At the beginning of March, I planted quite a lot of my MoneyMaker tomato seeds in fresh compost. I planted them in groups of two in a seed tray, with a few also in 3" pots.
Most of them have germinated, but they seem to be spindly, weak looking things. However, this week I have had quite a few stronger looking seedlings shoot up- almost over night.
See:
(http://i122.photobucket.com/albums/o246/cosmoanddibs/100_1764.jpg)
(http://i122.photobucket.com/albums/o246/cosmoanddibs/100_1763.jpg)
(http://i122.photobucket.com/albums/o246/cosmoanddibs/100_1765.jpg)
Do they look normal to you?
Should I be picking out all the little seedlings and just keeping the stronger ones?
I must add that those bigger seedlings did not emerge from a littler one. They shot up over night.
Someone on another forum told me that the little ones are not toms!??!
the wee ones look far too small to be toms, was it cheapo compost that you used that my not have been heat treated to kill off seeds that were not composted ???
I *think* it was Sainsburys multi purpose.
I seem to be on the same wavelength as Dave.
The small seedlings look like chick weed to me the taller ones could be tomatoes (too early to tell yet)
I'm more curious about the compost ???
Is it second hand? i.e. have you used it for something else that you thought might have failed and now they have decided to germinate.
Or have you mixed two composts together e.g home made compost & multipurpose compost?
There is something not quite right here but what I don't know ??? ???
What I think I could say with certainty is the small ones are not tomatoes..........these have roundish leaves tomatoes are long and narrow not unlike the taller ones in you photos.
would definitely say the bigger ones are toms as they look exactly like my money makers ....n8r ;)
I'm really puzzled!
There I was thinking 'I've got loads germinating'!
It definitely is fresh compost. I opened the bag with some scissors.
Should I just pick them all out? I pulled one out, and it had tiny roots.
You could pull them out if you wanted, but it wont hurt to leave them. The taller ones with the thin leaves look like toms, do the have very fine hair on the leaves? Don't panic to much about it, it will soon be time to plant the toms up into bigger pots.
The taller ones are definitely tomato seedlings the small ones are weeds, i certainly would have something to say about that compost if it was freshly brought from Salisbury's. :-\
I read this a few days and thought hmm my tomato seedlings aren't doing anything.... and yesterday 15 popped up during the day, from nothing to 1cm tall.
I had the opposite problem with my compost last year. I planted up some fruit trees and topped them up with compost from a bag... and midway through the year had tomato plants growing in the pot. I'd never grown tomatoes before so they must have come in the compost. I have a feeling that may have also been sainsburys compost!
Becky