My wee local garden centre had a special offer on today, 5 tomato plants for £5....... oops! Hopefully this year I'll have a wonderful crop of "matoes" as my munchkin calls them! I opted for 3 baby cherry and 2 baby plum plants. Mmm!
Is it ok that the lower leaves are dying and falling off? I've assumed it's because they are growing upwards that the lower leaves are no longer needed?
Sounds like you got a deal there then, dropping the lower leaves is fairly normal when they are young plants as they are putting on growth, perhaps you could post a pic of the plants... Have you re-potted them if they are in small pots as that can also cause leaf drop if they are pot bound..
I haven't repotted as the lady in the garden centre said they would be fine in the little pots for a couple of weeks and then I can repot and get them used to outdoors.
They look all right, and the pot is large enough for the plant size, although they do look a little tall for the number of leaves they have - dunno what other folk think? - are they getting enough light?
Yes they are a little tall Kristen/Snowbaby but they look healthy. I think I would re-pot them and plant them deep so as to cover the bottom three inches of stem. More light would help if possible, it will slow their growth down.
I'm sceptical about planting deep during potting-on. It puts the rootball at the bottom of the new pot, so no/little compost "under" the rootball to grow into, and lots above the rootball which is not a natural direction for the roots to grow, and new roots forming from the stem happens relatively slowly. I think better to leave that until planting out - and then plant deep. Either that, or use Rose Pots which are very deep so that you both plant deep and have plenty of compost under the rootball - but then hard to find pots to pot-on to (if a larger size pot is needed before planting out)
would direct sunlight be ok? The only other windowsills I have are my living room two but both get direct sunlight
Yes, preferable in fact, just be careful that they don't cook. Windowsill light levels are nothing like greenhouse / outdoors, so you want to maximise them if possible A sheet of white paper / card or polystyrene behind the plants will help reflect light onto the back of them. (Kitchen foil, perhaps surprisingly, is not a good choice for a reflector for this job as it creates hot-spots)
We are having great weather just now, could I put them into my pop up greenhouse through the day and bring them back in overnight?
They will be fine, provided you can continue to look after them. Narrow (diameter) cane [split cane is best up to about 2' - 3', then a thin Bamboo when taller than that] and loosely tie the plant to that, to stop it wobbling about when you move it around. As much light as possible, and as lo a temperature as possible (not below 10C though) will reduce its rate of growth. No need to feed it (so long as you are potting-on when the pot gets full of roots - next pot size should be 1.5"-ish more diameter) until the first fruit has set (i.e. you can see it, where the flower was, initially it will be the size of a pin-head)
Thank you thank you! I do need to stake them as I thought I killed one by putting it in the greenhouse yesterday it drooped but miraculously sorted itself out after a day in the sun. They're too tall for the shelves in my greenhouse, I'm going to have to dismantle the top one haha
