Advice for a hopeless gardener

Food, Nutrition and Agriculture
jennyjj01
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Joined: Sun Jun 04, 2017 11:09 pm

Re: Advice for a hopeless gardener

Post by jennyjj01 »

GillyBee wrote: Mon May 09, 2022 2:49 pm Hi Jenny

1) Overwatering
2) Underwatering
3) Nasty compost.
4) Too MUCH fertiliser.
5) Too cold.

It may be possible to rescue your baby but it probably won't be able to give you a good crop now. if you want the learning experience, you will need to take drastic steps. I would take it out of it's pot and check the roots If they are OK, check that the soil is just damp, put the whole thing in a plastic ag and keep it ont h the widnows sill. ...
That will leave you with a tomato cutting which is hopefully green all over and may or may not have a few roots.If it all fails I recommend a trip to the garden centre for some that are almost ready to go out.

Everyone has trouble sometimes. My Moskvitch tomatoes which are usually tough as old boots have refused to grow this year while all the others given the same treatment are fine.
Thanks for the thorough reply. I'm pretty sure that this baby got mostly overwatered, coupled with the odd occasion where I missed watering it. The compost is new and decent quality, but because it always looks dark, it's hard to tell when it's wet or dry. For this one, I took a look at the roots and they are sandy coloured and not mushy. Just enough to hold the rather sandy compost together.
Since I took the picture this morning, I held off watering it and it has gone much weaker. Indeed I think it's quite dead :(

I'll try the plastic bag trick.
.
I DO LIKE the idea of treating it like a cutting. One of it's siblings might get that treatment.

Nipping down to the garden centre was last years trick :) But blight destroyed all of that crop. These little tinkers are supposedly blight resistant. They just aren't neglect resistant.

Off to amazon to seek out a decent moisture meter.
Graceful Degradation! Prepping's objective summed up in two words. Turning Disaster into Mild Inconvenience by the power of fore-thought

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GillyBee
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Re: Advice for a hopeless gardener

Post by GillyBee »

I find the two best tests for moisture are these - both free.

1) Small pots - pick them up - if they feel heavy they don't need watering. If they feel very light then they do.
2) Touch the compost with your finger. Does it feel damp or dry?

If you are struggling with the watering a self watering system might be of use. There are several around.
One uses 2l pop bottles instead of normal pots. I have used this for young tomatoes before.
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The other one could use something like an icecream container. Put capillary matting (or felt or something similar) on the top and cut a hole at one end so that the end of the matting can dangle into the container. Fill the container with water and stand the pots on top. As long as the matting stays wet they should auto-water. I use it for my rather fussy african violets but it works for any plant.
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jennyjj01
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Re: Advice for a hopeless gardener

Post by jennyjj01 »

GillyBee wrote: Mon May 09, 2022 4:42 pm I find the two best tests for moisture are these - both free.

1) Small pots - pick them up - if they feel heavy they don't need watering. If they feel very light then they do.
2) Touch the compost with your finger. Does it feel damp or dry?

If you are struggling with the watering a self watering system might be of use. There are several around.
Thanks again. I'd noticed the big weight difference but now I realise that i could apply a bit of science to my watering regime. Simple application of kitchen scales might do it. Not the gardeners' way, but I could use a spreadsheet :)
My sense of touch is rubbish at judging moisture.

I will look up automating watering ideas, especially free DIY ones. I'm getting pretty tired at throwing money at this!!! I did buy some ceramic cones that fit on water bottles, but balked at the cost and they won't help with small pots. I suppose I can afford a few bits of felt.

It's amusing that my research on drooping seedlings took me to a cannabis cultivating site :)
Graceful Degradation! Prepping's objective summed up in two words. Turning Disaster into Mild Inconvenience by the power of fore-thought

Not Feeling Optimistic. Let me be wrong
GillyBee
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Joined: Tue Apr 07, 2020 6:46 am

Re: Advice for a hopeless gardener

Post by GillyBee »

I have been having fun learning about some very basic hydroponics - the "Kratky" system which allows you to grow plants using very simple kit and does not need any power. I keep ending up on similar sites to you although it is clear that many people are using this system to grow windowsill tomatoes and lettuce in midwinter too.
My test plants are only 2 weeks old so I can't really report on whether this is a viable system or not - but I can report that my basil seedling germinate a lot better in a Kratky pot than a normal one. If all goes well I will have a micro tomato that will fit on a windowsill for the winter.
Arzosah
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Re: Advice for a hopeless gardener

Post by Arzosah »

Wow! Jenny, thanks for asking the questions, and GillyBee, as the latest expert to answer, thank you so much! I can see I need to go through this thread with my copy and paste buttons active.
jennyjj01
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Joined: Sun Jun 04, 2017 11:09 pm

Re: Advice for a hopeless gardener

Post by jennyjj01 »

jennyjj01 wrote: Mon May 09, 2022 10:30 am Jeez, I'm really struggling ...I really am feeling a hopeless failure.
...
Here's one of my current casualties. A Crimson Crush baby that spent most of its short life in the East facing kitchen window.
Do you think it can be nursed back to health?

Sad, drowning baby...Image
jennyjj01 wrote: Mon May 09, 2022 4:11 pm Since I took the picture this morning, I held off watering it and it has gone much weaker. Indeed I think it's quite dead :(

I'll try the plastic bag trick.
Well, I didn't try the plastic bag trick. But inspired by GillyBee's ideas, I discovered that I could sit it in a trifle pot with 1cm of water in the bottom, just enough for the water to be in contact with the soil.
And looking at it this morning.... The bottom two stems fell off pretty much completely, just dropped off at the merest touch. But the upper part and the main stem have really perked up and look vibrant again. It looks a bit like a giraffe, but it survived another day. I'll let it rest up and then plant it deep in a bigger pot.
It hasn't grown as big as the draining board: that's just the angle :)
IMG_20220510_084310 (2).jpg
Graceful Degradation! Prepping's objective summed up in two words. Turning Disaster into Mild Inconvenience by the power of fore-thought

Not Feeling Optimistic. Let me be wrong
GillyBee
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Joined: Tue Apr 07, 2020 6:46 am

Re: Advice for a hopeless gardener

Post by GillyBee »

Looking hopeful! You may have successfully rescued it.
Let it put another leaf out before you shock it by putting it into another pot. When you do repot, you can bury the giraffe stem and it will grow more roots from the stem.
jennyjj01
Posts: 3429
Joined: Sun Jun 04, 2017 11:09 pm

Re: Advice for a hopeless gardener

Post by jennyjj01 »

GillyBee wrote: Tue May 10, 2022 11:44 am Looking hopeful! You may have successfully rescued it.
Let it put another leaf out before you shock it by putting it into another pot. When you do repot, you can bury the giraffe stem and it will grow more roots from the stem.
Another day: Another gadget....

I bought a set of room thermometers to try to economise on home heating and purely incidental they each also featured a hygrometer. I wasn;t expecting to get any use from the hygrometers..... But I sat one on the soil of my plantpot and I was shocked to see that it could detect the moisture rising from the soil.
These might well be more effective than the soil moisture meters with probes.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B09 ... UTF8&psc=1

Also, useful to check soil and cloche temperature.
Image
Graceful Degradation! Prepping's objective summed up in two words. Turning Disaster into Mild Inconvenience by the power of fore-thought

Not Feeling Optimistic. Let me be wrong
GillyBee
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Joined: Tue Apr 07, 2020 6:46 am

Re: Advice for a hopeless gardener

Post by GillyBee »

Now I want some which is annoying as I had just bought a couple of straight themometers to check the temperature max/mins in my storage shed and loft.
jennyjj01
Posts: 3429
Joined: Sun Jun 04, 2017 11:09 pm

Re: Advice for a hopeless gardener

Post by jennyjj01 »

GillyBee wrote: Wed May 11, 2022 5:14 pm Now I want some which is annoying as I had just bought a couple of straight themometers to check the temperature max/mins in my storage shed and loft.
£10.99 for the four with amazon prime. Pretty dinky. The hygrometer feature seems able to sniff the soil.

For Min max logging of my stockpiles, i use these.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07 ... UTF8&psc=1
Graceful Degradation! Prepping's objective summed up in two words. Turning Disaster into Mild Inconvenience by the power of fore-thought

Not Feeling Optimistic. Let me be wrong