growing tomatos in containers

[Riz]

Where To Grow Your Tomato Plant
Tomatoes are sub-tropical plants and therefore require a full sun position. A position against a wall or fence will give an even better chance of success as long as they can receive sufficient water. Soil Preparation
Two or three weeks before planting, dig the soil over and incorporate as much organic matter as possible. The aim is to make the soil able to retain the moisture needed so much by tomatoes.
When To Sow Tomato Plants
http://www.gardenaction.co.uk/images/tomato.jpgTomatoes are unable to tolerate any degree of frost, the timing for planting/sowing outside is therefore key to successfully growing tomatoes. If the tomato seeds are to be sown directly outside (not really suitable in cooler climates), they must be sown when the soil temperature is (and will remain) above 10C (50F) - any lower and the seeds will not germinate. In practical terms this normally means 3 weeks after the last frost date in your area.

Container or Grow Bag Culture
The culture of container grown tomatoes is not very different from other methods. The soil used for containers is best half potting compost and half a soil-based type loam - this gives some weight to the soil which helps the stakes to remain in place and stop winds blowing over the container.

Harvesting Tomatoes
Pick as soon as the fruits are ripe (colour and size will identify this) for the best flavour - eat as soon as possible. This also encourages the production of more fruit. As soon as a frost threatens, harvest all the fruit immediately and ripen them on a window sill. With upright varieties, it is possible to gently flatten the plants onto the soil and cover with horticultural fleece to protect them from the frost.

[Riz]

http://www.global-garden.com.au/images/tomatoe2.jpg

here are some of my pics of tomatos i grew in the summer of 2007 in containers......

i was growing "moneymaker tomatos and cherry "salad tomatos"

[Riz]

more pics........

[Riz]

some cherry tomatoes

[Riz]

they are turning red... :)

its what the season has been all about, even though "fried green tomatoes" are nice aswell..

[Sakeena]

here's a picture of just two of my "Gardener's delight" cherry-type tomato saplings. i started germinating around 15 seeds in a tray like container and only 9 grew which i have now separated.

when planting tomato seeds one should try not to plant them too deep, no more than 1/4" as they take longer to germinate if at all.

tip: water the soil where you plan on planting the tomato plant for say a week with warm water before actually planting, as tomatoes need plenty of water - heard on radio 4

[Sakeena]

aren't tomatoes a fruit so how come it's in the vegetable section?

[Riz]

^true..

but its so common you can hardy call it exotic eh lol

you started the seeds at the right time aswell, how many do you have alltogether !? i will be growing cherry tomatoes aswell, i will germinate them soon...

[Sakeena]

i currectly have 7 growing on my windowsill, given two away. Is it a good idea to germinate more seeds later on say in April so you have a good supply of tomatoes or does it not make a difference?

[Riz]

yeah its a great idea to "stagger" the tomato grow so you get a supply of tomatoes steadily..
you might have to wait until mid may when the weather improves and you can leave your babies outdoors permanently. Its what i have been doing for two seasons,
I actually planted them in the ground in my 2006 season ( no pics they all got lost on my laptop which crashed) they grew huge as well, some were over 5 feet tall i had to stake them with canes otherwise they would have broken off due to all the fruit on them, i had a few slug and snail issues as well, but i did get a nice little harvest and i was well impressed by the quality .

[Sakeena]

..............not looking forward to impending war with the slugs, snails and the rest of the creepy crawlies underworld.............

in fact kinda puts me off from planting anything outdoors :s

---

i've planted the tomato seedlings two per pot was that wise or should i have singled them out (in one pot theres three)?

[Riz]

..............not looking forward to impending war with the slugs, snails and the rest of the creepy crawlies underworld.............

in fact kinda puts me off from planting anything outdoors :s

to some degree one can control the predators ( slugs and snails) organically by simply mulching the area in which the tomatoes are growing in, also you can use slug and snail pellets ( organic) snails can also crawl up the pot and still munch away on the tomatoes leaves, some gardeners use Vaseline to smear on the side of the pots so the snail slips off :)



i've plant the tomato seedlings two per pot was that wise or should i have singled them out (in one pot theres three)It should be okay for now, but as they get bigger the roots will intertwine so you ll have to separate them and pot them on individually, not really a hassle though....

[Sakeena]

video link for how to 'pot on' (http://www.videojug.com/film/how-to-pot-on-tomatoes)

does it matter how often you repot with a tomato plant? does it affect it's rate of growth or anything?

[Riz]

does it matter how often you repot with a tomato plant? does it affect it's rate of growth or anything?

If you replant the plant while its flowering really well, It will revert back to vegetative growth as in it wont produce flowers it will just grow ( it starts it cycle over again) so its best to "pot on" when its still in its early growth ( a few flowers) and then move to a bigger pot and do not disturb it again...

I gave a way some chili plants in a small container to my friends ( flowering) it was ready to produce fruit, they decided to plant it in the ground so it would have plenty of root space, but the plant dropped the flowers and started growing in vegetative growth again, and at this time it was September and at the end it did not produce any fruit.

[Sakeena]

oh ok, you know what to be safe i shall be separating them sometime next week or week after and then re pot them once more and leave (inshallah)

have you any growing this year? if so what variety and how far a long are they?

[Riz]

have you any growing this year? if so what variety and how far a long are they?

I have not started any at the moment, my home is full of chili plants at least 50 SEEDLINGS. i have cherry tomato seeds which i will probably germinate next week sometime inshallah, and will probably grow around 15 to 20 plants which i will give most away to family and friends and maybe keep around 5 for myself,
i will be growing them in pots.. your babies will probably not get that big until you have taken them outdoors and left them there, even if you use relatively small containers you will still get some fruit on the plant, as you know the golden rule "the bigger the container the bigger the yield"

If you look at the terracotta pots i used in page1, they are not that big and i still managed to get some decent tommies of them

[Sakeena]

^^ so you think i should just leave them as they are and move them to bigger pots when they are ready to be planted outside in containers?

I got some tomato moneymaker variety seeds which i shall be germinating in the coming weeks

[Riz]

^^ so you think i should just leave them as they are and move them to bigger pots when they are ready to be planted outside in containers?

you can separate the 2... mid may is the best time to leave them outdoors in our climate, (the chances of frost are low) so you have a few weeks yet, once they have grown a few set of leaves you can re- pot them

I got some tomato moneymaker variety seeds which i shall be germinating in the coming weeks

I germinated the moneymaker variety of seeds 2 days ago and have great germination rates, also the "salad variety" tomato, ill upload pics later when things get intresting..

Riz-

[Riz]

some tomato seedlings the "moneymaker variety".. need to pot them individually soon........ :D

[Riz]

i have potted all my tomato seedlings in single pots, and today i left them out all day, the temps are around 20c. and they are growing nicely....

[Sakeena]

hmm nice.

hi there, how's it going? quick question what does it mean if your leaves are turning purple even though they are getting plenty of sun and water? also the same varity in another pot has dried upo leaves?

[Riz]

its the cold weather, the leaves turn purple, they get the flu, you should if you can bring them indoors in the evenings...

[Sakeena]

that's it, thay haven't been outside :S

so how do i solve the flu? (will post up pics tomorrow inshallah)

[Riz]

found this on a website.. link below

Purpley plant leaves generally indicates a phosphorus deficiency which could be from a soil that is too cold, too wet, too dry, for the bacteria that feed the plants to be busy, or maybe, possibly a general phosphorus deficiency in the soil.



http://forums.organicgardening.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/8041078301/m/3121049372

[Riz]

sakeena..

what type of food are you feeding them , if any atall !?!??

[Riz]

my tomato seedlings need re planting in bigger containers... so far i have not used any tomato feed or nutrients..

[Riz]

bought some new pots today,, really cheap, my tomato plants will be planted in these and left in the same pots all summer, no problems with the tomato seedlings at the moment, i have been checking them every couple of days... :cool:

[Riz]

the tiny pots for the tomato seedlings are too small, so i had to get some more pots to repot them...

fill with soil, not to the brim though, leave around 4inches from the top

[Riz]

carefully take the tomato seedling out of the small container, and gently tease the roots out, so when they are in the big pot they shoot downwards

[Riz]

place the seedling on top of the soil and gently cover the rootball with soil, firm the soil in so there is no air gaps.. add more soil if you need to, and give it a nice soaking with water... job done !!

[Riz]

we have been having some decent weather in the last couple of days and the tomato plants are looking healthy and growing really well without any signs of disease...... I will wait until i see some flowers developing before i gave them nitrogen feed to boost them up.. I still have a few tomato seedlings in very small containers which i need to repot aswell...

[Riz]

i have never used these soil bags before so i will give it a go,

[Kirsten]

I'm fighting a constant war with the squirrels... this is an older picture, as of today two of those three tomatoes have disappeared.

http://i25.tinypic.com/29bk0vk.png

[Riz]

Hi kirsten

Well you are way ahead of me, my plants have not even flowered yet, but they are developing..I think its time you invested in a catapult and some steel ball bearings :) ( just kiddiing, well maybe)

[Kirsten]

ARGH. I'm about to take your catapult suggestion seriously!!! I came home from work today to discover that there are ZERO tomatoes left in my garden and there were about twelve when I left this morning. We even have a fence too, and the tomato plant that formerly had three tomatoes (in the pic above) was set up on this metal stand purposely so the squirrels couldn't reach it... I have no idea how they got to them :(

I wanted to grow tomatoes for myself, not to feed the neighborhood squirrels, lol! :(

[Riz]

squirrels are good at climbing so am sure it was easy for it to climb the stand, you should try greasing the stand so it slips of all the time that would be funny, pure youtube material :D i jest of course..

luckily for me i dont have much of a squirrel probelm but i have seen one or two in my garden last season :)


just had a quick look at my tomatoes ad happy to say they have little yellow flowers that are developing right now...

[Riz]

I used some small containers for the tomato seedlings which is now huge and flowering but no sign of tomatoes yet, i just inspected the small pot and its really firm which means to me that there is not much space inside the container so it might be a low yeilder, but on the plus side i have many big containers and the tomatoes are doing really well..

[~Obsidian~]

Heres a pic of mine: they started out in pots on my windows, as soon as they started to grow they grew quite vigorously - I had to repot them after a while (I had 15 seeds and 12 of them germinated!:D) I hardened them off and planted them out, and now I've got wacky big bushes bearing lots of fruit Alhumdulillah :D

Heres a recent-ish pic

Edit: this was taken a couple of weeks ago, and they were quite tame! Now they're BUSHES

[Riz]

they look really healthy, did you mulch the ground ?

[~Obsidian~]

Nope :D I'm a newbie, didn't have a clue about that before! Plus I have no idea where I would get that from anyway :o Alhumdulillah they're still very healthy, they look even better now! And much more orderly too :D

[Riz]

some italian beef tomatoes i got given by one of my neighbours, they will be small plants but managable,, first time growing beef tomatoes so lets see how i will do :)

[~Obsidian~]

How do I know when a tomato is ready to be picked?

[Riz]

lovley weather we have been having down south for the past few days.. most of the tomato plants are blooming and i am seeing small fruit set so its all good at the moment although i have ben watering the tomatos every other day in the evenings.. here are a few pics

[Riz]

How do I know when a tomato is ready to be picked?



wait a while yet, they need to stay on the plant to get riper. first they are green, then they start getting lighter green, then pale nearly white, then pink deepens to red. you can pick them once they get a little pink and they will finish ripening inside at room temperature as long as you don't refrigerate them. your plants will produce more tomatoes overall if you pick before the tomatoes get completely red, BUT the tomatoes will TASTE better if they ripen fully on the vine. But remember the bugs and insects love red tomatos awell :)

good luck

[Riz]

finally the italian tomatoes are fruiting....

[Riz]

The last fews days have been really warm and my tomatos are loving it.. some pics for you ................ two of them were wilting so i gave them a nice long drink after around 10 minutes they fully recovered ;)

[Riz]

I use Wd-40 and i spray the lip of the container with it, so everytime a slug crawls up the container it slides back down again, you can also smear vaseline around the brim of your containers, you might have to apply it once a week but it does help with the predator problem and this way you are not using chemicals.

[Kirsten]

ahahaha I'm sorry that just struck me as really funny, the idea of all these slugs trying to climb up and then just sliding right down again!

[~Obsidian~]

ahahaha I'm sorry that just struck me as really funny, the idea of all these slugs trying to climb up and then just sliding right down again!

And using WD-40 as well...talk about bringing out the big guns! :p

[Riz]

ahahaha I'm sorry that just struck me as really funny, the idea of all these slugs trying to climb up and then just sliding right down again!

lol.. well you know how it goes kirsten ;)

And using WD-40 as well...talk about bringing out the big guns! :p

couldnt find the vaseline :)

[Riz]

looks like i will be getting a bumper tomato harvest this season inshallah

some more pics..

In no particular order.. and all grown in pots and grow bags

moneymaker
salad tomatos
beef tomatos

[Stealth]

Those Italian tomatoes are looking great. I've never eaten 'em. How do they taste?

The following are pic's of my tomato plants (2 in 1 bucket). I received these as a gift when they were just seedlings. How they've grown. Mashallah.

[Riz]

i let you know when i have tasted them... :)

they look good stealth.. lets hope they go red still on the vine,, last season only a handful went red on the vine, the weather was so bad..

[Riz]

some pics i have taken today...

i must say i am feeling good about the tomatoes this season, i am glad i used " growbags" aswell as containers, the plants are healthy green and lush and have small yellow flowers every were on the vine.

[~Obsidian~]

Wow those look healthy! How deep is that grow bag? Might try doing the same next season InshAllah to save soil space.

[Riz]

about 4 inch deep ( the roots spread instead of going down) and the grow bags only cost £1.99 with the soil. you can insert 3 tomato seedlings in one bag

[Riz]

It rained really heavily last night :stormy: woke up in the morning and saw a few tomatoe plants on the ground, i had restake them, but on a positive note, all the plants are doing really well, today is a sunny day so all is well.

[Riz]

The tomato plants are packing on weight, I found 2 plants toppled over, might have been the neighbours cat or a gust of wind. I have some plants in real small containers and they are now huge, i am well impressed this season..

[~Obsidian~]

MashAllah, they look good :) How many plants have you got? Harvested any yet?

[Riz]

i have 10 plants in total, most in containers and some in grow bags, we still have till early september to harvest them so ill watch the weather and see what happens but at the mooment they are growing well so i shall let them be, i try to be organic grower and have not used any nutrients in all pots, i suppose i could get some " fruit ripening" nutrients to give them a helping hand, i know many people who do use nutes and fertz but i try not to unless its organic.

[Riz]

I has so much fruit on one tomato plant it was keeling over, so i taken the big ones off and now they are in the house at room temps, lets see if they turn red.

[~Obsidian~]

Nice shape! Hope they ripen

[Riz]

thanks..
so do i..

today i decieded to cut of all the side shoots with just foliage and no grow sites, the plant wont be growing anymore ( dont confuse growing with stretching at this late stage) so the plant concentrates all its energy in bulking the tomatoes up and ripening them, if i left the side shoots growing the process would have taken longer and the weather is terrible and they would have possibly get some rot or bacterial spots,

be careful and just cut the side shoots of from the main growing stalk, if you see any side shoots with little flowers hanging down, you can either leave them to grow on or just cut that stem of and just concentrate on the tomatoes you have allready on the branches.

[Riz]

this is the plant now after its had a good haircut, as you can see most was just foliage and only a few tomatoes on the vine, but they are nice and healthy with a nice glossy skin, now the plant will concentrate all its energy on the fruit that is on the vine.

[Riz]

some more tomatoes in pots.. i pinched out the side shoots on them aswell. I have a few more plants to trim aswell so ill do that later on today.... i also need to harvest the radish pods of the bushes aswell as the rest of the potatoes and the wild mint i have growing in the back wich is getting out of control

[~Obsidian~]

Cool beans, I shall soon be doing the same to my own...if I can bear to see them looking so pitiful :D you cut off a ton of leaves..how's it gonna be photosynthesising then?

[Riz]

.how's it gonna be photosynthesising then?

its the end of the plants growing vegatative cycle, so it just send the fluid up the stems to bulk it up and ripen it, it doesnt need to grow any more leafs. whats allready on the branches will suffice.

[~Obsidian~]

Any tips on identifying a sideshoot? Are they just the ones that grow between a branch and the stem? So it looks like 2 branches in one place?

[Riz]

Any tips on identifying a sideshoot? Are they just the ones that grow between a branch and the stem? So it looks like 2 branches in one place?


its all the branches that are not growing tomatoes and have any flowers growing on them ,basically the ones just growing leaf, ( mainly the side shoots)

[Riz]

i have not done this to all my plants, only a few just to see, some tomatoes need to be really developed before you can take the side stems of so maybe you want to leave them for another 2 weeks before you do it. The "salad" tomatoes are still developing so ill be leaving them plants to the last minute...

[Riz]

These Create Ethylene Gas:
Apples, apricots, avocados, ripening bananas, blueberries, cantaloupe, citrus fruit (not grapefruit), cranberries, figs, guavas, grapes, green onions, honeydew, ripe kiwi fruit, mangoes, melons, mushrooms, nectarines, okra, papayas, passion fruit, peaches, pears, peppers, persimmons, pineapple, plantains, plums, prunes, quinces, tomatoes and watermelon.
These Become Damaged by Ethylene Gas:
Asparagus, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, chard, cucumbers, cut flowers, eggplant, endive, escarole, florist greens, green beans, kale, kiwi fruit, leafy greens, lettuce, parsley, peas, peppers, potatoes, potted plants, romaine lettuce spinach, squash, sweet potatoes, watercress and yams.

[Riz]

some of my tomatoes are going red still on the vine.. :)

[~Obsidian~]

Alhumdulillah!

I've had 4 go red on the vine :D

I've butchered a little bit of the plants, they look so sad although I can see the toms more clearly! I don't like cutting off that many leaves, it looks like they'll be left with none. What about the tomatoes that are just developing now? Shall I cut them off?

[Riz]

yeah..

just get rid of them so the plant concentrates its energy on the ones that are big and growing well on the vine..

[~Obsidian~]

I did it...loads of little fruits on show, I'm hoping I did it correctly and I hope that they survive :eek:

I can see al the toms though, they look lovely :D

[Riz]

taken a dozen tomatoes of the vine ( still green) and put them in a bowl with 2 apples from the apple tree in the garden and left the bowl in the cupboard, some of them are turning orange on the vine aswell..... In the long run a plastic or glass greenhouse ( depends on your budget) is the way to go because this season we didnt have a proper summer i can recall only 4 days of consecutive sunshine and that it !!
and last season wasnt great either

[~Obsidian~]

In the long run a plastic or glass greenhouse ( depends on your budget) is the way to go because this season we didnt have a proper summer i can recall only 4 days of consecutive sunshine and that it !!


See for some reason I was thinking the same thing...where did summer go? :confused: and to top it all off, all this disgusting rainy weather and then today we get sun again? I can't clearly distinguish between the seasons anymore!

[Kirsten]

Hey, I'll trade you guys!! I've had about a month now of blistering heat and sun and no rain whatsoever and everything's drying up. I've put buckets in every sink to save water (leftover from rinsing fruit, etc) and pouring it into the garden in addition to regular watering, and it still isn't enough.

[Riz]

Hey, I'll trade you guys!! I've had about a month now of blistering heat and sun and no rain whatsoever and everything's drying up. .

lol..

we are brits kirsten, when there is 2 days of hot sun we all start complaining and if it rains more than 2 days we bloody complain again :)

well done though conserving water and using it wisley :)

[Riz]

some of my tomato plants, some i have pruned back and some i have left alone to grow...

[Riz]

some leaves that are yellowing ( the bottom leaves) the rest are fine and lush, but all are still green and firm to touch.. maybe we have another 2 weeks of cloudy weather and then its going to get cold, so thats the time line we are looking at in around the ( 2nd week in september)

[Riz]

i had a nice suprise today,

I though i check on my tomatoes which i left in the kitchen cupboard along with some ripening apples.. and they are doing really well some have turned completly red and some are orange at the moment :)

[~Obsidian~]

What an odd assortment! Looks good though, glad they're ripening well. I'm giving my own ones a chance to ripen on the plant (a couple are) or at least let them mature as much as they can before it gets reallly cold, because I'm rubbish at spotting which tomatoes are going to ripen (yes even with that knife trick) I can only tell they are going to ripen when they get a pink tinge/go that peculiar yellow colour.

[Riz]

some pics i have taken today.... "moneymaker" variety

[~Obsidian~]

Beautiful! And ripening at the same time! My hats off to you riz *puts a hat on then takes it off*

[Riz]

thanks :)

As you can probarly see that i got rid of all the side shoots so all the goodness goes to ripen the fruit.. and its a tiny pot i grew them in, the pot is rootbound i can tell but it has still finished the tomatoes of really well. I still have lots of "salad" tomatoes in the garden and slowly they are turning orange and not forgetting the italian beef tomatoes also...

[~Obsidian~]

What're you gonna do with the tomato overload?

[Riz]

may keep some for seeds for next season ( i will show how to do this) and the rest will be given to family and friends..

[~Obsidian~]

Coolio. And I was well proud of my plants as well, you put them to shame :p I'mma keep them in pots next year, and try growing some larger varieties too inshAllah!

[Riz]

Coolio. And I was well proud of my plants as well, you put them to shame :p I'mma keep them in pots next year, and try growing some larger varieties too inshAllah!

I honestly think you have done really excellent for a first timer and next season i can see your grows to be amazing.
Its always a good idea to grow some in pots and some in the ground as with the pots you can bring them indoors out of the cold, you can leave them in a garden shed or hut or just leave them in the kitchen untill the weather improves. In winter time you get some good prices on greenhouse/polytunnels or you can even look to buy a second hand one from the local newspaper. Or if you know anyone who is handy at D.I.Y you can get one constructed for under £40 ( materials) you can use plastic sheets instead of glass, i may do one for next season...

[~Obsidian~]

Good idea, I'll keep an eye out in the paper/gumtree/anywhere, if not I'll prolly end up constructing it meself (not letting anyone else have all the fun!)
JazakhAllah Khayr :D:D inshAllah mine will go well and yours will too:butterfly-049:

[Riz]

yep, ill be doing the same thing looking for a bargain greenhouse over the winter and new year or maybe construct a cold frame aswell..

Ill be bringing indoors my salad variety tomatoes tomorrow and leaving them at normal room temps hopefully they will turn red or i might leave them in the kitchen, i will be leaving some pots outdoors till the end just to see how it all worked out, it will be handy to know for next season.

[Riz]

some more pics of my outdoor tomatoes.. its raining so i taken the pics indoors " italian" and "moneymaker" variety

[Riz]

some are green and some are ripening on the vine..

[~Obsidian~]

They look amazing...I deffo wanna grow big ones next year, just not those huge ridged ones, they look insane!

The whole bunch of big fruits there look so good!

[Riz]

salaam and hello everyone.

I have taken lots of clones /cuttings from plants before but never a tomato plant, So today i took 3 cuttings of my "moneymaker" variety tomato plant, some heirloom tomato varities seeds are expensive so this way you can save some money by taking clones or cuttings of your favourite vegetable plant, aslong as you can get light to the plant you can over winter them and plant them outdoors for next season and save yourself the trouble of starting seeds which will take time to start, this way you can start of the new growing season with a head start....

things you will need

sharp clean blade or scissors
potting soil
pots
rooting gel/powder


It’s the “sucker shoots” on the plant which I will use as my cuttings /clones, sorry about the quality of the pics.. inbetween the "y" of the stems, cut with clean sharp blade or scissors. put them in water for a couple of hours, look for the best sucker shoot to use as a cutting

* ill see if i can find a better pic of the "sucker shoots"

[Riz]

I use last years "seedling potting soil" i had a quarter of a bag, i used old seedling pots ( give them a good clean before hand)

i made holes in the soil using a pencil, so the stem which will have rooting gel on it will not get smeared of ( pic 2)

[Riz]

insert one inch of the stem into the rooting powder shake of excess and carefully insert into the hole you prepared earlier. ( think "blue peter")

carefully firm around the soil so the stem stays upright, the tiny clones/cuttings have not developed a root system yet so it will be taking its moisture from the leafs,

* its always best to put some rooting powder on a plate and use that instead of dipping the stem into the bottle ( cross contamination can occur) if you have any excess powder left over throw it away and dont pour it back into the bottle same goes with the rooting gel.

[Riz]

i have some tube lights 35 watts ( doubles) i will be using this soft light, if you dont have an aid of lights you can use the windosill, just keep them out of any bright light , they need soft light, so i have some under lights and i will have some on the windosill just to see how both work out for me

[Riz]

i have also taken some cuttings from the "beef tomato" and ill be leaving them in a glass of water for 4 days, they should root in the water

[Riz]

not my pic

Root System 4 days in glass of water.

http://www.njtomato.com/Clone_files/image001.jpg

[Riz]

so i did all this today, its something intresting to do over the winter months,, ill ulpoad pics on a regular basis, its fun rewarding and intresting :)

[~Obsidian~]

So your going to grow tomato plants over the winter months? Will they then survive and fruit next summer?

[Riz]

So your going to grow tomato plants over the winter months? Will they then survive and fruit next summer?

No i wont be, i just wanted to see if i can root them well,

in future i will be growing 3 to 4 strains of tomato plants and then i shall take cuttings of them in march -april and grow them outdoors, this way i dont need to germinate a dozen seeds, just a few plants will give you lots of cuttings to grow on

I have the growing equipment to grow indoors if i wish too but i wont be growing tomatoes indoors..

[Riz]

the plants that i still have outdoor arnt looking too healthy.. keep finding tomatoes on the vine that are just about to rot, so i picked them out and threw them away.. the salad tomatoes are looking really pathetic aswell...

[~Obsidian~]

Gross...has much of the crop been ruined?

[Riz]

about 40%

[~Obsidian~]

Dang :( Never mind eh, theres next year iA:)

[Riz]

Naa its cool.

i got lots of tomatoes overall and i gave lots of plants away to friends and family so over all taking the weather into consideration i still harvested a decent crop without the use of a greenhouse.. how about yours how are they doing ? and were is dawuduk??

[~Obsidian~]

Posted in the tom thread. And I dunno, disppeared :confused:

[Kirsten]

Today I was walking to class and outside, just along the path (like if you can picture a university path with trees and the occasional flower bush and stuff)... there was a tomato plant.

Really, I'm not kidding. I don't know who or what planted it (and it's short, only about a foot tall)... I kind of wonder if some kid dropped part of his salad or something and it randomly sprouted.

[~Obsidian~]

Maybe it was there to learn! :p

Okay that was so bad, I apologise on behalf of my offensively crap sense of humour :o Maybe the caretaker thought it was perty and decided to leave it? Does it have any toms?

[Kirsten]

haha well it made me laugh :)

OK after much discussion with my Residential Advisor and some friends (yes I took this very seriously)... I dug it up and took it home. I reasoned that

a) If someone had seriously planted it, they wouldn't have planted it there, where it's liable to get trampled for starters
b) They wouldn't have planted it so late... it's still pretty small for a tomato plant
c) If I don't pull it up maintainance and landscaping people will tear it down. If the students don't trample it first.
d) We're going to be hitting winter soon and temperatures go way below freezing, there's no way it'll survive past October.

So I went at night and dug it up, trying not to break too many roots... and I planted it in a pot in my room and watered it really well. I'm REALLY hoping it survives... it already has two little flower buds and I really hope they don't die!!

[~Obsidian~]

LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL

That is so not what I expected!! I hope it survives :D

[Riz]

haha well it made me laugh :)

OK after much discussion with my Residential Advisor and some friends (yes I took this very seriously)
lol... sounds like a clandestine secret operation... did you wear a balcalava ?

So I went at night and dug it up, trying not to break too many roots... and I planted it in a pot in my room and watered it really well. awww bless !!!

I'm REALLY hoping it survives... it already has two little flower buds and I really hope they don't die!!After all that it better bloody survive lol

ps.. I admire your dedication and devotion to plants :)

[Riz]

. I don't know who or what planted it (and it's short, only about a foot tall)... I kind of wonder if some kid dropped part of his salad or something and it randomly sprouted.


probarley a bird consumed the seed and then flew to another place and it sprouted.. it happens a lot....

[Kirsten]

lol... sounds like a clandestine secret operation... did you wear a balcalava ?


haha no - but I did make my boyfriend stand guard in case any campus police came by. We didn't think they would really care about me digging up what basically to them is a weed anyway, but we thought they might find it kind of sketchy that two random college students were digging away like mad in the forest at night.

Anyway, I brought him to the tomato plant. Around it are some various other plants. I asked him to pick out the tomato plant. He pointed to THE WEED. *sigh* so much to teach this boy... :eek: :p

I managed to get out all of the taproot and I think most of the side roots. Planted it last night super deep (like half the plant is under the soil now) since they're supposed to be able to shoot out new roots from the stem... I woke up this morning to find it just fine, came back at noon to find it all wilting so I got super worried but then I had to go to work anyway... by the time I came back it was :natur014: again, I hope it stays that way!

I walked past the patch where it used to be on my way to class today and felt slightly guilty about the sort of messy, now plantless area :p I tried to put the dirt and mulch back as best as I could...

[Riz]

haha no - but I did make my boyfriend stand guard in case any campus police came by.

you should have got a mp3 player and put on the "mission impossible" theme that would have been awesome :)

I asked him to pick out the tomato plant. He pointed to THE WEED. *sigh* so much to teach this boy... :eek: :p

lol awww, funny when i had a plum tree a friend of mine came to visit and pointed at the plum tree and he said " is that a onion tree" lol when i told him onions grew in the ground he wasnt even suprised...


I walked past the patch where it used to be on my way to class today and felt slightly guilty about the sort of messy, now plantless area :p I tried to put the dirt and mulch back as best as I could...

lol... thanks kirsten for making my day....

[~Obsidian~]

Anyway, I brought him to the tomato plant. Around it are some various other plants. I asked him to pick out the tomato plant. He pointed to THE WEED. *sigh* so much to teach this boy... :eek: :p

I walked past the patch where it used to be on my way to class today and felt slightly guilty about the sort of messy, now plantless area :p I tried to put the dirt and mulch back as best as I could...

:D

[Kirsten]

lol awww, funny when i had a plum tree a friend of mine came to visit and pointed at the plum tree and he said " is that a onion tree" lol when i told him onions grew in the ground he wasnt even suprised...


LOL I've never heard of anyone thinking onions grow on trees! I always thought pineapples grew on trees until someone told me you could grow one from a top :) I still get lots of people asking me why my pineapple pot is so small, because they think pineapples grow underground, which I guess kind of makes sense if you think about it.

Anyway, it's POURING rain today, and tomato seems to be doing well enough. Everyone who walks in rubs their fingers on the leaves and sniffs them, and then does the same to the lemon (which is developing some REALLY strong-scented leaves!)

[Riz]

remember the tomatoe plants in the grow bag,,, we have had some decent sunshine in the last couple of days.. :)

[Kirsten]

Lucky!!! I am so jealous!!

Well, here's the stolen tom, doing ok so far:

http://i38.tinypic.com/8xsuc4.png

[Riz]

hi kirsten..

It looks very healthy :)

[Kirsten]

It's been growing nicely :)

http://i36.tinypic.com/2rmpmwy.jpg

[~Obsidian~]

Hey she's grown! YAAY!:natur014:

[Riz]

some of my tomatoes still on the vine turning red,, some are green and i doubt if they turn red.. crazy british weather

[Riz]

if anyone remembers the 3 tomato cuttings i took earlier...

well one died and the other 2 are going great indoors

[Riz]

just an update on the 3 cuttings i took earlier.. 2 of them died and one is going great guns, i keep it in the bathroom.. still in the same pot

[Kirsten]

Somebody is really getting kind of big here... almost as tall as I am!

http://i33.tinypic.com/2zfpp9z.png

[Riz]

wow..
this is the tallest potted tomato plant i have ever seen :)

i am surprised it hasn't toppled over...

[Kirsten]

You can't see it in this picture, but it is tied to the bedpost :) I was letting it use the pineapple as a crutch for awhile, but then it outgrew the pineapple.

[~Obsidian~]

Woo thats huuuge! Brilliant :D Oddly enough I think I dreamt of that plant last night :eek: it had climbed up one side of my door and along the top, but was labelled a tomato plant :eek: looking freakishly like yours :D

And whilst I was in the middle of replying to this message my cat decided to sit on my laptop and hibernated it so I think I've typed this twice now!

[Kirsten]

Aww you have a kitty!!! Pics please, I love cats!

And last night I think I discovered the thing has whiteflies. I can't decide whether or not to throw it out... I'm actually not THAT attached to it so I would rather lose that than have the flies contaminate my pineapple and tomato and avocados (eek!). Supposedly you can wash the blasted insects off, but how and where am I supposed to do this in a college dorm? Not to mention I really don't have the time right now .... :(

I'm thinking of taking a page out of Riz's book and throwing out the main plant, but trying to grow some cuttings from it. I'm pretty sure I can clean off a cutting. But I don't have any rooting hormone...

[Riz]

you can scrape them off with your hands.. or take it in the shower with you, the steam will make the white flies fall off ( if you try it let us know if it works)

its possible to clone without the hormone gel/powder people have been doing it for years.. looks like you have the ideal conditions in your dorm room to start cuttings..

but wait.....

the cuttings will grow really well and you wont be able to put them out till mid may, another 6 months to go yet so they will be huge plants themselves, you might have to take cuttings of the cuttings eventually :)

[Kirsten]

OK I ended up taking a cutting off the top and replanting it. And uh... right now it looks very dead. :( I'm hoping that it'll still come back to life and that as long as the leaves aren't brown, they can still perk up again. *hopeful*

[~Obsidian~]

Good luck with that!

[Riz]

OK I ended up taking a cutting off the top and replanting it. And uh... right now it looks very dead. :( I'm hoping that it'll still come back to life and that as long as the leaves aren't brown, they can still perk up again. *hopeful*

good luck with that..


not to worry though muslimgrower has lots of packets of F1 tomato seeds ( organic)to give-away in the new year, thanks to an on-line seed company in U.K who donated for FREE...

more details to come later on in the new year..

[Kirsten]

Wow Riz, that's awesome! I can't wait for tomato season next year!!

Well - the tomato cutting died. Not because I didn't plant it correctly or water it or whatever, but I went on vacation for the last few days and the plant is next to my dresser. Apparently when I closed one of the drawers, I got the top of the plant STUCK in there and somehow didn't notice... so it was utterly crushed when I came back.

Oops :(

[Riz]

Well - the tomato cutting died. Not because I didn't plant it correctly or water it or whatever,

Oops :(

shame, i wonder what kind it was...

so if you start of more tomatoe plants next year, what will you do about the squirrel problem !!!? :(

[greenmummy]

Salams i am new...i want to start growing vegetables for my family. I know you have said that tomatoes do not grow in frosty weather so would starting it in june be a good idea? Since i live in London. Would it be better to grow cherry tomatoes?

[Riz]

w/salaam greenmummy, thanks for joining muslimgrower :)

you can sow the tomato seeds right now indoors and in mid -may when they are around 6 to 8 inches in height you can pot them on outdoors, mid- may is the best time to plant them outdoors as the chances of frost in the evenings are less.. in London and areas surrounding it some gardeners pot them outdoors in the first week of may...

yes you can grow cherry tomatoes and other tomatoes which can grow in uk...

[greenmummy]

ok jazakAllahu khairan. I would like to start, where do i get the seeds from? Is using a grow bag better then pots? would one plant be enough for a family of 3(mummy, daddy and baby 8months)?

i want to grow organic fruit and veg does that mean i dnt put fertiliser or pesticide?

sorry to bombard you with questions.

[Riz]

ok jazakAllahu khairan. I would like to start, where do i get the seeds from? Is using a grow bag better then pots? would one plant be enough for a family of 3(mummy, daddy and baby 8months)?

i want to grow organic fruit and veg does that mean i dnt put fertiliser or pesticide?

sorry to bombard you with questions.


well you can buy the seeds from such places as the gardening centres or B&Q
or just take a look at this thread the free seed giveaway..
http://www.muslimgrower.com/discussionforum/showthread.php?t=228

growing tomatoes 2009

small vid that shows you how to germinate tomato seeds :) on the last page
http://www.muslimgrower.com/discussionforum/showthread.php?t=222

[Riz]

if you are growing them outdoors in the ground you will get a lot more tomatoes than you would growing in a medium size container, what will you do, grow them in pots or in the veg patch..!?

[greenmummy]

i was thinking pots or grow bags...my garden is small and is all patio...i am going to start a vegtable patch but i though containers is neater. im not too sure... cause i live in a basemnet so my garden has very high walls... there is one corner that gets lots of snlight so i thought id bas everything there. I want to grow basic salad ingriedents and sme herbs in a window box to get myself going...illl be starting june cause at the moment im not at home to start...

is june too late?

[Riz]

june is cool for the herbs and salad/radish etc.... they usually have a 6 week turn around from seed to final harvest.. the tomatoes may be ok as well, inshallah we have a good summer, last season i started of my seedlings indoors in mid march and some of the tomatoes still stayed green in mid September outdoors, lol

so the weather plays a major role in outdoor growing in UK....

ps.. yeah grow bags are cool i used them last season, you wont get major yields from them, but of course you should try growing at least 5 or 6 plants :) in pots or grow bags

[Riz]

greenmummy. and everyone else who is a complete newbie to germination...

please watch these 3 minute videos.. so simple and easy.. if you have any questions please ask them on the thread in the link below......

http://www.muslimgrower.com/discussionforum/showthread.php?t=262

[Riz]

bump

[~Obsidian~]

haha well it made me laugh :)

OK after much discussion with my Residential Advisor and some friends (yes I took this very seriously)... I dug it up and took it home. I reasoned that

a) If someone had seriously planted it, they wouldn't have planted it there, where it's liable to get trampled for starters
b) They wouldn't have planted it so late... it's still pretty small for a tomato plant
c) If I don't pull it up maintainance and landscaping people will tear it down. If the students don't trample it first.
d) We're going to be hitting winter soon and temperatures go way below freezing, there's no way it'll survive past October.

So I went at night and dug it up, trying not to break too many roots... and I planted it in a pot in my room and watered it really well. I'm REALLY hoping it survives... it already has two little flower buds and I really hope they don't die!!

Bump! LOL