watering issue...

[Ed of Somis]

I read where many growers water daily in their containers. I have free-draining custom mixes...most with wicks. When I use my moisture meter, I always have damp soil. All of my plants have leaves that are rolled. I am thinking this is a moisture problem. My weather is mild/sunny SoCal. Perhaps I should cut back on the watering??? I still get lovely tomatoes despite the rolled leaves.

[Labradors2]

I hope you get a good answer Ed. I have five tomato plants growing in containers (with holes in the bottom) in potting mix and I was happily watering them every day. Then I found a moisture meter and stuck it in one of the pots and it always reads "wet". Maybe it doesn't know the difference between "wet" and "perfectly damp". I decided to ignore the thing and to continue to water every day. My tomato plants seem very happy and are growing and fruiting.

Linda

[Freddy]

I've been wondering about my one grafted "Mighty-Mato" Stupice I put out on 30 May. I think I may have been over watering it at first but it is looking lush and healthy right now. I've got some fruit setting and plenty of clusters.

I did get the Rapitest Moisture Meter. I watered last Sunday. The meter this morning showed wet at about #8. I used E.B. Stones soil and their veg and tomato food twice so far. About three spoons top dressing and scratched in the soil before watering. I also gave it a gallon dose of Great Big Tomatoes compost. Four oz to 1 gallon.

The plant is dense and green. I did prune down low and have it caged. I guess I'm just wondering what I should be on the lookout for. I'm retired and have time to baby the thing.

From what I've picked up my short time here, is that I probably should have used a larger container. Oh well.

[BigVanVader]

I have been watering mine daily as well because if not the tops wilt pretty bad. First year growing any in pots but both are doing well so far.

[Father'sDaughter]

My tomatoes and peppers in five gallon plastic grow bags get watered every two days when the lawn sprinklers run. However, if we get a really hot stretch of weather, I will check on them and water them on the I between days as well. I have a couple of bush Delicata squash plants in a larger tub, and they stay on the every-other-day schedule because the larger container does not dry out as quickly as the smaller grow bags. In other words, a lot depends on the size of your container.

[Freddy]

We're getting rain right now. Unless it's a frog strangler, I think it will be okay.
I'm using a 12 gallon molded fiber container with one bag of EB Stone soil. That would be a cubic foot and a half or around 10 gallons I believe.

[Salsacharley]

I've got 80 plants about 70 different varieties in 5 gal plastic grow bags that only have about 1/2 cu ft of potting mix in each of them. They are on an automatic drip system that emits 2 gal per hour. I have the watering set for 20 minutes at 1 AM and 20 minutes at 1 PM. The plants are doing quite well. The heat is intense in the PM here in Albuquerque, windy and dry. I also give them Texas Tomato Food every 5 to 7 days. I believe with adequate water and food, the plants can do quite well in smaller size containers.

[Freddy]

Thanks, Salsacharley. I'm committed now so fingers crossed.

[Ed of Somis]

some pretty good ideas here...I had good success last year in 15 gal nursery pots. I use some again, and added 20 gal plastic "Brute" trash cans. They work great! My leaves are rolled on some varieties, but I have lots of big tomatoes!

[Freddy]

My Stupice seemed to like the showers we got these last few days. Still no sign of yellowing leaves near the bottom. I gritted my teeth and pruned a main stem a while back and I'm happy with how the plant is filling up the cage. The flower clusters are setting fruit and all systems seem go. The dose of "Great Big Tomatoes" last Sunday was well received from what I can tell.

I recall reading that a container pan is not good when watering from the top. What is the thinking on watering from the bottom by putting water in the pan? What would that do to my once every two week top dressing with my EB Stones tomato and vegetable food top dressing?

It's too late for a SIP set up so I'm curious if anyone has any pros or cons for this idea. As I've mentioned, this is my first experience with a grafted tomato and this plant seems to be a beast. Even with this fairly cool June it is looking like supporting it might be my biggest concern.

Once I educate myself on uploading photos here, I'll put some up. I think I need to reduce the size of my .jpg files. Thanks.....

[Freddy]

Early yesterday morning I watered my plant before I left for a day on the Columbia fishing. We were 0 for one but had a great outing.

This time I put a little over a gallon of water in the container pan. When I got home that after noon it had sucked all the water up. I gave it a little more this morning and put some on the top of the soil to get to the EB Stone tomato & veg food. It took all that too. I also gave it a dose of great Big Tomatoes 50/50 with H2O sprayed on the leaves. I did that a couple of weeks ago and it seemed to like it.

There must be at least 30 tomatoes coming along. Plenty of new flower clusters as well.

Today, I intend to figure out how to shrink down the size of my .jpg files so I can get them uploaded to show. Nothing like a photo for seeing what is going on.

I'm still looking for feedback about my cave man bottom watering method. It is supposed to be in the mid 80's today and mid 90's tomorrow. Looks like good tomato weather is here at last.

[Ed of Somis]

do not spray your tomato leaves with water. You are setting yourself up for the many bacterial/fungal diseases that plague tomato plants. I wonder about the wicking action of your water in the under-pan too.

[Freddy]

Thanks, Ed.

I've heard about keeping the leaves dry. I normally do that except when leaf feeding with a 50/50 mix of H2O and Great Big Tomatoes liquid compost.

Yesterday hit 98 and the plant showed between 6 and 7 on the moisture meter but the upper parts of the plant were wilting. It needed it.

At first the thing did not seem to take much watering because of cool conditions and the root system was still getting established I suppose. Now that the plant has more than doubled and the weather is warmer, it takes considerably more water.

I've also read that it's bad to have standing water in a container pan. The couple of times I've done it, the plant or soil sucked it right up. So standing water was not an issue. You are correct. I don't know about watering from the bottom at this point either. That's why I asked for advice.

I'm thinking I might just as well water from the top this season and see what happens. Next year perhaps a wicking set up would be the way to go. Fortunately, I have time to baby this tomato plant along.

The humidity was about 22% yesterday so the water did not stay on the leaves more than a few minutes. The plant looks like it's recovered nicely. I hope it did not get shocked.

[JamesL]

Ed,
Are you still getting leaf roll? Definitely a moisture issue, on the too wet side.
Not really that problematic once the plants get larger.
Freddy,
Standing water in the pan is only an issue if it is there for days. If you are top watering and filling the pan and it is taking it all up that same day, I would not worry about it. If you think your container is too small to begin with, you are doing yourself and the plant a favor by filling the pan.
Big plant, small container plus high heat is a recipe for a dead plant if your next fishing trip runs long....

[Ed of Somis]

james, that celebrity is rolled to the max. It has quit growing at 16 inches. The tomatoes are big, red, and pretty good for a hybrid. The plant looks like crap.