Tomato contest - unfair advantages sought!

[urbanwookie]

Hi,

We're having a tomato growing contest on a windowsill at work and I'd be grateful for any advice you could offer on feeds, pampering, coddling, etc etc.

The plants were all brought on from seed - in my coldframe at home - and are about 3" high at present. I think the unspoken rule is "no commercial feeds...yet!" but there aren't any really rigid rules as such.

I was planning on perhaps a nettle or comfrey type feed with perhaps a small contribution from the kids' guinea pig...

urb

[chadspad]

I made some nettle feed and have been using it on one set of tomatoes only as a test. They are so far advanced from the others and the tomatoes that are growing are enormous already! I would def recommend the nettle!

[Shirley]

hehehe - with a nettle/comfrey type feed you could get away with anything as it'll stink so much when you use it that the others will stay away hehe.

[urbanwookie]

I made some nettle feed and have been using it on one set of tomatoes only as a test. They are so far advanced from the others and the tomatoes that are growing are enormous already! I would def recommend the nettle!

Nettle it is, then!

That pig of yours scares me...it just seems wrong, very wrong!

[urbanwookie]

hehehe - with a nettle/comfrey type feed you could get away with anything as it'll stink so much when you use it that the others will stay away hehe.

I like the way you (st)think!

BTW...I've also joined NEEPS! Prob'ly see you around.

urb

[Shirley]

That pig of yours scares me...it just seems wrong, very wrong!

I agree I thought it was just me

[chadspad]

Does look kinda weird eh?

[Cheezy]

You need a high potash feed to encourage fruit growth rather than a high nitrogen content which encourages green growth.

Also I think I'm right in saying you only apply the feed after the first/second truss of fruits are pea sized.

High potash things include wood ash/BBQ ash so you could try that. Damn sight less smelly than nettle/comfry especially in an office.

I read that dandelion roots due to the depth they go down collect the widest range of minerals. I have dug some up and rotted them down to a black soup, which I'll dilute to a "tea colour". If it goes by smell then this stuff must be the best cos it stinks like sh**e

[Annpan]

Can you make up this kind of feed by just drowning nettles, comfrey, dandilions, etc in an old water butt or somat? I think I heard on JV show the other day that on the alotment they were using some weed soup to kill green fly but I missed the programme. Can anyone help me here?

Chadspad - My hubby often browses over the posts and said that he is also scared of your pig

[urbanwookie]

You need a high potash feed to encourage fruit growth rather than a high nitrogen content which encourages green growth.

High potash things include wood ash/BBQ ash so you could try that. Damn sight less smelly than nettle/comfry especially in an office.
:

The wood ash sounds like a good plan - I've got a whole bunch of dried-up prunings to dispose of in some way.. Some of them might find their way onto the BBQ once the eating's done.

The plants are located in a very open and well-ventilated stairwell so the smell might not be too big an issue anyway.

Thanks

[urbanwookie]

Can you make up this kind of feed by just drowning nettles, comfrey, dandilions, etc in an old water butt or somat? I think I heard on JV show the other day that on the alotment they were using some weed soup to kill green fly but I missed the programme. Can anyone help me here?

You need a good picking of nettles or comfrey - I've been stripping the leaves off nettles and composting the stems - which you bruise well and steep in water dosed with some wee. I've got mine in a plastic 2L milk carton which allows for some vigorous mixing with no splashing!. I basically filled the carton to the brim with leaves and then topped it up with liquid.

Leave it - either in the shed or greenhouse - for a week or two and then use some in your watering can...

I just picked up a big pot of comfrey at the weekend so I'll be using that later in the season.

My hubby often browses over the posts and said that he is also scared of your pig

If They keep doping livestock with hormones and human genes, that might be the future for piggery!

urb

[ina]

Does look kinda weird eh?

The teeth are the problem - they are so terribly human!

[flower]

on the alotment they were using some weed soup to kill green fly but I missed the programme. Can anyone help me here?

rhubarb leaf tea is supposed to be very good for ahids

[Annpan]

Cheers all