Potting Mix vs Potting Soil

[anjibman]

I am planting my tomatoes in 5 gallon bucket with Potting mix only. Plant is growing up tall with leaves only. I am worried if it won't produce any fruit since it is growing tall but thin steam . Can anyone suggest what else I have to put other than potting mix to grow tomatoes?

[rainbowgardener]

Not necessarily any, depending on the potting mix. There are lots of different formulations out there. There are some seed starting mixes that are sterile, have no nutrients in them. In that case you would have to add fertilizer. If you have a potting mix that has fertilizer built in, it should be OK.

A picture would help us figure out what is going on. Often people have tomatoes in pots that are too small. But tall and thin sounds like not enough light. Is it outside? Is it in full sun 8 hours a day?

It always helps to let us know where you are located and what your weather conditions have been like.

Welcome to the Forum!

[imafan26]

Tomatoes are heavy feeders. I plant my tomatoes deep. I take off the lower leaves and plant them up to an inch of the lowest remaining leaf. Even when I use MG potting soil, I still add about a 1/2 cup of starter fertilizer. I use either citrus or tomato food. I feed about a tablespoon more fertilizer in each 20 inch pot at first flowering, first fruit, and monthly thereafter. You would have to add twice that if you are doing organic (tomato tone is a popular one) and supplement with fish emulsion weekly.

They like to have at least 6 hours of sun as as they get bigger they demand a lot of water.