HELP! Transplanting Tomatos?

[ChrisA]

So we planted about 15/16 tomato plants in lick tubs. My one friend said I can put up to two plants in each tub, but just recently someone mentioned that the plants growth might be stunted.

I was wondering if I should transplant these into my garden out back and how dangerous it might be for the plants themselves? Most of these plants are a minimum of 16" tall. More than half of them are already producing fruit, they just haven't ripened yet.

I can post pictures if need be, just ask and you shall receive!

[feldon30]

Can you be more specific about the size of these containers? If they are 15 gallon or so, one tomato plant is best. A 30 gallon tub can support 2 tomato plants. Also the variety matters. Are these compact plants like Jet Star, Big Beef, etc. or more unruly varieties? I think if you transplant at this point, you may shock the plants and disrupt your harvest.

[ChrisA]

These first ones are Lemon Boy



These next two from right to left are Tumbling Tom Red and Better Boy



These 3 from right to left are Sweet Seedless Hybrid, Sunsugar and in the left tub are Yellow Brandywine and regular Brandywine

[PaulF]

I agree with Feldon about transplant shock. I do think the smaller plants can be transplanted into your garden without much problem if you get all the root system. Dig a big hole and put as much of the plant and soil from the tub in the ground as possible. Water well and watch for wilting. You may be able to get the larger plants in the garden as well using this technique. They all may be set back a couple of weeks. The containers pictured should do OK for one plant per, but two or three would be pushing it. It depends on whether you want risk losing a plant or two.

Tomatoes grown in containers all tend to have smaller fruit and are less productive than in-ground plants. Nutrients will be washed out of containers as they are watered and need to be replenished every ten days or so using a liquid fertilizer. It is best to use a low nitrogen liquid fertilizer for example a so called "bloom booster" with an analysis like 5-10-5 or 5-20-15 or close to this.

[ChrisA]

Well now I have two different opinions. Feldon says a 30 gallon tub can support two plants, Paul says they cannot. This is confusing me.

Also, I use Miracle Grow Tomatoes, Fruits and Vegetables Liquid Feed once every week or so on them.

[digitS']

Maybe there was some editing but I only see Felden mentioning gallon size.

They look like they are about 5 gallon containers. Is that right, ChrisA?

I'm not a very good container grower. There have only been potted tomatoes in my yard during 2 different seasons. Sweet Baby Girl did okay in a 3 gallon pot but was about half the size as that same variety in the garden.

I tried a few more smaller varieties in that size pot last year. Terrible. This year I've got Kimberley again but in 5 gallons - much better! I'm fairly sure it won't be the size of the Kimberley in the garden but they don't seem to be suffering.

Steve

[ChrisA]

Those are at least 25 gallon tubs. That white container in the backdrop of the 3 tubs is a 50 gallon container.

[digitS']

Okay,

the 90 degree heat is probably clouding my vision.

Steve

[ChrisA]

That's what I was told at least. This is my 9 year old standing next to one holding a yard stick. Maybe that would help put it in perspective a bit more.

[PaulF]

Maybe I was not clear enough: your pots certainly could handle two plants, especially smaller sized plants. The heirloom/OP tomatoes I am used to would swamp one pot easily and my opinion is it would be better to have one plant per pot. If you want to transplant, you may well lose a plant or two and you need to take that under consideration before moving them into the garden. What you have will probably work the way it is. I still stand by the statement that potted tomatoes do not do as well as those in the soil.

[ChrisA]

See, when I initially potted them I was told differently. Then just the last 2 days someone told me that they will likely be stunted and not produce as much as they should because of this. So that was my reasoning behind coming here and asking for advice. I really do not wish to lose any plants and since I'm new to this I feel like I'd likely lose more than half of what I attempted to transplant. So I'm guessing its likely best that I just leave things the way they are and just take it as a lesson.

I greatly appreciate your responses though. Hopefully my responses didn't come off too arrogant.

[Lindsaylew82]

Live and learn. I think if you keep them fed and adequately watered, you'll make out just ok. Ok is better than none! Next year, if you get some more compact plants, they'll do just fine 2 to a pot. Some micros do well in 3 gallon or smaller! ( so they advertise...)

My yellow brandywine is 7-9 foot tall now! In the ground though.

[applestar]

I think you may want to prune the indeterminates to just 2 or three vines per plant.

It looks like you could top those containers with a little more potting mix, too.

[ChrisA]

Ok you lost me... indeterminates? I'm new to this stuff. Sorry.

[Juliuskitty]

Determinate tomatoes have a fruit inflorescense( flowers) as the terminal thing on the vine/bush so they quit producing after they produce the fruit. Farmers often like that because their crop comes in all at once, they get a nice payoff, and are done. Plant stays smaller, and fruit will be between 2 internodes(places on stem where the leaves come out is called a node, stem in between is the internode). Indeterminate tomatoes keep growing after fruiting so they can get very large and long. Inflorescences are every 3 internodes.

[ChrisA]

Woah... uhh.... ok? So how am I to know which are which?

[JC's Garden]

Just google the name of each tomato plant. I just googled Super Souix and clicked the top link and found all the info a beginner would need. Super Souix is an indeterminate. Hope this helps.

[digitS']

If you look for the listing of the variety in the online seed catalogs, determinate or indeterminate should be stated.

Tatiana's TomatoBase (do a search, just like that) will give you that information for a bazillion heirlooms and a few hybrids.

Indeterminates are more common in the garden. Gardeners sometime get in trouble pruning determinates and damaging their production. That's not likely to be the reason they are less common, tho'. Pruning can help keep an indeterminate in control but determinates tend to be more controlled in their growth, anyway. People sometimes refer to them as "bush" varieties. They ripen their crop in a short period of time and are commonly grown by those who want lots of tomatoes at once, for canning.

Steve

[Lindsaylew82]

Tags on plants usually differentiate between them, and catalogs, too.

[mattie g]

Those containers are plenty big for one of the bigger plants or two of the smaller ones. Personally, unless I had a massive container with a decent amount of surface area (like a bathtub or something), I wouldn't plant more than one per container. This is simply because I wouldn't want them to get too crowded out above the ground.

I plant a couple tomatoes each year in 15-gallon containers, and they grow quite well. I have a Black Krim this year that's about 6' tall with plenty of fruit, and I just picked a ripe tomato nearing 1 lb from it. I had an Eve Purple Ball in a container that was my most consistent producer last year. If you keep containered plants watered and mulched, with the occasional feeding, you should do just fine.

This said, if I were you I'd just leave the plants as they are right now. You probably don't have the longest growing season, so transplanting them now may set them back enough that you won't have a ton of time before the end of the season for them to keep producing once they get back on track. I'm fairly conservative like that, but if you want to give it a chance, then it won't kill the plants if you do a decent job transplanting. They'll produce, but they'll almost certainly take a few weeks to recover.

[ChrisA]

So my only other question is if any of you could tell me or show me pics of what I'd need to do to prune these.

[PaulF]

Why would you ever want to prune any of them? Tomatoes are meant to be vines and do not need to be pruned. From one who is firmly in the "do not prune" camp.

[ChrisA]

One of the previous posters said I should based off the fact they are in tubs instead of in the ground.

[mattie g]

One of the previous posters said I should based off the fact they are in tubs instead of in the ground.

Google "pruning tomato suckers" and you should find a lot of useful information. Many people feel that pruning tomatoes - especially in more humid locations - helps to improve airflow (and thus reduce fungal issues), and that pruning can also improve the size of tomatoes (if not yield). Of course, there are others who don't prune, whether they don't believe in pruning or their gardens are too big/they just don't have the time to prune. It's all a personal preference.

Me? I prune my tomatoes. Sometimes I miss a sucker early in the season and, before I've realized it, I have a much bushier plant than I'd intended, but it's not a big deal. My pruned plants certainly grow taller than the non-pruned ones (e.g. I have a Jersey Devil nearing 9' tall right now ), and I feel like I get a better yield from my pruned plants, but I can't be 100% positive on that.

[applestar]

I think I was the one.

The reason I said that is because your plants will be drawing on limited resources in the containers -- nutrients and water. This way, they can focus the use of those resources on growing the one or two vines per plant and as many fruits as they can produce on them rather than expenditure to grow the excess foliage and vines. And yes, do NOT prune Determinate varieties. (I believe I specified Indeterminate)

In well prepared ground, the TOMATO plants can have unlimited access to water and nutrients and, I think, could support many vines and produce decent sized fruits in expected numbers.

The air circulation is definitely the other issue. Tomatoes are prone to fungal diseases, especially in humid areas. In addition, overlapping leaves will prevent early detection of problems -- pests or diseases or any problems with the fruits.