Last week’s extract was on the process of seed raising. This week we move onto the part of tomato growing which always feels like things are about to really get going; potting up, or on, or just plain old putting in a pot.
Potting
There are four different ways in which you may decide to bring your plants to full maturity.
- In specially prepared beds on the greenhouse floor.
- In prepared beds of compost on the greenhouse staging.
- Bringing them on under glass and finally planting them outdoors.
- Individually in large pots in the greenhouse.
So far as the first three methods are concerned, the only potting required will be the initial one, into the size known as “sixties”, i.e. about three and a half inches high and three and a half inches across the top.
If, however, you decide to grow the plants to maturity in individual pots, then they will require a second move into 10- or 12-inch pots. To get the very best results, I would recommend an intermediate move from “sixties” to “forty-eights”.
The compost required for the first potting should be slightly richer than that used for seed-sowing. If some of the latter is left over, it can be made suitable by adding 2 oz. of bone meal to each 12 lb. of compost. Alternatively, a ready-blended John Innes Potting Compost is avaliable from most horticultural suppliers.
All pots and boxes should have been well cleaned and sterilized in advance. At the bottom of each “sixty” pot put one or two crocks covered with a little coarser soil or fibre. Then fill the pot with compost to within one and a half inches of the top. Each seedling should then be carefully lifted with one and and held in the centre of the pot, while the compost is carefully trickled round it with the other. Firm the compost carefully round the roots.
After potting, give the seedlings a light overhead watering and shade them with sheets of newspaper against the full sun for the first day or so, or until they show signs of having overcome the move and are visibly growing again. Keep the pots as close to the glass as possible to prevent the seedlings being drawn.
Temperature should be regulated according to the season and the prevailing weather. Night temperature should not be allowed to fall below 55F. (13c) or day temperature to rise above 70F. (21c).
If, for any reason, those plants which are destined for indoor borders or for outdoor cultivation cannot be planted out before the “sixties” become full of roots, then I strongly recommend an intermediate move into 6- or 8-inch pots. Once the plants become pot-bound, they receive a check from which they never really recover.
Right, so now I am all at 6s and 7s on all the different pot sizes. Working back to metric and with new-to-me terminology, “sixties” and “forty-eights”, is confusing. Still in the absence of home-grown tomatoes I’ll try to get my teeth into a new concept or phrase instead. Can anyone put me right on what the dimension of a “forty-eights” is?
In the meantime and in translation, I think the guidance here is to first put the tomato plants into a 10cm pot and from there onto their final growing place, unless their final growing place is a pot, in which case that will be a 30cm pot. And those plant, or all plants if you are so inclined, benefit from an intermediate move into 15-20cm pot (which may or may not be a “forty-eights”?).
Phew – I am feeling a little 11 plusness coming over me – and that’s not a good thing ! It’s very ” drawing”.
