How to Grow Container Tomatoes Successfully

Tomatoes and friends
Image by Taifighta via Flickr

One of the wonderful aspects about growing tomatoes is that they can be grown in containers. There are a number of other aspects about growing tomatoes in containers that are really beneficial too and they will be covered here.

Growing container tomatoes allows for the flexibility of moving the containers around to ensure that the plants get at least 6 hours sun each day if this is a problem in your particular area or plant growing area.

The alternative to growing tomatoes in containers is to grow them in the garden, but that is not always the most practical for some people.

When tomatoes are gown in containers they can be placed near the kitchen when they get to the picking stage and this can be a benefit as opposed to a garden patch where a short walk would be needed to harvest the fruit.

Benefits of growing tomatoes in containers.

A feature of growing tomato plants this way is most definitely the fact that they are easier to tend when they are up off the ground.  It requires less bending over to weed the plants and also to maintain the plant during the growing season when checking for pests and in tending to pruning.

Most varieties of tomatoes will grow in containers, but in truth the ones that do grow better are the not so large plants.  Determinate varieties are those that will grow to the small size, usually between 1 to 2 feet in height.  Growing tomatoes in pots does mean that they will ripen all at once and to counteract this it would be a good idea to plant about 4 weeks apart so that you have a longer harvesting season.  A longer harvesting season can be obtained by selecting different varieties, so check this out when you are choosing plants to suit your climatic conditions.

Because the soil in pots does tend to dry out quicker than in the garden another useful tip is to choose plants that do not require so much water.  To get the best crop from the tomato plant regular, consistent watering is best and at about 1 inch of water per week.  This will keep the soil moist.

Requirements for growing tomatoes in pots.

Some suggest that growing in terracotta pots is a good idea, and in the cooler climates that does work but I have found in the more tropical environments that the terracotta pots get hot and dry the soil out too quickly.  So now that I live in a more tropical climate I now grow my container tomatoes in plastic pots.

Good drainage is essential, so make sure there are several holes about ½ inch wide in the bottom of the pot and it is best to cover these with a fine mesh so that the soil does not wash out as you water the plants.  Once you have placed the fine mesh (either plastic or wire) over the holes, place some course gravel or rocks on the bottom of the pot before adding the soil.  This will provide good drainage and also prevent root rot.

Use a top quality soil mix to plant the tomatoes in and check the soil reasonably regularly to make sure that the required soil pH levels are right for growing tomatoes.  They need to be between pH 5.5 and 8.  By following these tips for growing container tomatoes you will be reaping large sweet tomatoes in a couple of months.

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