Tomatoville® Gardening Forums


Notices

General discussion regarding the techniques and methods used to successfully grow tomato plants in containers.

 
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
Prev Previous Post   Next Post Next
Old July 9, 2013   #1
cythaenopsis
Tomatovillian™
 
cythaenopsis's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2013
Location: Hoboken, NJ USA
Posts: 347
Default Am I doomed to a puny crop this year? Potting soil issue

When I learned about SWC's, I was stoked because now I could grow fruit/vegetable producing plants in a confined space. I've always wanted to grow my own tomatoes so I read up a little bit on-line, went to Lowes to get my supplies, then picked up a couple of seedlings at a local nursery.

After about a month, I started reading up on-line to increase my education. That's when I began to discover I'd done a few things right, but one major thing wrong: the potting medium.

I see now that a potting mix coupled with stuff like peat moss and perlite is the best way to go with growing healthy and abundant tomatoes. But I made the mistake of using all out top soil. I did mix it with some fertilizer and I made sure to churn it up well so that it wasn't hard packed. It was claimed to be rich with nutrients, superior to potting soil.

Well after 10 weeks I do have actively growing tomato plants that are basically healthy. One is producing 5 tomatoes right now, but the other languished with just one early tomato (although it appears that about 3-4 more blossoms have finally set).


Am I doomed to an anemic crop this year? Or is there something I can do to compensate for the semi-inappropriate potting medium I've chosen? Will a plant food geared for tomato plants be worthwhile to add or should I just concede that these plants won't be abundant producers?

Here's what they look like at the moment:


Black Krim planted in 3rd week of May as a 10" seedling.


Lemon Boy planted in 3rd week of May as an 8" seedling.
__________________
I'm GardeningAloft.blogspot.com (container growing apartment dweller)
cythaenopsis is offline   Reply With Quote
 


Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT -4. The time now is 10:40 AM.


★ Tomatoville® is a registered trademark of Commerce Holdings, LLC ★ All Content ©2022 Commerce Holdings, LLC ★