Feeding outdoor tomatoes
Eyren Offline
Hardy perennial
#1
I have some tomatoes in hanging baskets (Tumbling Bella) and a raised bed (First in the Field). I've been feeding them weekly since they started setting fruit, but with the weather so wet at the moment, I don't want to give them a liquid feed and make them totally waterlogged. I'm sure it'll be fine if they skip a week, but for those of you on the wetter side of the country who have more experience than me here in dry-as-dust East Anglia, do you have any tips in case the rain continues?

Should I bring the hanging baskets indoors to prevent waterlogging? Last time I did that (to avoid blight), we immediately had a heatwave and they struggled in my south-facing conservatory. Hopefully we won't have a repeat of that, but I'm torn!
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Mikey Offline
Member
#2
I feed and water my indoor Toms irrespective of the outside weather. I’d rather they were adequate damp than moderately dry Wink

Never tried growing outdoor toms mainly because it always seems to be wet and or windy here.
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JJB Offline
Moonraker
#3
I haven't the option of bringing my outdoor toms in as they're all in the ground. The rain has softened the ground so much they are toppling over. I'm hoping the deluge won't start them all splitting. I'm always prone to overwatering but when I try to restrain myself towards the end of the season I find the greenhouse tomatoes start to wilt. I haven't mastered the art yet, even after 40 years!
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Eyren Offline
Hardy perennial
#4
I settled for tipping the excess water out of the hanging baskets this morning - I had put bin liners underneath the coir liners because otherwise when I watered them it just poured straight through, even with supposedly water-retaining seaweed granules in the compost. The excess water was a slightly worrying greenish colour, so I hope there's nothing nasty in there!
How much veg and wildlife can I pack into a 6m x 8m garden in suburban Cambridge? Let’s find out!  Smile
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Mark_Riga Offline
Member from Cheshire
#5
The greenish in the water is unlikely to be nasty, it is the excess water itself that might well rot the roots.
Plants in pots here all have a way out for excess water. I wouldn't dream of lining with plastic. As long as the compost isn't allowed to dry out, any running through is in excess of what the compost can hold and needs to escape I would have thought.

I have found Dalefoot composts to be very good - but expensive. They advertise on their web site that plants don't need additional feeding and have a mix for tomatoes. If you have a supplier nearby you could give them a try. Whether the savings on feeding would balance the extra cost of the compost?
https://www.dalefootcomposts.co.uk/our-stockists.aspx

I bought it to see what it was like as i have a patch of bracken near by and that is one of their main ingredients besides wool - but I didn't get round to cutting it this year, may be next. In mid summer with 101 things needing doing, next years compost making is easy to miss.
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Eyren Offline
Hardy perennial
#6
(16-08-2020, 11:53 AM)Mark_Riga Wrote: The greenish in the water is unlikely to be nasty, it is the excess water itself that might well rot the roots.
Plants in pots here all have a way out for excess water. I wouldn't dream of lining with plastic. As long as the compost isn't allowed to dry out, any running through is in excess of what the compost can hold and needs to escape I would have thought.

I have found Dalefoot composts to be very good - but expensive. They advertise on their web site that plants don't need additional feeding and have a mix for tomatoes. If you have a supplier nearby you could give them a try. Whether the savings on feeding would balance the extra cost of the compost?
https://www.dalefootcomposts.co.uk/our-stockists.aspx

I bought it to see what it was like as i have a patch of bracken near by and that is one of their main ingredients besides wool - but I didn't get round to cutting it this year, may be next. In mid summer with 101 things needing doing, next years compost making is easy to miss.
Thanks for the tips. I think I need to water my tomatoes using the rose on the watering can - without one, the column of water just seemed to punch through the compost and coir liner without soaking in appreciably, which means a lot of water wasted. Can you tell I've never grown anything in hanging baskets before?  Wink

I was going to order a bulk bag of Dalefoot to top off my new raised beds, since our own topsoil is rather poor (a mix of chalk and clay), so I might add a bag or two of their tomato compost to the order for use next summer. I know Dalefoot is expensive, but the cheaper options I've looked at have either not been peat-free (mushroom compost usually contains peat) or is of dubious quality (random topsoil full of bits of broken glass!). I'm in the fortunate situation of being able to afford the good stuff, so why not?
How much veg and wildlife can I pack into a 6m x 8m garden in suburban Cambridge? Let’s find out!  Smile
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Veggie Offline
Super Pest Controller
#7
If you sink some sort of tube - I use a bit of waterpipe or the top of a plastic bottle - into the compost when you plant up, you can water directly into the tube and it takes the water to the bottom of the pot and keeps it off the leaves.
Definitely stab some holes through the plastic liner, they need drainage - especially if they're out in the rain. I rarely water hanging baskets.
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Eyren Offline
Hardy perennial
#8
(16-08-2020, 06:39 PM)Veggie Wrote: If you sink some sort of tube - I use a bit of waterpipe or the top of a plastic bottle - into the compost when you plant up, you can water directly into the tube and it takes the water to the bottom of the pot and keeps it off the leaves.
Definitely stab some holes through the plastic liner, they need drainage - especially if they're out in the rain. I rarely water hanging baskets.

I did that for the one in the ground - buried the top half of a 2 litre coke bottle upside down next to the plant.

Not watering the hanging baskets is not an option here - my little south-facing garden gets very hot and dry in the summer, and the tomatoes wilt unless I keep a close eye on them. Of course right now it's a quagmire of sticky clay!
How much veg and wildlife can I pack into a 6m x 8m garden in suburban Cambridge? Let’s find out!  Smile
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