[Fairy Plotmother]

  Picked the fist "gardener's Delight 1/2lb the were very tasty although the skin was tougher than I like. But, there's a start.

[Lardman]

Signs of botrytis in the greenhouse.   

I managed to pick about 2 dozen sungold and dozen split shriley yesterday. Not sure  how long before I have to bin the plants though 

[surbie100]

Apart from the 100s&1000s, who are making an effort, not much change in the sea of green. *sigh*

[cadalot]

Ok so how does this work? one red tomato, just one 

[Godhelm]

Started harvesting Gardener's Delight and 100s & 1000s both at home and at allotment. GD are beautifully sweet while 100s & 1000s provide wonderful flavour explosions - I love the sharper flavour of these and they are great to nibble while working.

[BobE]

Ok so how does this work? one red tomato, just one 

Try to leave it for a bit as it will help the others to ripen.

[Lincs Lottie]

We've lots of green tomatoes but so far we've only harvested 1 Tumbling Tom and 2 Sweet Million. 

[RJR_38]

Ok so how does this work? one red tomato, just one 

Try to leave it for a bit as it will help the others to ripen.

Oh really, I didn't know that! I keep getting half a vine ripen and the other half still green. So I am just picking off the ripe ones rather than the whole vine (like you would get in supermarket). Should I be leaving the ripe ones on the vine for as long as possible then?

[BobE]

If you can yes, just pick them when you have to.  They give of a feremone that ripens the others.  Don't let them drop off though, difficult balance.  They should come of at a touch if ready.

[JayG]

It's ethylene gas which can speed up tomato ripening, the best (easily available) source of which is ripe banana skins. Ripening tomatoes do produce a little, but in Cadalot's case (outdoors) leaving one ripe tomato on would make no difference whatsoever, and very little difference even in a greenhouse.

Still too early to panic! 

[RJR_38]

Ok, maybe I should leave my used banana skins around then haha! I'm not panicking as I love green Tom chutney so will happily harvest some green anyway. It it just annoying when only half a vine ripen rather than a whole one!

[pigguns]

My first 2 tomatoes (gardeners delight) ever  They were yummy and loads more on the way.  And to think I almost gave up on growing toms   

[seaside]

Signs of botrytis in the greenhouse.   

I managed to pick about 2 dozen sungold and dozen split shriley yesterday. Not sure  how long before I have to bin the plants though 

Don't despair too soon Lardy. I suffered quite badly with botrytis last year, but managed to nurse my plants through to ripening most of the crop. It was bad enough to spread through to my chillies as well.
Discard any real bad bits, and affected bad leaves and fruit as soon as you see them. The main stems tend to hold together for a month even though they are affected. A single spray of Bordeaux mixture also seemed to help the management last year, but that might just have been coincidental. Obviously make sure you keep your plant surfaces as dry as possible and don't poke about with them after you've been handling mouldy material.

[mumofstig]

Medwyn recommends using PLJ lemon juice on botrytis
http://www.medwynsofanglesey.co.uk/articles/285/overcoming_botrytis_in_tomatoes

although this would be another of those things that are against the law nowadays 

[seaside]

Medwyn recommends using PLJ lemon juice on botrytis
http://www.medwynsofanglesey.co.uk/articles/285/overcoming_botrytis_in_tomatoes

although this would be another of those things that are against the law nowadays 

Mos, are you saying that someone spraying a tomato plant with the juice of a fresh lemon is breaking the law ?
I find that very hard to believe. Or are you referring to the branded PLJ, which is quite a different ting.