Continue from - Time to Up-pot Tom again! (gardenstew.com) Yesterday late in the evening when I had finished my daily routine in the garden just before dinner, I noticed that one of the tom had started flowering. It came as a shock to me as to why it is flowering, noo ... it is not time yet! Yes I panicked a little. Did a quick measurement and decided that it can be transplanted. First thing this morning after breakfast I transplanted that particular tom into the bed that was prepared for the toms. I did it the same way as Sjoerd did -The First Toms (gardenstew.com) by laying the toms down . Done and I remove the that one extra leaf, no it is not buried in the ground. I removed the flowers too and I hope that is the right thing to do. I really like the watering hole idea, thanks Sjoerd. I am using a small pot and it is buried about 2~ 3 inches in the ground. I am keeping my fingers crossed that with the watering hole and watering the plant through this hole will minimised weed growth. Wanted to transplant another but the scorching sun is already on my back so I decided to continue with it this evening. This time of the year the morning sun is out early
KK— that looks so good. It is exciting for me to see you trying something the way I do. I really hoop that this technique works for you. I prefer waiting to plant mine until the first flowers/buds show before planting. I prefer that but because I live so far north time begins to play a roll and I have to plant, like it or not. A short growing season is my challenge here. It all looks good there. I cannot see how rich your soil is in the growing hole, but it seems that your plantlets will have every chance. I am watching this space.
KK, I am envious since we can't put our little tomato plants out for another couple of weeks. We deep water by cutting the bottom off a two litre plastic soda bottle, removing the cap, and burying it in the ground. Then I go around with a water bucket and fill the bottle for a slow deep watering. The bottles last for a couple of seasons, and spend the winter in the barn. Fortunately we don't have human visitors to the barn so I don't have to explain my stash of bottomless, capless soda bottles!
@kk, @Sjoerd @marlingardener - I'm very interested in your experiences with bottom watering. I hope it's okay to ask here KK on your thread. KK - Congratulations on your transplant. I also remove my first flowers until they are in the ground. I'm very interested to see how your watering hole works for you in your heat. I like your pot watering hole idea very much. Sjoerd - it looks as though you use your wee original tomato pot? Is it buried very deeply?And you mentioned in your post from last May that you feed through the pot? Do you also water through it? MG - I've tried the upside down water 2 litre bottle but everything seemed to go through very quickly. Do you bury it to the brim? And lastly Does everyone only water through the container ( watering hole) or do you also top water? I would really love to learn more about this and everyone's personal experiences with it. It's very exciting to see your Tomato in the ground KK. How hot is it there right now?
Melody, the bottle is buried right up to the bottom, perhaps an inch or 1/2 inch above ground. If the upside down bottle is filled every two days or so (depending on rain) it will drain more slowly. It works for us, but perhaps not for everyone.
Thanks MG. It could be the difference of our growing environment. Thanks for sharing this. I appreciate it. I'm eagerly searching for something to extend my watering times.
Thank you Sjoerd, I too do hope that it will work out well. Growing toms had been a problem for me all this while and I get very little produce, 3 cluster at the most from each plant. Guess I am lucky here cause I have a very long growing time and I guess removing the first set of flower buds should not be a problem. The soil in the growing hole is a mix of 50% matured compost and 50% earth I dug out to make the hole and 3 tablespoon of crushed egg shells. I'll be mulching with more compost later on around the feeding roots. Thanks Marlingardener, a couple of weeks is just around the corner . I wanted to use soda bottle at first and I was not able to get any so I decided on the unused plastic pots. I guess it will work as well but not deep watering and I can still monitor the amount of water going in. I can imagine the sight of the bottomless and capless bottles in your barn. You are most welcome to post your questions here Melody, I get to learn too! Thank you and I got the other one in yesterday evening and it also had flower buds. Keeping my fingers crossed I think that the watering pot should work the way it is intended. I would like to add that if your earth is too porous and to stop the water from just running through, leave the cap on and make tiny holes on them and the water will slowly seep into the ground. I do this for my plants when I go on holidays. I normally do top watering and this is the first time I am doing it for toms. It is very exciting for me too to get the toms in the ground, I have another two more plantlet to go. The temperature now is between 32° to 33°C day time temp.
KK— DO NOT REMOVE THE FIRST FLOWER BUDS. Haha sorry about the shouting. Its all about how many toms you can get per plant. The first buds will be your first toms. So, just leave them on.
Hahahaha I could hear you all of the way to Canada Sjoerd. I should add that mine start to flower sometimes a month before I can plant them out - hence I remove them. Otherwise my plant is stunted if it starts to form fruit while it's in a 1 gallon pot. I still manage to get a lot of Toms, but it is a painful process ( not tasting the sacrificed tomato.....sigh)
Thanks KK. The soil in my greenhouse is quite loamy. I'll try the cap with holes in it I'd like to mulch the top of my beds but it's not possible unless I can figure out a way to water deeply without actual drip irrigation. And to water deeply so I can leave for a few days.
Hi Mel, the black “pots” that you see are not wee. They are pots that clematis are sold in. I plant my seedlings on into three ever larger pots before planting them out. I use various containers over the rootball. Those black ones, oceanspray cranberry juice bottles with the bottom cut off and I sometimes stick a black one into an oceanspray bottle. On that link that KK posted above you can see a trug full of some of the patent bottles. I occasionally pour some food into the bottles over the rootball, but that is not the sensible way. Deep roots pull up water into the plant for hydration. I pour the liquid food long the buried stem because that is where the shallow feeding roots are located. The shallow feeding roots are the ones that pick-up most of the nourishment. It is why I use the little sticks— to show where the stems are.
Oops!!! Too late Sjoerd and thanks for the shout out! I have another two plantlets and I will definitely remember not to remove the flower buds. Your most welcome Mel, I am sure it will work for you.
Yesterday evening when I checked on the toms I was not happy at what I saw. The first tom that I planted seems to be suffering from sun burnt and the leaves are not as green as it supposed to be. HELP!!! The photos are taken this morning. The one on the left is the one with problem Both the toms are planted in exactly the same way with the same soil mixture. The only different is that the one on the left is planted in the morning and the other is in the evening. On the day of the planting it rained quite heavily that night and it was still OK the morning after. I did not water both of them yesterday. I was just thinking maybe it had too much water and as a result the edges of the leave curl up and got scorched by the sun. Does it make any sense? Anyway as a quick fix this is what I did. I am sheltering it from the sun and this photo is taken at 10:30am. I did not water it but will keep a watchful eye over it until the day is done. The other plant I watered it. Any idea what is going on?
May be transplant shock or it just happens the pH is way off right there. Give it some fertilizer and keep out of direct sunlight or heat and see if it recovers. Have you got a way to test pH? Second planting looks awesome but it may follow suit. Cant zoom in to see too good. There is no way to zoom in on this site, which sucks.
I'm afraid I can't zoom in Sjoerd....I see the bin at the side. And a clear pot at the back with a black pot on top. and then black pots at the ground level. Please forgive my ignorance...you bury a clear bottle with a black planter pot on top? I would certainly love to learn about this. I appologize if I've missed the boat. I'm not very good at looking back on this site to find information. If I understand correctly....you deep water through the watering hole at the front? with the black pot inside the ocean spray bottle? But you also "feed" along the root stem that you have buried? Thank you for your patience. I appreciate it.
