tomato head

[sarah]

about ten days ago i potted up my tomatoes and planted them deep (up to the seed leaves) which I believe is the corect thing to do. The next day I potted on my brassicas, red cabbage, ps broccolli and ...something else cant remember, anyway, I still had my tomato head on and as they were rather leggy I planted them all quite a bit deeper than they originally were.  They seem to have stopped growing altogether now.  ::) ???. have I done a silly thing or will they be ok?

[sarah]

[redimp]

You did right with the brassicas.  They should always be potted on or planted out to first leaf.  Gives them more stability which they all crave.

Don't know whay they have stopped though (although they will stop anyway for one or two days after potting on).  Have any other conditions changed.  If they have got colder, they may well have just slowed down.  Anyway, they should get going at some point.

Also, see here: Seed leaf question in Basics.

[John_H]

I always plant my brassica deep.

When I get around to finally planting my sprout and broccoli transplants, I will put them in dips the shape of half a football. I treat them a bit like leeks and slowly fill the dip in then finally heap them up  as they grow during the autumn.

The dips make it easier to water, help the plants stay out of the wind and make it slighly easier to shade or net them  against cabbage butterfly over the summer.

[supersprout]

Hi sarah, tomatoes grow roots from their stems below the first seed leaf. If they get leggy you can even plant them sideways so long as the first leaves are above the ground, and they will root. Amazing ain't it? If you think have slower growth, it may be the shock of transplanting, or the optical illusion of a bigger pot/smaller plant, or too wet? ::) Ignore them for a bit and see what happens. I have had to be away for a week at a time recently, and it's done my baby plants a power of good to be, erm, left alone :-[.

[grawrc]

Thanks for this advice. I'm about to pot on my toms but they're in paper pots so I'm potting them directly into the bigger ones rather than taking them out and potting them on. Hope they won't even notice.

[sarah]

thanks for the replies, I feel muchly reassured now.  :)

[supersprout]

The dips make it easier to water, help the plants stay out of the wind and make it slighly easier to shade or net them  against cabbage butterfly over the summer.

That's great advice john, my brassica pushed up the nets early on, planting in dips should give them a few more weeks under cover. Thank you!