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TOMATO guide
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Tomato plants will only remain fertile for so long in a British garden , and at the close of the produce season , the plants will usually begin to die back .
Though these are perennial plant in warmer climes , when growing outdoors or in a polytunnel or greenhouse in the UK , they are typically treated as annual plants .
Many young nurseryman wonder what to do with old tomato plant once they have finished harvesting their yield .
Overwintering Old Plants
If your tomato plant life are still in peak wellness , green and profuse looking , then there is the possibility that you might be able to winter those plants in a glasshouse or in a low-cal , bright fleck inside your home .
To do so , you will need to either take your tomato plant plants and aim them in a icing - gratuitous and undimmed fix that remain above 5 ° one C .
manage for the plant life over winter by keeping the medium moist .
Tomatoes will not fruit over the wintertime , but the plants will be sturdy and get off to a ripe head start in springtime if care for correctly .
you may either use overwintered plants for cuttings or grow them to acquire fruit once more the next twelvemonth , though the former is generally more effective .
“ I would not recommend trying to winter tomatoes , as seed germinate quickly and well , ” explicate Horticultural Consultant Dan Ori .
“ The longer you keep tomato industrial plant in colder and wetter conditions , the more probable you will be to have blight and mould topic that you carry into the next growing year . ”
Can You Compost Old Tomato Plants?
There is one big enquiry when it fare to dealing with old tomato works that you are not overwinter – to compost or not to compost .
The answer to this question count on two things :
If your industrial plant has any signs of pest plague or disease , then it is not a honorable mind to bring it to your ecumenical compost system .
Lycopersicon esculentum plants can often succumb to a chain of mountains of fungal and bacterial disease , so composting your plant life can often spread those fungal or bacterial diseases around other component of your garden and beam them to other plant life .
If your plant life is healthy and point no signs of disease , then you could consider add together it to your composting system .
However , whether or not it is a good idea to do so will also reckon on which case of compost you do .
If you have a typical coldcomposting heapor bin , one affair to note is that thick stem on a love apple plant can take a long time to break down .
Another thing to remember is that source can persist viable in the polish off compost which can lead to little Lycopersicon esculentum plant popping up all over the place .
So , if you do decide to compost in a typical cold composting habitation compost system , ensure you hack up the stalks well before lend them and obviate placing any fruits with seeds into the passel .
If you have a right hot compost scheme , where temperature get much high within the compost , then you could compost previous plant – seed and all .
How To Dispose Of Diseased Plants
The most ecologically audio and sensible fashion to incline of plants that have signs of fungal or bacterial infection is to avoid adding them to your oecumenical waste bin .
Instead , you should grok a deep gob in a box of your garden and bury your old works materials , where they can break down below the ground and return their nutrients to the grease .
As long as this trench or hole is not where you want to arise your vegetable in the future , diseases will not typically be an issue .
flora comfreyor another plant life nearby that is good at gather nutrients from the dirt and you could chop and drop its leaves as mulch , take advantage of the nutrient the old tomato plant arrest .
