Heirloom Tomatoes / Heritage Tomatoes
A sample of the heirloom / heritage tomatoes that we have planted in the hoop house in Wiltshire this Spring. The plan is to explore the most spectacular types for appearance and flavour. The seeds have come from a range of amazing niche and mainstream growers and distributors. We will give updates as to how these progress together with their strengths and weaknesses (in our very humble opinion). We have staggered planting for succession planning so this is also a test of how this works with the seasonal variations in light and temperature. The majority are planted in a well used compost and some are planted in autopots with a 50:50 mix of fresh, new bagged standard compost and coco / coconut coir. The coco / coconut coir should improve the air porosity of the mix, even when wet, and it should assist in moisture retention. Coconut coir absorbs about 30 percent more water than compost and is much easier to re-wet when dry.
Tomato Black Beauty
Tomato Tangerine
Tomato Chadwick Cherry
Tomato Brady Boy Beefsteak
Tomato Sunrise
Tomato Alice’s Dream
Tomato Starfighter Tom
Tomato Green Giant
Tomato Black Russian
Tomato Marmande
Tomato Cuban Salami
Tomato Indigo Pear Drops
So the main comparison will be between two scenarios:
(1) Old heavily used compost, with regular daily watering with spray hose from above and Tomorite feed every fortnight. Initial observation is that the compost struggles to absorb the water and appears hydrophobic, with the surface wetting only.
(2) Autopots with 50% new compost and 50% coconut coir with constant bottom-fed water.
Clearly the experiment is not as controlled as it could have been. For example there are many variables that have been changed between the two scenarios and so identifying the main contributing factor or factors for better plant growth may be difficult. The benefit of this rough and ready approach is that there are only two scenarios and ease of managing is simpler. However, for a more scientific and conclusive approach we could have considered more scenarios with less variables changing for each scenario. For example, variables include:
Watering method - spray above, spray low down, drip hoses, bottom fed
Volume of water
Timing of watering - morning, day time, evening
Fertiliser - type / ingredients, mix percentage, frequency
Pruning
Compost - old, new, mixes (e.g. coco / coconut coir, perlite, vermiculite), percentage mixes (e.g. 50:50, 40:60, 100% compost, 100% coco / coconut coir etc)
Seasonal timing - light, warmth
Weather - light, warmth
Then we would need to also consider that variables may not work in isolation and combinations of variables may be relevant. Arguable this could be set up as a controlled experiment e.g. Taguchi experiment.
