QSis
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Do I REALLY have to change all the soil in my tomato pots??

I have been container-gardening for over 20 years, with amazingly few problems (considering I'm a rank amateur and mostly winging it!).

For the second year in a row now, my tomato plants have not performed well. Skimpy, scrawny foilage, late flowering and fruit, low yield.

I mix in several inches of Miracle Gro garden soil at the beginning of each season, and I feed with Miracle Gro every 2 weeks-ish.

My neighbors tomato plants in pots are lush and huge and prolific. As far as I can see, the only things significantly different are that she has a lot more shade and I think she mixes in some fertilizer at the time she plants.

An old-timer told me that I had to change all the soil in my pots. Do I really have to do that?

It will involve back-breaking (I have a bad back) work and expense, so if there is something else I could try, I'd rather do that first.

Lee

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rainbowgardener
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Given that you are in Boston (not say Texas), the shade is probably more of a detriment than a help. Tomatoes like sunshine! What size containers are you talking about? One tomato plant needs MINIMUM of 5 gallon bucket size, more would be better.

And yes, if you have grown a tomato plant in a bucket's worth of soil all season, that soil is significantly depleted. Just trying to put some fertilizer in to make up for it won't get it, because the structure of the soil breaks down.

If you want to grow more tomatoes next year in the same bucket, you need to start with fresh soil. Also many diseases that affect tomato plants are soil transmitted, so using the same soil is just asking for disease.

If it is hard on you to dump the buckets of soil out (there would be no plants in them at that time) and refill them, then find someone to do it for you. It's a once a year chore.

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Kisal
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Unfortunately, it might be necessary. I change the soil in my tomato containers every year. The old soil is still usable for a few years, for plants that don't belong to the Solanaceae family, but some kind of fertilizer will need to be added. The reason for changing the soil is that plants from the Solanaceae family are subject to certain soil bourn diseases. Once the soil is infected, any plant form that family that you plant in the soil can, and probably will, become infected.

One year I decided to just use the same soil for my tomato plants. It was heartbreaking as I watched them die, so now, I change the soil yearly.

QSis
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Sounds as if I really do have to change the soil.

I will do it a little at a time.

Thank you, folks!

Lee

DeborahL
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Lee, you said you add fresh GARDEN soil. Do you mean POTTING soil?
I'm a container gardener too, and I never use anything but potting soil.
Good to see another container gardener here-I've been one for nearly 40 years.

QSis
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DeborahL wrote:Lee, you said you add fresh GARDEN soil. Do you mean POTTING soil?
I'm a container gardener too, and I never use anything but potting soil.
Good to see another container gardener here-I've been one for nearly 40 years.
Deborah, I use garden soil for the most part, but mix in some potting soil or peat moss.

Lee

DeborahL
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Sounds good to me !

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lakngulf
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Kisal wrote:One year I decided to just use the same soil for my tomato plants. It was heartbreaking as I watched them die, so now, I change the soil yearly.
Had the same experience last year. I do not plan to go through that again, so changing out soil, and container tomatoes this year for me. I do have some seed (Neptune and BHN-something, 669 I think) that are supposed to be more tolerant of the bacterial wilt, etc. I do plan to start some and put them in the suspicious soil. Will try to post the process and progress.

I have googled (I love that word) southern bacterial wilt and all articles end with "there is really nothing you can do to the soil once it is contaminated". I emailed some research folks at UVA, NC State, Florida and LSU. I was hoping they had developed some seed that would work, but got same message from them.


Oddly enough, I have been able to grow tomatoes in soil more than one year before, but not last year.

QSis
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Oh, I've absolutely grown tomatoes in the same containers for many years in a row!

But the last 2 years, pffft!

So, I think you are right about the soil being contaminated. Out it goes!

Lee



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