Pot size for Beefmaster tomatoes?
please help about growing BeefMaster tomatoes in a container. [/b]
A ful-sized tomato plant can be grown in a 5-gallon bucket, but IMO, a somewhat larger container would be better. You will need to provide some kind of staking or caging to support the top growth. The tomato cages sold at places like Home Depot and Lowe's are not tall enough. There are several past discussions about various styles of cages some of our members have constructed themselves. You can find them by clicking on the Search the Forum link in the black toolbar immediately below the forum header. Then, just enter the words tomato cages in the search box. 
One of the biggest challenges is the soil mix. It has to be able to hold some moisture, especially since unless you bury it, the soil tends to dry much quicker. But you don't want it to allow roots to become waterlogged either. Compaction is another area, perhaps because it isn't being fed cooler temps and moisture from below.
I mixed up some last year: about 1/2 very silty dirt, 1/4 mature compost and 1/4 horse manure. The soil worked great, but last summer was not conducive to growing anything - more than two months with no rain but temps in the upper 80s to mid 90s.
Mike
I mixed up some last year: about 1/2 very silty dirt, 1/4 mature compost and 1/4 horse manure. The soil worked great, but last summer was not conducive to growing anything - more than two months with no rain but temps in the upper 80s to mid 90s.
Mike
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hendi_alex
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I've been growing plants in containers for several years now. This year have a few experimental plants, testing growth in a 3 gallon pot. Will limit sunlight to about 8 hours through early afternoon. Most important adjustment is heavy pruning. I'm pruning 100% of the sucker such that each plant has only a central leader with each fruit cluster have a few supporting leaves. This appears to be working very well on Juliet and grape variety, but is too early to tell with the larger slicing types. Also, temperatures are only in the mid 80's, so remains to be seen how the plants hold up to the 90 degree days which will be starting in the next few weeks. I don't think that these plants will give quite as much fruit as those grown in 25-35 gallon pots or as those grown in ground. But at this point, the fruit seems to be maturing faster and should do a great job of augmenting the more traditionally grown plants, plus allows me to get some production out of my excess plants which would normally be given away or discarded.
I'm running a similar test this year as well. Am planting slicing tomatoes in 3 gallon pots, but am setting the pots 3-4 inches deep in my sandy ground. I'm expecting that strategy to help keep the water supply a little more even, plus will allow roots to get establish outside the confines of the pot. But the pot provides 3 gallons of very rich, well fertilized soil. I'm trying this as an alternative to simply enriching a hole, which in the past has given poor results because most areas are so dry and sandy and are riddled with tree roots. So far the plants are doing very well.
I'm running a similar test this year as well. Am planting slicing tomatoes in 3 gallon pots, but am setting the pots 3-4 inches deep in my sandy ground. I'm expecting that strategy to help keep the water supply a little more even, plus will allow roots to get establish outside the confines of the pot. But the pot provides 3 gallons of very rich, well fertilized soil. I'm trying this as an alternative to simply enriching a hole, which in the past has given poor results because most areas are so dry and sandy and are riddled with tree roots. So far the plants are doing very well.