Topic: puny tomato seedlings

[strawberry1]

I have grown tomatoes from seed year on year but this year they are very puny, my greenhouse is unheated and my guess is that it is too cold, so now they are in the house at night. They look very poor, I actually changed the compost the other day and am growing two varieties, Unless they improve soon then I might reluctantly, have to buy plants. Grhh, anyone else?  Spring is late this year even in somerset

[galina]

Compost may be to blame, night time temperatures of less than 7C (5 at a squeeze) definitely and lack of feed could also be the cause, because some composts run out very fast. 

They may be small, but they are probably quite hardened, ready to go when conditions change.

I had a year with difficult tomatoes and it was just down to the compost.  In that case it was very acidic and had no fertilisers in it.  Potting up into decent compost was the answer and they recovered well.  Keep trying with your tomatoes, you have invested a lot into them already.

On the other hand, it is not too late to sow again.  With everything going for them, they will be ready to plant out 6 weeks after sowing, which takes us into the middle of June.  As some parts of the country still have frosts in early June, a mid June planting is not too late, but you could go for faster ripening cherry tomatoes or other earlies if you sow again now.

Good luck     

[picman]

Almost certainly down to temperature , can you not provide some sort of heat at night ?  I used to run a small fan heater ( 1kw setting with a thermostat) on a long cable from the house if GH is on an allotment then a paraffin heater is an option . I would plant seeds again now in case we have a really bad frost.

[Ellen K]

Wot Galina and Picman said.  Unless they are diseased, bring them in the house, repot them and give them a good feed with Miracle Grow.  They should perk up after few weeks on a windowsill and be ready for the off in mid May.

Some varieties are definitely more vigorous starters than others.  I've grown Orkado and Sungold and they have both raced away from the others sown at the same time.  In fact, they need repotting again as it's too early for them to go outside.  Grrr.

[Ellen K]

Also, I have managed to pick up a few heated propagators from Wilkos sales over the years and they are a boon for this sort of thing.  So I'd deffo recommend them for toms and sweetcorn too.

[Silverleaf]

I have a couple of weaklings too, which is weird because other plants of the same variety have done fine. *shrug*

[strawberry1]

new different and good compost was used a few days ago so I am sure it is the cold, anyway they are in and out as appropriate. They had good roots when I changed compost so I have my fingers crossed. We had hail yesterday morning and it is cold again today,