Grow Your Own Magazine

I planted a packet of tomato seeds (Minibel) in celled trays last month & put them on a windowsill as I usually do. Every cell germinated in less than a week. However they have just sat there at about an inch tall, normally my problem is they grow weedy & leggy but these aren't doing anything. They have even produced true leaves but they are tiny. I have grown tomato's like this planting out to patio containers mid June for several years now & never encountered anything like this before. Think I have lost them but would like to know what I have done wrong.

Difficult to say SG, when seedlings freeze up like this it's usually because they've received a shock of some sort, sudden change of temperature, water, light, draft etc. I'm really only responding to your note because I had a similar experience with my first set of toms this year which in that particular instance I traced to the compost which I'd made up from a recipe and which I thought was great but they obviously didn't! You could try sacrificing one and have a look at the roots - in my case there weren't many roots which kinda explained it! I started again, using standard commercial compost, and 2nd attempt was fine. You haven't specified your location but it's getting a mite late now to start over again (though no reason not to try, if the summer's OK you'll get a later crop), alternatively pals with spares or garden centres might still have some which would allow you to catch up some of the lost time. Of mine only two out of about two dozen developed at all and I put them in the greenhouse where they continue to lag behind the 2nd lot... Seems that's what you get for being sentimental!

bb

Tomato seedlings don't grow particularly vigorously in their first month, but it depends a lot on the variety and the growing conditions.

Have you grown Minibel before? I ask because it is a dwarf, tumbling plant. You wouldn't expect the same size leaves or growth as you would a Moneymaker or Marmande. Even at a month old the latter would be different.

I would try potting on. My peppers sat for weeks without doing anything so I potted on and what a difference it made. Worth a try with at least a couple of plants.

Ian

Thank's for the responses!! I potted 2 on last week & put them out in our mini greenhouse. Oddly enough they had good long roots for their size. The potted on pair are still sitting doing nothing. It is my first time with Minibel, however last year I raised Tumbling Tom for the hanging baskets & Super Marmande for containers. Tumbling Tom came on far better than these have.
Thank's once again.

Potting on usually works for me - I think they run out of space to spread their roots and run out of nutrients in the potting compost. Give 'em a little extra room and whoosh off they go!

Did you pot them on using the same compost? It can really make a big difference.

__________________
Manda.

"Wouldn't it be nice
For maybe an hour
To not have a care."

Which way ?
Same compost good, or same compost bad ?