Allotment Gardening Advice Help Chat
Growing => Grow Your Own => Topic started by: hubballi on May 17, 2009, 15:00
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All my Gardeners delight and tumbling tom tomatos were potted on a couple of weeks ago. However, they are still very small and show no signs of growth even though they are in a greenhouse.
I have not used tomoato feed simply because the bottle states to use it when the first fruits are setting. In the meantime what can I feed them and other potted on seedling....Seaweed ?
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Mine are just the same, while LAtah were planted several weeks later, and are twice the size. I think it's a variety thing. My understanding is if you want big, green, soft plants feed them, if you want delicious tomatoes don't feed. This was from one of Bob Flowerdew's books. Good enough for me.
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i feed mine just every two weeks when set first 2 leaves although i only make a weak mix usually half of what is says to mix it to...
I learnt that from me grandad and he won shows so good enough for me :)
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Are thy just small or do they show signs of poor nutrients (like yellow or purple leaves)? If they don't look malnourished then they are probably just being a bit slow as the weather has been a bit cooler lately.
As oldbean already said, you can get huge out of control tomato plants if you feed too early/too much, they'll try to take over your greenhouse!!
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I would go by feel, in theory general purpose potting compost should have enough feed supplies to get a Tomato from each pot (3/5/etc) without needing any supplemental feed, but some of the compost I have seen and bought this year (Badly stored and wet, or just plain dodo) then maybe a boost of something like a half dose of Phostrogen or other general purpose liquid feed may be a good idea.
Bob
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Mine have stopped growing at the mo, I just put it down to the cooler weather we are having.
IF your going to feed then a 1/2 strength mix would be appropriate, but don't do it too often. Like vortex says about every 2 weeks or so, mine have just had a 1/2 strength feed but they won't get another until fruit starts forming.
Make sure you use a tom feed not a general purpose one ( less nitrogen )
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Do not feed them, and do not plant them into their final positions until the first flowers are there. Once in their final positions wait until the first truss are the size of peas before feeding.
They may look a bit scraggy but remember that you are growing fruits and not leaves.
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Well I did feed them a weak feed but won't now till they flower. The plants themselves are healthy and green. I have planted my gardener's Delight into the 12" pots already though.
Another thing, Jamie Oliver's at home DVD shows him growing all kinds of variety of tomatoes. He had one in a small tin can and said he got 30 tomatoes from it so I suppose as I don't have the pots or room to grow the rest of my Gardener's Delight I could use the surplus in smaller pots to save wasting them ;-)
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Stick 'em outside in the ground when the weather gets a bit warmer. I've grown Gardener's Delight in open soil with good results.
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Why do we need to wait until the first flowers are there??
I have not heard that one before, but if it makes a difference I am happy to give it a go.
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So the plant puts it's energy into the fruit, rather than the foliage.
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Just reallised that I didn't really write what I meant!!!
So why not plant in final position until flowers appear?? Does it make that much difference???
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I think it's just down to everyone's own preferences.... mine have been in 12" buckets in their final place for weeks now... and they are onto their 3rd set of flowers... :D :D
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Just reallised that I didn't really write what I meant!!!
So why not plant in final position until flowers appear?? Does it make that much difference???
Think you'll find it's all to do with available nutrient levels and the plant feeling under stress due to limited root room, if a plant feels under stress one of the survival instincts is to produce seed.
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that makes a lot of sense, not really thought about it before as this is first year of really growing tomatoes