Just bought some lovely tomato plants, now what do I do with them?!

missymoo81

Hmmm think I am definitely going to have to go hunting down the bottom of the garden to see what OH has hidden under the tree, there's all sorts of (rubbish) useful things down there!!!

I am super excited empty pockets, I've been wanting to do this for ages, but haven't really been able to.

missymoo81

hmm havent got any growmore FC, literally have never grown anything apart from my attempt last year.

Love to think of them as little princesses, what a lovely thought!

EmptyPockets

Keep us posted on your progress, and remember we love pictures

missymoo81

Wow thanks FC that flower pic really helps explain

missymoo81

Of course I will Empty pockets! Am really liking the green fingered thread, have never posted on here before! But now you try and keep me away!

Lotus-eater

EmptyPockets wrote: »

Place in hole so that the top is level with the soil level, fill in around the roots and firm gently.

I missed this, not quite, tomatoes root from the stem easily and trust me on this one, you want as many roots as possible. So you plant it as low as you can in the soil.

It does depend how you want to do it and the condition of your plant now.
If it's seed leaves have fallen off (a sign of mistreatment btw) or are yellow (pull them off), plant past this point, almost up to the first set of real leaves.

Seed leaves are the ones that look completely different to the main plant leaves, they are small and right at the bottom of the plant (not on fc's drawing)

If your seed leaves are healthy, you get to choose, take them off, or leave them on and plant so they are just above the soil.

There is a slight problem with planting the old seed leaf area under the soil, you will get the sideshoots growing from the "armpit" area, these, as normal, you need to remove. You can slide a knife (carefully!) down the side of the plant and whip them off, or I just wait until they are big enough and pull them out from the soil by hand, I dig down a bit if I need to.
It is worth it, trust me

EmptyPockets

Lotus-eater wrote: »

I missed this, not quite, tomatoes root from the stem easily and trust me on this one, you want as many roots as possible. So you plant it as low as you can in the soil.

It does depend how you want to do it and the condition of your plant now.
If it's seed leaves have fallen off (a sign of mistreatment btw) or are yellow (pull them off), plant past this point, almost up to the first set of real leaves.

Seed leaves are the ones that look completely different to the main plant leaves, they are small and right at the bottom of the plant (not on fc's drawing)

If your seed leaves are healthy, you get to choose, take them off, or leave them on and plant so they are just above the soil.

There is a slight problem with planting the old seed leaf area under the soil, you will get the sideshoots growing from the "armpit" area, these, as normal, you need to remove. You can slide a knife (carefully!) down the side of the plant and whip them off, or I just wait until they are big enough and pull them out from the soil by hand, I dig down a bit if I need to.
It is worth it, trust me

Thank you, fab advice. Our toms all still have healthy-looking seed leaves, which are about half an inch above the compost. So do you reckon I should take these off and then add another inch or two of compost?

Lotus-eater

EmptyPockets wrote: »

Thank you, fab advice. Our toms all still have healthy-looking seed leaves, which are about half an inch above the compost. So do you reckon I should take these off and then add another inch or two of compost?

I'm always a little reluctant to absolutely tell someone to do something. I can offer advice and say what I'd do, but the rest is up to you.
The answer is yes, you can do it and yes it may help them.
When I plant up mine, I always take off the seed leaves and stick em in as low as I can, if I could find a way to deal with the sideshoots, I'd take off another couple of leaves and plant them even lower.

You take the seed leaves off because you don't want foliage rotting under the soil.

But saying that, I've often inadvertently buried tomato leaves with no problems.

pookiewn

It is very exciting isn't it! :j

Do you have any banana's? If so, put some of the banana skin underneath each tomato when you plant it as this will slowly release all the nutrients it needs as it's growing for a while. It should give you a few weeks before you have to feed it with tomato feed.

missymoo81

oooh banana skins I can do I have plenty of bananas. Thank you so much!