Repotting fruiting tomato plants

[Vagetarian]

Hi, I have buried 9 indeterminate tomato plants 4" deeper into 3 gallon builders buckets from 2L pots. They're all on their 2nd truss of flowers (I think ) and some have several tiny fruits.

I have been careful not to disturb the roots by placing the 2L pots inside the buckets, firming soil around them and then taking out the root ball and placing it in position inside the buckets.

I had originally planned to pot them into 5L pots (burying the stem slightly deeper with each repotting) before they went into the buckets but was worried about all the repotting and burying of stems while setting fruit. Not to mention that if they were to get 2.5x bigger (as the 5L pot should allow) they would have probably been so huge and laden with fruit that they would have needed staking.

So, on to my queries;

Did I do right? Could I have gone into the 5L pots? Is burying the stem a bad idea while fruiting and will they still grow new roots from it?

[mendacious dog]

Hi Vagetarian,

i'm sure your plants will be fine - that's exactly how i pot on my tomato plants and they have always responded well and given good yields. I tend to try to get them into their final containers (skipping a size if needs be) by the time the first set tomato is about 1cm big so i personally think you have done the right thing, including burying them a bit deeper. I'm sure someone more experienced than me will be along shortly to give a more authorative answer!

The only thing i would question are your wigwams of canes - they are very nicely arranged but only seem to meet up about 4 feet above the plant. What is going to support the plant until it reaches that height? When the fruits start to swell it will weigh down the plant quite a lot. I would have gone for a singe cane inserted vertically 1 cm away from the main stem so that you can tie the plant to it as it grows. You can always support this main cane with a secondary one at an angle if you think they are going to blow over or something!

Good luck with your plants, they look fab to me.

Woof

[Vagetarian]

Thanks for the reassuring reply.

The canes are not as far apart as they look in the picture, at the tops of the plants there's only about 4" between them and some of the plants are already leaning up against one.

You see, I am rather optimistic and had imagined the plants getting to 8' tall, at which point gently spiralling them around the wigwam might save on height a bit.. or that's the plan at least.

EDIT: Oh, and I'm glad you noticed how nicely arranged they are... hahaha..

[Potstubsdustbins]

Absolutely spot on, good looking plants too. Good luck with the harvest.

Colin