Tomato grow bags - drainage or not?

[blue-and-green]

i got the new large-type tomato grow bags and pierced holes in the bottom as i read it on page 37 of the free booklet with this months GYO "more crops less space". Then i read on the actual grow bag to "avoid piercing holes in the base". Well, which is it?
I tend to agree with NOT cutting holes, cause then the food and water wont flush.

[nick the grief]

Hi G&G,
Whilst it won't flush the food thru you get a build up of salts in the compost & when you water the roots are sitting in a warm bog or pond (depending how heavy handed you are) and you run the risk of droowning the poor things .

For healthy growth roots in compost/soil need moisture, food and just as important Oxygen this is pulled in to the compost as it dries out so I would say peirce the bottoms after all tomato feed is a lot sheaper than a failed crop.

[Alison]

Have always cut a few slices in the bottom / side of the grow bags for the reasons said by Nick. To ensure you don't wash out the nutrients make sure you water gently and don't jet the compost.

[bramble]

You would have to make drainage holes, thats why flower pots have holes in. Go with your instincts.

[rustylady]

I make small slits in the sides, not the bottoms. This gives you a "reservoir" of water which you will need if the weather is hot. You do need some drainage, or the whole bag may get waterlogged and the roots will rot.

[Hazel at the Hill]

I thought that growbags came with a row of 'breathing holes' at each end?

[Samspud]

I thought that growbags came with a row of 'breathing holes' at each end?

This is correct.I have never made holes in growbags.You will find a row of small holes at each end like a perforation.Some growbags have instructions on them not to make holes.They also advise to press your foot on one end
and if you see water come out the little holes you dont need to water that day. this stops you overwatering and you lose this benefit if you cut the growbag in two.

[chillithyme]

I grow tomatoes in large deep fill grow bags which are sat on paving, without making draining holes or slits. I also plant the tomatoes through bottomless pots sat in the grow bag, topping up the pots with compost. Works for me, i'm not sure whether there are small holes either end i've never checked or noticed.

[Urban]

I have got my grow bags sat on top those hozelock grow bag waterer's this year, with an auto watering system topping them up every morning, so I think my compost is pretty much always wet, as the water gets drawn up into the bags from the reservoir by capillary action

I have been worried about my tomato plants being too wet, and the roots rotting, but to be honest I have never had such good tomato's the trusses on them have been enormous this year, and ill be using them again next year for sure, might even buy a few more

next year I might even get some of those solar air blowers that you use in ponds, to put oxygen into the water that's in the water reservoirs

I have also noticed there is loads of tomato roots coming down directly into the water of the hozelock grow bag waterers, so maybe they are bog plants after all lol