Tomato Growing Thread 2012

No.

 

Looks inviting as an experiment Dim. I think I will put two of my Maskotkas in a little one and plant the top with some flowers. Yep.,sounds good fun. Anyone else gonna give it a go? I'll show you mine if you show me yours...,
PS> Accent sounds Canadian and I fancy he may be in Vancouver. It looks somehow familiar? They NEVER get any damn wind and it's nearly always moist there. They also wish for more sun and sooner in their season - just like us, always trying to tell Mother nature what to do!!
thanks for sharing this Dim.
Jenny namaste

 

It's a common complaint

 

Visited a car boot sale today, and I got an as new condition ELTEX gas greenhouse heater with a full 4.5kg Calor gas cylinder for £4
My Toms are in the Greenhouse deep in the ground and sitting at 14c tonight (lowest setting on thermstat control)
I do not know how many nights I will get out of 4.5kg on its lowest setting ?
so wait and see, If I can get into May then happy, see how it goes , refills are £16

Jack McH

 

Does that make/model have a thermostat / pilot light? If not its a bit of a gamble whether you light it on any particular night, or not ... the forecasts are ... just that! and the heat loss your greenhouse gets, relative to ambient, will also depend on the cooling effect of wind etc.

I ought to put my Max/Min in my greenhouse to see how it is doing! I've been keeping everything in the conservatory, which is inherently warmer, but I've had a lot of stuff in the greenhouse for the last week since pricking out as the conservatory is full (pricked out pots needing more space than the seedlings in seed trays of course).

Bit worried that I still have a lot of stuff to prick out / pot on that will need warm growing space for another month ... and I want to leave the hardy stuff (hedge plants in 1L pots) in the Tom's greenhouse until end of May so it gets a wiggle on, so I want to hold back the Toms in the conservatory for another month - they'll need 12" pots by then I expect, and quite a lot of space. I can't bin the spares as I want to take them to Shiney for his charity. I know ... I'll take them to Shiney now, he'll be thrilled !!!

 

Should I remove cotylidons when I pot on the Maskotkas? I feel that it's a task that I will have to do in the next week. They are not too leggy but I think they could do with being sunk lower in 4"/5" pots. I am a trifle nervous. Their necks do look rather brittle. Please all wish me luck as I do it won't you?
Jenny namaste

 

If you are potting INTO 4" / 5" pots I wouldn't think there is much opportunity to bury them - unless you are pricking them out? in which case I would prick out no deeper than seed-leaves. I remove the seed leaves, and plant a bit deeper, when going from 1L to 3L (which would be about the same as going from 4" - 7" I guess)

 

Hey ho Kristen,
wish I'd had me brain in gear before proceding towards this next step. Just been down to the GC and bought 10 x 4" pots. Plonked one of them toms inside and it is barely any deeper than it is now. So,a transfer to a 4" pot is gonna be a treetree waste of time. AND what about the wasted wonga!! 5 pots@ £1.99 x 2 = the total yield of one plant probably . Why oh why didn't I ask GC FIRST!!
So, back to the GC ( I haven't broken the band on one set so they may exchange) to GET the RIGHT goods for the job!!!.
So, what size should I go for please. 5" or 6" or even bigger? Oh, the fun and joys of GYO....
Jenny namaste

 

I can not find any info about the ELTEX gas heater, just paraffin, and that ELETEX went out of business many years ago

The thermostat I do not know only if you put it on its lowest, then the flame burns high then drops down, then up again later then down, only on its lowest setting my max min thermometer lowest was 13c highest 18c
I will let this one run the bottle out, and see how many hours I get, for future reference to see if I can afford it or not, mainly for next March to get seedlings started a little earlier, or some such as I learn over the year

I was not going to go down the heated route, but for £4 worth a try

Jack McH

 

I reckon it has not been cold enough for the heater to come properly on ... so only the cost of the pilot light and a few "bursts" I expect.

But I wouldn't light it, of an evening, unless you think the greenhouse is likely to fall below 10C, otherwise even on tick-over it will be using some gas - and maybe quite a lot if the heater does a few "bursts" during the night ... that won't matter if it is actually a cold night as the "bursts" will be contributing to overall heating during the night, but on a night that is warmer than 10C the bursts will be "wasted"

 

What size are then in now? I go something like 3", 5", 9", 12". I expect you'll find a use for the 4" pots in the future, e.g. if you buy some plants as Plugs.

There is talk about burying them, but I don't think enough vertical heigh exists in pots when potting on - you would have to put the rootball right at the bottom of the new, larger, pot and then there is no compost below the rootball for the roots to grow down into. You will either have to plant "sideways", or go straight from 3" to 12" or something like that.

Folk that do it may have some suggestions, but I've tried it and never got more than 1/2" buried. When I plant them in the greenhouse border then THAT is when I plant mine deep.

You can use a "collar" when you plant in final position to have soil around 6" - 9" of stem.

 

Previously since April 1st the greenhouse has risen to a steady 5c at night up to 7c this week, During the day it starts around 08:00 at 15c, up to 24c at noon, 20:00 down to 10c
So I do not know how that would affect tomatoes in the ground, or seedlings/cuttings on a bench
I did not want to lose the Shirleys you gave me, so for four quid it seems a good deal, as I said earlier, if the gas is too expensive then I will just plant late again next year

Jack McH

 

Ah, OK. Better to keep it above 10C if you can for the Toms. They will survive lower than that, but will "stall" and take ages to get going again (so for folk not wanting/able to heat better to start them off later and avoid the "cold period")

Only other alternative is to haul them indoors overnight - dark will do, overnight, of course - but there are always casualties doing that twice a day for several weeks, and its not ideal for other reasons of course - particularly if you want to plant them in a border, or the greenhouse is 4 miles away on the allotment

four-quid was an EXCELLENT deal The cheapskate I bought my heater off on eBay only gave me EMPTY gas bottles (3 of them though )

 

£16 for only 4.5Kg !!!!!!! - That's a whopping £3.56/Kg. I've just got 19Kg from a farm shop near Milton Keynes (where I also buy my poultry food) for £24.95 (£1.31/Kg). Those small cylinders cost a lot more per Kg to fill. Assuming this heater will work with larger cylinders, get yourself the biggest one you can manage (approx £10 for an empty 19Kg Calor off ebay) and find a cheaper source of gas.

Not something I'm interested in but I saw the bags for £1 in B&M Bargains MK this morning: