[bappelbe]

Hi
I have germinated my tomatoes fine - 40 seeds and 38 plants.

My mother, who has been growing tomatoes for many years with great success, has had mass failure this year!
She has been having problems for the last 2 years, this year the planted about 30 seeds and has 2 plants that look very weak  , she is using new compost (bought this year).
She was using seed packs that were new last year, but last year she had a large failure rate off a number of different packs of seed.

As an experiment I have put in a few seeds into her compost (half my seeds and half my mothers) at my house to see what happens (they were planted on Saturday so no results yet).

Does anyone have any theories as to why my mother might have such a poor germination rate? Particularly as they seem to be given the same conditions as previous years.

Bill

[grinling]

It is being found that a lot of compost is coming from people's  garden waste, which also includes weed killer which is fatal to tomatoes. A trader has lost most of his stock he sells due to this.

[Yorkie]

I suspect that the compost might be the common denominator here, given that your Mum has a proven track record in knowing what works for her usually, and there are a number of different seeds involved.

[savbo]

surely the original post says the common denominator is the seed? she is usually successful, but last year's new seeds had a high failure rate, and the same seeds were even worse this year.

So the first thing I'd be wondering about is whether all her seeds are stored together, and whether they could have been affected by some extreme of temperature or humidity? Or were they bought from the same shop?

She has wisely changed compost this year, so while it is possible that both types were at fault, it;s not the most likely explanation

sav

[JayG]

Bappelbe: your experiment has to be a good idea, because if you accept that the seeds were fresh (at least last year), that your mum knows what she is doing (the same as she always has) and the compost is new, it doesn't seem to leave many options - nevertheless there must be a reason.

(Can't help thinking that something must have changed - if I understand your post correctly this is the 3rd year on the trot she has had problems?)

[Yorkie]

surely the original post says the common denominator is the seed? she is usually successful, but last year's new seeds had a high failure rate, and the same seeds were even worse this year.

sav

Oops, I misread the original post, thought it said that this year was the first year with problems! 

[bappelbe]

Thanks for the ideas

I will keep you posted on the results of my experiment and any further information.

Bill

[bappelbe]

The experiment points to compost, and perhaps combination of compost and seeds.

of my seeds 2 out of 5 germinated (way below the 95% I am used to getting)
of my Mothers seeds 1 of 5 has germinated and is looking very sick!

perhaps my Mothers seeds are more susceptible plants (they are Suttons Gardners Delight).

I have used the same compost to pot on my Tomatoes and they seem healthy so it looks like just a germination problem, whatever is in it.
Mum used a different compost last year but it might have been the same brand - the bag is thrown out.

It does make me concerned as to what is in the compost!!!!

[jrko]

I thought the common thing here are the pots or seed trays?  As an experienced grower I'm sure she will have washed them thoroughly but it might be worth a check.

[bappelbe]

For the experiment I took Mums compost and seeds to my house, I used my pots, water, window etc. Half my seeds and half hers.
After she first had problems (2 years ago) she changed the seed tray cleaning system as that was what we first thought.

[JayG]

If even your seeds performed poorly in her compost it does seem to point to the compost itself being implicated, although it seems to be a rare problem as we don't get many members posting on here about it despite many being disappointed with at least the visual appearance of some of this year's offerings.

One more experiment perhaps (her seeds in your compost?) 

[bappelbe]

Good idea on experimenting with my compost and Mums seeds.
I have run out of my compost and got a bag that is the same as hers

I'll buy a new bag (hopefully good compost) and experiment.
I'll post results here.

[A Reyt Tayty]

Well. I'm truly baffled with mine. Five different types of tom, all in new compost, all doing nowt much. They get to about 1" high, just forming 1st true leaves. Then they seem to stop and the seed leaves fall off. Now the first true leaves on some are starting to look a bit rough round the edges. Here's a piccy of a Garden Pearl which has been in three weeks. (2 weeks on from first showing through soil. The other plants are all the same (or worse). All plants have been in a constant temp of about 20 degrees and moved off the window ledge at night.

[bappelbe]

There have been problems with pesticides in manure, that stay and are not broken down.

I wonder if there might be a similar problem, grinling referred to it above.

[mumofstig]

Well. I'm truly baffled with mine. Five different types of tom, all in new compost, all doing nowt much. They get to about 1" high, just forming 1st true leaves. Then they seem to stop and the seed leaves fall off. Now the first true leaves on some are starting to look a bit rough round the edges. Here's a piccy of a Garden Pearl which has been in three weeks. (2 weeks on from first showing through soil. The other plants are all the same (or worse). All plants have been in a constant temp of about 20 degrees and moved off the window ledge at night.

I don't know if it's just the phot - but the compost looks very wet, unless you'd only just watered when you took the pic