Homegrown Tomatoes

Posts Tagged ‘determinate’

If you’re asking, “Can I grow cherry tomatoes in a container – successfully?” then the answer is yes – with a few small qualifications. Here’s what you need to know about growing your cherry tomato plant in a pot/container.

Growing Cherry Tomato Plants – Soil

First off, growing cherry tomato plants really isn’t any different from growing any other kind of tomato plant.  They all need direct sunlight (at least 6 hours a day), water and fertilizer (preferably organic).  A good soil to use in the container is a combination of compost and organic potting mix. (I like half and half myself.)

I’ve tried growing tomato plants in just compost  and in just organic potting soil, but I find that the two mixed together have produced the best growth.

Another option is to use compost mixed in with some sphagnum moss and/or perlite.

Don’t use soil from your yard in the container; it may compact easily in a container, and it’s quite possible there are unfriendly bacteria in it.

Container Size

What size of a container should you use for your cherry tomatoes?   Part of the answer depends on the variety of cherry tomato you plan to grow – determinate or indeterminate.  (Learn more about the difference between determinate or indeterminate on the tomato growing terms page.)

In general, determinate varieties are shorter and smaller than indeterminates.  Unless you are growing something like Micro-Tom (smallest tomato there is), the minimum size for a container should hold 3 gallons of potting mix/compost.  However, if you can manage a 5-gallon container, your tomato plants will thank you by providing more fruit.

Now for the indeterminate cherry tomato plants.  While I certainly have grown indeterminate cherry tomatoes in a 5-gallon container, they grow much better in a 10-gallon.  (I even have a few 20-gallon pots for the cherry tomato plants that get very large like Blondkopfchen.)  So, a 5 gallon container is the minimum, and a 10 gallon will have your plants thanking you. While I haven’t grown SuperSweet 100 in a container (yet!) I think it would work quite well.

Fertilizer for Cherry Tomatoes

The general rule of thumb for container growing is apply half as much fertilizer, twice as often.  I like to use liquid fertilizer that I dilute to half-strength, then apply it twice a month.

You need to fertilize more often in containers for two reasons.  First, what fertilizer you do use  gets washed out from the extra waterings that container plants need.  Second, your cherry tomato plant’s roots only have so much room to grow, and sooner or later, they will run out of space.  Since they can’t expand further, they need to extract everything they can from a limited area.

Which fertilizer to use?  I primarily use organic methods (compost, fish emulsion, kelp meal, Terracycle and Tomatoes Alive!), there are times of extremely rapid growth where I admit to using Miracle-Gro for Tomatoes.  While my in-the-ground-garden tomatoes get organic, I find that the container-grown plants do need a little boost at times.  Of course, that could be because I am in a hot climate.  You’ll have to experiment for yourself.

(You can also check out the posts I made about organic versus chemical fertilizers, as well as fertilizer components.)

Watering Your Cherry Tomato Plants

You really do want to put your containers where you have easy access to water.  Especially as they grow larger and the weather gets warmer, you will find that you’ll have to water often.  During warm and windy times, I have to water my containers daily — and there have been very dry times where I’ve needed to do it twice a day!

Try to keep the soil moist but not wet.  The more of an even moisture level of the soil, the less the chance your tomatoes will crack badly should a heavy rain arise.

A mulch will help to keep moisture in the soil longer.  I like to use an inch or two of hay, but I realize not everyone has easy access to it.  Other mulches can be bark chips, dried grass clippings, chopped leaves and even shredded paper!  (Just make sure the paper doesn’t have colored ink on it.)  In addition, some people also swear by red plastic for a mulch.

Can I Grow Cherry Tomatoes in a Container?

By now you see the answer is yes, you can successfully grow and harvest cherry tomatoes in a container.  With just a little preparation and attention, you’ll find yourself with tasty snacks that are good for you!

There are a lot of tomato questions, apart from how to actually grow them.  This is more of a fun facts page, where you find out what you didn’t know that you didn’t know about tomatoes!

So let’s get going and enjoy!

Tomato Fun Facts

Where Did Tomatoes Come From? The tomato is a New World addition to the diet, originating in South America in the Andes region (Chile, Equador, Peru). It was Central American Indians who are thought to be the first to domesticate the tomato. Tomatoes were introduced into the European diet by explorers from Mexico, in the 1500’s. Interestingly, the initial tomatos brought back to Europe appear to have been yellow, or golden, in color — not the red that is so familiar today.

Are Tomatoes Good for You? Fresh tomatoes are loaded with Vitamins A and C.  Not to mention it’s pretty much the best natural source for the antioxidant lycopene.

What Colors do Tomatoes Come In? Just about any color but blue!  There are black, white, purple, pink, orange, yellow, red and bicolor.  There are even tomatoes that stay green when they are fully ripe!

What Shapes Do Tomatoes Come In?  You’re familiar with the round and oval tomato shapes.  But some others include long sausage-shaped, pear-shaped and even square-shaped (okay, kind of a rounded square, but squarish nonetheless).

Which is Better – Determinate or Indeterminate? It depends on what you want to do with the tomatoes! For example, if you plan to eat some of the tomatoes fresh, but you want to preserve/can the rest, a determinate plant might be your best bet. Since it sets all its fruit at the same time, it helps streamline the canning process. If, however, you want a few tomatoes this week, a few next week, etc., an indeterminate plant might be your choice. Your ripe tomatoes are spread out over a several week period.  But why not have at least one of each type, to provide constant fresh tomatoes for a variety of uses?

What Sizes do Tomatoes Come In?  The most common size the average gardener will grow is roughly 5 to 7 ounces.  The tiniest I’ve ever seen were the size of a very, very small marble; a fraction of an ounce.  The largest tomatoes that the average gardener will grow is about 2 pounds (now that’s a LOT of tomato sandwiches)!

Is it True That Tomatoes and Peppers are Related? Sure! Tomatoes and peppers are both part of the Solanaceae family, along with eggplants, tomatillos and potatos! The tomato’s scientific name is Lycopersicon esculentum, which translates to “edible wolf-peach”. (With a name like that, no wonder the tomato was shunned as a food for many years!)

What’s the Difference Between Heirloom, Open Pollinated and Hybrid Tomatoes? In many cases, taste! Heirloom tomatoes are those varieties that have been around for at least a generation, and they breed true from seed. In other words, if you save the seeds from a ripe heirloom tomato, you are likely to get a tomato that’s just like the parent. An open pollinated tomato is very similar; it just hasn’t been around for at least a generation. A hybrid tomato, on the other hand, does not breed true. Since it is a “first generation” cross between two different tomato plants, hybrids can produce seeds that when planted, become like the “grandparents” (which may or may not be a good thing!).

Why are Hybrid Seeds and Plants More Expensive? To get the hybrid seeds, suppliers must plant two different kinds of tomatoes and cross them to get the hybrid seeds. In most cases, the parent tomatoes are “trade secrets”. It’s also expensive to hand-pollinate the tomato blossoms, to assure the correct cross is made. All this adds to the price of hybrid seeds.

What Kind is Best? It depends on what you want! In general, although vine-ripened hybrid tomatoes grown at home taste much better than their anemic cousins sold at the grocery store, it’s the heirloom and open-pollinated tomatoes that usually win the taste-tests. In addition, if you want to grow your plants organically (or at least with minimal chemical fertilizers), heirloom tomatoes have the tendency to do better. Here’s the caveat; hybrid tomatoes generally have greater disease-resistance than do heirloom. A compromise is sometimes the open-pollinated, which often have more disease-resistance, yet still have a great taste. (I grow and eat all three kinds, although I tend to grow more heirloom than anything else.)

How Many Different Kinds of Tomato Varieties are Available? In a word – lots! The Seed Savers Exchange (SSE), located in Decorah, Iowa, lists close to 2,000 tomatoes in its yearbook. However, the SSE catalogs just heirloom and open-pollinated tomatoes; don’t forget that there are still hundreds (if not more) of hybrid varieties. There are estimates that close to 10,000 varieties may exist in the world today.

How Long Will a Tomato Plant Live? Alas, tomato plants live only a season. When the frost comes, the tomato plants die. In mild regions, tomato plants can live a bit longer, but they do evenually die. Consider then annuals.

Where Can I Get Different Kinds of Tomatoes? Why not grow your own? They’re fun to grow, and you can be sure they’re vine-ripened and fresh. Also, growing your own tomatoes allows you to grow the varieties that you like — not what the grocery store buyer thinks you should like.