Heirloom Tomato Corner

[Countryladiesgardens]

We took out some of our Heirlooms from the Hoop House and put them on this bench. They were taking up too much room and the roots were almost going into the ground already! Here is a photo of them and some of our hot peppers on a bench in front of them!

[JC's Garden]

Nice plants. Just curious, how large are the containers?

[Countryladiesgardens]

Thanks! The buckets are 3 gallon

[feldon30]

Thanks! The buckets are 3 gallon

Wow that's a small container for a tomato plant! I usually give peppers 3 gallons each, preferably 5; tomatoes get 10+ gallons. Please let us know how things go as far as watering and harvest!

[JC's Garden]

Thanks! The buckets are 3 gallon

That's about what I thought. Don't feel bad about the size. I have a San Marzano in one that's 10" diameter and 9" deep. I sat it on my black plastic border, right beside in ground San Marzanos. It's bearing fruit and keeping up with the others in height. The soil level is going down in the container so I'll have to add some well finished compost soon. No, I will not get as many tomatoes BUT it's more than I would have had.

[Countryladiesgardens]

These ones are just spill over from the greenhouse this year but last year we did them in 3 gallon containers as well. They were hard to keep fed and watered because they dried up nearly every day. We only got about 6 pounds a plant on the good ones but some tomatoes suffered blossom end rot even with abundant calcium possibly as a result of the infrequent watering. Our 5 gallon container tomatoes produced much better but this year for our nice plants we have gone with 6 gallons and up.

[ladyhawke6281]

Nice. Really impressive work. The size of the bucket is not as important as long as it is getting the right amount of nutrients and water. We have 153 tomatoes in 3 gallon buckets and peppers three to a five gallon bucket.

We use a hydroponic system (meaning we provide all the nutrients it needs) planted in a mixture of peat moss and pearlite. Keeps the roots loose and since the nutrients are all being provided and they don't have to go searching for them the roots are very fine. Nothing gets root bound.

They are doing very well.