Tuesday 3 June 2014

Silicon - Supplement for Tomato Plants

Silicon as a supplement for tomato plants has a number of benefits that are well known in the hydroponic world of growing, but not as widely used as many other supplements.

For the home gardener, silicon is almost completely unknown - but that's a pity because silicon can be used to protect plants - especially those growing outside and enhance their performance too.

My visit to the Home Grown Expo at the Ricoh Arena, Coventry was fun and informative - there's always something new to learn and new products to try out and test on my plants. One of these is Solar Green Power from "buddhas tree".

I now have several plants receiving the silicon treatment and I shall be giving the results of the test later in the season!

The difference between Solar Green Power and other brands is that they use silicic acid which is much more readily used by plants than other brands that use potassium silicate.

The benefits of silicon include:

Greater tolerance of cold, heat, under and over watering and under and over feeding.

Improved growth rates owing to an increase in photosynthesis and greater resistance to aphids and diseases - such as fungal spores!

I look forward to sharing the results later in the season - if this product can help resist against blight spores in wet weather, it will be worth using every season by default!

More information about this product at: www.buddhastree.co.uk


Sunday 1 June 2014

Curled Leaves on Tomato Plants

Curled leaves and branches on tomato plants are often caused by stress.

Of course, disease, weather conditions, and soil problems, including under and over watering, can cause stress and leaves and leaf branches to curl.

However, this often happens in the early summer when plants are still developing their root systems and we get warm sunny days when water uptake is greater than plants can cope with at their stage of development - especially if they are growing in containers.

Sometimes if roots have been damaged by over feeding or disease, this can cause a restricted uptake of water by a plant.

Usually curled leaves and leaf branches return to normal growth when temperatures become more stable and roots have had more time to develop a system that can cope with higher summer temperatures.