📌 Quick Summary: Loaded Trusses, Heat and Blossom Drop in a Greenhouse
- 🍅 The Goal: Valeriy set out to grow several well-loaded fruit trusses on every plant. He says it worked on Bulgarian Miracle, Brandywine Covlik’s Strain, Chocolate Stripes, Japonka, Coeur Fondant, Summer Sun and Dark Galaxy, but he hasn’t figured it out for pink oxheart varieties yet.
- 🌡️ Blossom Drop at 97°F (36°C): After several days of this heat, he lost blossoms on Everett’s Rusty Oxheart, Oaxacan Jewel, Summer Sun and Black Krim. He isn’t sure of the exact cause and wonders whether he underfed the plants while the fruit was swelling.
- 🏠 The Roof “Lantern”: Valeriy built a ventilation lantern (cupola) into his greenhouse roof. He says it kept the inside temperature the same as outside, and that this is the only reason his tomatoes set fruit at all.
- 💧 Watering and Blossom End Rot: He had almost no Blossom End Rot (BER) and credits watering every single day before noon, sometimes even in the midday heat. The downside: some fruit on the lower trusses cracked.
- 🌱 His Tips: cooler temperatures while growing seedlings indoors, transplanting before the plants overgrow and the buds open (the ideal timing differs by variety), and balanced feeding. He says different varieties need different feeding schedules, and he plans to test a “universal” program next year.
I learned a lot of new things about tomatoes this year, and I feel like I’m finally starting to understand them. Some of my “wishlist” goals are actually coming true! The main goal was to grow multiple high-quality, fully loaded fruit trusses on each plant.
It worked perfectly on Bulgarian Miracle (Bolgarskoye Chudo) (there are more loaded trusses higher up that didn’t fit in the photo), Brandywine Covlik’s Strain, Chocolate Stripes, Japonka (Japanese Girl), Coeur Fondant, Summer Sun, and Dark Galaxy.
I haven’t quite figured out how to achieve this with the pink oxheart varieties yet, but I have a plan of attack for them… I’m already looking forward to next year, as this tomato season feels like a wrap for me!
Valtwelve wrote:
The main goal was to grow multiple high-quality, fully loaded fruit trusses on each plant.
Bravo, Valeriy! 🎩 It is so joyful reading posts like this! 😍
This has been a very unusual season. Valeriy, did you experience any blossom drop because of the high temperatures? And did you manage to avoid Blossom End Rot (BER)? ✉️ Please share your secrets!
Raduga wrote:
…did you experience any blossom drop because of the high temperatures? And did you manage to avoid Blossom End Rot…
I can’t say exactly what caused it, but yes, I did have some blossom drop. After all, we had multiple days where the temperature hit 97°F (36°C). I have a custom ventilation “lantern” (cupola) built into the roof of my greenhouse, which kept the inside temperature identical to the outside air – and that is the only reason my tomatoes managed to set fruit at all – but 97°F is still just too hot.
I lost blossoms on varieties like Everett’s Rusty Oxheart, Oaxacan Jewel, Summer Sun, and Black Krim. Again, I don’t know the exact reason, maybe I underfed them right when the fruit was swelling. Like I said, I’m just starting to figure them out. Next year I will try to eliminate nutrient deficiency as a potential cause for blossom drop.
As for Blossom End Rot: I had almost none! Like I mentioned before, it only showed up on 4 tomatoes grown outside in the open ground because I skipped watering them during a cold snap. Right now, I have BER on exactly one Donkey Ears tomato and a couple of specks on two Coeur Fondant tomatoes.
I credit the lack of BER in this extreme heat entirely to the fact that I water every single day before noon, and sometimes I even water right in the middle of the blazing heat.
Because of this heavy watering, some of the tomatoes on the lower trusses cracked (especially the delicate ones like Brandywine Covlik’s Strain, Oaxacan Jewel, and my favorite Everett’s Rusty Oxheart). I overdid it a bit, but you can’t please everyone! And the heat just keeps going… it’s the third month of this!!! We’ve never had a summer like this before!
Here is my roof ventilation lantern:
Valtwelve wrote:
The main goal was to grow multiple high-quality, fully loaded fruit trusses on each plant.
What exactly did you learn? What is required to get so many high-quality trusses?
Tatunya wrote:
What is required to get so many high-quality trusses?
A lot of things are required. I wrote about some of it above.
You need cooler temperatures while growing the seedlings indoors, so you get strong, sturdy transplants. You need to transplant them into the greenhouse before they overgrow and their buds open. For one variety, the perfect time to plant is when the very first bud appears. For another, it’s right before the bud appears. For a third, it’s when the bud has been visible for 3 to 5 days.
You also have to feed them a properly balanced diet. And it turns out, different varieties require completely different feeding schedules! Right now, I’m trying to figure out a “universal” feeding program that works reasonably well for all of them, but I don’t know if it will work yet. I’ll test it out next year. Anyway, I shouldn’t ramble about all this in someone else’s diary…
📝 Translator’s Notes: A Few Terms from This Thread
- Lantern (cupola): a raised vent structure built into the roof of a greenhouse. “Lantern” is the word Valeriy uses for it, and he shows his own in the photo above.
- Truss: a cluster of tomatoes growing on one stem. “Loaded trusses” means clusters with plenty of fruit.
- Blossom drop: flowers falling off the plant without setting fruit.
- BER (Blossom End Rot): a dark, sunken patch that appears on the bottom end of a tomato. Valeriy credits daily watering for avoiding it, which is his own experience.
