Growing tomatoes in Auckland!!

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mattyb

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#201382 16-Aug-2016 16:11

Getting near September now, that means October is soon, which means getting the vegetable garden going again.

I'm a huge fan of homegrown tomatoes - you can't beat the taste over the watery nothingness you get from the supermarkets. Though I have a really hard time keeping the blight and fungus away from the plants, especially in the humidity in Auckland. It seems every year is the same, they start off well and make great progress looking really healthy until about December/January, then those leaves at the bottom start to turn yellow and from then on they're history - I strip off the affected leaves and stems but end up with nothing on them but fruit which doesn't ripen properly and the whole plants die away. So disappointing!

Plants are grown outdoors in plastic planter buckets, in a wind sheltered sunny spot. I pot them with Tomato mix and spray every couple of weeks with a store bought copper fungicide. I remove all the laterals and make sure the plants get good air circulation around the base. Last year I tried a tip whereby you take a piece of solid core copper wire and poke through the stem just above the soil - seemed like a good plan to let the copper leach into the plant and provide protection - but didn't work.

Any knowledgeable GZers out there have any thoughts or ideas or success stories with growing tomatoes in the humidity of the Auckland spring/summer??

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#1612563 16-Aug-2016 16:24

I've also not had much luck with Tomato's. Pretty much the same as you described.

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Jase2985

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#1612565 16-Aug-2016 16:28

No help to you but i grow mine in a greenhouse and its humid as in there. Gets watered every 3 days for 30 minutes. ive never had an issue with what you have mentioned though. My cheery tomato plants were about 5m tall (i grew them to the roof then sideways across the top of the green house, and my standard tomatoes were about 4m tall (same deal).

I get about about 30kg's of tomatoes off 6 regular plants and 4 cherry plants.

networkn

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#1612566 16-Aug-2016 16:29

I'd be keen to know as well. I grew some San Marzano last year but by the time they were ready to eat, they weren't edible!

Jase2985

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#1612567 16-Aug-2016 16:30

how do you water them?

networkn

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#1612569 16-Aug-2016 16:31

Jase2985:

how do you water them?

With a ... hose.. and... water... ? :)

timmmay

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#1612572 16-Aug-2016 16:35

I grow in a greenhouse in Wellington, reasonably humid and very warm in summer. First year I had trouble with pests, green shield beetles. Second year I was a bit more active with my spraying (copper won't do anything for pests) but the key difference was I kept them really well fed with hydroponic type fertilizer and they resisted the bugs heaps better. I can tell you the pest sprays I use if you like, definitely not organic but tomatoes with appropriate sprays is better than organic nothing.

I grow in 100L growing containers. Water in the bottom, platform, then soil mixture. Water works its way up through capillary action, soil's covered to prevent water loss. Works very very well. I'm still growing capsicum and jalepenos now, through winter, getting about 10 - 20 red jalepenos a week and maybe one capsicum. Tomato would still be going but they got too big and dense and I got sick of them and cut them down.

Jase2985

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#1612574 16-Aug-2016 16:39

networkn:

Jase2985:

how do you water them?

With a ... hose.. and... water... ? :)

funny but its a serious question

when do you water them? how do you water them? ie with a soaker round the base, or with a shower over the whole plant or ....
how much water do you give them? do you check how moist the soil is?

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timmmay

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#1612575 16-Aug-2016 16:40

You're not meant to water tomato leaves, just around the base.

networkn

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#1612577 16-Aug-2016 16:43

Jase2985:

networkn:

Jase2985:

how do you water them?

With a ... hose.. and... water... ? :)

funny but its a serious question

when do you water them? how do you water them? ie with a soaker round the base, or with a shower over the whole plant or ....
how much water do you give them? do you check how moist the soil is?

I know :)

Usually would water the base only. Generally water a fair amount, but not if the ground is soaking wet.

ockel

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#1612585 16-Aug-2016 17:09

I use hanging baskets - the tomatoes essentially grow upside down with the plant hanging a hole in the base of the planter. They hang around the verandah and get plenty of sun. If you buy upside planter bags from Bunnings or Mitre10 then expect them to last a season - the UV will degrade the bag and they'll get brittle.

Most years I use tumbling style varietals - two plants per basket/bucket. Prolific flowering and fruiting. I'm still getting tomatoes from last Xmas's crop although I have to ripen them indoors rather than on the vine.

With hanging baskets or buckets any excess moisture drains away so the soil cant get overly wet but I do have to make sure that they get watered daily (and sometimes twice daily in summer) to prevent the plant from drying out. Minimal pests, minimal problems etc.

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JayADee

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#1612829 16-Aug-2016 21:33

I got a bumper crop of tomatoes last year and almost zero blight but my black boy peaches got hammered by the humidity and got brown mould on the outside. My yellow peaches were OK. Be interesting to see how the black boys do this year. I'm in the BOP, not Auckland.

For tomatoes, don't plant them in the same place two years in a row (same as potatoes) don't plant them where you grew spuds last year, plant them in a warm, sunny spot (this year I grew mine on the East side of a tin fence) but also where they can get a breeze and also as mentioned up thread, water at the base. Plus I tie mine up to support them (I tie them to whatever is handy) and I trim off excess growth for air flow especially near the base. I cover mine with bird netting as some years the little monsters are voracious. Every once in a while my husband sprays the plants with copper. And I think you are not meant to compost the cuttings from tomatoes so as not to spread blight. I put ours on the big compost pile, not on the garden compost pile. I also give the ground a dose of blood and bone before planting. I've already spread a lot of it where I know I'll be planting.

I've got my little tomato seedlings poking their heads up in containers on the porch. It's early but I've got yellow beans and peppers planted in seed mix too and spuds laying out to sprout. I was just out weeding the winter patch today it was so nice out. Out there I have onions, carrots, broccoli, silver beet and coriander and a couple of sad looking lettuces. I'll add basil through the year for pesto.

We got terrific corn last year too and I like growing it but I think I might pass on it this year. We'll be planting squash/pumpkin over top of the big compost pile (it is mostly tree trimmings) as it loves it there and bonuses are it doesn't get in the way and it keeps the pumpkins out of the dirt. Another thing I love to grow is lettuce, we eat a lot of salad in the summer.

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#1612926 17-Aug-2016 04:07

networkn:

... by the time they were ready to eat, they weren't edible!

🤔

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dickytim

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#1612932 17-Aug-2016 06:39

never had a problem with my tomatoes always water them profusely and usually end up with more tomatoes than I can use.

With any diseased limbs I cut them out and removed them as soon as we saw them.

Admittedly I have not had luck with beef eater variety but roma, 100's (can't remember the exact name but basically cherry tomatoes) and a few other varieties

it is usually November that I put mine in.

timmmay

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#1612958 17-Aug-2016 07:52

JayADee: For tomatoes, don't plant them in the same place two years in a row (same as potatoes) don't plant them where you grew spuds last year, plant them in a warm, sunny spot (this year I grew mine on the East side of a tin fence) but also where they can get a breeze and also as mentioned up thread, water at the base.

I plant tomatoes in the same containers each year, they seem to get better each year. However I do add compost, blood & bone, some slow release fertilizer, and I water them in their containers from the roots using a weak hydroponic solution. I typically grow four plants in my greenhouse and end up with hundreds of tomatoes - I give the vast majority away to friends. I tie them up to coarse plastic grids, I think it's temporary fencing, stapled to my greenhouse support beams.

It's probably time to start growing seedlings, I give heaps of them away too. The tastiest tomatoes came from seedlings last year, the "money maker" we didn't like so much. This year I'll get a couple of the ones that worked last year, along with some of the small sweet ones, for a change.

Here's a photo from July, ie middle of winter, showing my jalepenos foreground and tomatoes in the background / left.

Here's an older one, showing them when they're newly planted.

Growing containers

mattyb

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#1612962 17-Aug-2016 07:59

Jase2985:

networkn:

Jase2985:

how do you water them?

With a ... hose.. and... water... ? :)

funny but its a serious question

when do you water them? how do you water them? ie with a soaker round the base, or with a shower over the whole plant or ....
how much water do you give them? do you check how moist the soil is?

Only water around the base (never on the leaves) and once every couple of days during the spring and then daily during the summer. I give them a good soak but try not to overwater.

When spraying I cover the whole plant foliage and all.

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