my cucumber plants and tomato plants

[doug.com]

Hi i was looking for information about the tops of my tomato plants that have in the past two days started to get a little curled up, some one said it was due to cold at night. We have them in a polly tunnel but leave the vents open day and night, i spray with greenffy repelent twice a week and have no problem, (week mix) feed once a week (started feeding from last week) ill try and get a photo of the wilting tops when i can find the charger for the camara

I think im ok with the cucumbers. but do you think i may need to start feeding with sea weed stuff?

And i have three sweetcorn plants ...two look ok but one has a few leaves all twisted, i can see corns starting on two.

The greenhouse gets to about 25c before the sun hits at about 1pm then can go as high as 35c. not looked at night what it drops to.

I have used photobucket to host the photos so not to use the website's hard drive space.

[malcolmx]

it looks like too dry and hot so put in a lot of water and moisten up the whole area drip feed the plants if you can all nutrient has now gone from the compost so feed every day an flush often if those pots are not bottomless try to set up a reservoir around the bottom

[DavidT]

Your tomatoes are fine, they just have what`s called leaf roll. Perfectly normal. DON`T moisten the air around the cucumbers, they need a dry atmosphere. Keep their compost moist but not overly wet. and do not water close to the stem as this could cause blackleg.

[Susie]

Originally Posted by malcolmx

it looks like too dry and hot so put in a lot of water and moisten up the whole area drip feed the plants if you can all nutrient has now gone from the compost so feed every day an flush often if those pots are not bottomless try to set up a reservoir around the bottom

Just wondered which plants you are recommending are fed each day??? - is it the cucumbers??? And also should tomato plants be sprayed to help with leaf roll??? Mine look terrible - as if they're on their last legs!!! Sorry to butt in but it's a good thread!!! Love all those pics!!!

[doug.com]

Yes the tubs have three holes at the sides near the bottom, about 8mm hole. the tomatos have picked up again today they all look very well. we were watering in the evening but now reading thats wrong, so we now have changed to watering in the morning before the sun get any heat in it.

We water around the lip of the buckets as we noticed that the roots were starting to show through the compost, there are yellow flowers on almost all the cucumber plants now and are all female, I noticed a big bee buzzing from one flower to another today.

We also went to B&Q and brought some plastic netting, this we have placed along the back of the cucumber plants and tied it to the canes it was 4 meters long and 2 meters tall, just the job because there are lots of tenderals trying to grab onto anything they can.

This is our first year growing anything from seed, we are both in our 50s so try our best as we are also both dissabled... we LOVE it to bits Ps... still looking for the camara charger

[paulsherwin]

All those plants look healthy to me, though the toms are a bit small for greenhouse plants. This may be down to the variety though. Keep them well watered and fertilized.

Paul

[doug.com]

Hi Paul, Yes I think next year im going to cut the bottom off the buckets and set them into growbags to give them a better root growth, the tomato plants at the front are smaller than the rear row, hopfully to give a continues crop, Also these photos were took about a week ago and are now at the top of the canes with 4 trusses per plant..
What do you think about putting pea gravel into the tops of the buckets to make watering a less damaging effect to the compost ie (washing the compost off the roots). I would have liked to have put shuttering either side of the pollytunnel then filled with pea gravel to make a reservoir to supply the plants with water from below.

[paulsherwin]

The compost shouldn't be washing away as you water. Try watering a bit less vigorously, using a rose on the watering can. You can always top dress with some more compost if necessary.

My experience has been that pot size doesn't make much difference to the size of tomato plants, it's all down to variety and growing conditions. You do need to water and feed more with small pots though. In this hot weather I'm having to water my outdoor potted toms daily. Plenty of flowers and little toms forming though

Paul

[doug.com]

Did i pay too much fo this? can i crush sea weed when i go to the coast to make my own?.

[paulsherwin]

That looks like an organic fertilizer. You will always get a better bang for your buck if you use non-organic chemical fertilizer, and this is in no way harmful if used responsibly, but some people don't like to use chemicals on principle.

I think you would need an awful lot of seaweed to make your own organic tomato feed but I've no experience of doing it.

Paul

[Lesley Jay]

Originally Posted by doug.com

Did i pay too much fo this? can i crush sea weed when i go to the coast to make my own?.

Hi Doug, the Coastal Protection Act makes it illegal to remove seaweed from beaches if it is protecting the beach. The price of the seaweed feed is okay and it does go a long way.