Potting on Courgettes and Tomatoes

[Balconygardener]

Hello Grapes!

My courgettes and tomatoes seem to be doing nicely - in fact, the courgettes are doing so nicely, I am thinking that I really need to pot them on - they all have a root starting to come through the bottom of the (3 inch) pot.

Can anyone advise what size pot I should transplant them in to? Should this be the final pot, or a larger interim one? I would rather go for an interim one if a subsequent re-potting wouldn't hurt them, as I only really have room for one large pot on my balcony, and I don't want to put all my eggs into one basket just yet! Or should I leave them alone for now? Or did I just plant the seeds in too small a pot?

Also, I think I will leave the toms as they are for a little while longer, until they have some well developed true leaves. Does that sound right? I have attached photos for reference.

Thanks!

[chris]

You don't want to go up too large, as if the compost goes sour it'll stink (so I've found out from these forums). I've gone from 3" -> 7" - pretty much ready to pot on my tomatoes now, so the next size I'll go up to is the sankey tomoato pots (not sure of their size -- actually just checked on google, and their 9" pots).

[Capsid]

Both the toms and courgettes can wait a bit longer in those pots, until they develop a few more true leaves. When you pot up the toms you can plant them a bit deeper than they are now as they will develop roots from the stem. I usually put them into 5" pots or a bit bigger before their final pot.

[winstonwobble]

I'd wait a while before potting on let them get a bit more established with a few more true leaves

[sewer rat]

The courgettes should be okay to stay in the three inch pots until they have 4 true leaves, at which point they can be planted out into either their larger pots or into the ground, whichever you are using. I start all my courgettes like this and never have a problem.
The tomatoes are the same - they can be grown in three inch pots until they are ready to plant in their final pots, growbags or ground - again, this is what I do - one plant per pot.

[bramble]

Hi Balcony gardener, the plants look fairly OK to me but be careful not to over water as the soil in the tomato pots looks a little on the wet side. Good luck.

[Balconygardener]

Thanks for the advice everyone! I will leave them where they are for a while longer, until they have more leaves.

be careful not to over water as the soil in the tomato pots looks a little on the wet side.

Thanks for this, Bramble - I had been worrying about this!