Tomatoes

Supercell wrote: »

Mine are growing too big for their pots now, anyone planted outside yet?

No, and the forecast is for more cold as the week goes on

I didn't realise that there was a thread here.
Apologies for the long post... (longer than I had intended, just looking for some help).

I planted a mixture of randomness..
Some plum tomatoes from Aldi 2 years ago and taking the last seeds each year and replanting them, and some beef tomatoes from the local supermarket.
Last year I was very late planting them, so this year it was the end of Feb.
They are all (or seem to be) fine.

But... I bought the Tesco Tomato Selection on March 6th, and planted some of them within the next week. In it there are three types from Spain, Sugardrop, Bamano and Ivorino.
Very few of the Ivorino seeds sprouted (I think 3), the others have about 6 each. But they are staying small, even when I have repotted them, and worse, they seem to be struggling.
I put them out a few nights ago, with all of the others, all are suffering from different looking symptoms. Some look underwatered, some look scorched, some have leaves curling in and look underwatered.
I am not sure where to go, or really how to help these progress, any tips would be great. The main ones are still outside now, I will likely leave them out, going into final planters in the next couple of days.
But the small Spanish ones have been taken indoors and are at a south facing window. I took them in today at 1pm, and watered them and kept them in the kitchen where it was cooler. Until this evening when I put them back in front of main window.
Hopefully that will help.
I literally jumped in to these blind. No idea what size the plants usually grow to either, are they smaller than the others etc..
I'm going to have a proper look tonight, but any help from anyone here would be gratefully appreciated.

I am after going out to photograph them just now after typing that, and they look to have improved a lot, so maybe it was water, and bigger pots needed again. I ran out of pots, so will be moving bigger into planter and move those into bigger pots. They still look a bit scraggy though.

The one on far right is a pepper plant
https://i.postimg.cc/L8ddqRKQ/IMG-20210516-233638.jpg
https://i.postimg.cc/VsVP8n78/IMG-20210516-233616.jpg

These are on same window, not looking healthy
https://i.postimg.cc/zXHZXvMR/IMG-20210516-233654.jpg
https://i.postimg.cc/5y6cz22T/IMG-20210516-233643.jpg

And this one in the black pot (I am fairly sure is one of the ivorinos - lost some labels) was assaulted by a clumsy friend and a frisbee. I was giving it extra special care out the front of house, bigger pot, watering it and he came along and almost straight away..
https://i.postimg.cc/5y6cz22T/IMG-20210516-233643.jpg

I don't have greenhouse, looked at the ones in Woodies for €40 the other day.. Was unsure.

EDIT - Looking at those photos the pots look very small and may be the case, but they aren't in those that long and they aren't as small as they look). I hadn't noticed those being that small before...

wench wrote: »

It was a bit early to be putting tomatoes out, they can't take any frost/cold at all.

Don't rush to put them in large pots, they'll put too much effort into roots, and you get straggly plants.
Mine are still inside in 3 inch pots, and won't be going out until the end of the month.

Thanks, Yes, I thought so but somebody I know kept telling me to (still is, words will be had ).
To be fair, I wasn't leaving them out, and only putting them out in the day and back in at evening. I left them out last Sunday or Monday and the temp dropped a bit.
Last night was the first night I left the lot out. The big ones are out again tonight. Hopefully they will be good. I brought in all the smaller ones and some of the peppers.

Here's a pic of one of my "tumbler" tomato plants, it's doing pretty well and has a good bit of fruit on it. I'm pretty sure that it's outgrown the pot but I don't have anything bigger that's suitable for indoors (no tunnel or greenhouse either). Should I cut off some of the flowers on it and try to get a few tomatoes from it? Or just see how it goes as it is? Or something else

Suckit wrote: »

^^ When did you plant them? Are they the ones often used in hanging baskets or the balcony planters?

Planted them ~2 months ago. Yeah, that sounds like them alright, I think that's where the name comes from

wench wrote: »

Did you buy the seeds at The Little Shop of Horrors?
Will it be going out, or staying inside to devour all those who get too near ;-)

I bought them as seedlings. I'm living in Mayo so I doubt the climate is warm enough to plant them out. I'll give hirondelle's advice a go and see how I get on

Holy_Diver wrote:

The pot sizes look more than adequate for the size of the plants tbh so that is not the issue IMO

Are they getting enough light and heat where you have them? Not clear from the photos

They should be yes, they are on the front window south facing. They get sunlight from about 8am until 8;30-9pm, I move the ones that fall into the shade too.
I had left them out overnight one night, I am hoping that caused it. I will try and photo them today in sunlight.

On a separate note - I have no quote or thanks button.. I would ask is that the same for everyone but I can see thanked posts and quotes..

hirondelle wrote: »

Mine appears as normal

Mine back now. I think it might have had something to do with noscript, although it never happened before and is fine now. Maybe just needed to restart browser,
Anyway....
My Tomatoes seem okay since I brought them in and watered them, and have left them in since. The beef are still out, and last night was cold, so I was worried about them (when I catch myself saying that... )
I just finished the last of my Planters, and a few other things in the garden. I just need to paint them and they are ready for the tomatoes looking forward to that.
Would have liked to have got those tumblers too. Something to look forward to next year .
I like the idea of them cascading out of a hanging basket.

Zzippy wrote: »

Are you sure they are tumblers? Any time I grew them they were much bushier, only grew about 18 inches tall but had a lot more sideshoots and grew out over the edge of the basket. Those look more like a vine/indeterminate variety.

No, sorry, the Tumblers are not mine, I was just saying I would like to get them next year. Up at 6am this morning and brought in anything i had outside, they were taking a beating. Mainly Beef.

I have a few different varieties growing, and all seem fine. Some could definitely do with a bit of pruning, but a lot of tomatoes and a lot of flowers still.

I have this small plant though, I'm pretty sure it is the yellow Spanish tomatoes from the Tesco mixed baby tomatoes. I think it's smaller because I ran out of pots and left it in a small pot. It was fine up until 3 days ago, a 6-8 inch pot, and it started showing signs of struggling. But I wasn't sure if it was over watered or under watered. I left it, and it seemed to come back slightly. Yesterday I bought a pot in dealz, and drilled a few holes in the base. Moved it over and watered it.

This morning it looked like the first two photos, and about an hour later the 2nd two. I squeezed off the very top stem as that was just a couple of witheredish leaves, I then gave it a bit of tomato feed. Now it looks worse so I moved it slightly into a cooler area. It is now similar looking but drooping a bit more.

Is there any way to tell if it is over or under watered?

I'm after watering it... just now. After these photos. 😥

https://postimg.cc/gallery/C5Y7bNc

The photo above is from my moneymaker tomato plant, the tomato looks decent and has a nice shine on it

The next one is on the same plant and the skin has gone very dull, almost like matt paint - any idea what's causing this?

All mine are huge but still green.

I've huge green ones, and picked three of the Spanish Orange ones, they were gorgeous, a fair few more of them ripening since then. The baby reds have started ripening too, and I think the plant that died above (couldn't save it) was the only yellow one that grew.

But I have loads! Even after the storm damage 😁. Hopefully they all ripen and no more storms before then 🤞.

I wasn't expecting as many to grow on each plant. In contrast, I only have one pepper from about 7 plants, although a fair few of them have flowers.

Those ones aren't the most flavourful to be honest, maybe not ripe enough, I got more today that ripened over the weekend, and those slug ones, I will try them tomorrow. But the little red, orange and yellow spanish baby mix are gorgeous, the orange are very sweet.

Didn't realise it was slug poop 🤢 not that it's any different from any other poop, but - EATING MY TOMATOES AND POOPING IN MY TOMATOES!! This means war.

I wonder would it be related to me watering them in the latter part of the evening. Around 9pm. I vaguely remember hearing a long time ago (past all of the stuff I've forgotten) that water brings out slugs..