Help with toms as I am clueless!!!x x

[chicky]

Hi Guys, me again! I have never grown a thing in my life so please forgive me if I'm asking dumb questions, but I have to learn somewhere and I'm hoping you guys can help! I am growing some toms on my window sill. I planted them around two weeks ago and they are doing fab! They are an inch tall already and I am really proud!!!!! they have little leave(lol) on them to. I have done a search on here and couldn't find what I was looking for. I have read some of the other posts etc on here and am reading stuff about trusses etc and how things have to be pricked. I haven't aclue what you experienced grapes are on about! Could someone please explain the basics of tom growing to me??? Thanks.

[Flummery]

We like you asking questions. It makes us feel clever!
Pricking out is just a term for putting seedlings either into individual pots or giving them more space in a seed tray. When you have the first true leaves (the raggy edged ones, not just the smooth oval seed leaves) you can put your little toms into their own pots - 3" is usual. Handle the seedling by the seed leaf, not the stem as you can damage it. Raise it from the pot it germinated in by carefully lifting it from the soil - I use a teaspoon handle under the seedling - and try to keep as much soil around the root as you can. Transfer the seedling into the new compost into which you have first made a little hole - drop the plant into the hole. Tuck it up and kiss it night night! No, maybe not. Gently firm it into the compost - label it (you WILL forget which is which!)
A truss is a bunch of fruits - toms in this case - or the group of flowers that precede them. People will tell you to plant out or put into growbags or feed etc 'when the first flowers form' or 'when the first truss sets' - this means the little fruits form when the flowers drop off. Dead exciting isn't it.

Good luck. It's seriously addictive.

[shirlthegirl43]

Follow Flummery's advice and then... when the roots are starting to poke out the holes in the bottom of the 3 inch pot, pot it into a bigger pot - this might be just a bigger pot or the growbag you want to keep it in or the garden border if it is an outdoor tom, or if you are like me, a 10 litre pot. When it goes into its final position, bury a string under the root ball (the ball of soil and roots that comes out of the pot) if it is to be supported (cordon type) or stick a bamboo cane in beside it. This prevents the roots being disturbed too much later on.

Most of all, as Flummery says, remember it is addictive. Enjoy the learning (I grew my first tomatoes last year)

[chicky]

Thanks guys thats brilliant! Dont know what I would do without this site and all the helpful people on it!!!

[Alice]

Oh! and Chicky, you can't put your Toms out until all risk of frost is past. And if you are going to put them outside, harden them off first by putting them outside in good weather during the day and taking them in at night. Build up their hardiness until they can be left out day and night. Hope you get a bumper crop.

[chicky]

Thanks Alice!!!! x x x x