General discussion regarding the techniques and methods used to successfully grow tomato plants in containers.
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#1 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: MT
Posts: 438
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So far my Aunt Gertie's Gold and Cherokee Purples are tasting like the big red grocery store toms in the middle of winter. :0p
I've actually been worried about this because the medium looks wet all the time and like most informed growers I hold back on the watering when my toms are in the soil. I'm thinking about just watering from the top from now on and letting the soil get a little dryer- would this work? My concern too is that this would possibly kill the roots hanging down into the water reservoir. Would this significantly injure the plant? I am growing in the self watering containers for tomatoes by Gardeners Supply. Thank you SO MUCH in advance- I didn't get toms last year due to disease and would really, really like nice ones this year!!!! :0). I've even tried farmer's markets, but so far they've all tasted overwatered and bland- you can tell they're producing for quantity, not quality. Also it's been so hot and dry I think people are watering everyday. :0p. Thanks again!!!!
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Sara |
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#2 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: MT
Posts: 438
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Ps - I used the gardeners supply container soil, and their organic tomato ferts and/or TomatoTone, and lime.
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Sara |
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#3 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: Crystal Lake IL
Posts: 2,484
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Oh bummer, I'm sorry - sounds so disappointing. I don't know the answers - I've never used a self-watering container. But, my tomatoes are in containers - mix of topsoil, composted horse manure, and peat. I water pretty much every day, in the morning, and the soil is usually dry the next morning (it's been so hot). My tomatoes have tasted fine.
I hope you get it figured out, and get some great ones. |
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#4 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: Germany 49°26"N 07°36"E
Posts: 5,041
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Heather, I'm growing plants in 3 SWC's I bought here in Germany. I took out the water fill tube, drilled a hole 1" from the bottom of the unit on the side to lower the reservoir water level and water from the top. No problems and I have had roots grow down into the reservoir when I tore the unit down at the end of the season. I don't use the plastic mulch on top either. Ami
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Life's journey is not to arrive at the grave safely in a well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, totally worn out, shouting ‘...Holy Crap .....What a ride!' |
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#5 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: PNW
Posts: 4,743
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I had a container mix in SWCs that held water extremely well
last year. I had mixed results: Cherokee Purple: a little bland Cherokee Chocolate: not bland Spudakee: maybe a little bland (no point of reference) JD's Special C-Tex: same as Spudakee Azoychka x Shannons's F1: not bland Black and Brown Boar: not bland Persimmon: not bland I used Tomato Tone, a little lime, gypsum, greensand, various fixups during the season (Fertall chelated iron, molasses, etc). I think Ray's idea of mixing in more larger structured materials and perlite into bagged container mix is a good idea. I was amazed that he did not getter better results using cactus mix in his Earthtainers. It seems like that would be about the right water-holding capacity for a tomato plant in a self-watering container without mixing it with other materials. (Might be hard to find in big bags, though. Buying a pallet of little bags of cactus mix to get enough for one's SWCs would be impractical.)
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-- alias Last edited by dice; August 24, 2010 at 10:05 AM. Reason: sp |
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#6 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Jul 2010
Location: Edmonton
Posts: 17
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Your mix might definately be too wet. I'm by no means an SWC expert but my taste tests so far this year have been very good with the exception of a couple of early fruits which were a bit bland (though some earlies on the same plants had great taste).
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#7 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: MT
Posts: 438
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Thanks guys.
I don't have the the top of the dirt covered, and was planning to start watering from above a la Ami. Well, we got and inch of rain in two days, on the third day we got 1+, then on the forth day we got 2.5 inches. LOL! ![]() Anyway, my seasons almost over so it's a learning experience for next year. :0) On the upside- just a few days of watering from the top has helped a little, and the tomatoes do seem to have a lot more flavor if I cook them down. ![]() Thanks again! ![]()
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Sara |
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#8 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: New York Zone 6
Posts: 479
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Heather, I use the same container mix and virtually the same ferts for my SWCs. However, my tomatoes were absolutely delicious - not bland at all. I do think that the plants would benefit from covering them with a plastic mulch. I say that because I saw this year that the ones that were covered lasted longer - I had more diseases in the ones that were not covered. I watered them constantly through the terrible heat; most of the time via the reservoirs. My Cherokee Purples in particular were scrumptious.
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