Topic: Seedlings not growing

[dazdread]

Hi there all,

A complete newby here, planted out loads of seedlings and they germinated really well however seem not to have grown at all in the last month. My Tomatoes have just gone dark in colour but not got any larger.

Courgettes just started to go yellow so I have planted them out, as did the beans.

The have all just got their first real leaves and that is it, they have just stopped.

They were germinated in the kitchen and put out about 3 weeks ago, they are in homebase peat free multi purpose compost which is very black and woody... could it be the compost and if so, which peat free, no chemical compost should I use.

Darren

[caroline7758]

When you say "put out" do you mean into the garden? It sounds to me as if you put them out too soon. They need to be good strong plants with a few sets of real leaves and they need to be "hardened off", i.e. gradually accustomed to the cooler temp. outside, before you can put them out permanently.

It's getting too late to start again, so maybe you could beg or buy some plants from neighbours/friends/freecycle?

[antipodes]

Yes I agree with Caroline, you can plant out big plants at this time of year but not tiny seedlings.
You can now direct sow French beans maybe that is one idea? You will only need a couple of courgettes - I would recommend buying in some plants for this year.
tip - I started my tomatoes early March and they went out in May when at least 25 cm tall!!

[Barnowl]

Are the tomatoes in pots? If so what size?

If the pot is big enough, multi purpose should be ok for at least 3 weeks (3-6 weeks?)  thereafter they'll need feeding.

I've read somewhere (here?) that one can sometimes shock tomatoes (and other plants) into action by giving them a strong feed of something like Maxicrop rather specialised liquid feed like Tomarite that is more geared to plants which are fruiting. Worth a try?

If your courgettes were already going yellow when inside, I think the problem already existed.

As you mention you're a complete newby I hope you don't find this blindingly obvious or patronising, but when you were growing the seedlings did you check to see whether they were trying to grow roots out of the bottom of their pots? That's the usual sign that they need a bigger pot or to be planted out.

I think that with many plants, especially those started early indoors or in the GH timing planting out is a bit tricky because they are cold sensitive: if the cold doesn't actually kill them it can check their growth so that they go, as it were, dormant  (no idea of the science behind this last and I stand ready to be corrected).  If planting out and potting on aren't options (the latter because of space) they can get a excessively rootbound and therefore unhealthy.

On the other hand you should never plant out tomatoes until they have a good strong root system This is where it gets a bit woolly - I reckon roots poking out the bottom of  pots of something between 5 inch and 7 inches but I'm no expert and some go smaller or larger or use a completely different method.

I've planted some out straight from root trainers this year (hardened off while still in the root trainer) and they do seem a bit slow compare to those I potted on into 6 inch pots, but there have been too many variables to be sure.   I can fairly confidently say that a normal seedling pot let alone a cell is certainly inadequate preparation for a tomato to meet the outside world.