Veggies in pots?

[Raisedroof!]

I like eating celantro with tomatoes and had a small area at the back of the apartment house. My problem is I have tried but still not getting a good growth of these two plants. I bought two rectangular plastic pots about a 90"x10"x8", and good soil in plastic bags at nearby Handyman store. I sprinkle some celantro seeds on one pot and tomatoes on the other. When the seeds sprouts to about a centimeter from the soil, it dies. I dont really know why but is wondering if there is anybody here who can give some advice? I'd appreciate it. tnx.

[Wildthing]

if i remember correctly my agronomy class (BS Agri ako pero I have been specializing on animals)....that sometimes it would help to sanitize/disinfect the soil.

We do this by burning some paper or dried dayami/damo on top of your soil.

This will sanitize the soil surface from mold or bacteria that can cause your seedlings to die.

Another possible thing you might want to try is to use asceptic cotton (yung nabibili na para sa sugat) as the planting media instead of soil.

Pag nagsprout na dun sa cotton (siyempre dapat diligan)...pede mo nang i-transfer sa soil after 2 weeks from the time na nag-sprout. Guntining mo yung cotton to separate the seedlings from one another (don't pull baka masira mo ang ugat and stress the plants unneccesarily).

Another possilble trick is to buy a "rooting hormone" - usually found on orchids supply stores. I babad mo for 30 mins to 1 hour yung seed sa 50:50 mix ng rooting hormone:water then plant the seeds (either sa disinfected soil or cotton).

The hormone will trigger better root formation pagtumubo ito.

hope this helps.

[tatoski]

I bought two rectangular plastic pots about a 90"x10"x8", and good soil in plastic bags at nearby Handyman store.



90" x 10" x 8"? I think this very big. Maybe units used are not correct. Anyway I'll plant cilantro and tomatoes in seedling trays using soilless medium. Cilantro seeds are better cracked (cracked not broken) by running a glass bottle to crack the seeds then sow it 3 to 4 seed diameters deep, one seed per hole (seedling tray). Tomatoes are sown directly with the same depth. Tomatoes would sprout in about7 days. Cilantro seeds if I remember correctly about 7 to 14 days. Keep the medium wet by sprinkling water once or twice a day. After sprouting and seedlings have two real leaves, transplant carefully to bigger pots. Cilantro are quite sensitive to too much rain. Keep it under cover. I believe your cilantro seedlings die because of too much watering.

[Raisedroof!]

Hi Wildthing, Tatoski, many many thanks to both of you, I bought again new packs of my favorite veggies after reading your post. I'm raring to try the new techniques you told me. your help is definitely appreciated, my your tribe increase.

[tatoski]

You are welcome raisedroof. Please post again if you have problems or better yet if you have attained success!

[nicolodeon]

nice tips guys! two thumbs up! :)

[AnuVaYan]

nakapag grow na ako ng tomatoes. pero namamatay din, kasi after sometime inaatack ng mga pests. ano po ba magandang natural na pest control? sa tomatoes ko minsan aphids, minsan meely bugs, minsan naman hindi ko kilalang black insact ang naka tira.

meron bang nabibilhan dito ng lady bugs? i've read na ito daw kumakain ng mga ibang pests e.

[2diy4]

Tomatoes are one of the most difficult vegetables to grow. I was once successful in growing cherry tomatoes, however, didn't give too much fruit. My problem was leaf miners.

Also difficult to grow are pechay and the members of the cabbage family. They are attacked by the diamond back moth or DBM in agronomists jargon. The only way to grow them is to spray and spray often, which is not a healthy thing, especially in a home environment.

Believe it or not, lettuce is easier to grow than pechay. Fewer bugs attack lettuce. I have been successful in growing arugula (rocket is the name in Yates seed packs) in square plastic pots. Few pest attack the smelly leaves. Arugula is mixed with lettuce leaves to make a nice salad.

Sweet basil is also easy to grow in pots. Again not too many pests.

[tatoski]

Yup, the easiest to grow are the lettuces. It has a natural coating on the skin that insects hate. Easy to grow too is Okra. Basil is also easy. Shy away from the pechays, tomatoes, bell peppers and other solanaceous crops if spraying is not your cup of tea. Pole bean pole (sitaw) is also relatively easy as well as cow pea (short pea in a short bush) that's very popular in Batangas.

[2diy4]

In the lowlands, I think that you can only grow leaf lettuce like the Lolo Rosso and others, but not the head forming lettuces like iceberg.
Another solanaceous plant is egglplant which is also difficult.

I like sigarilyas or wing bean. I understand that it is leguminous and a perennial, and easy to grow. Where can I buy the seeds?

[tatoski]

There are a lot of seed companies in the country and I have come across three of them. Allied Botanicals, Ramgo and Harbest. Of course there is East West but I have not dealt with them. Look them up a the yellow pages and maybe they have sigarilyas. But if this is not a popular plant then the best bet is maybe using farmers' seeds. These are open pollinated seeds and comes from farmers who plant them year in year out. Not very good seeds though. If the seed companies do not have them they may lead you to a source. They are very accomodating especially Allied.