more problems with photos to show..

[hiyatim]

its not all problems as such but queries and worrys..

firstly, i was experimenting growing brassicas in small pots as i have mentioned before, it failed so lesley told me to get them in bigger pots. i did but far too late and now i have cauliflowers about 1.5-2 inches accross. i was hoping they may grow some more but i think the first of these 2 pics has gone too far and is now unusable?? im hoping its the other way round and the second one is ready (even growing still) and th first just isnt quite as far along but i just dont know??
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next is my courgette, i have 4 plants all fruiting and being fed once a week, this one seems to be going really yellow though and is worrying me??
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next is my carrots, these are around 4 months old now so i thought id get a couple of reasonable sized ones but as u can see they are tiny only about 8-10mm thick. they were in small pots and planted a little close so this could be why they are so small?? also as you can see from the other pic i have an 'alien' carrot it wasnt long enough to reach the bottom of the pot it just seems to have gone horrible (is it even edible??)
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[hiyatim]

next is my tomato's.. this is a moneymaker, in the greenhouse like the packet says, its about 8 inches tall, not at all bushey and no signs of fruit it has a flower but is in the greenhouse so cant be pollunated and i was expecting a big bushy plant with loads of toms
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this is moneymaker too, about a foot tall and a couple of flowers but same issues, its not looking like doing much any time soon..
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finally my cherry tomatos cerises 2 photos here, one is quite small with one tomato growing and one looks a reasonable size with only one again, have i wrecked these with lack of drainage in the pots??
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thanks guys

[Hollie the Wollie]

I had an alien carrot too, all twisted together, it was twisted so badly I couldnt even pull it out the ground properly!

I ate it though! yummm! Size isn't everything Tim ;-)

[hiyatim]

haha i know its what you do with it that counts but i cant do much at all with these lol. bigger is defo better

[Ace]

Tomatoes. . .

1. I'm not seeing any canes or other supports for the 1st two varieties !

2. I'm seeing side shoots that should be nipped out

3. What kind of compost have you used?

4. Are the pots standing in grow bags? I can't see.

Toms grow 2 types of roots, deep roots and shallow roots. The deep ones usually grow down to the bottom of a plant pot (which you've removed the bottom from) and then spread throughout the grow bag. The shallow roots sit just below the soil surface.

Only feed them with tomato food once they are flowering or fruiting. If you feed them before this they grow lots of roots and green vegetation instead of trusses.

Hope that helps

Ace

[hiyatim]

havent supported yet as they havent required any, ive canes on standby tho.

i have no idea what side shoots are ...

compost is just a cheap peat free compost (all i could afford)

they are in bucket sized pots (the black buckets supermarkets have their flowers in)

the two without tomato's on have never been fed, the 2 with a single tomato on had their first feed 2 days ago when i noticed the tomato

[Lesley Jay]

Hi Tim, unfortunately your first cauliflower is passed it but I did wonder if you could still make soup out of it. Put into a blender you wouldn't know! But it all depends on whether the taste is affected with it being passed it - only way to find out is to try a bit raw! Now your second cauliflower looks lovely, just waiting for some cheese sauce! You should really bend one of the large leaves over the head to protect it from the rain as rain can ruin cauliflower heads. Don't leave it too long before you harvest it because cauliflowers can be perfect one day and passed it the next. BTW, the good thing is that you can eat the leaves and spines!! Make cauliflower leaf soup, chuck the leaves and diced spines into curry or just eat them - but not the really, really tough old leaves.

Put your alien carrot under the tap, wash it and eat it!!

How close together have you spaced the containers with the courgettes in? You could feed it with an organic seaweed feed which some people do think acts like a 'tonic' for plants.

There are photo's on the forum which make explaining about side shooting tomato plants easier - let me find them!

[Lesley Jay]

Hi Tim, there are two types of tomato plant - indeterminate or determinate. Determinate tomato plants grow like a short bush and indeterminate tomato plants (which is what you are growing) grow tall with a main central stem and quite a gap between the branches. They flower differently aswell. The flower truss on indeterminate plants grows from the main central stem. Where the side branches join the main central stem you get a little shoot growing and it is these little shoots that need pinching out then all the plants energy can go in to growing your tomatoes! Both Moneymaker and Cerise are indeterminate tomato plants. Don't worry about growing tomatoes in the greenhouse as tomato plants are self fertile so don't need insect pollination. However, because of the structure of the flower give the flowers a helping hand by tapping the cane sticks as you walk past to help distribute the pollen.

Matt's young plants are an excellent example of young indeterminate tomato plants and these show you the side shoots growing that need pinching out.

Tomatoes - Shoot between trunk/Branch...

If you look at Doug's tomato plants on the third photo you can see the main central stem with only the side branches as they have already been side shooted.

my cucumber plants and tomato plants

I know that Jack is growing Moneymaker but his photo's on the forum don't show you the plant properly but this one on his blog does!

Hydroponic Workshop

[hiyatim]

hi lesley,

side shoots are officially gone now, had some quite big ones so probably a cause of the problem.

the courgette plants are really close together as in leaves are touching but they are in seperate pots, the ones from the supermarkets. the other 3 seem fine in the leaves but all of them seem to be struggling now with the fruit, they dont seem to be getting bigger that about 3-4inches and really thin too.

ill defo look into the organic seaweed tomorrow, can i give this once a week as well as the tomato feed?? (with the tomato feed, i usually make the mix up and each plant gets about half a litre per week then normal water the rest of the time, does this sound like a big enough feed??)

the carrots are being cooked as i type, the alien will get eaten do you think the close planting and short pot is what caused such a small bunch of carrots??

thanks tim

[Lesley Jay]

Hiya Tim, courgette plants need space - they are really big plants and do need the air to circulate around them, so although they are in containers give them some space! I would kick the tomato feed into touch (for the courgettes) and use the organic seaweed feed that I use. This is high in nitrogen and yellowing plants are a sign of nitrogen deficiency. I also put a good layer of well rotted manure in the containers when I plant up the young plants. (Cheap from B & Q).

Yes, close planting plus short pots causes small carrot roots and also weird shaped carrots as they don't have enough room to grow properly. Carrots need a very deep container, something like a short dustbin - if they were in the ground the thin tap root would be able to carry on growing unchecked which hopefully will give good sized roots.