Tomato question

[Alison C]

This is very much a newbie question I'm sure but as this is the first time I've attempted to grow my own ............
I'm very excited that the tomato seeds I planted in my propergators last weekend have germinated and are now four and a half centimetres tall (yes i have had my ruler out). I've read that they will need potting on as soon as they are large enough to handle which I'm enterpreting as meaning that they need to be large enough so they are not so fragile. Thats ok but I really don't know at what point they will need some food other than that of the compost.
Sorry for the noob question!!

[Alison]

I don't tend to feed my toms much until they start to set flowers, there is enough food in the original compost and from the seed itself to get them going. I sow mine in dead didgy newspaper pots, pot the whole thing on into a 3" pot when they have produced their first proper set of leaves and then on again into a 5" pot before finally planting out later in the year. They only really start needing regular feeding when they're producing fruit and then it's dead important to feed and water regularly otherwise you'll really notice it!

[snake the squadie]

same as above realy if you have sown them in decent compost they wont need feeding for a long time. also you can over feed them

[Alison C]

Thankyou both!

[gingerneil]

what compost would you use to pot them on into ? Mine have germinated and are about 2" tall in seed compost. They have a reasonable set of first leaves - but not showing the second yet. Should I pot on to 3" pots of more seed compost, or start with general purpose compost or even John Innes No2 ?

[si'sraisedbed]

I just use multi purpose compost for everything, seeds, potting on and final planting in the greenhouse in pots, or a growbag. seem to work for me although they do seem to dry out a bit if you don't keep them well watered. See seperate thread on watering methods, including ice cubes...

[fran]

Tomato question

Hi there! Although I'm a newby on the site, the best tomatos I've ever grown grew all by themselves in largish pots containing other plants. The seeds must've got there in the compost from my dalek bin. I didn't know what variety they were or how big they'd eventually get. Ended up being about 5' tall and delicious with no feeding or special watering! Had about 6 plants in all - also had squash and a few spuds turn up. The squash grew like a triffid all over the garden but only produced one or two poor fruits. It was two summers ago and the hot summer lasted well into October. Prob makes a difference.

But I'm going to do it properly this year!

Fran

[SimplyPotty]

i grew toms last year both in pots and grow bags. the ones in pots had blossom end rot but in the bags they were great. prob just have bags this year