Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hello folks,

My tigerella tomatos are ripening but they seem really flavourless... My nitrates are good, pH is 7.6ish

Anything else i can test for easily?

How much seasol or any other supplements would you be adding to a system that has 4000L all up and is less than a year old?

Would the tomatos benefit with lowering of the pH?

The plants look stong and healthy. just the fruit doesn't have much taste to it. Supermarket tommies have more flavour.

I grew some tigerella this year and I found them to be a bit bland too, Id say its just the variety because all my other varieties taste great.

that would be a shame cause it's a bumper crop... i also have the yellow teardrop ones they tasted great but only got like 6 so far and I have grosse Lisse that are just turning orange... I'll see what they're like. If they're tasty I'm ripping the tigerellas out that day

Personally I would let them ripen on the vine for a little while longer, bland is usually the sweet acid balance and yours might be just watery and sweet.
If they are producing really well turn them into sauce.
Wash and chop the tomatoes into quarters, taking out the stalk bit. Leave the skin on put them in a large saucepan no water add some lemon juice and a little Massels Chicken stock (not the salt reduced) and just simmer until they have got to the consistency of a good pasta sauce.
I usually add basil fresh at the start but that's up to you.

Relish or sauce them , just bag them as they ripen and put in the freezer until you have enough to make a batch . Some varieties will do better in your micro climate than others that's just the way it is . Half the battle with food gardens is getting the varieties and timing right eg if the plant runs to seed then it needed planting earlier or its in the wrong latitude.

Roast them and use them for sauces

I'll agree with the others. Let them ripen to the point they are about to fall off, then sauce them. Salt, sugar, basil and reduce it to the point you like the favour.

I doubt the store bought sauces were from fantastic tasting tomatoes, only the highest yielding tomatoes, which are usually bland.

I'm all for letting them stay on the vine to see if they improve but if they don't I would rip em out.

Making your own sauce is a lot of effort. If you are going to do it use top quality ingredients. ie full flavoursome tomatoes.

Yes store bought sauce was made with crappy toms but that is why it tastes like store bought sauce. I don't know how strapped you are for cash but ask your self what is your time worth?

If it is only a few dollars per hour then keep the toms because you might not be able to afford to throw them out. If you are on a reasonable wage and want sauce buy some organic top tasting toms and make sauce from them rather than spending all the extra effort, energy and money on making a substandard product.

imho the king of taste and yield is "mortgage lifter". Bunnings sell them it's an heirloom.

big classic tasting tomato, I got one last year weighing 400grams

you need to bag them to protect them from the sun in perth as they burn and heliothies moth loves them as well.

I found the same with a grafted tomato. It is producing fruit but they are bland and horrible, even when left on the vine in the sun to the point of being over ripe.

The cherry tomatoes on the other hand are very flavoursome and even faster to grow and hardier than the grafted tomatoes. These are planted in the same system as the bland tomatoes, so nothing is different. I actually found these cherry tomatoes growing in blocked guttering of my shed where they self sowed (goodness knows how the seed got there) and transplanted them.

http://rangeviewseeds.com.au/66-seeds-of-edible-plants

Get seeds for some heirloom varieties and plant them next year. Brandywine, Aunt Ginny, Mortgage Lifter, Black Krim and Cherokee purple are a few very good ones

Seedlings sold here in oz like grosse lisse, apollo etc are all bland red things and only good for sauce imho

I grew some purple russian or whatever its called. The problem is they were all splitting at the tops...is that due to too much water?

Nothing wrong with Grosse lisse Mantis, they grow well in WA and have good flavour; Ok they are not flashy looking but good producers and fairly hardy.

And Stuart, if I have a tomatoe which is sweet and producing lots but no acid balance I would take my own over any "organic tomatoe" for a sauce. No its not a lot of work and tastes a lot better than I can buy anywhere.

Mine are going feral lol..

Mortgage lifter is up there with one of my favourites.