Tomato and Chilli Feed

If there is any frost forecast I'll probably bring them in overnight and put them back out in the morning. I'm hopeful the last frost has gone here though - hasn't been frosty for a couple of weeks, so hopefully 2 more weeks should be safe.

 

Are, OK. I was assuming you were going to plant them in a grow-bag, in the grow-house, and therefore it would become nigh on impossible to bring them in after that!

Our last frost for the last 5 years has been before 15 April ... but looking back further we can get the odd frost into June even ... so best to "Hope for the best, but prepare for the worst"

 

This is where I get a bit unnerved I only have little tomato seedlings at present, nowhere near needing pricking out as yet, and certainly no chance of a feed yet.


It was my intention to wait until the fruit starts to grow and then feed, and my intention to not feed at all the chilli plant.


Am I way off?

 

No you are spot on. Can I summarise?

• Don't sow it so early that it grows huge and you have no hope of "housing" it until the last frost
• Don't feed it until the first truss has set

I'd question not feeding the chillies at all though - I grow mine in pots (in the greenhouse) and they get fed when the Toms get fed.

 

I grew my tomatoes very succesfully last year from plugs from the garden centre, but i bought them too early, and they were too large to put out for the time of last frost. This year though i have loads of seed from mags, so want to do them from seed, when would be a good time to sow them indoors without them getting too large indoors, and not get attacked by frost? Manchester latitude

I swear i already had the plugs at this time last year, yet my inlaws bought plugs like months later, and still had an ace crop.

 

"I swear i already had the plugs at this time last year"

maybe take photographs of everything in the garden once a week? Answers all sorts of questions - including "I'm sure the Spring was earlier last year" - compare what was in flower, when, etc.

Last year my Tomato plants were about 2 feet tall in a photo on 27 April. The ones I grew from seed this year, on 15-Feb, are about 2 feet tall now. Looking at last year's photos I reckon they were about 3 feet on 6th May and 5 feet on 20th June.

Seeds sown now will come along much quicker than the ones I sowed in February, of course - warmer, and longer days / more light.

 

I could probably find my posts here i'd posted about them if they hadn't seemed to loss all posts from last year :(

 

Yes, that is unfortunate. I had intended on relying in those first and foremost to assist me this year.

Oh well-in for a penny in for a pound.

 

Planted my tomatoes in early March, and they're now about 4-6 inches tall, so plenty of manoeuverability just yet! I think it says on the gro-bags not to plant them in them until they flower? I'll pot them on into 6 or 9 inch pots in a couple of weeks. I've got them on a windowsill that isn't in much direct sunlight so they're not growing madly just yet.

The chillis I've got are Hungarian Hot Wax and Dorset Nagas - only really growing the latter for a joke as they're pretty much inedible, being the world's hottest! Planted these in Feb, but they're difficult to grow so are still pretty small, although quite healthy looking I think.

I think those who are lucky enough to have a greenhouse are probably well ahead on the rest of us at the moment, but hopefully come June we can start to catch up.

 

I grew Demon Red (Suttons seed I think) last year and they were excellent (they are hot). Just one in the mince, or in some Tomato salsa, is plenty to give it good bite. Recommended! I kept 4 or 5 plants and will easily have enough chillies (which I dried) to last the year.

 

So going off what you said earlier, you would feed the chilli Kristen?


I set store by your opinion so you've thrown me into a quandary.

 

"I set store by your opinion so you've thrown me into a quandary."

Yeah, well that's just the blind leading the blind then!

Let me have a look what my book says ...

"Lush growth adversely affects chilli production"

"If plants are growing well supplementary feeding is unnecessary, otherwise feed every 10 days once fruits start to form ... with a Tomato fertiliser" (that is for sweet peppers though, but for Chillies it says "Grow suitable chilli cvs in the same way as sweet peppers")

RHS "Growing Vegetables" says (for Sweet Peppers) "open ground crops ... must be liquid fed regularly once the fruits begin to swell, bag- and pot-grown plants require liquid feeding from an earlier stage"

http://www.thechilliking.com/Growing.shtml doesn't seem to bother with feeding until the flowers are out.

Only useful picture I could find of my chillies was 07-August. They have a decent amount of fruit on them, but it looks like its only been there for a couple of weeks - and I do remember thinking "I wish they would get on with it!" - so if they are going to be in the pot until mid July before the fruit sets I reckon that's a long time with no food ...

... but clearly it is important not to encourage leafy growth.

Sorry, not much help.

 

I don't know how you can say that Kristen, you know a great deal and yet you are open to learning new things-that makes you the perfect person to listen to.


The worst of it is, the leaves are lovely, I sort want lush growth-do I eat that many chillis??????



I set store by your opinion-and I stick by that statement. That and you promised beer to all who pass by and help with your digging-although I suspect I will spend my time playing with your dogs.

 

"do I eat that many chillis?"

Now that is a SPLENDID point. One of the web sites I was reading earlier was completely anal about using grow lights and so on to get more chillies. Why not just plant another couple of bushes?!!

A bit different for a commercial crop I suppose.

I gave away a couple of plants last Autumn (grown in pots) which where laden with fruit. Hopefully they have been giving good service as kitchen windowsill spice racks!

I'm trying a couple more varieties this year, so I've got way more plants than I need - even though I have been frugal with my sowing.

Here's my crop from last year's 4 or 5 plants http://www.gardenerscorner.co.uk/fo...ng-our-surplus-16584.html?p=256755#post256755

So I'm with you. I'm going to have plenty which ever way I grow them.

P.S. No one has stopped by for digging - or beer for that matter! but I'm sure the dogs, too, will be pleased to see you!

 

I guarantee you Kristen, if I am ever going your way, I will definitely pop in for a grand tour, your gardens are beautiful.