growing own veggies in bags and pots (Merged)

Kay_Peel

You won't get very good pumpkins from pots, I'm afraid JackieO. They will be small and weak.

Pumpkins need a lot of room.

sparklygirl1

Yes they do get very long..........

tardigrades

Davesnave wrote: »

Not too late to sow more. The main problem, if mice have been eliminated, is usually rotting caused by overwatering and/or too low a temperature....or of course naff seed.

My seedlings came up very quickly in a propagator (they are Suttons F1 Green Bush) and I waited until they were about four inches tall and the secondary leaves had come out before I put them into four inch pots and outside (no frosts anymore). They've continued to get bigger and the leaves are growing, but they all look a bit sad. Stems not straight and flopping over. What's going on? Am I overwatering? Too soon outside?

Planted in peat-free compost with some John Innes (apparently).

Ol

Davesnave

tardigrades wrote: »

My seedlings came up very quickly in a propagator (they are Suttons F1 Green Bush) and I waited until they were about four inches tall and the secondary leaves had come out before I put them into four inch pots and outside (no frosts anymore). They've continued to get bigger and the leaves are growing, but they all look a bit sad. Stems not straight and flopping over. What's going on? Am I overwatering? Too soon outside?

Planted in peat-free compost with some John Innes (apparently).

Ol

Hard to say. My own went out in litre pots this week and they have been fine, but until then they were grown-on in a greenhouse in 9cm square pots until the roots were filling them. I do think it helps to get a substantial root ball before moving them on, so my best guess is that yours are struggling to from being moved into a larger pot too quickly. I've had all kinds of plants fail because I potted them on too fast.

If they are still growing, I'd guess another week of this sunshine will sort things out. (less likelihood of rot etc.) Keep the watering on the sparse side - difficult I know when the temperatures are in the mid twenties.

katiel

My courgettes and squashes seem to have appreciated the newspaper pot approach this year. I started off the seeds in small home-made pots, and I could tell from the state of the paper when more or less water was needed. When the roots started appearing from the bottom and sides of the small pots, I moved the whole thing, including paper pot, into a much larger paper pot with more compost. They are now a very good size and I shall plant them out complete with paper pots into various grow bags, large plastic pots and into the ground, and compare relative successes!

Lotus-eater

mervyn11 wrote: »

Did you plant the seeds the right way up ????

Guess you are joking, but you should plant cubits seeds on their sides, to stop them rotting, which I'm guessing what has happened to elsien's.

Primrose

saxonrosecliff - courgettes are very shallow rooted so only plant one per pot as the roots like to spread. To reduce the amount of water, mix some water retention crystals in with the compost before planting out the container. You can buy them from any good garden centre and you only need to mix in a couple of teaspoons full.

davesnave - I planted my courgettes out into the veggie patch a few days ago but cover them up at night with individual 5 litre mineral water bottle cloches with the bottoms cut off. Courgettes don't like a sudden drop in temperature so maybe the nights are still a little too cool for them without any protection.

saxonrosecliff

The courgettes are now in their pots complete with water retention crystals so fingers crossed now that I actually get some courgettes!

Primrose - I've also bought them some fleece for nighttime just in case the drop in temperature is too much for them.

tardigrades

Davesnave wrote: »

Hard to say. My own went out in litre pots this week and they have been fine, but until then they were grown-on in a greenhouse in 9cm square pots until the roots were filling them. I do think it helps to get a substantial root ball before moving them on, so my best guess is that yours are struggling to from being moved into a larger pot too quickly. I've had all kinds of plants fail because I potted them on too fast.

If they are still growing, I'd guess another week of this sunshine will sort things out. (less likelihood of rot etc.) Keep the watering on the sparse side - difficult I know when the temperatures are in the mid twenties.

Thanks Davesnave. They are still growing (leaves now 5-6 cm dia) but are still almost all off to one side - I'll leave the watering for a day and cross my fingers! I've not got a greenhouse so am a bit hampered on that front but I'll trade some plants for a space in the neighbours' one.

If they carry on growing, but remain off to one side, will they be non-viable or can they be trained in some way? I assume that shoring up compost to make them more upright is a bad idea or could I do that? I've rescued shop-bought small plants before after catastrophic slug-munching; so am I worrying too much about their robustness?

Ta,
Ol

Davesnave

If there's a lot of stem before the first leaves, then it probably won't do harm re-setting them deeper. Unfortunately, however, they'll not grow more stem roots like tomatoes do when you do this.

As you're growing a 'bush' variety, you probably expected compact plants, but I'd guess the combination of propagator + perhaps not quite enough light has made these plants race forward & become leggy. I always whip mine out of the propagator as soon as they've germinated onto a greenhouse bench. The main danger to a courgette is a long thin stem, which can either be munched through by snails or broken by the wind.