Tomato Sowing Quick Start Guide

If you are new to growing tomatoes, it's a good idea to know the best time to sow in your part of the world to get the best results.

There are a lot of different tomato varieties which need the right container or position.

For example, tall tomato plants do well in grow bags, tumbler type tomatoes are great for hanging baskets and tall sided pots/containers. Dwarf bush varieties do very well on the kitchen windowsill.

Seed starter kits are a good way to begin!

• When to sow
• Choosing the right variety for the location
• How to sow

For more information about getting started sowing and growing tomatoes, go here.

Various Media For Sowing Tomato Seeds

Usually, tomato seeds are sown in seed compost but there are a number of other ways to sow tomato seeds that may be more convenient and a lot less messy than using compost.

Rockwool, sponges and Jiffy Pellets are great for sowing tomato seeds.

There are a number of advantages by using each of these media.

• Less messy
• No pricking out
• Better moisture and air holding capacity than most seed compost
• Potted on without disturbing roots

Seedlings are potted on with the cube, sponge or pellet so there is no root disturbance and they can be potted into potting compost, rockwool or any suitable media for growing tomatoes.

More information about these sowing media here.

Technical Tomato Articles

At this time of the season, it's good to get back into the groove and learn a few new facts about growing tomatoes or remind ourselves of the stuff we have forgotten!

The truth is, tomato growing can be as easy or as complicated as we want to make it but there is always an advantage in knowledge - even if we decide to disregard it from time to time.

Here are a few technical articles that I have found useful in getting the best from my crop - perhaps it may do the same for you. Technical Tomato Articles.

Guttation - drops of water on leaf edges.

When To Sow Tomato Seeds

The short answer is eight to ten weeks before your last frost - but why do we sow at this time?

Sowing tomato seeds at the right time can help avoid a number of problems that are caused by low light levels.

Leggy tomato plants
Sowing too early means that plants struggle through shorter days, and in their search for more light, become leggy.

Leggy tomato plants with thin stems will produce fewer tomatoes, so it's important to grow healthy stocky seedlings and young plants if you want a good crop.

Fewer flower buds
The other issue with low light levels is the amount of flower buds that are encouraged by light. Less light means fewer flowers and eventually tomatoes.

In conclusion
It is true that a plant sown a little later in the spring can catch up and do better than a plant sown earlier that has had to struggle through short days and cooler temperatures.

Of course, with grow lights and correct temperatures, tomatoes can be sown and grown any time of the year!

More information on when to sow and how to sow tomato seeds.

Choosing Tomato Seeds 2018

It's an exciting time when choosing tomato seeds for the coming season.

Should I stick with the regular varieties that I grow every summer, or try one or two new ones?

Wet Summers Ahead

It seems that we are in a phase of wet summers in the UK which means that tomato blight is an issue. The good news is that there are blight resistant varieties available that can cope with a wet summer.

These include:

• Crimson Crush F1
• Lizzano F1
• Mountain Magic F1

The F1 means that they are a first generation cross between two varieties that have been used for their special qualities. In this particular case, they have been bred to resist tomato blight.

Find out more about blight resistant tomato seeds here.

Non Blight Resistant Varieties

Black Opal, Black Cherry and Rosella are three great tasting black purple cherry tomatoes that are well worth growing for their sweet flavour.

Then their are the old favourites in the UK which include Moneymaker, Alicante, Shirley and Gardener's Delight. These have been grown for many years and remain popular because of their reliable performance and very good taste.

Whatever seed varieties you choose this summer, if you are growing outside, I recommend at least one blight resistant variety.

More about choosing tomato seeds here.

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

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.