Tomatoville® Gardening Forums


Notices

New to growing your own tomatoes? This is the forum to learn the successful techniques used by seasoned tomato growers. Questions are welcome, too.

Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
Old July 10, 2014   #1
biodarwin
Tomatovillian™
 
Join Date: May 2014
Location: Louisiana
Posts: 50
Default How do these look?

First time growing from seed. These will be my fall tomatoes. One row was transplanted a week or so before the other. I have Roma VF, Sungold, Tumbler and Sweet tangerine.



biodarwin is offline   Reply With Quote
Old July 10, 2014   #2
jmsieglaff
Tomatovillian™
 
jmsieglaff's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2014
Location: Southern WI
Posts: 2,742
Default

They look happy and healthy! Good luck with your fall garden.
jmsieglaff is offline   Reply With Quote
Old July 10, 2014   #3
KarenO
Tomatovillian™
 
KarenO's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2012
Location: Vancouver Island
Posts: 5,918
Default

good looking seedlings there. My fall garden is usually snow before Halloween
Enjoy
KarenO
KarenO is offline   Reply With Quote
Old July 10, 2014   #4
biodarwin
Tomatovillian™
 
Join Date: May 2014
Location: Louisiana
Posts: 50
Default

Thank you! I have had these guys under a T-5 light and they looked fine. Since this was my first time I thought I would double check. Thank you once again!
biodarwin is offline   Reply With Quote
Old July 10, 2014   #5
Father'sDaughter
Tomatovillian™
 
Join Date: Nov 2011
Location: MA/NH Border
Posts: 4,917
Default

The seedlings look great. If you're watering from the top, have you considered switching over to bottom watering? It will provide for more even and deeper moisture as the root systems develop, and could help avoid dampening off issues. Just pour water directly into the trays and let it soak up from below.
Father'sDaughter is offline   Reply With Quote
Old July 10, 2014   #6
biodarwin
Tomatovillian™
 
Join Date: May 2014
Location: Louisiana
Posts: 50
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by Father'sDaughter View Post
The seedlings look great. If you're watering from the top, have you considered switching over to bottom watering? It will provide for more even and deeper moisture as the root systems develop, and could help avoid dampening off issues. Just pour water directly into the trays and let it soak up from below.
This makes so much sense, given that I grow my tomatoes in global buckets. How much water should I add to the trays? Just try to keep in a constant 1" of water in the bottom?
biodarwin is offline   Reply With Quote
Old July 10, 2014   #7
KarenO
Tomatovillian™
 
KarenO's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2012
Location: Vancouver Island
Posts: 5,918
Default

Oh no, water them based on need in your peat pots. She means when you need to water them, you can water from the bottom. Your peat pots would disintegrate if kept in water and the roots would rot from being too wet. The goal is moist, not wet. Think of a nice fresh piece of chocolate cake. It is moist but if you squeezed it no moisture would drip out. That is how your seedling mix should be.
Karen
KarenO is offline   Reply With Quote
Old July 10, 2014   #8
Father'sDaughter
Tomatovillian™
 
Join Date: Nov 2011
Location: MA/NH Border
Posts: 4,917
Default

Thanks for clarifying Karen! Yes, just enough water to get things evenly moist, but not so much that the pots are in standing water. I just see so much dry soil in your pots right now which isn't good when you're trying to grow a large health root system.
Father'sDaughter is offline   Reply With Quote
Old July 10, 2014   #9
biodarwin
Tomatovillian™
 
Join Date: May 2014
Location: Louisiana
Posts: 50
Default

Ok, so maybe add an inch of water, let it wick up and when the soil seems sufficient damp, poor the excess out the bottom?
biodarwin is offline   Reply With Quote
Old July 10, 2014   #10
Father'sDaughter
Tomatovillian™
 
Join Date: Nov 2011
Location: MA/NH Border
Posts: 4,917
Default

That's pretty much it. If they soak up the inch of water an still look and feel dry, add more and wait to see how much they take up. I keep an empty tray on hand to transfer them into after they've sucked up all they need, then dump the water out. And by giving them a good drink from the bottom, you can wait until the top of your soil dries out a bit before you water again.
Father'sDaughter is offline   Reply With Quote
Old July 11, 2014   #11
peppero
Tomatovillian™
 
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: selmer, tn
Posts: 2,944
Default

There is a lot of pleasure in growing from seed. Enjoy.

jon
peppero is offline   Reply With Quote
Old July 13, 2014   #12
biodarwin
Tomatovillian™
 
Join Date: May 2014
Location: Louisiana
Posts: 50
Default

Thanks everyone. This has been working great and has in general reduced the amount of time required to deal with these little guys. Thanks!!!
biodarwin is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT -4. The time now is 06:06 AM.


★ Tomatoville® is a registered trademark of Commerce Holdings, LLC ★ All Content ©2022 Commerce Holdings, LLC ★