Homegrown Tomatoes

Posts Tagged ‘fish emulsion’

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!

Tomato fertilizer isn’t just any old thing you see on the shelves of your local garden center.  What’s right for other veggies and plants might not be what you want for growing tomatoes.  So here’s a quick discussion on the components of fertilizer (what those numbers mean) and how they relate to tomatoes.

Fertilizer Components

Your average plant fertilizer is primarily made up of three components:  nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium (N-P-K).  While there can be various micronutrients present, the numbers (like 8-3-2) you see on the fertilizer refer to the relative amounts of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium (in that order).  And that’s what this post will discuss.

Nitrogen

Nitrogen is the first number indicating the fertilizer strength, and nitrogen is primarily responsible for foliage — making it strong and healthy.  And while the tomato is first growing, that’s exactly what we want — a good strong plant.   When just setting out plants into the garden, something along the lines of 10-5-5 is nice — you want the foliage to be plentiful and strong.

Phosphorus

Phosphorus is of interest to tomato growers because it’s a necessary nutrient for plenty of blossoms.  Without blossoms, you won’t get tomatoes!  After the tomato plant has adjusted to being out in the garden and has plenty of new growth, it’s time to increase the ratio of phosphorus.  Now you want more phosphorus than nitrogen (example, 5-10-10).

Potassium

Potassium is used for regulating the water content of a plant; its transpiration.  If there isn’t enough potassium available, the plant is more vulnerable to droughts, be they temporary (forgetting to water one day) or longer-lasting.  Once the plants are established, something along the lines of 5-10-10 are good.

The Strength of the Numbers

Don’t go thinking the higher the numbers the better — if 5-10-10 is good, then 10-20-20 is great.  Not so, as fertilizer that is too strong can burn the roots as they try to develop.  I prefer to use a weaker fertilizer with the same relative percentages, and even then, I don’t always use it at full strength.  Instead, I prefer to fertilize a little more often; this seems to give me a good balance between feedings and how much the plant can use at a time.

As you’ve probably gathered in my other posts, I prefer to use organic fertilizer wherever possible.  In additional to Terracycle and sea kelp, one fertilizer I like to add in is a fish emulsion. Since I can’t seem to find it locally, I get it online and I find that my plants really like it.  It’s concentrated, so just a little bit mixed in with some water goes a long way.