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Newly sown tomato plants brown and wilting

branagjo48098branagjo48098 Posts: 7
in The potting shed
A newbie here., so any help or advise would be appreciated. I sowed my tomatoes seeds a little late - newbie just experimenting. Sowed in July this year. Plants were coming on well, lots of leaves, approx 4-6 inches tall. Placed them in large grow bag and kept outside. Also kept a few under cover in grow house still in seed trays. They were doing fine and then about 1 week ago, they all showed the same problem. The ones outside in the grow bag and even the ones in the covered grow house...
I have attached some pictures. Any idea why this is happening? Can this be fixed or shall i just dispose and try again in Spring..

Posts

  • FireFire Posts: 19,096
    edited December 2023
    Hi, what country are you in? If it the UK the growing season runs generally about May to October. Before and after that the weather is too cold and light levels too low. The plants aren't happy if the temps drop below 10oC and will die with frost.   You can start plants off again next spring and put out when the night temps warms up. The plants come from south America (Peru and Ecuador) so we have to try and mimic their native warm and sunny habitat .

    It's good to experiment! Good luck!





  • branagjo48098branagjo48098 Posts: 7
    Thanks for the feedback and the links. I live in Ireland so yes I guess i put them outdoors too soon. Will try again in the new year and start afresh.
    I do hate to see them die off though. I may still see if i can save some and bring indoors, although my wife wont be too pleased :-). I experimented with lots of different plant seeds in July this year and they are all making their way indoors, to try save some :-).....
  • branagjo48098branagjo48098 Posts: 7
    I also planted some strawberry seeds and they are in the seed trays outside in the growhouse. I wonder if they will have the same problem with the cold? I did cold stratify them first before germination though, so perhaps that will help them survive the outside cold.
  • FireFire Posts: 19,096
    edited December 2023
    It's not worth starting toms too early - before the light and warmth pick up, else they just get yellow and leggy. Timing is all, as they are tropical plants growing in a frosty country!




  • CeresCeres Posts: 2,698
    There is no point in bringing any of the tomato plants into the house as they die at the end of the growing season .....you can't beat Nature. Start over again next year but not too early. If you start them off too early in the year they will grow tall and thin and keel over and you will have to start again. Leave it until mid to late March and sow them indoors so that they have a decent amount of heat.
    Strawberries are usually okay in the greenhouse during the winter but it rather depends on how small your plants are and how bad a winter we get. Stratifying the seeds helps to break dormancy but has no bearing on whether or not the plants can withstand cold, wet weather. Last winter killed no end of plants that would normally survive.....a lot of gardening is down to luck.

  • JennyJJennyJ Posts: 10,576
    I usually sow tomatoes about the first or second week of April. Any earlier and they get too big for the windowsill before it's reliably warm enough for them to go outside, which is around the end of May here. The timing will be different if your season starts earlier (or later) and if you have a heated greenhouse or conservatory with plenty of space. I usually get the fruits starting to ripen in early August, they crop until maybe mid-October at which point it's getting chilly overnight so whatever fruit is left gets picked and put on trays on the windowsill inside to ripen up. I'm still eating the last of this year's toms.
    Doncaster, South Yorkshire. Soil type: sandy, well-drained
  • FireFire Posts: 19,096
    Welcome to the forum. It's a good place to ask questions when you are just starting out.
  • branagjo48098branagjo48098 Posts: 7
    Hi All, Thanks for the information and the links. Much appreciated..
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