Hello,
Decided to get 4x 18 gallon 'tote' containers for my indeterminate tomatos. I followed a step by step online for the soil. I used 2cu feet of gardensoil, 1cu feet of potting soil, .5 cu feet natural soil (clay, sand, etc.), and half a cup of some 10-10-10 fertilizer. Mixed it up in the containers, cut drainage holes, and planted the plants. I generally don't use gardensoil in a container, but the step by step said it was perfectly fine. It seems a tad 'fluffy' and I'm worried that over time the soil may not adequately support the plant. Does anyone see any concerns with my method? Should I go out and purchase a soil tester, lime, epsom salt, and some manure maybe? Take the plants back out, mix the new stuff in, and replant?
Thanks!
Gravity and overhead watering will naturally compact your soil over time, and as the roots fill the medium it will probably compact and hold the plants just fine. Personally I would add lime, a lack of calcium in the soil will lead to blossom-end rot. The times I've grown tomatoes in pots I always got blossom-end rot until I started adding lime.
Lime or gypsum won't hurt as long as you don't add a lot. BER is more a problem of uneven watering and a physiological problem transporting calcium from the roots to the leaves in hot, dry weather. 18 gallon tubs if mulched and watered daily or twice a day in hot weather can cut down on BER.
Cherry and heat resistant tomatoes don't seem to have as much of a problem with BER if they are adequately watered so they don't wilt at midday.
If your pots tend to dry out in summer another trick is to make your drain holes 2 inches up the side of the pots and not on the bottom. That will keep a layer of wet soil at the bottom of the pot. My friend drills her pots this way because she lives in town and keeps her pots along the driveway. She goes on trips out of town a lot and her husband is not always that great at watering regularly.
Cherry and heat resistant tomatoes don't seem to have as much of a problem with BER if they are adequately watered so they don't wilt at midday.
If your pots tend to dry out in summer another trick is to make your drain holes 2 inches up the side of the pots and not on the bottom. That will keep a layer of wet soil at the bottom of the pot. My friend drills her pots this way because she lives in town and keeps her pots along the driveway. She goes on trips out of town a lot and her husband is not always that great at watering regularly.
In my containers I use all soilless mix to ensure against pathogens that are often in even bagged garden soil. Imafan's idea about holes on the sides is a good one. Be sure to watch the soil and water when the top becomes dry. Containers dry out fairly quickly. BER will not be helped by adding lime to the soil. Uneven watering and temperature fluctuations keep naturally occurring calcium from reaching the plant.
By adding the balanced fertilizer to the soil you are getting the plants off to a good start, but remember by the amount of watering you need to do, the nutrients will be washed out fairly quickly. Every ten days or so mix in a little more of the 10-10-10 or water with a liquid plant food. If you go with the watering, look for the one called bloom booster or something like that with a lower nitrogen formula...8-15-15 or close. Too much N will give you lots of green vines but will reduce tomato formation. You could sprinkle in some lime every once in a while in case the natural calcium content gets washed out, too.
By adding the balanced fertilizer to the soil you are getting the plants off to a good start, but remember by the amount of watering you need to do, the nutrients will be washed out fairly quickly. Every ten days or so mix in a little more of the 10-10-10 or water with a liquid plant food. If you go with the watering, look for the one called bloom booster or something like that with a lower nitrogen formula...8-15-15 or close. Too much N will give you lots of green vines but will reduce tomato formation. You could sprinkle in some lime every once in a while in case the natural calcium content gets washed out, too.
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Allyn
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Other folks gave good advice, but I'll stick my two-cents in anyway. You're in Atlanta and it gets freakin' hot there in the summer. It doesn't matter how much calcium is in the soil, the plant won't get it if the soil is too warm. With tomatoes in containers, if the container isn't mulched well and shaded from the intense summer sun, you're going to have BER even on heat-tolerant varieties if the soil in the container gets too warm. I have my tomatoes in 27-gallon SiPs (sub-irrigation planters) that don't get top-watered, so I know there are no fluctuations in the water supply; but in the first year, I had BER on every single tomato in the front container. The containers behind it were shaded and I had a good harvest from them, but the front container with the same soil mix and plants from the same seed envelope all had BER because the container was exposed to the sun all day. The soil was too warm in that container for the plant to access the calcium. Now I mulch well and shade the container.
You are correct Allyn. Temperatures do have an effect. I was going to suggest a shade cover for the most intense part of the day and a good amount of mulch is an excellent tip. Even up north in Nebraska we need to shade containers during the sunniest part of the day. It may not be as hot as Georgia but the sun is really bright and whether it is 90s or 100s that will cook anything in a pot.