HELP! Transplanting Tomatos?

[ChrisA]

Woah... uhh.... ok? So how am I to know which are which?

[JC's Garden]

Just google the name of each tomato plant. I just googled Super Souix and clicked the top link and found all the info a beginner would need. Super Souix is an indeterminate. Hope this helps.

[digitS']

If you look for the listing of the variety in the online seed catalogs, determinate or indeterminate should be stated.

Tatiana's TomatoBase (do a search, just like that) will give you that information for a bazillion heirlooms and a few hybrids.

Indeterminates are more common in the garden. Gardeners sometime get in trouble pruning determinates and damaging their production. That's not likely to be the reason they are less common, tho'. Pruning can help keep an indeterminate in control but determinates tend to be more controlled in their growth, anyway. People sometimes refer to them as "bush" varieties. They ripen their crop in a short period of time and are commonly grown by those who want lots of tomatoes at once, for canning.

Steve

[Lindsaylew82]

Tags on plants usually differentiate between them, and catalogs, too.

[mattie g]

Those containers are plenty big for one of the bigger plants or two of the smaller ones. Personally, unless I had a massive container with a decent amount of surface area (like a bathtub or something), I wouldn't plant more than one per container. This is simply because I wouldn't want them to get too crowded out above the ground.

I plant a couple tomatoes each year in 15-gallon containers, and they grow quite well. I have a Black Krim this year that's about 6' tall with plenty of fruit, and I just picked a ripe tomato nearing 1 lb from it. I had an Eve Purple Ball in a container that was my most consistent producer last year. If you keep containered plants watered and mulched, with the occasional feeding, you should do just fine.

This said, if I were you I'd just leave the plants as they are right now. You probably don't have the longest growing season, so transplanting them now may set them back enough that you won't have a ton of time before the end of the season for them to keep producing once they get back on track. I'm fairly conservative like that, but if you want to give it a chance, then it won't kill the plants if you do a decent job transplanting. They'll produce, but they'll almost certainly take a few weeks to recover.

[ChrisA]

So my only other question is if any of you could tell me or show me pics of what I'd need to do to prune these.

[PaulF]

Why would you ever want to prune any of them? Tomatoes are meant to be vines and do not need to be pruned. From one who is firmly in the "do not prune" camp.

[ChrisA]

One of the previous posters said I should based off the fact they are in tubs instead of in the ground.

[mattie g]

One of the previous posters said I should based off the fact they are in tubs instead of in the ground.

Google "pruning tomato suckers" and you should find a lot of useful information. Many people feel that pruning tomatoes - especially in more humid locations - helps to improve airflow (and thus reduce fungal issues), and that pruning can also improve the size of tomatoes (if not yield). Of course, there are others who don't prune, whether they don't believe in pruning or their gardens are too big/they just don't have the time to prune. It's all a personal preference.

Me? I prune my tomatoes. Sometimes I miss a sucker early in the season and, before I've realized it, I have a much bushier plant than I'd intended, but it's not a big deal. My pruned plants certainly grow taller than the non-pruned ones (e.g. I have a Jersey Devil nearing 9' tall right now ), and I feel like I get a better yield from my pruned plants, but I can't be 100% positive on that.

[applestar]

I think I was the one.

The reason I said that is because your plants will be drawing on limited resources in the containers -- nutrients and water. This way, they can focus the use of those resources on growing the one or two vines per plant and as many fruits as they can produce on them rather than expenditure to grow the excess foliage and vines. And yes, do NOT prune Determinate varieties. (I believe I specified Indeterminate)

In well prepared ground, the TOMATO plants can have unlimited access to water and nutrients and, I think, could support many vines and produce decent sized fruits in expected numbers.

The air circulation is definitely the other issue. Tomatoes are prone to fungal diseases, especially in humid areas. In addition, overlapping leaves will prevent early detection of problems -- pests or diseases or any problems with the fruits.