Tomato Seed

Just tried to grow some suttons tomato seed in a propergator i think they have died on me.I was recommended to use John Innes [seed] soil based compost,can anyone tell me where they think i have gone wrong.
"Seed been in propergator for 2 weeks now"

 

Hi Shim
I have some minibels and tumbling toms in JI #3 and some in peat based, no propagator and they came up inside a week. I guess you may have a bad batch of seed, i only got 7 tumblers pop up from 15 seeds.
2 weeks seems a long time but you never know, they drag their feet sometimes
I`d plant another batch and see what happens, you can always pick the best of the bunch if the other lot come up

 

Hi shimsham
Toms want 60 F or more ideally and AT LEAST 14 days to germinate. As long as you havent sown them too deep...( they want just a few mm of covering, going approximately with the rule that seed should be sown to the depth of its height ) Aside from this...the compost seems fine, although needs to be moist not soggy to ensure germination, so inside a bag or under glass to retain humidity and you should be fine.
Mine are coming up now after 16 days near my wood burner and window!

 

I have had mine in the conservatory with not heat on in there but in the propergator, can either of you recommend a sweet cherry my wife loves them

 

"but in the propergator"

Is it a heated propagator, or just a sort of clear plastic lid over a box?

It needs to be heated to get Toms to germinate - they need a bit warmer than central heating (unless you have your CH turned up to 70F !!)

 

Hi shimsham. I bought a bag of J.I. seed compost and I have to say, I really don't like the look of it much. I've used it to germinate some alstromerias, and sure, they came up ok, but it was due to the determination of of the seed I reckon, because the compost itself had pretty much 'set'. I'm not gonna use THAT again ! What I've found generally, is that the quality of compost, especially soil-based, can be very variable. Anyway, how does your compost look ? Like it's 'set' ? Cheers...freddy.

 

Hi freddy.You are right about it i am not to impressed either it looks suitable for making sandcastles, do you think general purpose compost would be ok to sow the tom seed in or mix them together

 

Yes the propergator is heated but a bit on the old side

 

I grew Red Pear last year, they were extremely sweet and a good cropper. We`ll have them again this year although they do seem prone to splitting if the weather goes a bit pear-shaped :wink:

 

I put a layer of vermiculite over my seeds (one "granule" thick). Sorts out the crusting-surface problem, and stops mucky algae growing (for seeds that take a long time to germinate). Its very light, so I presume the germinating seeds have no difficulty pushing it up / out of the way.

I've only got a tiny bag and its lasted a few years already.

 

Hi again shimsham. Sorry I missed your post. As John says, multi-purpose will do fine. Cheers...freddy.

 

i sowed 8 of the free cherry tomato seed from the Gardeners World mag last Thursday into seed compost in 2"ish pots, 1 in each pot and put a butty bag on each one and left on kitchen windowsill.
Every one has germinated so have taken the bags off.
I'm so excited lol (small things amuse small minds springs to mind :lollol: )