Pot success!

[chickenchargrill]

I kill pot plants. I have never managed to grow anything in a pot. I even failed a few years back to successfully care for a cactus, that's how bad I am. Garden is fine, I can grow things there, but pots... pots equal death.

BUT I have grown a tomato plant, from seed, it looks very healthy and has little flowers on it and it's quite happy in my living room window.

I can't tell you just how excited this makes me.

[sarahkeast]

I hear you on this, I have a garden full of loveliness, including containers...

But house plants ? might as well cut their roots off as you walk thru the door. And I would love to have a big lush corner/shelf/windowsill in each room. Tired of buying them.

[SteveJamesBrown]

While we are talking about tomatoes in pots! I have a few tomato plant growing in 5inch pots (3 plants in each) and a 2ft trough about (4 plants in each) at the moment, the plants are about 3-4 inches. They look healthy and seem to be doing ok, should I leave them or will they grow better replanted outside? Guess Ill need to divide them into individual pots at some point? They are in a conservatory at the moment away from any insects of which I'm a little paranoid about...

Any tips much appreciated.. Thanks ;)

[chickenchargrill]

Thanks guys.

Steve - I replanted when they were about 2 inches, when they had 2 leaves. I moved a few outside and kept 1 on my windowsill and kept moving it to bigger pots when needed. The ones outside are doing well, but nowhere near as big as my living room one. Most of it was trial and error.

My indoor one still got greenfly and aphids though, rather annoying, didn't think it would with being inside. But I sprayed it with a garlic oil spray and no signs since.

[SteveJamesBrown]

Great, thanks for the tips! Guess Ill keep them inside and maybe move one out to see how it goes.. And as for the garlic spray, Ill have to get some

[chickenchargrill]

It's super easy to make. Just mince a few cloves of garlic, mix with vegetable oil - leave in the fridge for 24 hours. Then strain the garlic out, add 2 tsp of the oil to water, add a squirt of washing up liquid and there you go. Good for insects, mold and mildew.

You can do a bulb of garlic to one cup of oil, then save the rest of the oil in a sealed container til you need some more spray.

[SteveJamesBrown]

Brilliant.. Ill get cracking tonight :)

Thank you

[oldjerry]

SJB think about potting on your toms pronto.If you plant in to separate pots they will want to be pretty substantial||(though less so if they're a dwark/hanging basket variety.And that size you'll need a good size rootball with them.Maybe more simple to get a couple of growbags and do 2/3 plants in each one.If you want to keep them in the conservatory(which may not be a bad idea,you'll need some sort of tray under the bag.Watering/growing instructions etc should be on the bag.To be honest,I'm not the greatest fan of growbagsbut,and I'm guessing here please dont be offended if I'm wrong,if you havent grown a lot of toms,they do gaurantee a fair measure of success provided you keep up with the watering.Good advive on the spray I reckon. Best Wishes .

[Thomzo]

My indoor one still got greenfly and aphids though, rather annoying, didn't think it would with being inside. But I sprayed it with a garlic oil spray and no signs since.

The parsley on my kitchen windowsill had whitefly until I persuaded a ladybird to take up residence. She's doing a fab job and seems pretty happy there. She hasn't tried to fly off at all, just wanders around the plant all day hovering up the whitefly. Fascinating to watch.

Zoe

[SteveJamesBrown]

Thanks Oldjerry,
I'll take your advice on this, its crazy how quickly they have grown so Ill repot this weekend in larger pots... So you're not a fan of growbags? Ill be interested how they do compared to the ones in pots that have some well rotted compost.

Time to get myself a ladybird Zoe.. Although so far no signs of greenfly touch wood!

Thanks again for advice ;)

[Millymollymandy]

I have four different kinds of house plants that are all flowering now (all with pink flowers!) and I'm chuffed to bits. I'm OK at keeping them alive but have never had much luck with flowering ones, yet my mother has a houseful of beautiful flowering house plants. Maybe the genes are rubbing off on me as I get older though I think it's down to luck.

[Lilyfae]

We'll done!
I'm exactly the same, most things grow happily outside, but inside I've killed orchids, bonsai, spider plants and peace lilies!

Yet just after Xmas I popped the shop-bought poinsettia on the windowsill and only water it when the soil is Sahara dry & it's flourished, grown extra arms & bushed out! I can't believe it, especially as I kill all houseplants and no one I know has ever had a shopbought poinsettia live after new year!

There is hope for us plantkillers yet!

[chickenchargrill]

Looks like it's a good year for those of us who don't normally do well with plants. A friend of mine seems to have developed greener fingers too

My mam was always good with pot plants too so maybe that gene does take a while to kick in




As for my tomato plant, the first flowers are dropping and I have tiny green toms

[chickenchargrill]

Well, I thought I'd managed to kill the poor thing. When it got all overcast I kept watering without checking whether it needed it. Needless to say, it didn't like it and wilted

Took it out the pot and left it on some newspaper for the day, popped it back the next day and left it to it. It looked very sorry for itself and only had about a dozen or so leaves left. Just checked it and it has new flowers and leaves! Lesson learned.

[bonniethomas06]

I was very lazy last year an didn't clear the toms out of the polytunnel in time, and loads of old rotten fruit fell off onto the borders.

This year there are little tomato plants EVERYWHERE. They are more prolific than dandilions and I am pulling them up by the handful - such a shame but I already have tomato plants (which I laboriously sowed in the propagator). Just goes to show...they must be hardier than we think.