How many toms do you squeeze in the greenhouse?

[taff]

that's because you're a good girl
I didn't mention I also had aubergines, peppers and chilli's in there last year too, not much space for walking round in, actually, no space for walking round in

[falkon]

I think there should be good enough spacing between the plants and that you can reach every single plant, I squeezed too many plants in my GH last year and they grew massive and at the end I couldnot enter my GH without tricks. At the end of season I found many rotten tomatoes that I were not able to reach. This year I am very selective both in type and number of tomato plants...Only few in the GH and few outsides...

[womble]

Wow, I'm suprised at the amount of plants you lot get in your greenhouses.
I have a 10x6 and get about 14 plants in it. I think about 30cm between each one, that enables me to see every leaf and fruit and we get plenty of tomatoes for our family.

I also have around 15 - 20 marigold plants in front of the tomatoes. One year I put chillies in front as well, but they didn't like it much, so now I keep them separate in pots and move them around the garden when it's warm.

[buzzingtalk]

I don't have a greenhouse, but if I did, I would be squeezing in as many plants as possible, and probably getting disease and them all failing. But at least I tried

I have an outdoor area of 1.5x3m, and I managed to squeeze in 4 tom plants, 4 chillis, lots of strawbs, 6 blueberry bushes, 10 herb plants, salad planters, 1x courgette as well as 3 house bins, a blowaway and a path to walk into the back door of the house. Oh and loads of soil, and the back end of a car.

[Poddington Pea]

This thread has made me wonder about my toms. This is my first year growing properly, and I'm trying to do it all! We just bought our greenhouse and it is currently half built and waiting for the weekend and completion!
It's 6x4. I sowed about 90 seeds (without thinking!) and as a result have MANY good looking seedlings. I have a blowaway I'll use for my peppers and a bed for some outside toms.
If I collar the toms by cutting off the bottom of a plastic pot and then put them into a grow bag can I put 4 in rather than the recommended 3? Do you really worry about spacing or do you just go for it and hope for the best?
x

[Kristen]

Yes you can probably put 4 in instead of 3 but in my opinion you will probably get less yield and more chance of disease. Dr. H. says "18 inches apart"

[Poddington Pea]

Yes you can probably put 4 in instead of 3 but in my opinion you will probably get less yield and more chance of disease. Dr. H. says "18 inches apart"

Thanks, that's my worry, being inexperienced and all! Don't want to fluff it up because I'm greedy
x

[Sylvan]

If I collar the toms by cutting off the bottom of a plastic pot and then put them into a grow bag can I put 4 in rather than the recommended 3? Do you really worry about spacing or do you just go for it and hope for the best?
x

You know when you try to seat 4 children in the back seat of a car, or along the side of a table that's only meant to seat 3 and they keep "accidentally" jabbing each other with their elbows? Your tomatoes would probably behave just as badly.

[Poddington Pea]

you know when you try to seat 4 children in the back seat of a car, or along the side of a table that's only meant to seat 3 and they keep "accidentally" jabbing each other with their elbows? Your tomatoes would probably behave just as badly.

Love it!

[grenhouse]

Too many!

I have a 8*15ft greenhouse at lottie which has about 25 as well as 5 cucumbers up middle and 6 cayenne, then an 8*6 at home (new this year) which will have about 8 in along with a variety of chillis (habs, cayenne, bishps crown etc). Also a pieced together 6*6 greenhouse at lottie which generally has about 8 in.

This is for....................... 2 of us! lol but I do give LOADS away. I love gardening and cooking and eating everything I grow. But there is nothing better than giving away a few punnets of mixed toms (this year, principe borghese, ildi, beams yellow pear, tomato berry,moneymaker, gardeners delight, and a couple which I have forgot!)

My january sown toms are about 18inch now and starting to get a few flowers, first time i have sown them this early as an experiment!

steve

[SarzWix]

In my 6'x12' I get 16 plants, 8 up each side. This seems to be the perfect number for using the available space, but not over-crowding. I plant them in 12"x12" square 'patio' style tubs from Poundstretcher/Aldi/Lidl, with an upturned water bottle buried in the corner for watering. Works well

Like these:

[womble]

So how much space do you all leave between plants and are they in pots or the soil?

[Kristen]

Soil. 18" - 24"

[womble]

Soil. 18" - 24"

That's a reasonable distance. I think I'm at about 15 to 18 inches.
I wouldn't like to put them much closer. They are bad enough as it is, to see what's going on. Surely some of the posters on this thread must have them at about 10".

[SarzWix]

Having lost half a greenhouse-ful of tomato plants to botrytis one year, I am extremely careful to maintain air-flow between plants now. Not sure what the distance is between them as I've never measured it, but I keep overlap to a minimum and prune foliage if necessary. Also remove any damaged or dying leaves quickly too.