My First Tomatoes

[Daffy D]

Have been trying to grow tomatoes for some months and finally getting some results.

First I tried with seeds from my breakfast tomatoes that had come from the local market. After drying the seeds I planted about couple of dozen out of those only one survived and is growing strong but not showing signs of any fruit yet.

The plants in the photos all came from a packet of seeds the wife bought. I planted the whole packet in a mixture of nursery dirt and sandy soil from the field out back in an old washing up bowl.

Surprisingly all the seeds grew, the whole bowl was covered with little green plants, reminded me of the days of growing cress on a damp flannel I started to thin them out into ever bigger pots, still using the nursery dirt / soil mixture and as they grew bigger would feed them with little grey/blueish stuff that's supposed to make them grow.

While some of the plants were still quite small I put a few in upside down pots. This was a bit of a tricky operation and I may have damages some as only three survived but those are doing well and starting to show fruit.

Watering was/is a problem we've had lots of rain which floods the pots and when the sun does shine the pots dry out in no time, sometimes I water twice a day.

I don't know much about tomato varieties but these seem ones are small ones, about the size of a ping pong ball so don't know how they will taste. Some seem to be nearly ready so will have tasting in the next couple of days.

So the concept works, I can grow tomatoes, have to look out for some big juicy seeds now and start growing in earnest.

[angiud]

Bravo, good job. I'll try to put mine upside down (less animals?)

[dumball]

Happy for your success so far , I brought various seeds back from my last trip to Canada , I am experimenting on the balcony now in small lots using soil/dung mix from the village , have 3 strong beefsteak tomato plants about 3 inches tall , I keep them out of the sun except for about one hour in the evening because I read in the farming section they will not grow here because of the heat . I figure if I succeed then I can grow more with seeds from a few tomatos , grow them to about 2 feet tall and transplant them in the village , worthy of a try and gives me something of interest to work on .

[adammike]

I grow cherry tomato's on my balcony lots of fruit and they are compact plants,they are in fact called balcony or bush tomato.

Normal or beefsteak tomato need big pots or grow bags,lots of water and most of all to really get the extra flavour you can get

from home grown they need sun,

I just buy the "tasty toms" in the supermarket for day to day and grow the cherry on the balcony for pleasure

[dumball]

Hey adammike , thanks for the leg-up , will have to try the cherries , I also have a couple of three and a half foot papya trees on my balcony , just grew some flowers and sprouting fruit , hope it hangs in there .

[fresnoboy]

Have been trying to grow tomatoes for some months and finally getting some results.

So the concept works, I can grow tomatoes, have to look out for some big juicy seeds now and start growing in earnest.

Great !! I am also trying to grow some 'Cherry Tomatoes', the seeds of which I brought back from the States.

I have about 90 cm of growth, with no fruit, yet. I hope to have some beauties soon !

I'll LUK if I succeed.

[Daffy D]

It's good to know I can grow something besides weeds

I think what really did it was the food I was giving them. I don't know what it's called (all in Thai) but it comes in tiny little balls blue/grey color.

Got to be careful not to give too much just a half teaspoon per pot was enough given every couple of weeks. I could always see the plants grow a few days after given the stuff, they sure seemed to love it

[Eff1n2ret]

I can't quite see from your photo, but when you say you are growing them in "upside down pots", do you mean you plant the seedlings through what would normally be the drainage hole in the pots and then invert them? (Or hang the pots up with soil in them and then push the roots up through the hole?)

Is there any advantage in growing them like that as opposed to having a "tumbling" variety from the top of the pot?

[Daffy D]

I grew the plants in normal pot till they were about 6in tall then got another empty pot, normal side up, resting on couple of blocks of wood so the when the plant was pushed through the drain hole in the bottom they would not get crushed.

I wrapped the green of plant in rolled paper to Squeeze it down to fit through the hole and carefully eased it through. The root of the plant was still in it's, smaller, pot and I held it while filling dirt into the new bigger pot removing the small pot before filling the new big pot fully.

I now had a normal pot right side up, opening at the top drain hole at the bottom, with tomato plant hanging out of the bottom drain hole. This you can hang up some where, a bit like hanging flower baskets, and water as necessary.

You have to be a bit careful not to water too much as the water will sit at the bottom drain hole where the plant stem is and if you're not careful it will rot.

Couple of web sites that explain it much better than me.

Upsidedown Tomatoes -1

Upsidedown Tomatoes -2

[pa55i0n]

Try growing them indoors, use simple cfl bulbs, a small fan to circulate the air and typical potting soil (link below with details). Would also be good if you had a hydro thermometer to monitor ideal levels of both heat and humidity. You can control the climate and such thus netting a much better crop. A bit like growing herbs but I would not know anything about that...

I found this link to be the most simple and straight forward: http://www.jasons-indoor-guide-to-organic-...w-tomatoes.html

Good luck on growing such a rare gem in Thailand.

[adammike]

The thing is if you grow them indoors they will taste[or not taste] the same as in the supermarket ie grown indoors.

to get the full potential taste wise they need sun

Otherwise just buy them.

[klikster]

I really wonder about the way most people try to grow tomatoes here in Thailand. I remember from our garden in NE Oklahoma (NE Oklahoma can easily be 95 F). Our garden had no shade and we used just a bit of fertilizer, but no pesticides. Dad loved picking a nice ripe fruit, wiping away the dust, and eating it there in the garden.

Large tomato vines will provide some shade for the fruit. Shade during the hottest part of the day may help, but tomatoes need a fair amount of sunlight.

It may have more to do with the soil .. or the type of tomato. The tomatoes we grew were not hybrids, but native .. to the region? .. seeds bought at the local seed store. These were large "beefsteak" or similar.

The tomatoes I buy here in Thailand are barely okay, IMO. They just don't seem to have enough acid content. Really thick and tough skin as well. I peel mine.

[klikster]

Interesting article

The tomato originates from South America and Mexico. The Spanish explorer Cortez took the seeds to Europe after discovering the tomato being grown in Mexico in Aztec gardens.

http://www.life123.com/home-garden/plant-g...TS=g0hh8wjx.jn2

[reallyok]

It's good to know I can grow something besides weeds

I think what really did it was the food I was giving them. I don't know what it's called (all in Thai) but it comes in tiny little balls blue/grey color.

Got to be careful not to give too much just a half teaspoon per pot was enough given every couple of weeks. I could always see the plants grow a few days after given the stuff, they sure seemed to love it

Hi Daffy,

Had a look at your 'toms'. You need to nip out the lateral shoots for a better crop. The laterals are the shoots which grow between the main stem and the leaf stalk. Just break it off.

Does that make sense ?

[Daffy D]

Hi Daffy,

Had a look at your 'toms'. You need to nip out the lateral shoots for a better crop. The laterals are the shoots which grow between the main stem and the leaf stalk. Just break it off.

Does that make sense ?

"between the main stem and the leaf stalk"

Those particular plants have all gone now but am hoping to get some more seeds going soon, when I get some time, so will have time to pay more attention to them.

[harrry]

many seeds are hybrid.....will not grow true to seed...just make sure you do not buy the hybrid ones.