FirstTimeGrower wrote:
Thanks very much to both of you! Sorry for the late reply. My phone
was stolen and I've been a bit preoccupied as a result!

I'll search the plants closely to see if I can mind spider mites or
mealy bug - I think I definitely had the latter on my parsley, which I
ended up throwing away, at least the leaves got a film of fuzz and
lots of white spots... And that was growing in the same place. But I
haven't seen any fuzz on the leaves of the tomatoes/peppers, just
white spots that grow larger and have black spots in them, but look
similar to what the parsley had.

The plants are indeed inside but I thought they'd be ok as it's a
conservatory and probably about as sunny as my garden... but could the
glass be causing them to burn?

No, small pots, lack of light, dry air inside the house and bugs account for
your problems.

I try to water them everyday and feed
tomato food weekly, but haven't been religious about the latter.

They are almost all very skinny and not the best raised plants - it's
my first time and I let them grow too tall in too small pots. I'm
still trying to stem their growth by snipping the top off and
removing new shoots that appear, but I guess this year will be more
of a lesson on what not to do.


Tall and spindly means lack of sun, the small pot will stunt the whole plant
due to drying out and inadequate root development.

Vegetables are not indoor plants, most need room to grow and full sun.
Anything you expect to produce fruit needs lots of sun, the bigger the fruit
the more sun needed. You will always have problems trying to grow them
indoors unless you have a sunny greenhouse and know how to manage it. Even
then at high latitudes the sun may be too weak and the growing season may
be too short. If your climate is too cold for tomatoes and chillis outside
then grow more cold hardy veges (brassicas for example) outdoors or less
demanding ones (salad greens, lettuce, etc) indoors.


David