Bunch of questions for all you experienced GYO'ers :-)

[ItsEssexRob]

Rather than post individual threads I decided its best to continue to post one thread with mutliple questions inside, since its all roughly the same kind of thing anyway.

First off.

Tieing up lettuces: Is this common practise? My Cos lettuces have grown up a bit leggy and tend to sway and sometimes even break a bit in the wind, they also splay apart from each other. I tied a loose fitting peice of string around them to keep them relatively compact, is this a good idea?

Tomato plants leaves curling/twisting: Noticed this in one of my growbags in my GH. The leaves seem to be bending twisting and curling all over the place. Is this normal or a sign somethings up?

Beetroot: If I have too many and wish to thin them I decided it would be a good idea to use the baby leaves as salad? How big do the leaves need to be before harvesting?

Rocket: Not knowing much about Rocket, I believe this is a wild variety organic from suttons seeds. I have about 20 plants all growing up well, but noticed the roots are sowing through the pots, so I wondered if maybe Rocket is actually a plant in need of a lot more room than I assumed. Does Rocket need to be kept in the GH or can it do fine outside?

At present the single rocket plants are in 4-5 inch diametre pots, and I have 4 plants in a pot that is about 7-8 inches in diametre, do I need to move them? They have already been moved once and I am not keen to move again unless desperately needed.

Airing out the greenhouse:

I currently tend to leave the GH door( polytheme GH) fully open for a while after watering at about 7.30 in the evening, As I am concerned about Botryis. It doesnt seem humid at all in there, so I assume that is a good thing.

Will edit if I have anything else I am concerned about but thats all for now.

Thanks.

Rob

[cazp]

I have wild rocket growing outside in raised beds and it's doing fine - theyre only small plants but have been harvesting the odd few leaves to add to salads. Will definately sow more.

[donnakebab]

I have never heard of tying up lettuce. It has been windy though so who knows...it may work but sew some more anyway.

If your tomato leaves look otherwise green and healthy then don't worry about the curling, it's quite common.

Rocket will be fine outside. You don't say how tall they are. Start harvesting the leaves and sew more through the season. I have sewn some in a trough between little gem lettuce and will sew some on my allotment soon.

It's a good thing to air the green house as condensation can cause a few problems.

Hope this helps.

[Vince G]

Rocket: got rocket in a large trough about 2ft x 1ft and 9 inches high. Mixed it in with some salad leaves and it's swamped the lot! I love rocket but wont grow it again - seems to go to seed quick too.

Beetroot: depends how big you like your salad leaves! 2 or 3 inches tops I reckon.

Lettuce: growing little gem but in polytunnel, they're fine! Tying looseley seems sensible.

Tomatoes: again, growing in polytunnel, so away from all possible nasties, and this is my first year with toms so can't really comment. Not got any curly leaves.

[ItsEssexRob]

I have never heard of tying up lettuce. It has been windy though so who knows...it may work but sew some more anyway.

If your tomato leaves look otherwise green and healthy then don't worry about the curling, it's quite common.

Rocket will be fine outside. You don't say how tall they are. Start harvesting the leaves and sew more through the season. I have sewn some in a trough between little gem lettuce and will sew some on my allotment soon.

It's a good thing to air the green house as condensation can cause a few problems.

Hope this helps.

Rocket plants vary from 4-5 inches tall and about 8 leaves, to only 2 inches tall with only 3-4 leaves. How big and how many leaves are they supposed to get before harvesting?


Thanks.

[veggiechicken]

With rocket you pick individual leaves and the larger the leaf the stronger the flavour - this is true for most salad leaves, including beetroot. Also, you don't want to strip the plant of all its leaves as it needs some to be able to live. So pick a couple of leaves from each plant, try different sizes, decide how strong you like the taste and go from there. It will live outside and I grow some inside throughout the winter.

[chris]

I leave my GH door open all the time, and the lourve.

[Bren In Pots]

Like Chris my GH door is left fully open in the day then at night I leave it half open.

[Paulottie]

I leave my GH door open all the time, and the lourve.

Like Chris my GH door is left fully open in the day then at night I leave it half open.

Consistency is everything make it easy on yourselves....invest in some thermo autovents chaps.... you won't regret it.

Toms... will be fine, Beet.. thinnings good idea, rocket.. just fine outside, lettuce... give up and start again stick it in the salad...Sounds like an excellent microgreens salad!!...pay a fortune for that at The Fat Duck.

[Two_Sheds]

Tieing up lettuces: Is this common practise? My Cos lettuces have grown up a bit leggy

Did your mate tell you to tie up your Cos?
They're leggy & weak because they're too warm and/or not getting enough light. Don't have them in a greenhouse, they need to be outside

Beetroot: ... use the baby leaves as salad? How big do the leaves need to be before harvesting?

they're edible at any stage, but are sweeter if they're smaller. Obviously don't take all the leaves off a plant or it won't then produce a nice beet

I currently tend to leave the GH door( polytheme GH) fully open for a while

Ideally you should water in the morning so the plants can use that during the day, plus it cools the gh down a bit. If you water in the evening, it's cooler and slugs & snails are encouraged (because they're nocturnal and like the damp). However, do what you can, when you can

It's a zip-up isn't it? The zip should be fully undone and the door open on warm days.

[Bren In Pots]

Consistency is everything make it easy on yourselves....invest in some thermo autovents chaps.... you won't regret it.

I've got auto vents and shading but I still like the door open especially when the GH temp hits 30c

[ItsEssexRob]

Lettuces are outside, but for about 3 weeks they were kept in the GH so that is probably why some ended up leggy and weak.

[zazen999]

The only thing out of your worries that is troubling me is the tomato leaves. Would you say they are 'fern like' twisty?

[Alison]

I thought he meant how tomato leaves go when they get extremes of temperature ie curled up, if so then it's perfectly normal - maybe if you're still concerned a photo would help.