[Stephen Byrne]

Hi , Received a poly tunnel 2 years back and tried growing tomatoes . Unsuccessful with only a handful acceptable . High number split , poor quality , skin marled . Having read up on watering I'm not comfortable as to watering requirements . Planted Alicante and Ailsa Craig this time - looking fine so far  . Based Glasgow .
Any advise would be appreciated .

[Yorkie]

One thing to remember is that you need to water according to the conditions. So, don't assume you just water every (for example) two days. In very hot weather, the plants will lose more water from their leaves and the compost, and you might need to water once a day or more often.

The aim is to maintain soil / compost that is moist but neither waterlogged nor dried out. It's inconsistent watering levels that will cause problems like those you mention.

Are they in pots or in the ground?

[Stephen Byrne]

Thanks Yorkie ,

Decided to grow both tomato types in Growbags using the two outer placements only .  Previous attempts have been good to a point - say mid summer and then things go downhill and I get frustrated .

[Yorkie]

Have you already planted them out into the growbags yet?

If yes, then make sure that they do have drainage but you will definitely need to keep a close eye on the feeding and watering.

If you haven't already done so, an alternative approach is to essentially cut the growbag into half across the middle (not lengthways), and then stand each half on its end and plant into the open / cut end. Put some drainage holes near the ground in each. This gives a deeper root run.

[Stephen Byrne]

Yes already planted in the usual manner in growbags . From reading various articles on growing tomatoes I think I may be over watering .

[R H]

In my opinion, grow bags don’t really offer enough room for the roots on their own. So to get round this I tend to use 10ltr paint buckets, with the bottoms cut out then twisted into the grow bags , then the plastic that was cut is then taped to the side of the tubs, this in my opinion has allowed me to control the watering far better.  I insert cut sink waste pipe into each tub then this gets put down into the bottom of the tub, which allows me to water the roots, but I feed the toms on the top once a week, after the 1st truss has formed using s-chelate 12star,  as yet in my short time of growing toms (15yrs) I have only once had blossom end rot, and that was only on one plant .
I know when I talk to some growers they think I’m bonkers to do it this way, but I have found it works for me. At the end of the day we all tweak things when gardening.

[Stephen Byrne]

Thanks RH