when do i get tomatoes?

[Tortington]

i got given a tom plant

anyway i don't grow things

i know that gardeners - like cooks believe that everyone can do it - but its just not true

anyway..... the woman who give me the plant i really like and i made an effort and i watered it, staked it - garden ties and everything! oh i re-potted it

and its still living. its getting quite tall and im not sure what happens next. do i wait for some toms, are they gonna come next year - and i bet the bloody thing needs to come indoors over the winter or something does it?

am very proud of myself btw

The tomatoes come after the flowers and then the plants die after they have given up their yield of tomatoes.

Did you pull off the bottom leaves and the ones which come out diagonally from in-between the branches? This will allow more nutrients to get to the tomatoes rather that sustaining all the greenary.

yes i took off the bottom ones, now i have a big green plant - how big to they get and should i bring it inside during the winter?

It should have tomatoes on it now and be dead by winter. Has it flowered ?

nope.

damn it, i'm bloody useless - i thought i was doing so good

Has your neighbours plants flowered and got toms on? Could it be a dodgy plant ? Don't give up try again next year .

Have you been feeding it? They need Tomorite once a week.

But to be honest, if you haven't any flowers, just a large green plant, it sounds like you have a dud one!

I have 4 tomato plants and only 3 tomatoes on them, they had lots of flowesr but never set fruit. I asked around and its quite common this year, too cold early on and not enough bees to pollinate them apparently

I had 1 dud one last year - it never flowered. Reckon it was infertile. You should have at least flowers on it by now. Don't give up though, try again next year with a new plant, it's worth it when you do get your own tomatoes, they taste so much better than shop-bought ones.

My tomatoes are really late this year. Plant still has flowers and only a few green toms at the mo.

I've only had a few ripe ones - still loads of green ones, and new flowers still gowing

I also have a couple of ripe ones and loads of green ones. I've chopped off the still flowering ones - they are never going to make it before the frost, are they? Have I done the right thing?

you see here is where i am a little confused, it was only given to me as a baby plant in june - should it be grown up and having its own tomatoes already?

Nope - in June it would have still been growing, but should have got reasonably big by then

The problem this year is that even late seedlings won't have had much of a chance due to lack of sunshine. If you don't even have any flowers/small toms now I doubt you'll get any....

NOooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Yup, sorry.

Brining it indoors won't do anything unfortunately. They are pathethic creatures that need sunshine so winter indoors isn't enough for them....

BIWI, pinch off the new flowers appearing. It will help the green toms (maybe) as the plant won;t be trying to grow new toms as well as nurture the current green ones

Thanks, Val!

You could try bringing it indoors somewhere with lots of light - you will need an additional lamp. It may well flower either through the winter or early next year and you might then get some tomatoes (lots of mays and mights here!!). They won't be as sweet as summer ones, but probably much the same as the ones from a supermarket. You need to tap the stems lightly to try to get the flower to pollinate if it does flower. (I would probably just dab the flowers lightly with a tiny paintbrush).

How cool would it be if you did manage to get some tomatoes through winter?!