Growing Tomato

Lycopersicon esculentum : Solanaceae / the nightshade family

Jan F M A M J J A S O N Dec
              S S S S S
T T               T T T
P                 P P P

(Best months for growing Tomato in Australia - sub-tropical regions)

  • S = Plant undercover in seed trays
  • T = Plant out (transplant) seedlings
  • P = Sow seed
  • Grow in seed trays, and plant out in 4-6 weeks. Sow seed at a depth approximately three times the diameter of the seed. Best planted at soil temperatures between 16°C and 35°C. (Show °F/in)
  • Space plants: 40 - 60 cm apart
  • Harvest in 8-17 weeks.
  • Compatible with (can grow beside): Asparagus, Chervil,Carrot, Celery, Chives, Parsley, Marigold, Basil
  • Avoid growing close to: Rosemary, Potatoes, Fennel, Cucumber

Your comments and tips

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26 Mar 10, aster (Australia - temperate climate)
I bought 2 young tomato plants; a cherry tomato and berry tomato. I repotted them into a bigger pot and added in Herb and Vegetable pot mix. Berry grew up very healthy and well and even started to flower. However, on the first sight of flower, the leaves started to curled downwards and later the leaves turns dry ( felt like crepe paper to the touch) and finally drying /dying from bottom branches. I spotted a young shoot growing from the lower branch and I trimmed off the the plant just above the shoot. Now the young shoot grew up well, at least for now... The same problem now happen to my cherry tomato plant, the first sight of flower, the leaves curled from the top of the plant while from the bottom up, the leaves just dry up slowly and surely. Please advise what happenned to my tomato plants as I've done all I know, watering them regularly and putting them in a sunny spot. Watching them grow and in anticipation of the fruit is a joy turned to disappointment.
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25 Mar 10, Sola Ogunlola (Australia - tropical climate)
Hi all, I'm not in Australia, just that the option box does not make provision for my great country Nigeria. I want to grow tomatoes and pepper in this tropical African most populous nation. Does any one has interest in partnering with me technologically. We have the manpower and the land. kindly revert as soon as possible. thank you
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22 Mar 10, Keny (Australia - sub-tropical climate)
Are there any tomatoes that I can grow from March? Redland Bay QLD.
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18 Mar 10, pete (Australia - sub-tropical climate)
hi ian, i tend to agree with barb - i took a whole plant of mine out to the nursery - roots were fine so not nematodes she cut through the stem with secatuers and that was fine too. she told me to spray with wettable sulphur and as barb said use seaweed/fish fertiliser - have done and it seems to have arrested the yellowing. also told me to feed weekly. so planted some new plants (grosse lisse) and am trying those. i have had this problem ever since moving to this house (10 years) only variety i had limited success with was black russian - cheers
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15 Mar 10, Barb (Australia - sub-tropical climate)
Hi Ian, Sounds like it could have been tomato russet mite, exacerbated by hot dry weather. Spraying the leaves lightly with a foliar feed of a very weak seaweed mixture every week or two should also help. Feeding the plant with decent (home made) compost, worm wee or seaweed/fish emulsion, etc should also strengthen the plants against attack. Glad you ended up with a good harvest!
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14 Mar 10, Ian (Australia - temperate climate)
I have been growing tomatoes in pots at North Sydney for the last 10 years. Each year is more problematic and depressing than the previous even though I sterilise pots and use new potting mix each year. Plants start off very healthy then about the time that fruit set, the plants start yellowing from the bottom and within a few weeks they are history. This year was interesting in that I placed the pots on a second story balcony well away from previous plantings on the assumption that whatever was killing the plants near the ground may not exist on the balcony. I planted in September, great plants until mid November when they did the same thing - started yellowing from the bottom up and ended up basically dead after a few weeks. I took one of the plants (Mighty Red) which was dead except for one small leaf about 10mm above ground level. I cut the plant off completely immediately above this leaf and planted it in a new garden bed we have recently created in the area where we had previously used pots. For a couple of weeks nothing happened then the plant started growing and now in mid March we have just picked 3 large tomatoes off a very healthy (large) plant with another 15 or so tomatoes still on the plant. I still don't know what causes the problem but the experiment with this 'Lazarus' plant is nothing if not interesting.
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17 Mar 19, Gerrard Kavanagh (Australia - temperate climate)
Have harvested lots of good tomatoes including green ones yesterday. Most plants dried and look like they are dying back. However some appear to have started some healthy looking new growth. Do I pull them all out and get ready for peas or other nitrogen rich crop or see what happens with the new growth?
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20 Jan 19, Nick (Australia - sub-tropical climate)
Is it too late to plant tomatoes in late January in sydney
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06 Mar 15, (Australia - temperate climate)
Yellowing leaves mean it is underfed which happens easier in pots. Feed with lots of compost and dynamic lifter. Use liquid fertiliser as well. A quick acting and compost and dynamic lifter will keep the plants going longer term
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25 Sep 14, John (Australia - temperate climate)
Do the smoke-tobacco carries a fungus disease .
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Showing 481 - 490 of 601 comments
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Further to my posts below. I have found this which I believe is the problem with my bunchy curly leaves on cherry tomatoes. It is called -Tomato yellow leaf curl virus. TYLCV. Department of Agriculture and Fisheries Qld In March 2006, tomato leaf curl disease was found in cherry tomato crops in the south and west periphery of Brisbane. The disease has been found in many crops, with infection levels ranging from 5 to 100 per cent of plants. Losses in severely affected crops have been very high and the disease is a major threat to tomato production. In April 2006, infected plants were also found around Bundaberg. By June 2007, the virus was present in the Lockyer Valley, Fassifern Valley, Esk, Caboolture and Redlands areas. Since 2009 it has become a serious production constraint around Bundaberg. In February 2011, it was found in backyard tomato plants in Mareeba on the Atherton Tablelands. Tomato leaf curl disease is caused by viruses in the Geminivirus family of plant viruses, and is spread by whiteflies. The virus causing this disease is tomato yellow leaf curl virus (TYLCV). This virus is distinct from tomato leaf curl Australia virus (TLCV), which occurs in the Northern Territory and at several locations on Cape York Peninsula. Silverleaf whitefly (Bemisia tabaci Biotype B) was first recorded in Australia in 1994, it is now a widespread pest in Queensland and Western Australia and could become a major pest in most irrigated agricultural areas of Australia. Silverleaf whitefly (SLW) is also known as poinsettia or sweetpotato whitefly and in USA literature it is now referred to as Bemisia argentifolii. SLW has a wide host range (over 500 species) of crops and weeds, and is difficult to control as it has developed resistance to conventional insecticides. Biotype Q was discovered recently in Queensland. There is also an Australian native species. These three biotypes are indistinquishable in the field.

- Mike

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