Taste of container-grown tomatoes?

[RT_Peasant]

I'm curious what your experience has been with the taste of container-grown tomatoes vs. in-ground tomatoes. In my limited experience with containers (5 plants), the container-grown tomatoes taste much better than in-ground tomatoes.

The difference was most pronounced with cherry tomatoes. Last year, I grew 5 grape tomatoes in the ground, and 2 grape tomatoes in containers. All but one were the same variety, Santa. The container-grown tomatoes were half the size, but tasted like candy. The in-ground tomatoes were big, watery and bland. (See picture, in-ground on left, container-grown on right)

I've also grown Bloody Butcher, Rutgers, and Cherokee Purple in containers. Again, the container-grown tomatoes were much smaller and much less productive, but the taste was much more concentrated.

FWIW, my containers are top-watered, and the plants tend to be very small and stressed. I'm starting to think that's a good thing if you care more about flavor than productivity.

[Labradors2]

I had a similar experience this past summer. My (5) container-grown cherry tomatoes were all excellent whereas the 9 cherry varieties that I grew in the ground couldn't hold a candle to them taste-wise.

I think watering has something to do with it. We cannot control the amount of rain that falls, but we can control how much water the containers get.

Linda

[Tawnykay]

I've been growing tomato plants and produce for so long that the name I was given by our customers at our local farmers market was Tomato Lady. This part of the country is not prime conditions for growing tomatoes, but, I have found many ways to compensate and get the earliest, most flavorful and productive ones around. Container growing of most tomato plants is intensive at best. I still do it in pots and have had the same results as you. Tomato plants don't like the Bonsai style of living. The fruit does everything you described because of the tight quarters, the up and down in moister levels (stress), condensed food supply or no food added and the intense heat at the root zone (root ball) from sun hitting the side of the pots. Also, stress from drying winds. That's a lot for our tomato babies to deal with and still look and do their best. If anyone would like to know how I compensate just ask.

[RT_Peasant]

Originally Posted by Tawnykay

If anyone would like to know how I compensate just ask.

Hi Tawnykay, I'll ask. How do you keep your containers from drying out?

My tomato line-up is now set for next year. I'm going to grow a dozen plants, 8 in containers and 4 in the ground. That's a big change from previous years. I was going to try double-potting my plants so the sides don't get as hot from the sun. Also, I'm going to try a heavier mulch layer than I've used in the past, and I picked up a bag of RTI Mykos, to see if that helps.

[Ed of Somis]

RT...sounds like an excellent plan! Light colored pots probably help with heat...and mulch is a good idea too. I think you will have a successful year.

[RT_Peasant]

Just a follow up to this thread from last winter. I wound up growing 10 plants in containers - 3 dwarfs, 3 cherries, and 4 indeterminates, plus 4 indeterminates in my raised bed garden, and 2 indeterminates in raised beds within a raised bed - more on that later. I couldn't be happier with the results. The flavor of the container grown tomatoes was fabulous. The doubly raised beds (I call them bunk beds) were good as well, and the garden grown tomatoes were big and bland. I may never grow another tomato in the garden.

Below are my containers. I used 15 gal nursery containers filled with 5-1-1 mix, fertilized with MG Shake-n-Feed, then with blue stuff later in the summer. I had to water pretty much every day through the heat of the summer.

The container-grown indeterminates were about half the size of the garden-grown. Typically 6-10 oz vs. 12-24 oz for the garden-grown. Productivity was much lower. Maybe 6-10 tomatoes per plant vs. 3-4 dozen. But the flavor was off the charts. Wow. The Cherokee Purple and Big Zac that I grew in containers were some of the best tasting tomatoes that I've had in years. The cherry tomatoes in the containers were tiny but tasted like candy. I really liked one of the dwarfs (Rosella Purple) and didn't care for the other two, but that's the subject for another post.

To further explore my idea that stressing the plants produces better tasting tomatoes, I planted a couple of indeterminates in 28" square raised beds, set on top of my raised beds. To me, that represents a compromise between a container-grown plant and an in-ground plant. The roots are still free to run, but the plants are definitely more stressed than if they weren't planted in a box. The plants got big and produced well and had great tasting fruit. Not quite as tasty as the 15 gal containers, but tasty enough, and much better tasting than their garden neighbors without the box, which I think grow in soil that's too rich.

Next year, I'm going to see what I can do to boost productivity in the containers. I'm going to experiment with watering twice a day to see if I can get more fruit to set, wrapping the pots in aluminum foil to keep the roots cooler, and perhaps fertilizing more than once a week.

[Worth1]

I think too much water is the answer to bland tomatoes.
during the end of growing season I tend to neglect to watering and the tomatoes are stressed.
What they give me is a very tasty tomato.
Worth

[Fred Hempel]

My experience has always been the opposite -- better taste in-ground.

But, I think Worth is right, it is mainly an issue of "over-watering"

Out here, in our dry summers, it is very hard to keep tomatoes in containers alive without over-watering (because you need to soak your container tomatoes every day or they will dry out too much). And it is also easy to allow plants in the ground to grow under drier conditions. It doesn't rain in the summer, so there is no risk of over-watering by rain, and in ground tomatoes can be dried out well, without risk of killing them.

That said, I can see how in moister climates, it would be easier to keep tomatoes drier in containers with good drainage, and harder to control "over-watering" by summer rains.

[Cole_Robbie]

I think good soil should out-perform any container mix in regard to flavor, at least in my climate.

I grew Dwarf Tasmanian Chocolate in 4-gallon pots last summer, and they were the best container tomato I've ever had. The mix was basic pro-mix with simple chem fertilizer. That was the first container plant I've grown that rivaled the flavor of soil tomatoes.

[RT_Peasant]

Cole, have you grown the same varieties in containers and in the ground? Just curious as to whether variety played a role in your soil tomatoes tasting better than your container tomatoes.

I picked up a dozen 15 gallon black plastic containers this past fall, and I'm thinking about growing most of my tomatoes in containers. Or at least all of my cherries.

[Worth1]

Originally Posted by RT_Peasant

Cole, have you grown the same varieties in containers and in the ground? Just curious as to whether variety played a role in your soil tomatoes tasting better than your container tomatoes.

I picked up a dozen 15 gallon black plastic containers this past fall, and I'm thinking about growing most of my tomatoes in containers. Or at least all of my cherries.

I will pass this along.
I think a raised bed is more or less a container depending what you use for soil.

One of our members lived 12 miles north of me and hers were in raised beds.
I on the other hand at the time had mine in improved native soil that was much like her soil.

We both grew the same tomatoes from the same seeds.
Mine went through some stress and hers were watered all of the time.

Her tomatoes were fantastic but I liked the flavor of mine better.
The flavor was just more intense.

Some store bought soil for containers has little or no real soil in it.

What I mean by that is there are little or no minerals in this type of soil you would find here on earth in the ground.
At least I think not I may be wrong, it is just my perception.

Sure the plants will grow but to me the taste isn't there.

Worth

[RT_Peasant]

Originally Posted by Worth1

I think a raised bed is more or less a container depending what you use for soil.

When I refer to my in-ground tomatoes, I'm actually talking about a raised bed. It's 10-12" deep and 5' across, with hard-packed native soil below it. It has clay soil that has been heavily amended over the years, and it's now a fairly spongy, rich soil. My tomato plants get huge. Lots of green foliage and generally heavy fruit production with over-sized tomatoes. But the majority of my tomatoes are bland. A lot are mealy, and those that aren't mealy tend to be watery. I get just the occasional winner from these plants.

By contrast, my container-grown plants have been tiny (3' or less), with sparse foliage, and relatively few tomatoes. The tomatoes are tiny by comparison, but they taste like candy.

Conventional wisdom says that big healthy plants with a lot of leaves produce the best tasting tomatoes, but I've had the opposite experience. Big, healthy plants seem to produce big, watery tomatoes for me.

I tried eliminating all supplemental watering this year from July 4th on. The first batch of tomatoes that I got were definitely better tasting than in previous years, but then the plants completely shut down. No new fruit set, and the greenies stopped ripening until after Labor Day. I may have overshot the mark with my attempt at dry farming.

[Cole_Robbie]

Originally Posted by RT_Peasant

Cole, have you grown the same varieties in containers and in the ground? Just curious as to whether variety played a role in your soil tomatoes tasting better than your container tomatoes.

I've grown Early Girl in buckets, and then had them from the outdoor soil garden a month later, and the bucket tomatoes were noticeably weaker-tasting.

[KarenO]

I grow tomatoes both in pots and in the ground. I find the best flavour in my in ground garden tomatoes but I grow my cherries in big pots on the deck where they are handy for picking. I think they taste great too. I think choice of fertilizer has an effect as well. My in ground tomatoes are grown organically in natural clay-loam soil with added compost, manure and blood and bone meal. The for my pots I use compost and a slow release granular organic product. I do still use the blue stuff for my seedlings due to the 100% reliability but once they are planted out, I no longer use that type of soluble fertilizer. I used to use it, all the time for my potted tomatoes, but for the last few years I find my potted tomatoes taste better to me using the natural ferts. Certainly water has a lot to do with it as well and I also water my pots daily in summer
KarenO

[AKmark]

I grow in pots in a greenhouse and most are good flavored, while some have very profound tomato taste, I cannot imagine some being much better anywhere. I can control my environment, and it does make a difference, over watering ruins a good tomato if it is on the heavy side.
I also grow a few outside, they are good too if it doesn't rain too much.