A single tomato produced a whole pot of seedlings
A few months ago I found a very squishy homegrown ‘Tigerella’ tomato in a drawer, where I’d put it to ripen and instantly forgotten. As an experiment I popped it in a small pot of multipurpose compost to see what would happen and bingo! Within a few weeks a clutch of healthy seedlings had appeared.
They’ve grown on a cool, light windowsill and this week I moved them into individual pots of John Innes No 1 compost, which has just the right amount of nutrients for young plants/
When planting up the tomato seedlings, I buried the whole stem so roots will develop along its length leading to better nutrient uptake and cropping when they are in their grow bags.
Be very careful when handling seedlings. Always hold the plant by pinching a leaf between finger and thumb, and never touch the stem as any damage can kill the plant. Water from the base to avoid splashing the leaves, and continue to grow your seedlings somewhere cool and light. The next step will either be to move them again into larger pots or straight into growbags in the greenhouse.
This is cheapest and one of the easiest ways I’ve ever grown tomatoes and an experiment I shall continue with each year.
How to pot up seedlings
1. Fill 3in (7cm) pots with John Innes No 1 compost and dib a deep hole in each one.
2. Slip all the seedlings from the pot in one clump and carefully separate the roots.
3. Hold the seedlings by a leaf, never the stem to avoid damaging it and killing the plant.
4. Drop each seedling rootball and stem into a pot and carefully firm the compost around them, then water.
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