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Cornucopia - Australia

end of tomatoes?

19 years ago

I'm looking after a friends garden while she's away. Her tomato plants have finished fruiting and stems and leaves now looking dried and yellowy. However, there are a few very small new green shoots on some.

Are these plants finished now so pull out then plant new seeds or seedlings for the next season? Or just trim these and leave till next flowering? Never grown toms before as you may have gathered. Many thanks. Eugenie

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Comments (3)

tuppitoo
19 years ago
Just pull them all out and dig in some manure and lime and cover with pea straw or similar i don't put old tomato stalks or stems in the compost for fear of transmitting this years diseases to next.
chas
gardenlen
19 years ago
g'day Eugenie,

i would think it is going to get too cold down your way for tomatoes to carry over to the next season, so for me i'd pull them and as we don't aspire to digging simply break them up and lay them where you pulled them and cover with a hay mulch.

if the plants are obvioulsy diseased then destroy them or dump them off site, or put them in the rose garden to break down.

in our case we might be able to cut the old bush growth back to the new growths and over winter this root stock for an early start next season, if you have a northern aspect with good winter sun and the warmth of a high fence or house wall near them then maybe this might work in yor case?

len

Here is a link that might be useful: len's garden page
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The reason lots of tomatoes peter out is because they run out of nutrients mid season.It's possible your plants are short on nutrients and for this reason not fruiting. More or less water won't help in this case. They probably are not setting fruit due to the current high temps. If you continue to water and not prune the healthy part (do remove dead lower leaves)they will set fruit and produce, with a little luck until early November. Try some compost tea and continuing your watering regimen. Also mulch to lower soil temps. Are you watering sufficiently that the soil in general has adequate moisture?
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eugenieoo
Original Author
19 years ago
To Gardenlen and Tuppitoo
Thanks ever so much for your advice. Yes, I think it will be too cold here ( only just moved to Vic from Sydney so haven't experienced the full winter), though they are on a north facing aspect so maybe I'll just tidy them up put down some mulch and see what happens with the new leaf shoots. Plus there are two or three new baby toms still on some vines. Who knows maybe I'll be lucky. Otherwise will start a new.
cheers to you both
Eugenie

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