Wilting tomato plant help

[Sapling]

Hi all, we are new to keeping veg and wondered if you could give some advice please.
We got a little greenhouse to start off our little home grown venture and we were given a few tomato plants. Unfortunately they are looking rather wilted, is there anything we can do to bring back. I've attached a few pictures as the others look a bit wilty too.

Any advice appreciated. Thanks

[Martin H]

The poor things are dying of thirst. They need a thorough soak straight away, you may even need to immerse the pots in a bucket of water to get it to soak in. Then put them in the shade and see if they pick up.

[Martin H]

Oh, and here am I forgetting my manners. Hello and welcome to the vine!

[WendyC]

If and when they recover, all the plants need potting onto much larger pots or into the ground. 10 litres is about the right size for a tomato plant.

[Sapling]

Thanks! Getting them in a bucket now, hoping they will pick up.

We have been watering them everyday, clearly not enough though! How much should they be getting?

[Guest]

Getting a balance between pot size and plant helps. A 10L will be more forgiving than a smaller pot. Also consider adding vermiculite or water retaining crystals to compost. Once a day is bare min. and they need a good dose of water not a sprinkling, also water the pot not the plant (foliage). To check press finger on the soil.

Oh and welcome to the vine

[Potstubsdustbins]

Following on what the others have said. Your initial problem is the pots are too small and with a decent size plant they would be dry within an hour of watering.

I grow my toms in 10/12 litre pots and have to water every day. To give you an idea a 12ltr pot is a similar size to an household bucket, leave a inch to two inch gap between the top of the compost and the pot edge and fill this space with water.

You will also need to feed them if you are going to get a crop. High potash such as tomorite will greatly help with fruit production.

welcome to the mad house!!!

[Sapling]

Thank you all for the welcomes and the advice. We have soaked them and will move to bigger pots tomorrow. Hopefully they will recover, I will update on here later this week.
Thanks again. 👍

[muddled]

One more thing (for future reference)

Once the soil or compost in a pot dries out, it becomes very resistant to water.
So even though you carefully water your plant every day, the water just runs straight off the surface of the soil....down the sides and out of the bottom.

To rehydrate it you must allow the pot to stand in water for an hour or two, preferably out of direct sunlight. otherwise, when you stick your finger into the soil you will find it to be bone dry inside.

Luckily, tomatoes are quite forgiving and might well perk up for you, beans too can take a bit of rough handling. What else have you got there?

[Sapling]

We have runner beans, strawberries, cucumber, broccoli and tomatoes
I will post a picture of our veggies if you like so you can give us some advice as I'm sure we will need it, I'm not sure if they are in right pots or when to move them on??????? We are kinda winging it here!

Also just an update look at how all of our plants have perked up! Thank you for the great advice! I've ordered a load of 10ltr pots of the net, due here this week.

[veggiechicken]

That's much better Sapling
We like photos here so, put them up and we'll have a look!

[WendyC]

They look much happier.

[Potstubsdustbins]

That looks much better. If your not going to be able to pot on for a few days. Get some of the cheapo tin foil baking trays, stand you pot in those and add water to the tray.

[Sarico]

An advice. For veggie don't buy expensive pots if you have a Morrison nearby they sell left over flower bucket 8 for 99p. Make some hole and pot them on. Must of us use them for our tomato.

[bario1]

Add some garden soil to your compost when you pot on, it holds water much better than the stuff you buy in bags, so it won't dry out as fast - it'll make it cheaper too.