pic from Lowe's..
Good luck!!
Posted on 06/05/2015 8:42:34 AM PDT by US Navy Vet
Ok all, I have 5 Potted Tomato Plants(got then from http://www.chefjeffsgarden.com/ via Bamgaars) how do I make sure that these plants bloom and "create" Tomatoes and just do no "create" Leaves? They all are growing real good(tripled in size in 3 weeks).
Where do you live? High heat is a sure cause of tomatoes failing to produce fruit. We can’t grow anything of quality here in most parts of Texas during the hottest months.
Western Iowa(Council Bluffs).
See the Gardening Thread. You’ll get lots of help there.
I hope you have them outdoors. They need help from birds, bees, and butterflies.
I EVEN Play Classical Music(low volume) to them(anyone every hear of “Sonic Bloom”) :-)! My wife and kids think I have gone NUTS!
...and I second the earlier post about heat/tomatoes; here in the desert we plant sets after Labor Day and harvest in late January - by April they'd be stewing on the vine.
Just keep them fertilized with a good organic source (well-rotted manure worked into the soil is excellent) and EVEN moisture, meaning keep them heavily mulched.
I have 3 Honeybee Hives on my acreage.
Id say get them in the ground, but not knowing your space limitations, if that’s not an option, keep them watered. Tomatoes like water. I have mine planted on a slight down slope in my yard, and they run AMOK every year, without fail; rain water runs right downslope into the garden. A touch of Miracle Grow here and there, and generous H2O, they should grow well for you.
Got cucumber down there as well, and they grow huge.
The ground is mulched out pretty well, too, so it holds the water. I use Right-Dress licorice root mulch, and that seems to help keep critters away.
I’ve never grown them in pots, but it would seem that if they’re in a large enough vessel for the roots to grab and have water retention, you should start seeing them li’l red bombs start coming up in a few weeks or so.
Love ‘maters... chopped, diced, garlic’d, grilled, sauced, you name it. Great eats.
Good luck!
After everything....and that doesn't include ANY value on my time...which was a lot...I figured out that the tomatoes I got, while tasty, and there is a certain satisfaction in growing one's own produce...cost me about $27/lb...and that was in the 1970s...
Suggestion...buy tomatoes, but grow your own herbs...there is NOTHING better than going outside..or to your windowsill, and cutting fresh basil, or chives, or sage...or rosemary, or thyme..and your house and garden smell GREAT
LOL!! Yeah, I kind of suspected that home-grown tomatoes are kine of pricey.
pic from Lowe's..
Good luck!!
Two or three years ago, we decided to ditch the use of tomato cages and let our plants go 'free range'.....and our yield quadrupled - maybe more.
General rules of thumb: Container plants require twice as much water as in the ground plants. A full sized tomato plant will require a large container. I've honestly had much better luck using raised beds rather than containers, 2 1/2’ x 8’ for four plants. I have never had much success with less than a 30” diameter pot except for cherry tomatoes.
Water the roots, not the plant, drip irrigation works great with tomatoes. Water multiple times per day rather than one large soaking. With most varieties, I will pinch off all blooms until the plant has reached 2/3rds of the desired height, and then pinch off half the blooms until it reaches full size.
Rather than using tomato cages, I use 4” x 6” heavy gauge wire fencing for the cages, wired into rounds. Whatever you can comfortably get your hand through to harvest. I make the rounds as large as the planter if doing a single row, half if double row (or again, roughly 30”.) Full size is generally 6’ tall.
Watch out for bloom rot. There is a spray you can buy. Spray the blooms as they appear. It prevents deformed fruit with big black lesions.
Also, when you take the plants out of the pots and put them in the ground dig the hold deeper than what you think you need. Then cut off the lower leaves and place the plant deep in the ground, up to the leaves. Some say put 2/3 of the plant underground. The plant grows more roots that way and is stronger.
Some also suggest laying the lower part of the plant out horizontally (the part that is underground). I don’t find that is any better. I stick it straight down and it grows a lot of roots.
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