A Gardeners Forum Forums Gardening Reference Gardening in 2006 CONTAINER TOMATO'S

HI ALL!! NEW TO THE FORUM! I grow in containers mostly roses n' herb's. I haven't had a lot of luck with tomatoes. I would appreciate all the help I can get. If there is already info on this please direct me. I have 5gal black plastic pots from the nursery. I want to grow a good sandwich tomato and possibly the new 'grape' tomato. I have etried Early Girl but they jus haven't done well. Small and skin is tough. I do love the taste of fresh maters, so any help you can give will be appreciated. Thanks in advance. Oh yes I live on the Calif coast and we have cooler nights than most places.

I have grown container tomatoes a couple of times with varying amounts of success. The best crop I ever had was when I bought those seeds at Walmart that come in the egg shaped containers. They are supposedly for containers specifically. I got a great crop and the tomatoes were small, but good tasting.

I too am a container gardener. I grow tomatoes every year, and never get much. But it's still fun.
This year I'm trying a Celebrity and the dwarf beefsteaks called Bushsteaks.
I didn't like Early Girls either !

P.S. I'm also in coastal southern California - San Diego County, about 3 miles from the beach.

I grew early girl an liked it.maybe your weather don't get hot enough. I didn't like celberity.it slowed way down when got hot,but did well when was cooler.maybe celiberty would do well in your weather out there.
or search out john.He's our tomato expert here.

Oh boy njoynit....definitely NO expert, lol. Julianna has far more experience than I.

Herbyann, 5 gallon containers will most likely limit you to determinates or dwarfs. Although I have read of people growing indeterminates in that size container with limited success. There are many commercially available varieties I would look into if I were you. The container varieties I am growing this year are Kimberly, Taxi, New Big Dwarf, Citron Compact, Silvery Fir tree, Lime Green Salad, Lucky Leprechaun and Victorian Dwarf. Others that work well in containers are Golden Dwarf Champion, Sophie's Choice(I'm trying to obtain this one), Marglobe. All of these are open pollinated varieties which you could save true seed from if you so choose and most are available from places like Victory, TGS, Sandhill, Marianne's, etc.

As far as the "new" grape, I'm wondering if you mean the type they're selling at the supermarkets. In reality who know's with the industrial breeding these days what those varieties are and if they're available. There are a few varieties of "grape" type tomatoes sold, but in general they are lumped in to the cherry type category. If you want really sweet, I am trying Sungold(F1) this year as I've heard it is one of the best cherries available. Not exactly a container type plant though. In general cherry types aren't though.

Dang, John! I was thinking of growing 1 or more of each of my varieties in 5 gallon buckets. I thought 5 gallons would be accurate. Hmmm...I'm going to do it anyway, I've got lots of starts, lol. I would have thought cherry tomatoes would be ideal for containers, too. I'll experiment...I know there is a variety called Patio that's supposed to be ideal for containers outdoors...I tried to grow one in the small version of the half barrel at a clients home, as she loves fresh tomatoes, but I didn't get the soil quite right, and it only produced a few small tomatoes, so I can't claim any valid experience with that variety....

Dave, I would do it and see what you come up with. Its just not ideal. Thats all.

John...considering how big my plants got last year, I can see how they'd quickly outgrow the container...but I'm just crazy enough, and lazy enough, to try it!

I grew some for my mom in 5 gallon buckets,
hey I didn't get 6ft tall plants, but she got enough for herself to eat..
She likes to go out her back door and pick a tomato, and not all the way back to my garden,
so I just did up a couple of pots....
One was a cherry variety and did a couple of the
Rutger kind..
Hey, she thought that was great, and better than a store bought kind...

They do need to have good drainage, but because they are in a small dirt area, they did need to be watered alot more than the one's in my regular garden, two or three times sometimes during those lonnnnnnng Hottttttttttttt days here, **plus the buckets were on top of a cement patio which produced alot of heat on it's own.....

I think if I do it again, and get new 5 gallon buckets, I might change the placement of my drainage holes..
I had mine directly at the bottom of the bucket...
I may, put them about 2" up from the bottom on the sides of the bucket, to give it a small water reservoir at the bottom instead of draining out sooooo fast.... worth experimenting on...

Yes they are! Even the blandest of the hybrids I grew last year were better then those!

Check out this spiffy lookin' tomato container..
rolling 3 compartment tomato container.....

I am hopin' my hubby will make one *or two* for my
mom's patio!!!!

Very nice! Except for the PT lumber though. It would look great on a patio made of cedar I bet!

you could always paint it to make it look better.

I have 2 in containers(well got a hanging tomato planter too so is actually 3)

I'm likely going to sink my container.I've only got them in a container cause my garden bed not ready& I'm actually eye-balling my compost pile& thinking of moveing it and then tilling where it moved from

I would think determinate types would be better in containers.I'm not getting a good picture of my early girl in a container...she topped out at 10 ft plus last yr& my 6 ft stakes we're actually TOO SHORT we're talkin TX-sized-plants.

You've given me some great ideas. Where I come from tomatoes are hard to grow outside, windy, not hot enough, short season.....

Anyway, I've been thinking of doing mine in the greenhouse this year. I'll get my son to build some containers for me...can't wait