[nevets]

Good evening Forum, new member here. I googled an issue with Gardeners delight tomatoes and it led me to the site so I've taken the plunge and joined.
Anyway I have been growing the same tomato variety for around 20 plus years. Gardeners delight, usually seeds from Wilko. This year i produced around 40 plants keeping about 30 and giving the rest to family. They are ripening in my greenhouses. I have tried some of the ripe ones and they are terrible. The plants that I gave to my family also have terrible tasting toms.
Q is Has there been an issue with Wilko gardeners Delight tomatoes or have I just got a bad packet. Never had an issue before and my greenhouses are mainly for GD toms but now this year will pass with an awful harvest of horrible toms. They are not sweet as usual and they are very "powdery". plants and fruit look OK though.
Any help greatly appreciated

Steve

[CHRISDONOHUE]

I too am using Wilko Gardeners Delight tomatoes mainly grown outside started in cold frames.   You are slightly ahead of me as mine are set on but have yet to ripen.   Thank you for alerting me to the possible problem.   I will check the flavour as soon as the first ones ripen.

[Plot 1 Problems]

Good evening Forum, new member here. I googled an issue with Gardeners delight tomatoes and it led me to the site so I've taken the plunge and joined.
Anyway I have been growing the same tomato variety for around 20 plus years. Gardeners delight, usually seeds from Wilko. This year i produced around 40 plants keeping about 30 and giving the rest to family. They are ripening in my greenhouses. I have tried some of the ripe ones and they are terrible. The plants that I gave to my family also have terrible tasting toms.
Q is Has there been an issue with Wilko gardeners Delight tomatoes or have I just got a bad packet. Never had an issue before and my greenhouses are mainly for GD toms but now this year will pass with an awful harvest of horrible toms. They are not sweet as usual and they are very "powdery". plants and fruit look OK though.
Any help greatly appreciated

Steve

A few more details please, are you growing in soil in the greenhouse or in pots? Are you using your normal compost mix if the latter?

[mrsbean]

Welcome nevets, what a shame and disappointment. My GD are romping away and taste lovely and sweet. But they were not Wilko. I would get in touch with the seed company to see if anyone else has had the same issues.

[nevets]

I am growing in the soil but that has a good mix of general potting compost and some wood ash which I add every year. I always start the toms early, january-ish, in the house and put in final positions when about a foot tall. Pinch out regularly, same spacing. Plants appear to be the same along with the fruit being identical in size, colour and ripening time. They have been ripening for the past month and I initially thought I had 1 iffy plant but they (and the plants given to family) are equally rough tasting. Quite annoying when GD toms are my favourite and the main reason i run 2 greenhouses. As a slight add on it is also my worst year for produce elsewhere in the garden apart from my onions, but the tom situation has miffed me somewhat. Another thing I have noticed is that the plants this year have growths similar to what we pinch out from the main stalk, but these growths are on a lot of the leaf / branches. Never had that before. I will try and get my wife to upload a picture tomorrow. I have butchered the tops of the plants due to the poor crop and will probably allow them to continue to fruit but give the chickens a good treat.

[nevets]

Chris, let me know what your crop is like especially if you have grown from them before.
Mrs Bean, I love the taste and am often found just pigging out on them in the green house. Not this year though.
Plot 1, if you need more info please let me know.

Steve

[Plot 1 Problems]

Thanks for the reply nevets, just trying to rule out any obvious problems!

I know over the past few years a few people have bemoaned a decline in quality in Gardener's Delight toms, I tried them once and they were no comparison to other types like Sungold.

[mrsbean]

My this years GD are  so tasty and sweet, already picked so many. I have even made soup to use them up.I also gave plants to friends which are growing strong. This years plants were from last years packet.

[chris mutter]

Does no one save a Tomato or two and harvest your own seeds. Or is this classed as a no no.

[JayG]

Does no one save a Tomato or two and harvest your own seeds. Or is this classed as a no no.

Been saving non-F1 tomato seed for years with no problems, including from Gardeners' Delight (perhaps just as well given some of the observations in this thread!  )

If growing a mixture of different varieties (or other people nearby are) you can't be 100% certain yours won't get cross-pollinated, but the chances are that won't happen and your seeds should come true to type the following year.

[Russell Atterbury]

Reading the posts here and online research has got me thinking that maybe I should go through the hassle of having a pack of these seeds sent to Poland, where I can have them picked up by a friend, who will then get them to me here. I just thought I should ask people their opinion on the possibilities of ending up with problematic seeds, as of the odd post from guys who are not happy this year.

[Yorkie]

If it's an F1 variety then there's no point, if you want the same variety to come true the following year.

Otherwise I think the Real seeds website has lots of useful info on saving seed from year to year.

[Potty Plotty Lotty]

I'm growing GD for the first time in years as I was tempted by the 25p packet in Wilkos... 

My one plant is outdoors in pots and I've had fruits for a couple of weeks now. I must say I'm quite disappointed in the flavour compared to Sungold, Galina or Latah and have no desire to grow them again...

But after this thread I might be tempted by realseed's version.

[mumofstig]

But after this thread I might be tempted by realseed's version.

I was tempted last year, but for me, it wasn't a very strong growing plant and the fruits were smaller than I expected - perhaps I was unlucky, but thought I'd let you know anyway 

[AnneB]

Does no one save a Tomato or two and harvest your own seeds. Or is this classed as a no no.

Been saving non-F1 tomato seed for years with no problems, including from Gardeners' Delight (perhaps just as well given some of the observations in this thread!  )

If growing a mixture of different varieties (or other people nearby are) you can't be 100% certain yours won't get cross-pollinated, but the chances are that won't happen and your seeds should come true to type the following year.

Generally speaking tomatoes do not cross pollinate with one another, even if they are close.   This is taken from the notes I got on tomatoes when I went on a seed saving course with the Heritage Seed Library:

"Most tomatoes are not capable of cross-pollination as the flowers are perfect and self-pollinating. The female stigma is very short, and grows within a tube formed by the fused anthers.  For these types, different varieties can be grown close together.  There are three exceptions: currant tomatoes (Solanum pimpinellifolium), potato leaved varieties, and double blossoms on beefsteak varieties.  These often have a protruding stigma and are able to cross-pollinate, especially if there are other protruding-stigma varieties in the vicinity.  To be absolutely certain, check a few newly opened flowers using a hand lens.  The green stigmas will protrude from the anther tube. For safety, you could grow just one protruding-stigma variety a year.  Or, you may want to cage plants or bag trusses, the flowers will self-pollinate within these."