Growing tomatoes

droopsnoot

I've got a couple of Gardeners Delight and one Money Maker that have got large enough to pot on, and another couple of GD that will be done at the weekend. 

If I plant seeds too early, will they come up eventually, or have I wasted them somehow? I planted some toms, chillies and peppers too early, they've all been inside the house, but I wonder whether it'd be better to dump them all and start again.

Farway

droopsnoot said:

I've got a couple of Gardeners Delight and one Money Maker that have got large enough to pot on, and another couple of GD that will be done at the weekend. 

If I plant seeds too early, will they come up eventually, or have I wasted them somehow? I planted some toms, chillies and peppers too early, they've all been inside the house, but I wonder whether it'd be better to dump them all and start again.

It all depends, have they germinated or maybe rotted?

Just how warm are they? Needs over 60F to germinate & grow

If germinated & leggy, and you have spare seeds, I'd sow some more and learn from it, no point in germinating them early if you don't have suitable growing on conditions

droopsnoot

I took a leap yesterday and threw out most of the early-planted stuff, and re-planted. I have a lot of seeds, some of the stuff I've done was from seeds from fruits that I bought, so there's no telling whether they'll grow at all. Time will tell. There's also some evidence that I've been over-watering - I use a small watering can and it's tricky to dispense small amounts without dribbling, so I've found an old jug to use instead.

Nelliegrace

James Wong recommends a plant spray of soluble aspirin to increase the vitamin C and sweetness in homegrown tomatoes. 

I miss our friend who brought trays of his assorted tomato plants for our greenhouse every year in exchange for some of our surplus eggs. We had tasty, red, orange, yellow, and maroon tomatoes and even stripey ones, of various shapes and sizes. 

We buy our D.T. Brown vegetable seed at £1 a packet from their stand at the Malvern Autumn Show. Most years there has been a Heritage Seeds stand there too. The local allotment shop supplied Kings Seeds at a bulk discount price to plot holders and garden members. 

Nobbie1967

droopsnoot said:

I took a leap yesterday and threw out most of the early-planted stuff, and re-planted. I have a lot of seeds, some of the stuff I've done was from seeds from fruits that I bought, so there's no telling whether they'll grow at all. Time will tell. There's also some evidence that I've been over-watering - I use a small watering can and it's tricky to dispense small amounts without dribbling, so I've found an old jug to use instead.

I find it easiest to assess the need for water by lifting the pot, only if it’s very light do I bother to water. I’d rather they wilted occasionally than watered too much.

One of my Gardener’s delight has just surfaced out of about a dozen 5 year old seeds, 5 out of 5 for the Brandywine and 8 out of 10 for the Sungold on new seed. Think I’ll still need to buy some more Gardener’s delight.

droopsnoot

Nobbie1967 said:

I find it easiest to assess the need for water by lifting the pot, only if it’s very light do I bother to water. I’d rather they wilted occasionally than watered too much.

These are still in a seed tray / very small connected pots tray, so it's a bit tricky to assess the water level. I'd probably have been better starting them off in a pot, just on the basis that the larger volume of soil probably makes it more difficult to get it too soggy. I've started some more chilli seeds in a couple of pots and will see what happens.

Nobbie1967

droopsnoot said:

Nobbie1967 said:

I find it easiest to assess the need for water by lifting the pot, only if it’s very light do I bother to water. I’d rather they wilted occasionally than watered too much.

These are still in a seed tray / very small connected pots tray, so it's a bit tricky to assess the water level. I'd probably have been better starting them off in a pot, just on the basis that the larger volume of soil probably makes it more difficult to get it too soggy. I've started some more chilli seeds in a couple of pots and will see what happens.

I’m onto my third sowing of chillis, first two from the same packet have completely failed despite being fresh seed. I think my mistake was getting them from B&Q, their broad beans have been duff too. Think I’ll stick to Lidl in future.

Dustyevsky

Modern composts are a pain in the posterior if they're overwatered, seeming to lose and not re-gain the air that ought to be trapped within them.

I've lost lots of full-grown plants in the sort of muck often sold, never mind seedlings. Although expensive, I buy good quality compost for seeds and improve it with coir and vermiculite to taste. No losses at all with toms in the conservatory, so far. Only 'Moskvich' seems to be a little under the weather, which is odd, given it's supposed attributes.

RobM99

Got some Oxheart Striped, never tried them before. 

kacie

Trying to grow Sweet Million cherry tomatoes, but no greenhouse, so they're just in my windowsill. So far they're about 1cm tall so I'll leave them a bit longer before repotting