karhu
Newly Registered
Posts: 2
Joined: Sat Mar 25, 2006 11:43 am

Container Gardening - Cherry Tomatoes and Chilies

Hi,

we have been trying to grow plants in containers inside our apartment since summer last year (june 2005)

we bought 6 plastic containers (made a few holes at the bottom of each of them), soil, fertilizer, and use fluorescent lights from 4pm- 10pm

so far, we've had poor results.

these are two pictures of our plants: (few cherry tomatoes and chilies)


https://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i16/karhu_iii/plantas.jpg


https://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i16/karhu_iii/plantas_zoom.jpg

we grew the plants from seeds and varied the height of the fluorescent ligths trying to always keep them only a few centimeters over the tallest plant. (nevertheless, we couldn't avoid that the plants get 'leggy' and twisted!)




what can we do to improve our small indoor garden?? the size of each container is: 90 (length) x 25 (width) x 22 (height) cms.

which are the best plants for indoor gardening ?


thanks in advance

grandpasrose
Greener Thumb
Posts: 1651
Joined: Tue Jun 28, 2005 12:21 pm
Location: Quesnel, BC, Canada - Zone 4a

Welcome to the forum Karhu! Your number one problem is not enough light. From 4 until 10 pm is only six hours. Your plants need at least 12 to 14. Your plants have grown all leggy because they are searching for light. Also, are these just normal florescent lights, or grow lights? You might try grow tubes if they are not, as they emit more of the appropriate light for growing plants.
Plants grown in containers also need to be fed often as there isn't much nutrition in pots. Try making some manure or compost tea, if you can (I know you live in an apartment so this may not be possible), or fertilize with fish emulsion from the garden centre and that should help.
Your plants are suffering from too little of the necessities!

Hope this helps! Feel free to stop in anytime if you need help, have a question, or just want to chat! :wink:

Val

The Helpful Gardener
Mod
Posts: 7491
Joined: Mon Feb 09, 2004 9:17 pm
Location: Colchester, CT

The plants you chose are awful big for those containers and there is DEFINITELY not enough sun; I can tell from the images alone...

HG

karhu
Newly Registered
Posts: 2
Joined: Sat Mar 25, 2006 11:43 am

Hi,

thanks for the replies.

We realized we made many mistakes with the plants, so we decided to start again...

- we modified the shelf so now there are only two divisions
- put 3 fluorescent lights in each division
- bought 4 bigger pots (more than 20cms deep) and put a few seeds of chili in each of them. (eventually we will leave only one plant per each pot)
- set the timer to give the plants 12 hours of light every day.
- bought fertilizer with higher P and K

I will post the new pictures of our 'new' ontainer garden in a few weeks more... hopefully we will have healthier plants


regards,

grandpasrose
Greener Thumb
Posts: 1651
Joined: Tue Jun 28, 2005 12:21 pm
Location: Quesnel, BC, Canada - Zone 4a

Sounds like a better start! Another tip, as the plants grow, you can nip off the tips so that instead of putting all their growth upward, they will bush out as well. Best of luck!
Feel free to stop in anytime - we'll be here! :wink:

Val



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