Planting potatoes and tomato next to each other

[littlemoney]

Can I plant a tomato plant within 18" of some potatoes. I only have 8 potato plants which were supermarket ones. I have too many tomato plants and am looking to use all possible space I have. I read you shouldn't grow potatoes in an area which have previously grown tomatoes but I don't know about planting immediately next to each other in the same year. Thanks.

[Snoop Puss]

Strictly speaking, as I understand it, it's not advisable due to the possible spread of blight from pots to tomatoes and vice versa. In your case, if you're growing from supermarket potatoes, the risk is potentially heightened, as your shop-bought potatoes might have carried blight spores on them. Don't panic as I'm only saying it's possible, not definite.

Also, don't forget that when you dig up the potatoes, you will potentially disturb the tomato plant roots.

I personally wouldn't do it.

[Nicos]

^^^^ agree.....

Can you put the tomatoes in tubs instead somewhere else?

[ameno]

You can definitely grow them in the same bed. They go together in a crop rotation, after all.
I'm not sure I'd advise growing them that close together, though, as the tomato roots could be disturbed when the potatoes are dug, as said above.
I wouldn't worry quite so much about the blight side of things, as blight spores can, in the right conditions, spread pretty widely, anyway. Even by growing both tomatoes and potatoes in the same garden one is at risk if the other gets blight. They'd need to be fields away from each other to offer significant protection.

[Jungle Jane]

There’s a much greater risk of blight spreading if the plants are next to each other,than 8 foot away though,the spores can easily spread one plant along. If you notice a tomato plant has blight early on by the brown markings,if you cut the plant down straight away & wash tools it doesn’t have the chance to spread to all the plants. Sometimes it’s not blight it’s just an old leaf.

[littlemoney]

^^^^ agree.....

Can you put the tomatoes in tubs instead somewhere else?

What is the smallest pot size I could use. I had read that tomatoes need a 10 inch pot. I don't have any that large. I did wonder about letting the plants only grow enough to produce one truss of flowers in the hope I would get some early tomatoes. Don't know if it would work in reality.

[Nicos]

I use 12" pots with a saucer underneath but given a choice I'd use bigger ones.
I'm not really an expert on toms-mine split or get bottom end rot if I can't get the watering correct.
When I had a greenhouse I used the same sized pots but the bases were cut out with 2 of them cut into a growbag so the roots had more area to spread out into.

I've never really thought about keeping the plants size down to one truss. Intersting concept!