My Garden

Problem with my Gardener's Delight tomatoes

Last post 31-08-2009 10:36 PM by Caddie. 11 replies.

• 25/08/2009 10:18 PM

  Caddie Location: Essex Joined on: 16 Aug 2009 Posts: 6

  Reply | Contact The past 2 years in early spring  I bring a barrel load of my compost heap, that is ready for using, and I place it in my greenhouse. I spread it over the ground and in a month or so many tomatoes seedlings appear, which I then pot up. I usually get a really good crop from  a dozen plants, some Gardener's delight and other's like Shirley etc. They all seem to do really well, expect for one Gardener's delight. All the fruit come on really well. They then turn from green to almost the colour of butterscotch (the best way to describe it) , but they never ripen to red. Any help appreciated. Thanks

• 25/08/2009 10:34 PM

  In reply to

  richardpeeej Location: Leicester Joined on: 22 May 2009 Posts: 810

  Reply | Contact Hi  Caddie have you tried putting a few tomatoes  in a brown paper bag with a banana as I have read the gas given off from the banana will ripen the tomatoes maybe worth a try. I always get a lot of tomato seedlings popping up here and there in my pots of flowers etc where I've used my compost from the bin. ( tomato seedlings and plants are known to have grown in estuaries,waterways and sewerage systems where they can cause problems. - although I can't give you a specific reference) Or maybe could they  be a variety that only turns yellow? Richard

• 26/08/2009 08:29 AM	In reply to
  bogweevil Location: Joined on: 02 Mar 2004 Posts: 2,043	Reply | Contact Could you have stripped off folaige?  Best to go very easy on that as the leaves feed the fruits and with insufficient foliage ripening will be adversely affected.   Boggy Beware the bat-eared bogweevil

• 26/08/2009 10:11 AM

  In reply to

  David Location: Sevenoaks Joined on: 11 May 2009 Posts: 98

  Reply | Contact I have a Cherry Belle in my greenhouse displaying similar characteristics but  did note that the trusses on the plant were much larger than on all the others. They were developing rather like the old Infinity Cross of yesteryear in that they did not seem to want to stop producing flowers/fruit. I have now been very aggressive with the snippers and will await developments. I can see no reference to this in D Blanchard's Colour Atlas of Tomato Disorders Member 29971

• 26/08/2009 09:28 PM

  In reply to

  Caddie Location: Essex Joined on: 16 Aug 2009 Posts: 6

  Reply | Contact Thanks for all your replies. Last year, I did put some of the tomatoes with the same problem, with a banana, but they did'nt change colour, staying the same sort of Butter scotch colour, and we haven't had yellow ones, although this year I have one yellow growing similar to Shirley variety, and have gone from the usual green/ greeny yellow/ then yellow, but not the Butterscotch colour.. I do tend to take off quite a few leaves, especially the lower ones from all my tomato plants, and it hasn't affected any of the others. The photo I took doesn't seem to show the real picture, except for the bottom row of tomatoes. With regards to the trusses they all seemed to have grown the same. I have hardly had to feed my tomatoes with tomato feed, as I have used my home grown compost and also keep a water but with nettle leaves, that seem to keep all of them pretty healthy, except for this one particular plant. Strange thing that just one of my Gardener';s delight did the same thing last year, on the other side of the greenhouse (incase it was anything in the ground causing it.) Caddie

• 26/08/2009 09:43 PM	In reply to
  Phot's-Moll Location: The sunny South coast. Joined on: 06 Jan 2007 Posts: 3,347	Reply | Contact  The tomatoes in the picture look a perfectly normal colour to me - what do they taste like? Whether you think you can do a thing, or think you cannot, you are right.

• 26/08/2009 10:32 PM	In reply to
  Caddie Location: Essex Joined on: 16 Aug 2009 Posts: 6	Reply | Contact As I stated in my last post, the photo I took didn't show the colour I was trying to describe (butter scotch). They look redder. The bottom row of tomatoes is almost the colour. Just tried tasting a little, it has a sharp taste.    This Is just about the colour of these tomatoes

• 26/08/2009 10:45 PM

  In reply to

  Phot's-Moll Location: The sunny South coast. Joined on: 06 Jan 2007 Posts: 3,347

  Reply | Contact Yuck - looks more like an egg yolk than a tomato! If it's just the one type that do this and it happens each year, perhaps it would be best not to grow them again? You could sow selected seed (that you buy, or save from tomatoes that turn out well) Usually tomato seed comes true, but not always (otherwise we'd never get new varieties) I suspect you've somehow managed to grow a dud new type.   Whether you think you can do a thing, or think you cannot, you are right.

• 28/08/2009 11:23 AM	In reply to
  spes123 Location: Wolverhampton Joined on: 23 Apr 2009 Posts: 7	Reply | Contact Are you sure that they are Gardeners Delight? and not one of the yellow coloured varieties such as Yellow currant or Gold Nugget.  If they are Gardeners Delight then the problem could well be a lack of potash in the soil.

• 29/08/2009 04:18 PM	In reply to
  David Location: Sevenoaks Joined on: 11 May 2009 Posts: 98	Reply | Contact Following my quite severe pruning of the very large trusses on my unusual Cherry Belle I have today observed that normal colour and maturation processes have been resumed although the fruit appears smaller than those on the unaffected plants, all the same variety, sown on the same day, same growing medium and feed. Must have been a "wrong-un" Member 29971

• 30/08/2009 08:03 PM

  In reply to

  Alix Location: Bristol Joined on: 19 Dec 2008 Posts: 47

  Reply | Contact Perhaps, as your tomatoes are naturally pollinated and not bred in a controlled way, you have one plant with an unfortunate combination of genes from your different varieties, or those of neighbours within bee flying distance? Or some kind of throwback as you get from self seeded F1 varieties. I once saved the seeds from some acorn squash and got 4 plants with completely different fruits.

• 31/08/2009 10:36 PM	In reply to
  Caddie Location: Essex Joined on: 16 Aug 2009 Posts: 6	Reply | Contact Yes this is certainly Gardener's Delight, although I have noticed they are now just ripening a little, so they might turn red eventually. As I've grown just over a dozen tomato plants, some Gardener's Delight, all have them have been very healthy with loads of tomatoes on them.  So I cannot complain really.