Tomatoes in loo rolls/ tomates en rollos de papel

Tomato seedlings are growing well after one month

My tomato seedlings are growing well, so I have moved them from the smaller pots where I sowed a few seeds together, into individual pots. They should have more compost and room for their roots to develop now. It is one month since I sowed the seeds, which sprouted really quickly in the heated propagator. I wasn't quick enough to move them from the propagator to the sunnier windowsill, so they grew a really long and spindly stem with a couple of small leaves at the end ('leggy', they call them). If you move them closer to the light, the stems don't need to grow so long. Anyway, I waited until my spindly tomatoes grew a second pair of leaves, on the basis that if the leaves grow so do the roots... You don't want to be moving them until the roots are strong enough. These in the photo had small but decent root systems, so I'm confident that most of them should survive. My main challenge now is to not leave the compost dry too much, but luckily they are in the kitchen so I see them every day.

The loo rolls have a 'unique selling point': you can plant them directly into the ground (or a bigger pot) and the roots wouldn't even notice the change. The cardboard disintegrates naturally when buried. With these I have to be careful that the roll doesn't start breaking down before it's time to plant the tomatoes outside (end of April). I realise it's an experiment and the rolls may not last two months, but I've been collecting rolls for months and couldn't wait to give them a try! And I have a few more tomato seedlings in conventional pots as well, in case the experiment with the loo rolls fails...

Mis plantitas de tomates progresan adecuadamente. Las sembre hace un mes en el semillero electrico y nacieron enseguida, luego las pase al borde de la ventana (cerca de la luz) y alli siguieron desarrollandose. Al principio sembre unas pocas semillas por maceta, y cuando nacieron en el semillero las deje demasiado tiempo y los tallos crecieron largos y endebles. Si las pones cerca de la luz, los tallos no se estiran tanto y son mas sanos. Pero bueno, yo deje que mis tallos endebles desarrollaran un segundo par de hojitas, para asegurarme de que las raices tambien se desarrollaban, y he pasado cada planta a una maceta individual (en este caso, un rollo de carton de papel higienico). Lo que tengo que vigilar ahora es que el compost no se seque - menos mal que estan en la cocina y los veo todos los dias, para no olvidarme!


Lo de los rollos de papel tiene su razon de ser: el carton se degrada de forma natural cuando lo plantas en el suelo o maceta mas grande, y las raices ni se enteran del cambio. El mayor reto va a ser que el carton aguante sin biodegradarse dos meses hasta que sea epoca de plantarlos fuera (los tomates aqui no van al aire libre hasta finales de abril). Es un experimento, lo se,  pero es que ya tenia ganas de usar los rollos, llevo meses coleccionandolos... De todas formas, por si acaso tengo unas plantitas mas en macetas tradicionales.