[Mrs Bee]

I have just got a variety of tomato seeds planted ready for this year but.......

Last years tomatoes were not good! They all have a woolly floury texture and none of the acidic, sharp sweet flavour that one grows the tomatoes for.

I grew tumbling tom, gardeners delight, roma, money maker and a tiny tomato no bigger than a large pea, ( don't know what it is called we saved the seed from one that came from a supermarket).

The best one for flavour was the tiny one! All the others were not worth eating. Not even worth turning into soup; they had a slightly bitter flavour.


What did I do wrong?
Could this be another case of manky compost? They were all planted in tubs and were south facing.
Gardeners delight, moneymaker were from seed that I saved myself.

Any help gratefully received.

[mattwragg94]

ive grown some toms in the past and i had the same problem as you, but i put it down to the variety, but because it happened to more than one of the varieties that you grew i think it might be down to the lack of water - toms are very thirsty plants, you can never give them enough water.

[mumofstig]

It happens when the weather is not ideal and they take a long while to ripen, the last 2 summers have not been brilliant for tom ripening - even in a greenhouse

we 'talked' about it here last year, but I can't find the topic now

Here's hoping this year is better!

[mattwragg94]

and if MOS cant find the post wve got no chance of finding it! ;

[Mrs Bee]

Thanks for that.
Thought I was doing something wrong. Will give it another go this year and hope for better weather.

Will keep an eye on the watering too.

[Yorkie]

What was your watering regime, and what were you feeding them with / how frequently?

[viettaclark]

Hello Mrs Ball. I had a brain wave!
You say you saved your own seed from your tomatoes and they were all bad except for the ones from the supermarket. Could this be because they cross-pollinated and/or they were F1 hybrids?
I agree that last year was bad for a lot of us, though, due to the vagarities in the weather.......

[JayG]

Tricky question - tomato taste is a very subjective and personal thing, and although last year's weather was far from ideal for many of us, I think that even in a good year it's hard to know for sure whether your tomato crop is really typical of what other people achieve.

Don't know whether you have looked at the "Home-grown Tomato Surveys" (on a child board of GYO) but if you look at the tables and read the threads you should get a better idea of what might suit you (if only in theory!)

I can certainly vouch for Sweet Million as a tasty, sweet but acid cherry tomato, and will have to give Sungold a try this year since it seems to be such a sure-fire winner.

You may well spot DD's and Mum's posts following the table in the 2011 poll - Moneymaker (one of Mrs Ball's choices) is certainly not a taste sensation for them!  


Edit: Should have mentioned that both Sungold and Sweet Million are F1 varieties so are not suitable for growing from seed saved from previous croppings.

[DD.]

Too right with Moneymaker!

As JayG says, taste is very subjective, but for me it's got to be one of the black varieties. Black Cherry is a taste explosion and last year someone gave me a "Black Krim" plant. I was that impressed I saved the seeds out of a lot of its fruit.

[stompy]

I grew my tomatos in a greenhouse with half the glass missing and still got a good and "tastey" crop.

I would agree with viettaclark on this one and say it's more likely to be the fact you saved your own seed.

I have never had a poor tasteing crop of tomatos and regularly grow gardeners delight, sungold, and alicante.

I grew moneymaker one year and one year only as others have said it is quite tasteless but crops well and ripens uniformly, hence the name money maker 

Buy fresh seed this year that will last you a few seasons their not expensive and you know what your getting 

[DD.]

The way I read the original post was that Mrs B saved the seed from the small supermarket toms, not the others.

[stompy]

Ahh, right.

I don't know then 

[allot2learn]

I'm sure that I have read somewhere that tomato flavour can become bland by over watering and that it's important to get the amount just right.

[DD.]

I usually find that outdoor grown ones have a better flavour than the same variety grown in a greenhouse.

[Yorkie]

I'm sure that I have read somewhere that tomato flavour can become bland by over watering and that it's important to get the amount just right.

Yes, you're right - that's why I asked about the watering and feeding regime.