Aquaponics - Tomato

It's cold and rainy here in South Australia, and I keep picking tomatoes.

Winter isn't a good time for tomatoes, but mine seem to be having fun anyway.

My four tomato plants that are growing so their roots are suspended in the fishtank water seem to be fruiting a lot later in the season than they should be. The plants are out in the cold, but their roots are inside the fishtank which is inside a little growhouse.

The plants look like this.

And they are still doing a lot of flowering.

And there are plenty of fruit all over the vines.

And the fruit are still ripening.

These were today's pickings.

Not many today, but there are always some. And a few didn't make it inside.

And there are a lot more on the vines that are nearly ripe. Ripe enough to eat.




All these pics were taken today. It's winter in the southern hemisphere, so the tomatoes should have stopped fruiting a while ago.

It's strange that they are still growing and fruiting this late. Strange enough that I thought I'd contact someone from one of our universities. I remember someone from my research into bees, who was working on growing native bees to pollinate tomatoes. I'm not sure if there were a bee person or a tomato person, but I emailed them in the hope that if they don't care, they might know someone who does.

It might save the industry a bit of money if it turned out the entire plant didn't need to be kept warm to keep them fruiting.




120 Things in 20 years says to be on the lookout for tiny hot houses with tomatoes growing out of PVC tubes, coming to a winter tomato farm near you. Or not.