How to Grow Tomato Plants in Containers

Growing In Containers

Container gardening may be a good way to the garden once you don’t have much space, and tomatoes are the king of containers. The structure and limited space actually encourage upward growth for this vining plant, and once you combine an honest tomato pot with a trellis or cage, you’ve got a recipe for successful, tasty tomatoes this summer.

Choosing a spread 

While you’ll grow your prized heirloom tomatoes in containers with proper care and a spotlight, the varieties that succeed the simplest in containers are dwarf varieties like grape and cherry tomatoes. Try Tiny Tim, Pixie II, or Florida Basket, which was bred to grow in containers. These smaller tomatoes lend themselves well to vining downward in hanging baskets, but you furthermore may train them upright with the utilization of stakes, poles, and cages.

Determinate Varieties

If you would like full-size tomatoes but need the plants to be compact in size to suit within your container, choose a determinate sort of tomato. These occupy a more manageable height and produce their juicy red fruits more closely together, making them desirable for container gardening. However, concentrate on fruit size when choosing a determinate tomato for a container; stand back from giant or jumbo varieties, as these plants won’t be ready to grow and fruit well within the confines of a pot.

Sun, Soil, and Water

Tomatoes grown in containers need an equivalent amount of sun as they might within the garden; make certain to put the container during a spot that gets a minimum of 6 to eight hours of sun during the day. Containers should be well-drained, with many drainage holes. you’ll use regular potting mix for little containers and hanging pots, but the soil must be mixed especially for larger containers. It must be light and retain moisture well.

A soilless potting mix can work, as can garden soil mixed thoroughly with vermiculite or perlite to loosen it up. Water far more often than you’d within the garden since the plant’s roots can’t reach out for the other nearby water. within the hot summer months, water container tomatoes a day.

Growing Supports

If you’re getting to grow tomatoes with upright stakes or cages, you ought to place the supports within the pot within the planting stage, in order that you don’t disturb the roots later when the plant needs the supports. A cage has the advantage of supporting the tomato from all sides and containing it within the bounds of the cage when the plant is in its mature stages.

Stakes provide equivalent upward support but don’t limit the outward growth as effectively. you’ll use both if desired; some gardeners place a stake just to at least one side of the middle of the pot for the young seedling to grow along, then surround the seedling with a cage to assist shape it once it’s leafed out.