[mad mark]

Tomato plants growing at last with a bit of sun over the weekend, but mine in the plastic greenhouse have got a few white spots on them, why is that? Too much water? Any advice please as I have not grown from seed before just from plants so this is nerve racking stuff. My OH thinks I have left her for the garden this spring...... CHeers

[DD.]

It's probably just sun scorch where the sun has been magnified through water droplets, that's either where you splashed it, or condensation.

[Parsnip]

Don't forget to open the greenhouse during the day when it's really hot Mark...

[sunshineband]

Watering when the sun is not of them is good to - I usually do mine in the evening or at about 6;30 am, then shake the leaves to disperse any droplets 

[mad mark]

Don't forget to open the greenhouse during the day when it's really hot Mark...

Wow do you get really hot down there in Warwickshire!!!! We haven't had much of that yet here.....lets hope...... but I do open up every morning and water in the evening........
Do tomatoes in black buckets need watering every day if inside the plastic greenhouse or everyother at the moment??? Is there a rule for watering toms??? Its a real art this growing lark, think I need to give up the day job to fit it all in.....

[Ice]

Is there a rule for watering toms???

I water from below rather from above and never let them dry out completely.  Consistency is the key to a happy tomato.

[Kristen]

"Is there a rule for watering toms"

My suggestion would be:

Let them get to when you think they need watering.  Lift a pot a bit and "gauge" the weight.  Water really well, let drain for, say, 30 minutes.  Then gauge the weight again.  That should give you a feel for when they have enough water, and when they are getting dry.

How much water will depend on how big they are. A small plant in a large pot won't need much, once the roots have filled the pot, and the plant is 5' tall, they may need watering twice or even three times a day on hot sunny days. I grew my Tomatoes in 11" / 10L pots last year and on hot mid-summer days they had about 1L water in the morning, and probably 0.5L - 0.75L at lunch time and again in the evening.

[Aunt Sally]

In the days when gardeners used terracotta pots he would tap the pot with his walking stick to "hear" when it needed watering - the higher the pitch of the tap the drier the soil.

[DD.]

In the days when gardeners used terracotta pots he would tap the pot with his walking stick

The clumsier gardeners had more "crocks" to use as drainage!

[Plottered]

and what about the able bodied who didnt need a walking stick 

[sunshineband]

The walking stick was to restrain apprentice gardeners around the neck with the handle, if they got too lively  not as an aid to walking I believe 

[Jay The Digger]

I have my tomatoes growing in a polytunel and on sunday when we had a blistering hot day it was stifling in there.  The temperature was easily over 30C even though the side vents were open.  Tomatoes don't like this intense heat.

Over the summer I am going to leave both ends open and fashion a screen from some old net curtains to keep the greenfly out.  This should hopefully allow as much air in as possible.

By 19:00 my tunel is in shade so I water and spray them then.

(Coincidenatlly, I saw the walking stick trick on the Victorian Kitchen Garden the other week - not much use for me though as I use plastic pots, and don't have awalking stick !!!)

[mad mark]

My toms are in old black buckets, the type garages and supermarkets display flowers in. I did a job for a friend and we had £12,000 of plants and trees delivered to a lovely home in Cheshire to plant out, there were loads of these planters and buckets empty by the time we had planted for two days. The toms are only six to eight inches high at the moment and the ones outside the green house are getting plenty of rain at the moment. The ones in the plastic greenhouse are a little larger. So definitely water every day is that the rule? And when it gets really hot, if it does then water twice a day?
Can you badly overwater?
 

[Kristen]

"o definitely water every day is that the rule? And when it gets really hot, if it does then water twice a day?"

Well not exactly. A tiny plant in a large pot would be over watered by that approach. But for a large plant that would do ... but on overcast days might be too often.  You'll need to work on being able to "gauge" hot dry the pots are.

"Can you badly overwater?"

I doubt that you could for a large plant.  Excess water will soak out of the drainage holes, and the plant will drink the rest in a fairly short time   (Not relevant to this particular scenario, but most large pot plants, in suitable sized containers, in Winter, would struggle with cold, wet, feet if kept permanently wet.)

But, again, for a small plant (in a large-ish pot, for its size) you could create wet conditions where the plant becomes unhappy.

Things like Cucumbers and Peppers, that don't like wet feet, probably wouldn't fare very well with that technique!

[Kristen]

P.S. Try lifting one side of a pot that is pretty dry, water, then lift again.  I know I've been doing it for years, and its kinda second-nature for me now, but I don't think it is that hard to tell the difference, and get used to how heavy they should be when moist.

Actually its more how easily, or not, the pot "moves" when pushed a bit.  You will instinctively know how hard you should need to push a small plant in a 3" pot but if it pushes much more easily than you expect that will be because the pot is bone dry And conversely if it surprises you by how heavy it is, then its got enough water.