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| About the Author Wayne Mackay QLD 8th October 2009 2:47pm #UserID: 338 Posts: 908 View All Wayne's Edible Fruit Trees |
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| About the Author Ellen Smithfield 8th October 2009 3:00pm #UserID: 1339 Posts: 309 View All Ellen's Edible Fruit Trees |
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amanda says... Hey Wayne + and fellow tomatoe growers....Geraldton is "tomatoe central" (along with Carnarvon up north) I adore tomatoes and have been testing heirloom varieties...my current crop is Amish paste...very sweet but not zingy enuf' for me. Now I have a selection of one off's up n running: Jaune flamme, green zebra, tigerella, black krim, russian black, tomatoe berry (for my 5yr old), tommy toe, Principe borghese.. I can't wait to do the taste test! I grew black krim and tommy toe last year - I was in tomatoe heaven! They were both delicious and I can recommend! I always follow Pete Cundalls advice about letting them get pot bound and flowering b4 planting out...and give them the potash - it's never let me down. As u can tell - I get a bit excited about tomatoes!? We only ever eat our own homemade tomatoe sauce - thanks to my Mum making her Grans recipie, ever since I was a child..now I have taken up the sauce-maker mantle for my daughter (although I have tweaked the recipe of course!) Anyway - I digress...I am looking for the ultimate tomatoe variety for making soup, sauce and pasta sauce...has anyone out there found my holy grail at all? :) | About the Author amanda19 Geraldton. WA 9th October 2009 11:39am #UserID: 2309 Posts: 4607 View All amanda19's Edible Fruit Trees |
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| About the Author Cuong 9th October 2009 9:35pm #UserID: 2684 Posts: 37 View All Cuong's Edible Fruit Trees |
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Brendan says... Hi amanda, My info is the 'San Marzano' tomato IS the best for making soups, sauces, paste, drying and salads etc. Give 'em a go :-) As for the others, Grosse Lisse would have to be at the top. My latest 2nd favourite is Mortage Lifter closely followed by Black Krim. (Don't like Black Russian). Go to www.edenseeds.com.au and request the latest catalog (it's free), they have 180 different types of tomatoes, all of which you can keep your own seeds :-) | About the Author Brendan Mackay, Q 10th October 2009 7:22am #UserID: 1947 Posts: 1722 View All Brendan's Edible Fruit Trees |
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amanda says... Good on u Brendan! thanks heaps!! The black krim is really good isn't it. I really liked the jaunne flamme i grew last yr too. Hi Cuong - there is a great article by Pete in "Organic Gardener" Sept/Oct 2009 about growing tom's, if u can get hold of it. Basically - the idea is to get the seedlings flowering as soon as possible (just a pinch of potash, water and nothing else) then they don't go to "fat" - once they start flowering they don't stop. This way u get more fruit and less excessive leaf growth. My current plants are about 30cm tall and fruiting already. Anyway - I really recommend reading the article.... am a devoted tomatoe grower and have been since I was a child!...my philosophy is that to get the best tasting tom's u have to "treat them mean and keep them keen"! I am on a never ending search for the tomatoe variety my Grandfather used to grow (35-40yrs ago) but no luck yet... :( PS - nice plants Cuong - grape tom's? were u a professional grower? | About the Author amanda19 Geraldton. WA 10th October 2009 12:35pm #UserID: 2309 Posts: 4607 View All amanda19's Edible Fruit Trees |
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Original Post was last edited: 10th October 2009 12:41pm | ||||||||||
Cuong says... Hi Amanda. yes I grow hydroponic vegies for a living. we grow in coco-peat growing medium and have grown lebanese cucumbers, continental cucumbers (burpless cues) grape tomato and eggfruit we have 12,000 m2 of greenhouse area prior to that we use to do conventional market gardening outdoors and have grown most vegie crops
| About the Author Cuong 10th October 2009 4:22pm #UserID: 2684 Posts: 37 View All Cuong's Edible Fruit Trees |
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Original Post was last edited: 10th October 2009 10:29pm | ||||||||||
amanda says... Hi Cuong - great pics! what and how do u feed them? does it go thru' your reticulation system? There are heaps of these "tunnels" in Geraldton...I always wondered what was growing inside them! I thought it was tomatoes :) Here's a pic of one of my babies to show u how Pete's theory gets them fruiting early...
| About the Author amanda19 Geraldton. WA 10th October 2009 9:26pm #UserID: 2309 Posts: 4607 View All amanda19's Edible Fruit Trees |
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Cuong says... I mix our own fertiliser concentrate into separate A and B tanks so that certain fertilisers that cant dissolve together stay separate this mix is altered to meet the growth stage of the plant from the two above concentrated A and B tanks, a computer doses the concentrated solution into a large "working solution" tank according to the EC strength (electric conductivity) that we program into it. the same computer monitors the PH level and doses Phosphoric acid to maintain the desired PH level this water which now has the "correct" nutrient strength and PH level is then drip irrigated to each individual plant in the greenhouses we mix these fertilisers: (macro nutrients): calcium nitrate pottassium nitrate potassium sulphate magnesium sulphate (epsom salt) MKP (mono-potassium phosphate) (trace elements): iron chelate zinc manganese boron sodium molybdite Geraldton growers all grow their crops in the ground (but in greenhouses) so they are not hydroponically grown as such most of the greenhouses up in Geraldton grow continental cucumbers and send them down to Perth and over to SA in the winter window period as there is a gap in the market due to the cooler weather and Geraldton can still produce due to the higher/warmer location ... so thats what I do in a nut shell!! | About the Author Cuong 10th October 2009 10:50pm #UserID: 2684 Posts: 37 View All Cuong's Edible Fruit Trees |
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Original Post was last edited: 11th October 2009 10:17am | ||||||||||
Brendan says... Hi amanda, Another trick for growing the best tomatoes. When planting, cut off about two-thirds of the lower branches and plant them extra deep, leaving only one-third of the plant sticking out the ground. All those tiny hairs on the stem turn into roots and the tomato plant will grow like mad. (I try to grow my own in pots, and plant them out when they're ~ 300mm high, so I put ~200mm in the ground :-). Not real keen on hydroponiclly grown tomatoes. (sorry Cuong). Those flavourite & truss tomatoes that coles & woollies sell, taste like crap compared to mine. I wish someone would tell them! Forgot to tell you, we did a blindfolded taste test here one day with six visitors, and 'Black Krim' won hands down :-) | About the Author Brendan Mackay, Q 11th October 2009 6:05am #UserID: 1947 Posts: 1722 View All Brendan's Edible Fruit Trees |
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| About the Author QLD 11th October 2009 8:20am #UserID: 0 Posts: View All 's Edible Fruit Trees |
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amanda says... Thanks for your reply Cuong and Brendan! I didn't know that it was computerised/machine done...haven't even seen a hydroponics set up in my life!?? You are right about Gero - I can't buy any cow poo anymore cos it's all going into these tunnels! :( Hey Brendan - what one's did u taste test? and yes - I do bury them like that - I also do that with many of my native tubestock...works well. I only like tomatoes grown in the sun too - I think I must have been an Italian in my last life...very, very fussy about tom's!! :)))) I once had a truss of cherry tom's from a grocer in Rome...they were sublime... | About the Author amanda19 Geraldton. WA 11th October 2009 10:20am #UserID: 2309 Posts: 4607 View All amanda19's Edible Fruit Trees |
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Cuong says... Hi Brendan, It is unfair to say that hydroponic tomatoes that you purchase at woolies or coles are not good tasting due to the fact that they were hydroponically grown. There are lots of variables that can effect the taste, including the stage of ripeness they are picked, variety grown, what they have been feed with (varies from each farm) Truss tomatoes sold at supermarkets are grown for a specific look - all 5 or 6 fruits on the truss need to be as uniform as possible and also the shelf life needs to be long to please the retailers - so the variety grown and when they are picked takes this into account. I havent grown truss tomato before but we have grown grape tomato and they were VERY VERY sweet unlike any other grape tomato that is ground grown (i know it sounds biased). I eat them like lollies for snacks. End of the day there is good hydroponic produce as well as good ground grwon produce. | About the Author Cuong 11th October 2009 10:27am #UserID: 2684 Posts: 37 View All Cuong's Edible Fruit Trees |
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amanda says... Hey Cuong...it's ok...there are many people to feed in the world and if it weren't for intensive farming we would have problems, hydroponics is a sensible method for doing this, not everyone can grow their own. I don't know if I could tell the difference between a shop bought leb' cucumber that was hydroponically grown or ground grown..but I can tell the difference if it's home grown... I have bought the grape tom's for my daughters lunch box many times..they are the only decent tom on the shelf but...I have to tell you that I grew one of these plants in the ground and not only were they really sweet - the flavour was explosive! The shop one's seem to be missing that intensity of flavour.. :( BTW: Do you get pests in those tunnels at all? Is powdery mildew a problem? | About the Author amanda19 Geraldton. WA 11th October 2009 10:44am #UserID: 2309 Posts: 4607 View All amanda19's Edible Fruit Trees |
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| About the Author amanda19 Geraldton. WA 11th October 2009 10:50am #UserID: 2309 Posts: 4607 View All amanda19's Edible Fruit Trees |
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| About the Author adelaide 11th October 2009 5:51pm #UserID: 0 Posts: View All 's Edible Fruit Trees |
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| About the Author amanda19 Geraldton. WA 11th October 2009 6:22pm #UserID: 2309 Posts: 4607 View All amanda19's Edible Fruit Trees |
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Wayne says... All those green shoots you see are tomatoes. The story is that I went out to a friends cattle property in Bowen and gathered up a load of cow pads to spread around my gardens. He didn't tell me that he had been feeding his cattle tomatoes and this is the result. As soon as I watered them 1,000's of tomato seedlings sprouted.
| About the Author Wayne Mackay QLD 11th October 2009 7:05pm #UserID: 338 Posts: 908 View All Wayne's Edible Fruit Trees |
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| About the Author Jason1 Perth 11th October 2009 10:45pm #UserID: 2491 Posts: 111 View All Jason1's Edible Fruit Trees |
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Original Post was last edited: 11th October 2009 10:45pm | ||||||||||
| About the Author amanda19 Geraldton. WA 13th October 2009 8:59pm #UserID: 2309 Posts: 4607 View All amanda19's Edible Fruit Trees |
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Michael says... Hi Amanda, Can you post pictures of your tomato plants ? I've just recently planted 4 plants and they are growing so quickly. They are less than 30 cm high and are already covered with flowers or tiny fruits. Am I meant to cut the flowers and fruits off and wait until the plant is alot higher ? | About the Author Michael Wakeley 14th October 2009 12:51pm #UserID: 1746 Posts: 178 View All Michael's Edible Fruit Trees |
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Brad says... Hi Michael, I'd let them flower / fruit. you can tap or blow the flowers to help polination. One thing to be careful of with young fruiting plants is to keep low leaves off the soil and avoid soil splash on the leaves. I remove lower leaves and use mulch. You might like to google the two main types of tomatoes as they are quite different in how they grow and fruit : determinate and indeterminate. Some need more staking than others, but I like the stronger bushy types that also fruit longer. If you give your larger branches or main trunk some support, it'll like you for it. | About the Author Brad2 Perth 14th October 2009 4:03pm #UserID: 2323 Posts: 762 View All Brad2's Edible Fruit Trees |
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