Tomatoes are about to flower

Tomatoes are about to flower

10th April 2017

The tomatoes are growing fast. It's been 2 weeks since I potted them up into their final pots and most are pushing 2 feet tall.

The extra light given to them as well as a couple of months of heat can been seen to have made all the difference. Normally by this time I have tiny seedlings still in modules, but now every plant has flowers starting. The flowers haven't opened yet nut they aren't far away!

26th March 2017

This is the photo taken 2 weeks ago.

Flowers 10th April 2017

You can just see the first truss of flowers starting in this photo

Not only that but my broad beans in the poly tunnel have flowers and I watched a couple of Bumble Bees pollinate them yesterday as I was tying them to poles to stop them from falling over.

10th April 2017

 

These are a little leggy and although started in the greenhouse they didn't get extra light from the grow lamp, none the less, flowers mean beans :)

Tomatoes

Tomatoes

It's normally mid May before I get the tomatoes into the final pots but this year not only have I potted them up from a module pack to pots but also from the pots to large pots and it isn't even April yet.

It seems like only 5 minutes ago I was taking the seedlings out of the modules and potting up to 3 and 4 inch pots but yesterday I took a Tomato out of it's pot to check on the roots only to find they were almost root bound. The roots were swirling around the bottom of the pots.

March 8th 2017

The seedlings have gone from this...

March 25th 2017

To this ....

26th March 2017

To this, in little over 3 weeks. What a difference extra light and a small heater along with mild weather make!

The larger, odd shaped pots are ones I'm keeping with the rest hoping to be sold on the market from next week for people with greenhouses.

The grow lamp claimed to make tomatoes stronger, with bigger main stems and bushier not only with the extra light but with the combination or more red and blue light and I must agree. 

4 tomatoes went into the Poly Tunnel, 7 will stay in the greenhouse and I will sell 8.  

I also potted up a load of Aubergines, sown at the same time (January) but they haven't grown as quick in comparison.

The small plants on the left are the Aubergines potted in the same pots the tomatoes came out of. They are tiny in comparison. One or 2 of the tomatoes are pushing 1ft in height with the Aubergines around 2 to 3 inches. All under the same conditions.