Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Good story... I guess if you can get just a few tomies the first year, you are set for seed from there on out if they are open.

On a different track, My Tom plants are doing well but I didn't stake them or cage them and now they are all over the place. Is there a preferred way of growing toms in an AP? Staking, Caging Strings etc?

Depends if they are determinate (bush type) or indeterminate (climbing). There is a great thread here where Raimasu outlined the commecially used method for stringing up indertimates (including pruning method). If you have something above the beds to tie the string to - I'd go that way. This is what I intend to do once I have my GH, given that in AP it is the horizontal, not vertical, space that costs us the money (ie grow-bed surface area).

I'll find the link for you.

Thanks VB. That was excellent reading. I have bookmarked that for my next attempt at tomatoes.

Maybe they needed to be pasteurised 1st

Yeah, but where can you find a Pastor when you need one elk

Guessing that would be broad ripple yellow currant? Small sweet yellow ,once youve got them you never lose them!

My favorite large tomato is the Black Krim available from Seed Saver Exchange. www.seedsavers.org I had some last year in my sandy garden well amended with composted cow manure that weighed over 5 pounds (2.2 kilos for the aussies). I'm hoping for even bigger fruit when I get an AP system going. Oh, and they are by far my favorite tasting tomato, a little salty very rich. They make great slicers and quite are beautiful.

Welcome, Farmer John! Be sure to post ideas for your system and we'll consult!

Welcome aboard fj, eager to here more on your trip into AP

hey,
I have just recieved a packet of "san mazarno" tomatoes from eden seeds. San Mazarnos are suposed to be the original italian pizza sauce tomato and the only one recognised as authentic for use on pizzas. They are reportedly one of the highest weight to size ration or contain more solids. They are a type of roma tomato. At the moment in the dirt garden i have tigerellas growing (eden seeds) they are very tasty and no probs with bugs.

One that I used to like was oxheart ,I have seen them at Kaluburu mission and they were huge .I have just found a friend who has some which I hope to get some seeds from him.You have to be carefull saving seeds if you have a huge tomato and you neibour has cocktail tomatos thats what you may finish up with .The Diggers Club has heritage tomatos.Don.

DT I used a tomato called Mortgage Lifter, was a bad year this year as they got Blossom End Rot, but the soil ones are now going great so will get some seeds, I might add couple of Beef Steak Tom's also got Blossom end Rot also, it appears on reading aussie stories that B.E.R is common this year and some sites point to lack of or too much calcium but adding this didn't help.
mortgage Lifter Tom's grow up to 1 kg each so will put pics of soil grown ones when finished.
Is also an interesting story that led to the making of ML tom's and people grow them for the name and story but they taste great as well, a short version of the story below

When my new AP system gets going (All Bits now in Yard) ML's will be one of my first plants to try

We have had problems in the dirt garden so has the inlaws, but I had no problem with it in the AP. Those beef steak tomatoes I wonder if they are the same as what we call Ox hearts, fruit can be large and shaped like a heart. They are very fleshy superb on toast and very few seeds.