[ex-cavator]

Another newbie question alert 

I'm getting overrun in the conservatory / & very soon the greenhouse with tomatoes / cucumbers / peppers / chillies / aubergines that just seen to keep growing 

While they were in small pots watering wasn't a problem as I could stand them in trays & let them soak it up. But now they're all being potted up into larger pots, many of them 10", that's not so easy. If I water from the top with a watering can I wet the leaves, & when it comes to feeding this marks the leaves, which I think is best avoided? Besides which, isn't it better to water them from the bottom?

And another related problem - sweetcorn & runners in paper pots - I've been sprinkling these with a watering can but I find in paper pots they dry out so quickly. If I water these from the bottom by pouring water into the tray they're sitting in, will the paper pots hold up or will they disintegrate?

What's the best way to do it, please? 

[compostqueen]

I stand the big pots in the gravel trays from Wilko, or any big dish etc that will hold water will do and then I water them in that. Best not to splash the leaves as aubergines don't like it and it encourages blight spread apparently. 

I know some folks set up drip feed systems but I'm not that organised   

[Growster...]

I'm trying paper pots for beans, squash and courgettes this year Ex, after a long break in the idea.

I reckon that keeping them close together, upright in a tray, the water from below is still rising enough without breaking up the paper.

As long as I'm carefull, and don't let them fall about, I reckon they'll be OK to plant out in a couple of weeks time.

There are more experts here who know a lot more about using them, but I'd actually run out of pots, so it was an easy decision to make to try them!

[kevinp]

Instead of watering from the top of the plant why not just use the spout of the can to put water just in the pot this will save water

[JayG]

Most of my paper pots hold each other up with the help of a fairly deep plastic tray (ex-supermarket meat container.)

When I run out of deep containers I use shallow ones and loosely tie a piece of polypropylene twine round the pots to help hold them upright.

In general I try to water as near to soil level as possible, which helps avoid sun scorch.

With tomatoes keeping the leaves dry also helps avoid the risk of providing ideal blight spore germination conditions (when planted out I use 2L pop bottles with the bottoms cut off pushed neck-first into the compost and a stick inserted to hold it upright; this delivers the water straight to the roots.)

Cucumbers are a special case ( ) and take quite a bit of nursing through their seedling stages; they don't like their stems getting wet so they get watered from below (i.e. via a tray underneath.)

I tend to avoid using collected rainwater for young seedlings because you never know what fungal spores or other contaminants you may have collected along with the water.

[stompy]

I have an abundance of old supermarket mushroom containers and chinese takeaway containers which i stand my pots in.
The mushroom containers have quite high sides to them and hold the Loo rolls as i use upright and i water from the bottom by filling the tray up once every 3 days.

My plants never seem to get to the point where i need to put them in a pot any bigger than 3", but then again i don't start my toms, courgettes, squashes (etc) off untill mid to end of March as i don't have a heated greenhouse to put them in.

I potted all my plants on on Monday and their all sat in trays which i fill every 3 days, i never water from the top as i feel the roots will go down and fill the pot better if they have to find the water and this also takes away any chance of leaf splash.
Thats how i supply water for my plants and i never have any problems once their all potted on.

[compostqueen]

Those mushroom trays are fab and they last forever if you look after them. They're perfect for the loo rolls to stand up in as you can wedge them in and they'll stay put

They're a tasteful brown now instead of the garish blue 

[stompy]

They're a tasteful brown now instead of the garish blue 

You must shop at M&S or something, i shop at M*******s and ours are garish cheap looking clear plastic. 

They are very robust though.

[compostqueen]

Gerroff!  These are cheapo range from Twonko