I am living in Winnipeg (very short growing season maybe into September) in an apartment with north facing balcony. In June I planted a few small tomatoes (beefsteak) in pots, and two of the plants have been growing fruit for the last few weeks that seem to get toward the right size. The other two plants which were planted later only started getting fruit about 10 days ago. I have some questions: 1) The plants still continue to grow and have flowers - is there any chance these flowers will have fruit this late or would it better to cut the flowers or even tops off? 2) The wind knocked one of the smaller plants over toda and four of the small fruits fell off - is there anything that can be done with such young tomatoes? I have them in a paper bag for now, but not sure if that will accomplish anything. 3) I have been watering a lot and keeping the moist conatntly and they seem to like that, also add generous amounts of Schultz all purpose plant food each week. Is there a chance of over-watering or fertilizing? Many thanks.
1. I would let the flowers continue but note: If your plant has a cluster of more than say four flowers, pinch the excess off in each cluster, so to have three to four left. This way you should get a decent sized fruit. 2. Just leaving the fruit that had fallen on a widow sill should suffice. I have heard of others using a paper bag however, even a drawer. 3. Tomato plants, from my understanding do not like constant moisture but a deep watering less frequent. Fertilizing: (quote from similar thread) "When your plant is in the new seasons foliage stage, feed with a fertilizer that is higher in nitrogen. Stop the high nitrogen fertilizer when the plant first blossoms and switch to a fertilizer that has a higher phosphorous and potassium ratio. Use a water soluble fertilizer. You can choose an organic or a synthetic fertilizer. " See Thread: http://www.botanicalgarden.ubc.ca/forums/showthread.php?t=61815 Allow for the soil to dry between waterings. See Thread: http://www.botanicalgarden.ubc.ca/forums/showthread.php?p=250795#post250795
Thanks, interestingly, some of the clusters have continued to grow leaves and look like they turned into a sucker. I guess this should be cut off as well?
I am not so sure that I would cut the 'sucker' off. Likely wont hurt the plant if you do. I recall trimming all stems at the bottom, up to the first branch that was bearing blossoms though.
For this reason I would recommend the following for Q1, the answers for Q2 and Q3 are more general advice: 1) Top the plants about six weeks before date of first expected frost. Leave flower clusters with opened flowers on the plant but remove any that are still in the bud stage. If it is less than six weeks before frost date, remove flowers too, but leave small and tiny fruit. The plants will respond by sending out more side shoots, but just pinch them out before they grow large. 2) They ripen better in a fairly dark place, out of direct sunlight, so a paper bag would be fine. If they are very small there may be no hope of them ripening properly, but some surprisingly small fruit can make it to the edible stage, even after 3 or 4 weeks indoors. Aim for a cool temperature around 18C for indoors ripening of green fruit. 3) Yes it is possible to over water or over fertilize, but in a container it is important not to let the soil dry out completely, it is very different to growing in the ground. You can let the surface get dry but you do not want the entire container to become dry - severe fluctuations in available moisture encourages fruit splitting and Blossom End Rot. 4) Yes, cut off the suckers coming from flower trusses, especially this late in the season.
