Tomatoes going wrong - again!

Davesnave

Alfrescodave said:

flea72 said:

Its too early for tomatoes to be outside.  It may be a sunny spot during the day, but overnight temps are low.  Sellers, bring them out from under glass during the day to sell and then bring them back indoors at night.

Depends entirely on where you live. I'm in Oxfordshire and my OUTDOOR tomatoes have been outside in raised bed for 3 weeks and looking very healthy.

All my frost burned leaves around the garden from early in the month prove the well-known adage about May, but maybe you were luckier. Personally, as there's no great advantage for me, I'd rather not rely on luck!

Brambling

I'm in the SE and find tomatoes grow well in pots on my patio which is a sun trap, however I usually only grow cherry or baby plum tomatoes which means I do get a better crop than from 'normal' size tomatoes.  Mine have just gone out side from my mini greenhouse.  I also planted 3 tumbling tomatoes into a 12 inch hanging baskets and hung by the front door and if the postman doesn't pick them  i usually get a good crop from them.  I tend to grow in pots these days rather than grow bags and feed with tomato feed once they flower.  FYI my parents always successfully planted directly into the ground in their greenhouse however they always used a fumigator smoke bomb at the end of the season and enhanced the soil with well rotted manure over winter.  

Farway is correct when he says garden centres will start to sell annuals and vegetables at Easter without always stating that they need to be protected by the frost (grown under glass).  Generally depending on the weather I hold off planting out certain vegetables and annual plants until the bank holiday week at the end of May.  I've never tried aubergines or peppers outside but do have success with chilli plants on the patio 

-taff

Davesnave said:

If it was just for myself I'd have a small greenhouse and grow 3 or 4 plants in that, like many friends do. They stick theirs in any old grow-bag, but when I grew in bags it was the big, black polythene pot bags which I filled with compost I made, rather than the horrible stuff in commercially sold grow-bags.

Where do you get those pots from Dave? I have a couple of largeish plants I can't put in the ground for a year or two and don't want to put them in a conventional pot because they'll be too heavy to lift out and move by the time I do find somewhere for them.

Davesnave

-taff said:

Davesnave said:

If it was just for myself I'd have a small greenhouse and grow 3 or 4 plants in that, like many friends do. They stick theirs in any old grow-bag, but when I grew in bags it was the big, black polythene pot bags which I filled with compost I made, rather than the horrible stuff in commercially sold grow-bags.

Where do you get those pots from Dave? I have a couple of largeish plants I can't put in the ground for a year or two and don't want to put them in a conventional pot because they'll be too heavy to lift out and move by the time I do find somewhere for them.

Don't use this firm any more, but they still do them:

https://www.lbsbuyersguide.co.uk/pots-trays/pots-saucers/polypots

MovingForwards

Reading this thread I've so much to learn, but just for poos and giggles:

I purchased five different types of tomato plants from a local garden centre (same county).  Mine were sat outside in their pots, they are now in grow bags, in a greenhouses, sat within a mostly south facing Scottish garden.

Shall we all see how our crops turn out 😁

MoneySeeker1

Well - update is that I've ripped out 2 of the 4 tomatoes and plonked something else there in their place - as they just looked so awful. The other 2 are "on trial" to see if they make it so to say - unless/until they don't or I want their "space" for something more reliable.

Re temporary pots - and I don't use plastic if I can help it. So what I've bought are those material growbag things that have come on the scene in recent years and are supposed to be good for root growth. Light-weight/handles to them/not plastic - so I'll see how they grow.

As you might be able to tell - that means I've watched quite a few little videos on YouTube by now of this American woman called CaliKim - as she uses these a LOT. If anyone is interested - she's done a book too - which I've bought, but not yet read:

"Organic gardening for everyone - no experience required!" - by CaliKim - and it features a lot of stuff she's grown that way in her small garden.

Davesnave

You have to remember that plastic pots last a very long time. Some of our 9cm square pots have been doing the job of growing young plants for 10 years and more. They just go round and round the cycle of production at the nursery. We haven't bought any pots in the last decade; we just use second-hand pots we acquired long ago or recycle ones customers give us, which can be dozens at a time. Many people are all too glad to hand over their surplus pots so they can be re-used.

This winter I trialled some 'eco' wooden pot labels. They barely survived winter. A plastic label, scraped clean or with the pencilled writing rubbed out with an eraser can last 10 years, just like the pots. It's not a simple equation, replacing plastic.

MoneySeeker1

I certainly recycle any plastic pots that come my way anyway. But that's only the smaller ones - and I'm having to figure out what to do as a temporary (I hope!) measure re bigger things that I want to put straight down into the earth and "make like a forest garden" - but a lot of what is planned by me to be "Earth" is still currently covered by tarmac and concrete from previous owners. Yuk! So I'm buying suitable big things to substitute for "just planting into the earth" for bigger plants. So at least I've got much of what I intend to get in the plant line - and it's having to make do with being in big pots and I need something lighter-weight (and cheaper) than ceramic.

Errr...plant labels - you've been watching me buying them LOL - yep nice big wooden pot labels. I'll see how they go and am expecting years from them. Time will tell. Guess it'll be onto slate ones if they don't last.

twopenny

A few things come to mind.

The plants, as said, may not be hardened off.

They may be varieties that should be in a greenhouse

Are the roots filling the pots ?

Have you tried mixing the contents of a grow bag into the clay soil?

Clay will do one of two things when watered. Hold the water like a pond or dry out like a desert. You need something to open up the soil so the roots can spread out.

It sounds as though the roots may be rotting with all the watering. What do the roots look like when you pull them out? What colour are the plants when you pull them out? Are the leaves flat or curled?

greenbee

The kids make my plant labels (for the veg garden) out of scraps of wood. The broad beans have a skull and crossbones on them with 'danger ... green' written underneath!