Tomatoes

[Johnny Phantom]

Hello Charles,

Thanks for the reply.
As you know, we were trying the Fertile Fibre stuff, but we’ve subsequently switched over to West Riding, and have tried their Moorland Gold, seedling and their potting compost… with the same results. The tomato plants germinate beautifully, in any of the mediums. They last about a month, and then all go the same way – the seed leaves, wither and fall off, and then the true leaves (and any other leaves) all gradually turn pale and wither.
The first plants we grew (mid-Feb), in the Fertile Fibre, have actually been left in the modules outside since mid-March, and interestingly, they don’t seem to have died. If anything, the leaves that have survived (in a loose sense of the word) actually look quite nicely dark green!
The second plants we grew (mid-March) were started in WR sowing compost and moved into WR potting compost at the beginning of April. We moved them when the seed leaves started looking a bit pale, thinking that was a sign to get them into bigger pots. They lasted until the second week of April before the same symptoms started.
The third lot (end of March) were sown into WR sowing compost, and they’re still with us at the moment. We’ve moved some into WR potting compost (as we’ve been led to believe that it would be better to get them out of the sowing compost when the first true leaves appear), and into two different size modules (to see if that makes a difference). Some of the original plants have been left in the sowing compost, at the moment. So, we currently have three different trials.
One thought occurs to us – is it simply better to start tomatoes with the potting compost rather than worrying about starting with the sowing compost?
I do have some pictures, but I can’t work out how to get them on here. I can email them to you, if that’s ok?
I think the conservatory has a tendency to get overly hot, and so we’re also wondering whether it might have something to do with airflow – lack of, or insufficient air movement – in the conservatory.
To tie this in with the other thread, we’re havng almost exactly the same problems with our brassicas!
Your brassicas have been in full sun on the bench for three or four weeks – we’ve tried putting ours outside, as leaving them on the bench was resulting in them all dying off.

Thanks again for all your help,

JP