Help, I started too early

[MargoChanellingBarbara]

Time and time again I have read not to sow seeds indoors too early. As usual, I ignored the warnings. My window cills are mainly north facing, so usually seeds take me longer to get going and end up leggy. This year I acquired some grow lamps and leggy is no longer a problem. However flowers on the chillies, peppers, aubergines are an issue. A few weeks ago I pruned the chillies and peppers (watched a YouTube video and decided to give it a go) which has worked for height reduction and bushing out, but the flowers/ flower buds have multiplied.

They all need potting on again, and whilst I thought I had plenty of space, I don’t with adequate lighting.

I do have a greenhouse but it is unheated.

I am in the SE, and it is often frosty in the morning.

Any suggestions please

Get a small greenhouse heater. Quick Google suggests you can acquire one for under £20.
Then you can continue to indulge your eagerness every year!

We keep all our tenders in a cold frame and it protects them from the frost fine. We are rural elevated and exposed so we get frosts when no one else does.

Are you me?

Lighting is a lot cheaper to run and easier to manage than heating, so as you say you've got plenty of space I'd just get another multi armed grow lamp from Amazon. And when you pot everything on, go for pots that are deeper but only a tiny bit wider so you can get more in the same footprint. Good luck!

Thanks all

I am trying out moving hardier seedlings (artichokes) to the greenhouse and have ordered some more lights.

My tomatoes look large yet unhealthy and unhappy. Curling leaves and stems not strong enough.

Just a thought, but are your poorly tomatoes all the same variety? I have ahem 6 different varieties on the go, 5 are looking good but 1 was much harder to germinate and is horribly spindly by comparison. All treated exactly the same. I'm waiting till it grows enough leaves to handle and then I'll repot it as deep as I can in a narrow pot, that often gives them a second chance. I use the 9 section trays that bedding plants come in, cut apart if necessary.

You could also lavish all the attention/light /heat on the best specimens, wait for them to throw side shoots and then root the side shoots in a jar of water and grow on. Then the first wave doesn't have so much competition and the second wave gets off to a flying start. I get tomatoes from May till November this way from a single sowing.

latah is the one I restarted. Wentzel is leggy and floppy. Burlesque is fine. Gardeners delight is small but fine.
Will report on the others tomorrow. I have tried some unusual varieties this year

I grow Latah every year, its natural growth habit is very lanky. Lots of space between the trusses is one of the things that help it ripen early. These are mine (the ones in the 6 pack) with Crimson Crush and Rose Crush for comparison. The Latah look like this every year but still give a great yield.