Rob Smith gets technical with his tomato growing!
Crop growing should be a breeze thanks to my two new gadgets
March is upon us, with many gardeners (myself included) resisting the urge to sow as much as possible because we have that inbuilt desire to grow! I must admit I’ve sown some tomatoes, even though I promised myself I wouldn’t do this until March.
Last year I got carried away and sowed tomatoes in early February and they became leggy and pretty weedy looking. This is due to the lack of light and also a very protected environment, which means seedlings are soft and stretched. To combat this, I’ve invested in a ROOT!T grow light for the heated greenhouse. It’s a multispectrum light so it should benefit my tomato seedlings, plus it uses LEDs, meaning it doesn’t get hot and can be placed straight on the top of your propagator lid without the risk of fire.
I’ve always been put off lights by all the stands, frames, wires and heat involved, yet this light is big enough for a standard propagator and allows me to start a few tomatoes early. One of the varieties I decided to start with is called ‘Cherrie Kisses’ and it’s a small, windowsill bush variety. I thought this would be good to pot up and keep in the greenhouse without taking up as much room as a cordon, plus it should give me something to snack on early in the season.
My next mission was to try and make the seedlings stockier and more robust so they aren’t too delicate and damage easily, and for this I turned again to technology. There are multiple studies showing that plants become stockier and stronger if they’re blown by a breeze. However, in my greenhouse they’re very protected, with no breeze, so I’ve fitted a couple of battery-powered fans and switched them on for 30-60 minutes per day to point straight at the seedlings.
Make sure you’re creating a gentle breeze that wobbles your seedlings and makes them strengthen up rather than a hurricane which rips them out of the soil! I’m hoping these two things combined should result in some healthy, stocky plants a little earlier on in the season.