When do I plant my Tomatoes in the greenhouse

When did you sow these? Where did you germinate them? Mine were sown weeks ago in propagator and are not past the 1" high seed leaf stage.......think I'm going to have to buy plants.......

 

Hi Robin I sowed mine,maybe 6 weeks ago. My tomatoes are approximately 5/6 inches tall I'll post some pictures later this afternoon to show you. I'm in work at the moment it's 03:12am and I can't wait to go home

 

Hi Robins all my plants are all about this size, I planted the seeds at the beginning of March, it's only the past 2 weeks that they have started to grow well. I'd imagine the growth spurt is due to the weather getting warmer and the extra day light?? I'm not sure as this is my first attempt at growing stuff. If I'm wrong someone here will correct me

 

When you say 'plant out in the greenhouse' do you mean place those pots into the greenhouse or put them into bigger 12" + pots or border soil ?

The general rule is not to transplant them until the first flower truss is opening out, though sometimes it might be prudent to carefully pot them into a larger 6" pots if the roots are really growing out of the bottom on the existing ones / or you have to water more than once a day as the pots becoming too small for the plant.

All thats got to be balanced against your local weather /temps.

Looking at the size of your plants I would still give them indoor protection until mid May.

If you can get electricity to your greenhouse for next autumn / year you can do so much more by just using the small electric propagators or making a small heated bench with a soil warming cable, both use very little power but make getting toms etc off to a good start so much easier.

 

I just returned home from grocery shopping and most of the stores have their garden centers open. Lots of plants sitting outside. Sooo, I'm thinking that if they can put things out in the open, my stuff, exluding peppers and other more delicate plants, should be just fine under cover. Heated or not.

These places are not out to lose money, nor are their suppliers and I'm sure they wouldn't be taking huge risks.

Thoughts on this anyone?

 

Here in the uk we are just in the middle of a sudden cold snap, bitter winds and even heavy hail storms this afternoon, though probably mild by your standards ...?

Our seasons / weather / timings seem so very mixed up these last few years, its always a guessing game as to when it safe to plant out, whats it like over there ?

Bet many of our diy stores garden centers will have lots of their plants killed off or seriously set back, just that many do not have the staff or time to protect them properly.
Worse still, so many folk bought tender plants during the late but warmish Easter break but will have put them outside thinking its ok, but this bad weather will have likely killed them off now.

Just been out to fleece up my young single cordon fruit tree that are just starting to blossom.


Also, to add on to my previous comment about Spacemonkeys toms and to show what a little bottom heat can do, these are my toms that I potted up last week, though have put a fan heater in there tonight in case it drops below 8c. Outside -1c last night.

 

People that sell plants have one aim, to sell plants.

If they can sell you two lots it's more profit for them.

Ever wondered why those garden centres have all those tempting plants outside at Easter?
It's because they want you to buy them, get them killed off, ( lets face it none of them have been hardened off), then come back next bank holiday and buy some more.

 

I just received an "Alert" to this thread. Weird.

But a good reminder to say that I planted mine out the other day. And I told them, "suck it up". I told them that kindly ... but with emphasis on the do or die statement.

So far all has been great and I live in Canada so that's a statement all in itself. Plants have a superior will to live than most of us humans.