Allotment Gardening Advice Help Chat
Growing => Growing in Greenhouses & Polytunnels => Topic started by: Ma Lowe on May 27, 2014, 09:43
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This year I am putting my tomatoes cucumbers chillis and peppers in the big pots I had from Mo*****ns. I am using ordinary MP compost as it's cheaper but wanted to know is there anything I need to add to the compost to give the plants the best home.
Many thanks
Ma
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I mix in a handful of whichever fertiliser I have to hand - BFB or Supagro at the minute, plus a little more towards the bottom of the pot. Then feed with weak comfrey tea every 2-3 weeks. So far I have had good results from this.
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Normally I just bung them in MP and that's the end of it until they set fruit and get their first feed. This year I've done a mix of MP, some growmore , epsom salts , water retaining gel - but only because I thought the been and queued compost this year was terrible !
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Ahh great, I was going to put them straight in the MP but was unsure if they would be ok then I thought about adding the FBB but thought I would check first and I use the comfrey tea anyway so all should be ok.
I can now put my many tall tomato plants in their final pots
Many thanks :D
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I mix a little garden soil in with multi-purpose compost, as I find that while they're getting towards their first truss, the nutrients already in the compost made the plants very fleshy with a lot of soft green growth.
I suppose it's also cheaper as we have 55 in big pots around various places..:0)
I didn't do it a year or so after the whole lot was taken out after late blight, and it seems that the soil has recovered.
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I use a combo of good MP compost, well rotted manure (bought) and a handful of chicken poo pellets in each pot ;)
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I mix a little garden soil in with multi-purpose compost, as I find that while they're getting towards their first truss, the nutrients already in the compost made the plants very fleshy with a lot of soft green growth.
I suppose it's also cheaper as we have 55 in big pots around various places..:0)
I didn't do it a year or so after the whole lot was taken out after late blight, and it seems that the soil has recovered.
Hi Growster, blight doesn't survive in the soil, it needs infected plant material (such as potato tubers or haulms). I gave up growing tomatoes at our allotment because we always get blight there because people leave potatoes lying around after they've harvested).
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Tall tomatoes get through a lot of water once they are full size, and sometimes I found erratic watering of the pots led to the fruit splitting. Just something to be aware of.
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I mix a little garden soil in with multi-purpose compost, as I find that while they're getting towards their first truss, the nutrients already in the compost made the plants very fleshy with a lot of soft green growth.
I suppose it's also cheaper as we have 55 in big pots around various places..:0)
I didn't do it a year or so after the whole lot was taken out after late blight, and it seems that the soil has recovered.
Hi Growster, blight doesn't survive in the soil, it needs infected plant material (such as potato tubers or haulms). I gave up growing tomatoes at our allotment because we always get blight there because people leave potatoes lying around after they've harvested).
That's a good point, HG. As the toms were in a very concentrated area, and close together, there were several plants dropping all sorts of debris all over the place, so we stopped growing there!
]
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Tall tomatoes get through a lot of water once they are full size, and sometimes I found erratic watering of the pots led to the fruit splitting. Just something to be aware of.
We have an automatic watering system to do our watering in the greenhouse i just feed them weekly :D
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Tall tomatoes get through a lot of water once they are full size, and sometimes I found erratic watering of the pots led to the fruit splitting. Just something to be aware of.
We have an automatic watering system to do our watering in the greenhouse i just feed them weekly :D
Too much water can wash out all the nutrients and/or drown the roots. I've seen it suggested that the plants shouldn't be watered too much early in the season to encourage stronger root growth as they go looking for water.
BTW, the if you're growing tomatoes in the borders of greenhouses, the lower roots are for water and the higher toots are for nutrients (I'm not sure if the same applies in growbags).
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@Ma Lowe. How often does the automatic system switch on and for how long?
I've used soaker hose that goes up and down each side of our 8x4 raised beds and it's currently switched on every other day for 30 minutes but I have a hunch it's getting too much water. I've just today turned it down to 15 mins every other day to see if that seems better.
Adri
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@Ma Lowe. How often does the automatic system switch on and for how long?
I've used soaker hose that goes up and down each side of our 8x4 raised beds and it's currently switched on every other day for 30 minutes but I have a hunch it's getting too much water. I've just today turned it down to 15 mins every other day to see if that seems better.
Adri
The automatic water system is on for 4 mins 2 times a day at the moment but last year was on for 4 mins 4 times a day when they were fruiting. We had the tomato pots that you water into on top of the grow bags previous years and I was thinking of putting these on top of the pots this year too.
Watering is the one thing I never know if I get right.
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I use pots in the greenhouse at home for them too. After planting them, they are given a pint of water each, and not watered again for a week. I then only water when the compost is visibly dry, and they get a good soak. This encourages strong searching roots, as opposed to lazy surface dwelling roots that are prone to drying out easily when the hot weather comes.
This applies to everything in the ground too. After an initial soaking at planting time, nothing is ever watered. at all. Ever
Totty
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I'm a bit torn now.
Shall I try out my Big Drippa set on one side of the greenhouse and water the other side like I normally do (pop bottles with pointy waterers/feeders stuck on - 1 full 500ml bottle a day each???? :unsure:
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I use pots in the greenhouse at home for them too. After planting them, they are given a pint of water each, and not watered again for a week. I then only water when the compost is visibly dry, and they get a good soak. This encourages strong searching roots, as opposed to lazy surface dwelling roots that are prone to drying out easily when the hot weather comes.
This applies to everything in the ground too. After an initial soaking at planting time, nothing is ever watered. at all. Ever
Totty
Not even after a long period of dry weather (which ok it happens rarely here :nowink:)
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Young plants that have not established themselves would get a good soak if things got drastic.
I manage to get loads of organic matter worked into the soil in winter, and want the plants to get their roots deep down into it as opposed to sitting near the top waiting for a daily trickle.
Well worked soil holds it's moisture well even in drought like conditions. It's rare to push your hand into the soil and feel nothing but bone dry soil for any more than a few inches.
Totty
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That's very interesting Totty and think I will try the same with my plants and see what happens. If it means not having to wait for everyone to use the tap on the plot then I am all for it.
I may well have been over watering my tomatoes so maybe this is something that would work better.
When you say that you give the tomatoes a good soaking if the compost is dry do you do this from the bottom or top. As my pots have holes about an inch up e side of the pots it's difficult to water from the bottom.
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The way around that is to cut a length of small bore plastic pipe an inch higher than the pot and push in the corner if square pot or anywhere on the outside if round and water into the bottom of the pot. I used and recycled the round plastic tubes from some solar lights I bought a few years ago.
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I should have mentioned, I only let the compost get on the dry side to establish them, when the first fruits are setting, the toms get watered religiously at seven int mornin, and seven at night. Big fluctuations in moisture levels will lead to split fruit most of the time.
Totty