Allotment Gardening Advice Help Chat
Growing => Growing in Greenhouses & Polytunnels => Topic started by: andyw on April 23, 2012, 17:38
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Some of my tomato leaves are feeling dryer and some have curled up a little. Do I just need to water a bit more?
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what is the soil/compost like?
Push your finger down into the soil a couple of inches, if it feels moist at that level there is no need to add more.
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The soil never dries out but I keep reading posts that say that these are really thirsty plants, I think some water on daily basis. When I saw the curled up leaves I just assumed that I was not watering enough.
Many thanks.
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They are very thirsty - but only in the summer when it gets hot!
At this time of year they are no thirstier than anything else ;)
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It might be they have got cold,where are you keeping them?
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It might be they have got cold,where are you keeping them?
They have been kept in the greenhouse, with the heater on in the evenings, but off during the day.
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Probably not that then :unsure:
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I'll just it keep an eye them, thanks
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One of them so far.
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and six others.
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I wouldn't have put 2 in 1 pot, they look OK now - but by July, there'll be some serious overcrowding going on there!!!
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Yes, I agree. Pot them on seperately into larger pots. I use about 16-18 inch ones.
You can take off some lower leaves and plant them deep. They will produce lots more roots then.
Make sure you're not overwatering too.
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thanks for your responses. I took this greenhouse over in December when we moved in. The reason why I used this configuration was because the gardener used them like this when he was here. If I can find the room I will move maybe in to some more growbags.
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I hates growbags :mad:
Far too small for tomatoes and you'll have to water 3 times a day in hot weather. Far to shallow to allow stems to rooted unless you use a ring culture on top of the bag. Too much of a faff.
Use some larger pots would be my advice. Plant them deep and as they grow gradually fill the pots with more compost.
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you could cut the growbags in half and stand them up on end, these make quite big grow bags - stick a tomato plant in each half ;)
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Good idea. In the top photo I have used a pot that is sitting in a bag, is that ok? I've heard that as the stem grows I can add more compost.
Hopefully this time next year I will have got this right!
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yep they're fine ring culture style :)
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Even with ring culture in a grow bag you'll probably need to water twice a day when the plants get large.
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I thought I read somewhere that when the plants are fruiting you water less often but feed once a week?
is it ok to gauge watering by how dry the soil feels?
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That's correct. If yiou water too much then the fruit becomes flavourless.
Old gardeners used to tap the clay post with their walking stick to hear what sound it made to tell if it needed watering.
Feeling the soil is what I do though :lol:
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Blimey, I think i'll be needing more luck by the sounds of it. If I don't kill them off I will let you know how it goes.
Thanks Andy
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Naar - they're easy to grow. We just like to make it sound difficult ;)
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We all want to grow the best we can so any tips I can the better. Just as long as I don't get too confused!
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That's correct. If yiou water too much then the fruit becomes flavourless.
Why do they use hydroponics to grow them then?
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That supposedly gives them the correct amount of water, not too little and not too much.
But tomatoes sold in shops taste flavourless anyway ::)