Game planning for next year, feedback?

[gggeek]

I want to move the tomato plants out of my raised beds next year to free up room for stuff I think is better suited to the raised bed and won't require so much room and support. So I want to move my tomato growing into containers.

I've read a lot in this very forum as well as learned a lot from my years of gardening in raised beds. I just wanted to get some feedback on my game plan for the containers.

Planned tomato varieties (gotta start with the fun stuff)

1. Silvery Fir Tree (Russian Heirloom, small and compact determinate)
2. "4th of July" Hybrid
3. Siletz
4. Roma VF
5. Brandywine (pending good seed harvest)

*Outside of the 4th of July hybrid and Roma VF, these are open pollinated seeds I've saved myself.

Soil mix:
Note: Planning on 4 or 5 gallon pots depending on what the nursery is giving away

1. 50% composted manure (most likely a cow manure)
2. 50% peat moss or coco coir
3. Addition of Azomite rock dust to each container, amount to be determined

Fertilizing:

1. Tomatotone - applied in a buried ring on inside edge of pot away from stem
2. Liquid kelp - foliar feed bi-weekly, opposite disease control
3. Epsom salt - applied in a buried ring on inside edge of pot away from stem
4. Addition of Azomite rock dust to each container, amount to be determined

Disease/pest control:

1. Hoping to stay organic with Serenade bi-weekly instead of reaching for the Daconil
2. Pests will be handled as they are found, but most likely will use Bt early

Trellis:

1. Wooden framed with individual twine leaders to each vine/stem

The end goal is to not spend a lot of money. I am a "cheap" gardener that has always done very well not having to spend much money on frills. About the only place I ever spend money is in the soil (and fencing to keep the animals out!!!).

[gggeek]

Edited my plans a bit, still looking for feedback:

Planned tomato varieties (gotta start with the fun stuff)

1. Silvery Fir Tree
2. "4th of July" Hybrid
3. Roma VF
4. Siberia (thanks checkerkitty!)
5. Black Prince (thanks checkerkitty!)
6. Climbing Trip-l-crop (thanks checkerkitty!)
7. Valiant (thanks checkerkitty!)
8. Speckled Roma
   

Soil mix:
Note: Planning on 5 gallon pots

1. 50% compost
2. 50% Pro-Mix BX w/ Mycro
3. Addition of Azomite rock dust to each container, amount to be determined

Fertilizing:

1. Tomatotone - applied in a buried ring on inside edge of pot away from stem
2. Liquid kelp - foliar feed bi-weekly, opposite disease control
3. Bio-tone Starter Plus at time of transplant (not sure if I need this reading up on the new Tomatotone forumla???)
4. Addition of Azomite rock dust to each container, amount to be determined

Disease/pest control:

1. Hoping to stay organic with Serenade bi-weekly
2. Pests will be handled as they are found, but most likely will use Bt early

Staking

1. Expanded my garden a bit more than expected, so containers are going to be bumped out near my front walkway which means I'll have to stake each one individually. But this move will give me much better spacing!

[Crandrew]

Any thoughts on using Actinovate and Exel LG?

[bower]

I bought bamboo at the Dollar Store two years ago to make my trellis, cheapest available material. I cut a few sticks too, but they're not as straight and regular so more trouble than the material cost of bamboo. I used garden wire to join cross pieces of bamboo to the trellis. The first one just grew and grew to meet the demand! It is easy to add on a piece if you need it. Last year I was a bit more organized and cropped tall plants to keep the jungle manageable.

After the first year (which was very cold and wet and came to a mouldy end) I javexed all the pieces of bamboo and then applied linseed oil before the next season. That seemed to work well, and I'll be doing the same before spring to re-use them again.

Last year I used the same material for trellis in containers outdoors, and found it was sturdy enough to withstand outdoor conditions, although I did attach to a nearby shed with some garden wire for extra security (windy place here).
My container soil is a mix of coarse compost, peaty local potting soil, and coarse chopped raw kelp to improve moisture retention - worked very well as an alternative to perlite or the like, although it is consumed eventually. Coconuts and volcanos don't grow here, so their stuffs are expensive.

[gggeek]

Originally Posted by Crandrew

Any thoughts on using Actinovate and Exel LG?

I actually saw Excel LG in a post here last night and funny enough I added them to my garden wishlist on Amazon I was looking at Actinovate, but I was a bit worried about the cost as all that is available for sale is small quantities. Secondly with Actinovate, it looks like the Actino-Iron is needed in the soil to really make it effective? I am open to any recommendations on the stuff as I have almost never used disease prevention sprays.

[gggeek]

Originally Posted by bower

I bought bamboo at the Dollar Store two years ago to make my trellis, cheapest available material. I cut a few sticks too, but they're not as straight and regular so more trouble than the material cost of bamboo. I used garden wire to join cross pieces of bamboo to the trellis. The first one just grew and grew to meet the demand! It is easy to add on a piece if you need it. Last year I was a bit more organized and cropped tall plants to keep the jungle manageable.

After the first year (which was very cold and wet and came to a mouldy end) I javexed all the pieces of bamboo and then applied linseed oil before the next season. That seemed to work well, and I'll be doing the same before spring to re-use them again.

Last year I used the same material for trellis in containers outdoors, and found it was sturdy enough to withstand outdoor conditions, although I did attach to a nearby shed with some garden wire for extra security (windy place here).
My container soil is a mix of coarse compost, peaty local potting soil, and coarse chopped raw kelp to improve moisture retention - worked very well as an alternative to perlite or the like, although it is consumed eventually. Coconuts and volcanos don't grow here, so their stuffs are expensive.

I was thinking of cutting down some wild bamboo that is growing all over our area (we have a few trouble stands of the stuff in the local area that I doubt anyone is going to have a heartache over some disappearing).

However, I am a woodworker at heart and I like to drop in to my local Habitat for Humanity ReStore to grab some donated wood for a few dollars. I was able to build an entire wooden fence around my garden area for $30 of wood (the paint to paint it and the wire fence cost more than the raw wood!).

But as I am expanding out of that nicely fenced in area for the container tomatoes, I will not have really any surround support structure to work off. I think a single stake will do the job along with a short metal stake to secure the pot from tipping over.

[gggeek]

Ha, just realized it is Exel LG, not Excel. Going to have to search the tville forums again to see if I can get some more info than what I saw last night

[Sun City Linda]

I am one of many people who do not use TomatoTone in their containers anymore. It changed formulation several years ago and many folks think it is not as good. Growing tomatoes organically in a container is a challenge. The use of TomatoTone increases the challenge, IMO.

[elight]

Linda, what do you recommend in place of TomatoTone? I used it last year, and was not impressed (had some nutrient-related problems)--and research here and elsewhere on the Internet showed that many others felt the same. But what I couldn't find was a recommendation for a widely-available alternative. Any thoughts?

[Sun City Linda]

Elight- If you want to stay organic you might check Raybo and/or Ami's threads. I am trying out a 10-10-10 synthetic blend from Lily Miller I found at Lowes. I grow in Earthboxes and will likely start with maybe a cup and a half of it in a strip and blend in some TomatoTone throughout the box. I have a fair amount of TT to use up, bought 40 LBs of it last year......