Kitchen Garden Forum

Hello everybody, have not been on for ages, busy busy busy! I have a Tomato question, due to the almost complete failure to get any tomato seeds to germinate this year(not sure what happened, I did nothing different exept use Lidl seed compost, hmmm) so consequently I have a greenhouse full of all different types of tomatoes purchased and scrounged from all over the place! My question is, does this make any difference to pollination? Do you end up with cross pollinated 'hybrids' or does it not make any difference, normally I would only grow a single variety like Alicante. Incidentally, I have also had problems getting sweetcorn to germinate in the greenhouse.
Regards, essexboy.

We always grow a selection of different varieties of tomatoes in our greenhouse and they all seem to come true.

Is this a heated greenhouse, Essexboy, or unheated? I have had some germination problems this year when I tried germinating things in an unheated greenhouse. I think this is because the weather stayed cold for quite a long time and, even if the day was sunny, the cold at night may have had a bad effect on germination.

Hi Essexboy

You need not worry about (cross) pollination as virtually all tomato varieties are self-pollinating.

We raised ours in an unheated greenhouse but first attempts were inconsistent as Mike says probably due to cold. Some we got going on a spare room windowsill and popped out as soon as they were up to prevent legginess. BUt we have had to put more seeds in to get the number of plants we wanted.

I'm growing a number of different tomato varieties, as I've done in the past and have never had any problems with the flowers setting. Actually I think it's a good idea to try and grow a few different varieties, especially if you're growing them outdoors as some do seem rather less vulnerable to blight than others.
On the question of your lack of seed germination, a number of people on here seem to have had problems this year. I suspect it may be due to the quality of the compost. I've been using Levingtons and have been less than happy with it this year. It seems very soggy and wet and many of my seeds have simply rotted. I plan to write to them to see whether they are now adding some wetting agent which is causing the problem as I've noticed that when I've occasionally over-watered, the surface of the compost looks rather slimey.