any bigger or changing to red. I feed them everyday with a general fertilizer (i can't seem to find one specific to tomatoes). I read somewhere that I should stop watering them, but one of my plants died the day I didn't water it? Any ideas??

and

b) I have lots of flowers on the tomatoes but most of these just stay as flowers and only 3 or 4 out of about 30 have turned into tomatoes. Is there any way I can encourage these to turn into tomatoes??

Thanks in advance

[Lesley Jay]

Hi there and welcome!

Tomato plants need watering regularly to help the tomatoes grow. Irregular watering can cause the fruit to split. If you are growing the plants in containers or growbags they might need extra water as containers will dry out faster. Try and keep the compost damp but don't drown the plants!

Tomato flowers are both male and female within the same flower so simply gently shaking the plants is enough to pollinate the flowers. High temperatures and lack of humidity (in a greenhouse) can also affect the fruit setting. If you are growing the tomatoes in a greenhouse wet the floor of the greenhouse to bring the temperature down.

What variety of tomato are you growing? If it is an indeterminate variety then it needs side shooting as this can cause the tomatoes to stay small and green.

[real_bramah]

Hi Lesley,

Thanks for your prompt reply. Thanks for your tips on watering and germinating, The type of tomatoes is plum tomatoes. They are growing outside in Spain. The temperature is probably around 35 oC during the day, falling to 27 oC at night. They're in pots with a reservoir underneath so I can ensure that they always have water.

[real_bramah]

- just to add - the packet states that this no removal of side shoots necessary

[malcolmx]

you say they are not going red they will as the fruits ripen as the fruit forms it will stay green

[real_bramah]

Hi Malcom,

Thanks for your input. How long do they stay green? They seem to have been the same size and green for several weeks now. They were grown from seed. the seed packet only says that they take 19-20 weeks to crop.

[Martin G]

Are you sure the variety actually go red? there are some that stay green or don't go bright red even when ripe otherwise they surely must go red in that kinda sunshine.

[real_bramah]

Hi Martin,

Thanks for your reply, the variety is - F1 Incas - from Suttons Seeds: Vegetable Seeds: Tomato F1 Incas Seeds

I thought these were the normal plum tomato. They appear to be red, at least on the packet they're shown as red.

[real_bramah]

I think I've found the reason, I was giving them a liquid fertilizer everyday. I stopped giving it to them and they started to turn red. I presume I should give to them twice per week? Is this correct?

Also some of the plants have brown spots. I read somewhere that this normally due to lots of rain but we haven't had any rain now for about 2 months. Could this be due to the insecticide I have been using? The insecticide is a powder one that you mix with water.

[Lesley Jay]

I have also grown Inca tomatoes in the past and they stayed green for absolutely ages. It might be a trait of that particular variety.

Where feeding tomato plants is concerned some people feed them once a week but others recommend a half strength feed every day.

Are the brown spots on the tomatoes or on the plants? Small spots on tomatoes can be caused by water droplets when you are watering. Could they be splashed when you fill the reservoir up? Larger brown marks on tomatoes can be sun scald.

[real_bramah]

Hi Lesley,

The tomatoes look okay, its only the leaves that have brown spots.

[Lesley Jay]

Do the leaves look like the photo on this thread? (Post No.5)

black spots on my tomato leaves

[real_bramah]

Hi Lesley,

They are slightly different, not black but just brown - i have tried to attach some photos of them - hopefully it has worked

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