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Growing tomatoes in pots

daniel123daniel123 Posts: 67
in Fruit & veg
Hi There

I was planning on growing tomatoes in 30cm pots. The varieties I have chosen are gardeners delight and costuluto fiorentina. 

At  the moment they are in 3.5cm pots in a heated propogator so when would I transplant and would I transplabt via a 10 cm pot etc?

Also when I transplant them to the final pots I am planning on using westland all puporse with john innes. Do I need to add anything else grit or not? I.am just confused about what to do.

Also on a final note how would show growers grow tomatoes for the ultimate taste?

Many thanks in advance for your help,

Daniel

Posts

  • daniel123daniel123 Posts: 67
    Thanks for this pansy face. 

    At what point would you transplant and how high would they be or would you wait untill roots appear out the bottom.

  • BobTheGardenerBobTheGardener Posts: 11,384
    edited April 2018
    You need to get them out of the propagator within a few days of them germinating (this is true for all seeds) and transfer to somewhere which doesn't go below about 15C and has plenty of light - an indoor windowsill is often ideal.  If you leave them in the heated prop., they will grow too quickly and end up as tall, weak plants.  I plant mine into their final pots in a cold greenhouse when night temps are not falling below 10C.  There is some leeway with the temps but if they get too cold their growth can be 'checked' and they take some time to recover.  Mine are usually about 8 inches tall by then.
    A trowel in the hand is worth a thousand lost under a bush.
  • daniel123daniel123 Posts: 67
    Ok I will remove them from the propogator. Although the problem is that i wont have enough windowsill space from them all. Will putring them in a g/h that is heated do. And should i priotise the chillis etc for.the windowsill.

  • BobTheGardenerBobTheGardener Posts: 11,384
    edited April 2018
    Yes, putting them in a heated greenhouse should be OK, perhaps best to cover them at night though for a while.  I'd put them on a windowsill for a few days before moving them to the greenhouse though, as this will reduce the shock of coming out of the heat of the propogator.  Yes, use the windowsills for your chillies after the tomatoes have been moved on as chillies need much higher night temperatures than tomatoes do.  I wouldn't move chillies into the greenhouse until night temps in there stay above 15C.
    A trowel in the hand is worth a thousand lost under a bush.
  • ShepsSheps Posts: 2,236
    Not sure if you would interested in an alternative to standard pots, but I used a Quadgrow last year and it was incredibly productive, even after giving loads away I still had more toms than I new what to do with  :)

    It is so easy to use, just keep the 30L reservoir topped up with water and feed and wait for the magic to happen. 

    These were Shirley F1 grown outside.




  • Allotment BoyAllotment Boy Posts: 6,774
    edited April 2018
    I too have used a self watering system similar to Sheps with great success. As already said depth is as important as width. Tomatoes have very long vigorous "water" roots and short fibrous "feeding "roots. So pots are a much better bet than growbags. They will do best if they are moved on to a medium pot as they out grow the smaller ones but as Pansyface says it is not vital, if you plant deep they will put roots out from the stem.

    AB Still learning

  • cornellycornelly Posts: 970
    I grow ours in large pots maybe 12 inch, in growbag material standing on trays of chippings which are watered, feeding into the pots once a week, grow Gardeners delight and this year Alicante, last year a good old one Moneymaker, have grown others the same way with equal success
  • PurplerainPurplerain Posts: 1,053
    I don't know why I bother. Mine were checked so I handed them to my sister who is magical with vegetables.

    I rescued some Tumbling Toms from Aldi today. They were dying in the sleet, but then I wondered why? I really dislike eating Tomatoes in any shape or form and always have done ☹️. 
    SW Scotland
  • fidgetbonesfidgetbones Posts: 17,618
    I prick them out at first true leaf stage into 3 inch pots. If they are getting larger than six inch tall and root bound, they go into a six inch pot, then when I have space they go into florists buckets with holes in the bottom. I use Levington M3 pro compost . They get fed with comfrey water.
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