Tomatoes in a pot

[BubbaBoy]

I planted a tomato plant, from a small plant bought in a gardening center, in a pot last spring.

Thing grew like a weed to about 6 ft tall.

Only problem is, all I got was one very small tomato at the top of the plant. Really wasn't worth the effort.

Is there something I did wrong?

[wordwiz]

Did you move it to a larger pot, give it plenty of sun, etc.?

Mike

[DeborahL]

I shake the plant to help with pollination. I'm not sure if it helps, but lots of sun and good food gives me tons of tomatoes in tubs or even planted in the bag of soil.

[Kisal]

I agree! I grow tomato plants in containers every summer, and they do fine. They do require large containers, though. The ones I use are a minimum of 14" diameter and 14" deep. Most are even larger.

I've grown both the determinate and indeterminate tomatoes in containers and both have done fine. I prefer the indeterminate types, because the determinate ones I have grown all ripened at once, instead of providing fruit all through the season. You do have to have a method of staking or caging the indeterminate types, though. My personal preference is staking by arranging three 6' tall stakes around the plant at the time I put it in the container.

I will add that it's important to follow the standards of good container culture, however, using soil that drains very rapidly. One year when I was ill, a friend of mine planted my tomatoes for me. He decided it was too expensive to buy special potting soil, so just mixed the potting soil I already had with soil from my yard. I had a miserably poor crop that year, and at the end of the season, when I dumped the pots out, I saw what he had done and understood why!

[TZ -OH6]

Since the plant grew large I doubt that the pot had anything to do with it as I've had stunted, mistreated plants in too small pots fill up with fruit.

Two things come to mind.

1) The plant was inhibited from flowering by high nitrogen fertilizer, over fertilization or low light.

2) Pollination was inhibited by high temperatures or high humidity. they may have been cooked on a hot concrete patio.

[DeborahL]

I got an "I agree !" from a moderator ! I feel like a good gardener !

[Kisal]

I got an "I agree !" from a moderator ! I feel like a good gardener !

You ARE a good gardener!

[DeborahL]

Thank you ! I often feel like a gardening nobody, drooling over the photos of gardens, because I'm only a patio gardener. I've been at it for nearly forty years though !

[Bobberman]

Maybe the plant was a small tomato to start with. Another thing is if there is too much nitrogen the plant will grow very big but have little or no fruit on it. Potatoes will do that if there is too much nitrogen also!

[Kisal]

... I'm only a patio gardener. I've been at it for nearly forty years though !

Well, me, too! Maybe that's what it takes to learn that simply "shaking hands with the tomato plants", as my grandma described it, makes for a good crop.

[DoubleDogFarm]

DeborahL wrote:
... I'm only a patio gardener. I've been at it for nearly forty years though !

Well, me, too! Maybe that's what it takes to learn that simply "shaking hands with the tomato plants", as my grandma described it, makes for a good crop.

You're old!

Eric

[DeborahL]

Yep, 57, Eric.
Kisal, I love that Grandma saying !

[DoubleDogFarm]

Your not old.

[DeborahL]