Newbie can't afford to lose all her container tomatoes!!

Dewayne mater · April 3, 2014

Lots of good advice so far. One thing I'm wondering about is you say they are in full sun. I'm not sure how hot is it there now, but, if it is hot and they are in full sun in small containers it would be fairly easy to over heat them, especially if the surface they are on heats up like concrete does. If you are moving them, do you have the option for them to get 8 hours of sun starting in the morning and ending by 3 or so? If you have them on concrete, I'd put them on grass instead. If the root zone is getting direct sun on it, the soil temp can really heat up in any container and I'd bet even more so in a small container. I had an issue with the root zone overheating because the tainers were on concrete and getting full sun (in was in May/June though) and found that moving them to be on grass and be shaded in the hottest part of the day did wonders. Before doing that, I had all kinds of problems, not the least of which was tremendous BER on the fruit that set. So, this may not be your issue yet, but, I'd keep it in mind for when your plants do start setting fruit.

Dewayne mater

April 3, 2014	#19
Dewayne mater Tomatovillian™ Join Date: May 2008 Location: DFW, Texas Posts: 1,212	Lots of good advice so far. One thing I'm wondering about is you say they are in full sun. I'm not sure how hot is it there now, but, if it is hot and they are in full sun in small containers it would be fairly easy to over heat them, especially if the surface they are on heats up like concrete does. If you are moving them, do you have the option for them to get 8 hours of sun starting in the morning and ending by 3 or so? If you have them on concrete, I'd put them on grass instead. If the root zone is getting direct sun on it, the soil temp can really heat up in any container and I'd bet even more so in a small container. I had an issue with the root zone overheating because the tainers were on concrete and getting full sun (in was in May/June though) and found that moving them to be on grass and be shaded in the hottest part of the day did wonders. Before doing that, I had all kinds of problems, not the least of which was tremendous BER on the fruit that set. So, this may not be your issue yet, but, I'd keep it in mind for when your plants do start setting fruit. Dewayne mater