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Monday, May 18, 2009

Mould on soil around tomatoes

Since I potted on the tomatoes there hasn't really been any growth (8 days ago) but I assumed they would just be recovering from the transplant shock and that roots would be growing. I used a mixture of a tomato compost and soil. Today I came home to find a large amount of mould growing on the soil of two of the plants. Any ideas?



Not great pictures but I don't seem to be able to get any decent ones any more.



I didn't have anything to use as proper drainage so I scrunched up some newspaper and put it in the bottom of each pot. If anything I was worried this would mean I'd need to be extra careful to water enough as the paper would draw water out of the soil (which is what drainage is supposed to help with I suppose). Am hoping it might just be these two but if it's some horrible disease then presumably everything else will probably have or get it.
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5 comments:

  1. MrsHMonday, May 18, 2009 7:19:00 pm

    Hi there

    I would think it's the newspaper in the bottom holding onto the water, and keeping the compost too damp If you can I would re-pot them...
    I don't have any gravel etc in the bottom of my pots either ;-)..
    When you are watering them are you watering into the top of the pot?
    Tomatoes like to be watered from underneath -so even just stood in a small tray with a drop of water in will do -it makes the roots dig down deeper to get a drink -so you should get stronger plants. But when you come to feed them when they start flowering -then you feed into the top..
    hope that help a little.. hope they survive..tomatoes are usually pretty sturdy ;-)

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  2. RonSaturday, June 06, 2009 12:23:00 am

    The tomatoes look good to me... that white growth appears to just be on the compost. I agree with MrsM, they might be holding too much water with the newspaper... it's been my experience that tomatoes can handle wilting a little bit between waterings. They seem to do better a little bit dry than too wet for me.

    I've been absolutely certain that I've killed mine before when they wilted badly after a hot sunny day... only to have them rebound completely that evening after a good watering.

    Good luck!

    Ron

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  3. SusannSaturday, June 06, 2009 2:57:00 pm

    Tomatoes don't like "wet feet", also you might keep them a bit too wet.

    When will we see you at Starbucks for knitting again?

    Susann

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  4. MoonwavesSaturday, June 06, 2009 6:52:00 pm

    Thanks. Yep, they are doing much better since I took the paper out of the bottom although there hasn't been a huge amount of growth except for the one plant I bought in. That is growing inches everyday and has a couple of flowers now too - love that part, it's so exciting!

    Since none of my plants have died (except the ones I broke accidently when re-potting, oops!) though I have run out of space so have a row of them on my bathroom floor and will need to find homes for them soon. But it is good to be growing something.

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  5. AnonymousMonday, June 22, 2009 3:01:00 pm

    I agree with MrsM. The soil is staying too wet. Mine did this at the beginning although it didn't look as bad as yours. You have these in clay pots so you probably have a whole in the bottom for them to drain. You wouldn't need the newspaper. Also the clay will absorb the water from the bottom and help keep the soil moist.
    Mama Bear

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