Do I really need grow bags for toms?

[Sonata]

And by that I mean to ask what is so special about the contents of them? In the B&Q ones I bought, there were loads of bits of plastic.

I was planning on putting my tops in 10L morrisons buckets. Can I just put them in ordinary MP, maybe with some chook poo pellets? Or is there something extra special in growbags?

[seasprout]

Grow bags.

Grow bags contain cheap compost...in a plastic bag.

It's just convenience, I've just planted a pepper and a tom in buckets cos i have just used up my beds in the greenhouse.

Plant away, but with pots they tend to dry a bit more, so more watering.

[rana]

As seasprout says growbags are just small bags of compost. If you buy MPC and put it in buckets it is likely to work out cheaper than growbags.

[Iamhanuman]

go for it Sonata - i've got mine in pots, hanging baskets, the sides of other plants, all over.

B&Q quality on garden things recently has been AWFUL - sorry you got such rubbish

[bluemoon]

I've grown mine in Morrison's pots filled with bog-standard peat-free compost for years. It works perfectly well and we usually get a decent crop. I do the same for cucumbers and melons too. I find grow-bags are often too shallow for things such as toms, so you tend to end up putting a bottomless pot on and filling it with compost anyway... might as well go with a pot from the start.

[Incy]

Pots also have the advantage of being moveable. If we get another really wet summer you'll at least be able to rescue some from the worst of the weather

[Two_Sheds]

Growbags are awful, but they are a moneyspinner for the stores. Everyone thinks they NEED growbags, without stopping to think what they are buying (compost, in a bag).
They are too shallow, and need watering 6 times a day.

Use proper pots, and proper compost, instead.

[Sonata]

Bah..but yay I suppose. I did get 4 bags for £5 so I suppose it wasn't too much of a hit. My FIL told me I had to use them (and what did people do before those?)..and he's been gardening for 30 years...

Good, I'll just be using my buckets then. I did look at those things and think they were rather shallow.

[lynda66]

mine are all in soil and doing perfectly well, i only buy grow bags (cos they are the cheapest) for seeds, other than that i never buy any.

[PAULW]

I had a soil floor to my greenhouse so I used to get growbags cut them in half and sink them into the soil, this IMO was better than pots as the wind could not blow around them therefore helping to dry them out so quick and the depth gave the plant a healthy strong root system

[Florence Fennel]

I never buy any either, MPC is much cheaper in the long run, but Gardener's World did a bit of advocating the other week didn't they? An experienced gardener on here said to split them in half and stand them up to make deeper bags if you really wanted to use them.

[NOG]

if you are going to use grow bags get a pot cut the bottom out and plant into them. It will give more depth for the roots to develop.

[palomino]

If you put bottomless pots into a growbag do you fill the pot with normal MP compost? What diameter pot should tomatoes have - I have a selection of beefsteak 'Big Boy', Gardener's Delight, and Balconi? Would any of these in particular be better in ordinary deep pots (and again, what size pot) rather than the 'giant tomato planter' that's waiting for them...?