Posted by Potaroo on December 15, 2006, 6:30 pm
I have tomato bushes about waist high, filled out and no flowers and
consqyently no fruit.
What am I doing wrong? Or are these smart enough not ot be eaten ;-)
Cheers, from the Haekesbury region.
Posted by Roberta Bagshaw on December 15, 2006, 7:34 pm
Sometimes giving the plants a sprinkle of Potash around the base will make
the plants produce fruit. (I'm not talking about ashes from the fire.......
but the mineral Potash, which you can buy quite cheaply at any gardening
store.)
If your plants are healthy, and growing well, you could have perhaps been
using a fertiliser which is very high in Nitrogen and low in Potash.
Nitrogen promotes leafy growth, and Potash promotes setting of seeds and
fruit.
>I have tomato bushes about waist high, filled out and no flowers and
> consqyently no fruit.
> What am I doing wrong? Or are these smart enough not ot be eaten ;-)
> Cheers, from the Haekesbury region.
>
Posted by George.com on December 14, 2006, 4:09 am
> Sometimes giving the plants a sprinkle of Potash around the base will make
> the plants produce fruit. (I'm not talking about ashes from the
fire.......
> but the mineral Potash, which you can buy quite cheaply at any gardening
> store.)
why not wood ash roberta? (accepting it can be dry, a good watering will
solve that, and can sweeten soil which may need monitoring).
rob
Posted by Roberta Bagshaw on December 15, 2006, 9:09 pm
Hi George
Yes.... of course you can apply wood ash, but as wood ash is very alkaline
it can cause problems if used over a long period of time with regard to soil
pH. (In my reply to Potaroo I merely pointed out the difference between
Potash and ashes from the fire, as some people assume the two to be one and
the same).
In the past few decades there has arisen the added danger of using ashes
from chemically treated wood, and personally I would be most careful not to
use this around any food crop.
I hasten to add though that I have personally added wood ash to my compost
(from totally natural untreated wood sources).
Follow this link to an article from Gardening Australia's Malcolm Campbell
http://www.abc.net.au/gardening/stories/s933740.htm
As Potaroo wrote in the original message, the tomato plants appear to be
thriving, apart from not setting any fruit, so my first impulse would be to
apply some Potash, and not upset the apple-cart (or tomato-cart in this
case). :o)
~Roberta~
>> Sometimes giving the plants a sprinkle of Potash around the base will
>> make
>> the plants produce fruit. (I'm not talking about ashes from the
> fire.......
>> but the mineral Potash, which you can buy quite cheaply at any gardening
>> store.)
> why not wood ash roberta? (accepting it can be dry, a good watering will
> solve that, and can sweeten soil which may need monitoring).
> rob
>
Posted by rainman on December 16, 2006, 12:57 am
> I have tomato bushes about waist high, filled out and no flowers and
> consqyently no fruit.
> What am I doing wrong? Or are these smart enough not ot be eaten ;-)
> Cheers, from the Haekesbury region.
Are they in the full sun?
> consqyently no fruit.
> What am I doing wrong? Or are these smart enough not ot be eaten ;-)
> Cheers, from the Haekesbury region.
>