The Armpit Challenge

[gojiberry]

Will be sowing my seeds today, still not sure which variety I will use for the experiment.

Ian

[Sylvan]

Do we have to sow seeds specifically for the experiment or can we just choose one of our previously sown ones, once we see which ones survive the vicissitudes of the next few months?

[zazen999]

You can do whatever! I have just sown my F1 Sungolds; I've chosen them due to the cost issue....being quite expensive

[Sylvan]

I'll probably go for a Sungold, or a French Black, since I have one of each that germinated today (Thank you very much zazen) - provided I don't manage to murder them over the next few months.

[buzzingtalk]

Oooohh if I had the room I'd certainly join in...but I struggled with 4 tom plants in pots last season so don't think my flatmates (or neighbours!) would be happy if the so called 'urban jungle' expanded and covered the whole car park

[zazen999]

I'll probably go for a Sungold, or a French Black, since I have one of each that germinated today (Thank you very much zazen) - provided I don't manage to murder them over the next few months.

My First PW French Black sowings are THE strongest seedlings so far

[Sylvan]

My PW FB and Sungold are looking pretty good too, for seedlings that only poked their heads above the parapet 24 hours ago.

The ones I sowed in January are in trouble though.

I've kept them as dry as possible but when I looked just now I discovered the surface of the compost is covered in white mould.
I don't know whether the asda MPC is dodgy, or whether it's our fault for storing it at the bottom of the garden all winter, but it's all I've got till next week (It's a 50 mile round trip to buy decent mpc).

I'll try pricking them out into a "new" lot of asda stuff and hope it doesn't go bad before I can do them again.

[teakdesk]

...or you could try watering them with a weak hydrogen peroxide solution.

I don't generally have a problem with damping off (ie fungi or diseases) but last year I did have a couple of problems on early sowings even tho' I water sparingly from the bottom.

After Googling, I'm going to try hydrogen peroxide solution this year if I see any signs of a problem.


This page gives details.



.

[Sylvan]

I don't think it's damping off as such. It's proper thick white mould on the compost.

I've sent Grumpy out to "The Last Shed" to look for pots and we shall see.

I've saved your link to try if the compost in the pots goes mouldy before I can get a new bag.

Thanks

[growerkari]

After doing a bit of reading on different tomatos (this is my first year) I have decided to try three different varieties.

Sungold F1
Nyagous
Isis Candy
and also the Red Cherry Tomatos which were freebies, these were sown in January so it will be interesting to see how they do along side the others

they will be labelled A, B & C and each additional plant grown from each will be A1, A2, B1, B2 etc

I have planted three seeds of each & will choose the healthiest plant from each to be my chosen test subject

Edited to add the Red Cherry

Good luck everyone!

[growerkari]

I need to add another entry if I can, my little boy is very keen to grow some things this year & really wants to join the fun, so we have chosen Money Maker for him to try, he has just set up his own little notebook

[growerkari]

Ignore my over-enthusiastic previous posts, I have ended up with far, far too many tom plants, so am going to be doing my experiment with just one type.

Red Cherry, they were sown on Jan 22nd, my cat knocked the entire tray from the windowsil and I ended up with just one little plant. With lots of TLC it is now a bit of a monster, I popped it into its final place on 29th April, in a growbag in the conservatory.

When I moved it, there were already three strong looking armpits, so plants A2, A3 and A4 were born, I have to put my hands up and admit I have no idea what I am doing here, I just pinched them off and popped each in a shot glass full of water.

Today they all have nice lookng little roots and are about to be potted up. I will go and take some piccies in a minute and try to add them in

[growerkari]

Bit of a monster, lots of little flower buds appearing


Having a drink.....its only water, honest!


Roots!


Finally potted up

[Sylvan]

So they were in water for 9 days before they got roots?
That's encouraging. I was starting to worry 'cos I've had some in water for almost a week and there's nary a root hair showing yet.

[FROSTYFRECKLE]

Plants are over a foot high (decided on Sungold and OSU) but still no armpits