Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

I am just about ready to start harvesting some seed for this variety as it is a great Tommy that has a fleshy fruit and the added advantage of being Acid Free [Good for those with gout etc.]

I thought I had lost this strain, but it managed to reproduce itself from last years crop and the resulting compost



Hopefully they will prove viable in the AP system for the next growing season.

Has anyone else managed to grow this variant in a BYAP scenario? If so, does the fruit still retain its' acid free strain?

TIA [Thanks In Advance ]

Should I remove leaves to allow more light to enter?
The general rule is that leaves are sugar production factories for plants and that the sugar is critical for the flowering process. So, always refrain from removing leaves from your plant.

This is quite different from the stories that are sometime told about.... are we growing leaves or fruit.

Trying to figure out how the reply relates to the acid free tomato question?

Personally, I do remove a large number of older larger leaves to allow the fruit to receive direct sunlight once the fruit is basically established on the vine.

The reason for the particular lack of leaves in this shot is due to fact that I have my own method of truss ripening the fruit.

It involves waiting until such time as the vine has almost stopped producing fruit and flowers.

At that point in time, I am quite brutal with the Tommy Plants I chop them off at ground level

Next I strip all leaves and produceless branches etc. then they hang [upside down] with the remaining stems and fruit to ripen slowly.

Why?

Because I can No seriously, I find it definitely boosts the flavor of the fruit.

The only real drawback is the fact that the plant is now destroyed
This, does however, allow the growing of more crops per season due to the fact that the Tommies can either be stagered plan or another crop can be set in place ready for the coming growing season.

I've found that with the few toms I have grown, most of the older leaves seem to die anyway so trimming up to near where the fruit is starting to set just keeps things tidy. Then again, I've not grown that many tomatoes and the ones I have grown are indeterminate and just keep going and going and going .........
Anyway, looking forward to hearing how your acid free tommies do in AP. I'm kinda into canning so acid free doesn't really help me much though.

Are those webs from spiders or spidermite? That's what my tom plants look like after they've been destroyed by mites.

The sugar will reduce the action of the acids...
and more easily convert to sugar.
Tis all I was referring to.
I think the longer you leave the tommies on the vine the less acid
is available.

Having said that I am prepared to be corrected.


True TCL about the leaves dieing off, but this is because ( apparently)
they are returning the sugars to the fruit... don't know
I am still learning.

Definetly spiders not mites