Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

I found this on the net a week or so ago and downloaded it for a small fee.
How to get great tomatoes....coupled with the AP system I am putting up this should be a big winner.
It is at [web]http://www.joyfultomato.com[/web] if you want a copy.

Cheers, Ira

This guy seems to have a lot of answers! I have never had any success with tomatoes. If his ideas work, then the AP tomatoes should be even better!.
Cheers.

So ... in a nutshell..... what's the "one thing" we should be doing

Remove all but 3 leaves

"The number one, topmost mistake tomato gardeners do, unknowingly, is growing tomato plants with leaves"

There is a whole bunch of things in the book like how to get the air to the fruit, wow to prevent the growth of non productive extra stems, how to make sure the germination happens, how to suspend the plants, what to feed them, what Ph to maintain, adding any fertalizers, etc....All stuff I had never learned before...always just thought they would grow like weeds!
Now I know better, but the book is only about $10.00 US so its a good deal.
Anyhow, I will be trying all the tips out and I hope to get Huge tasty tomatoes....(famous last words..)

I'm not quite that savage... but I remove all leaves below the fruit truss and as they ripen prune those above to the next truss.... for exactly the reasons he states....

Works well.... except for the bloody bower birds, who like to get at them just as they start to blush colour.... grrrrr

He's a thread you'll find interesting Ira..... http://www.backyardaquaponics.com/forum ... php?t=1731

who we talking about Ira - have you got a link???

Duplicate link Ell ... see Here

I've been following the advice given by raimo and have been having good success with my tomato growing...you can only wrap the vines around the GH soooo many times tho

Has anybody tried spray painting the tomatoes green to fake out the birds?

Yeah - found the other thread after, thanks

Problem being DD, I wouldn't know when they were ripe and it would fake me out tooo

Dont forget to put that red plastic under the plants to make them ripen faster.

Cool looking tomatoes Rupe, If I could get something like that I would be over the moon!
I am growing some sunflowers in the backyard just to get more bees hanging around.
Wish I could get some momentum on my growbeds/tank...
Cheers

Get an old toothbrush Ira.... gently wipe the brush over the flowers... right from when they're barely open..... near 100% success rate