Are deep pots okay for tomato and cucumber plants?

[Nick Blair]

I am thinking of buying them, are they any good for such plants?

[SarzWix]

How deep Nick? And do you know how much compost they hold? This is usually stated in litres.
For instance, the black buckets used to hold cut flowers & bouquets in supermarkets tend to hold between 7 and 10 litres of compost, and this is a good size for tomatoes and cucumbers.

[Nick Blair]

How deep Nick? And do you know how much compost they hold? This is usually stated in litres.
For instance, the black buckets used to hold cut flowers & bouquets in supermarkets tend to hold between 7 and 10 litres of compost, and this is a good size for tomatoes and cucumbers.

Thanks, the ones I was looking at were only 3 but very deep. I can find larger ones though. Do pepper plants need about 7 to 10 litres of compost too?

[SarzWix]

Peppers will grow to the size of pot that you put them in, in my experience. So if you put them in a 3 litre pot, you'll end up with a smaller plant than if you put them in a 7 litre. I usually go for an 'in between' size of about 5 litres.

If you find a supermarket or garage forecourt selling cut flowers, you can often ask them to sell or give you their spare black buckets. Our Co-op gives them away, but Morrisons charge 99p for 5. Cheaper than the garden centre

[mendacious dog]

I've only ever grown tomatoes and peppers in pots, and have had no problems (and a good crop of produce!). I dont have enough space in the ground for anything else!

I tend to use 7" or 8" diameter pots for my peppers - personally I think they like to be a bit root-bound and if you feed and water them regularly they seem to do OK. I had over 100 chillies off a single plant last year, although I cant recall which variety it was (apache maybe).

For tomatoes I use a mixture of 5L and 10L pots/buckets as described by SarzWix above. My grandfather used to tell me to use 1.5L of soil for every truss you want to grow - so a plant in a 5L pot can manage 3 trusses and a plant in a 10L pot can manage 6. I've currently got 16 tomato plants in my greenhouse, 8 in 5L pots that I have now stopped after 3 trusses, and 8 in 10L buckets that are still growing. The plan is that this will stagger out the harvesting period a bit!

Kind of worked last year, but I'm no expert...!

Woof

[Redpepper]

Hi Nick, I use cheap black buckets purchased from Wickes for 97p each with a couple of holes drilled in the bottom, but the flower buckets Sarz suggested are also good.

[Gwen11ian]

I use plastic storage bins.. the larger the better. If they are for outdoor, drill a few holes about two inches from the bottom on either end for drainage (and water retention). I usually put a two liter bottle upside down with the bottom cut off buried in the center to direct water straight to the roots. For indoors/greenhouse I've made my own 'Earthbox' style planter using large storage bins (give 'Earthbox' a google if you're interested). Works great.

[Nick Blair]

How deep Nick? And do you know how much compost they hold? This is usually stated in litres.
For instance, the black buckets used to hold cut flowers & bouquets in supermarkets tend to hold between 7 and 10 litres of compost, and this is a good size for tomatoes and cucumbers.

Some of my tamato plants have grown very large in 5 litre pots but I suppose they would have grown larger in in 7 or 10 litres of compost. Alcante and money maker tamto plants.

[SarzWix]

They'll grow fine in that size as long as you can keep them moist and fed. That's why I put them in bigger pots - I only need to water once a day then. Sounds like you're doing fine anyway

[Bountyhunter]

Hi, i mostly use the black troughs from wilkinsons and the big black water trays.(see my blog)

The troughs hold 2 plants, maybe 3, depending on what your growing and the wind cannot blow them over. My cucs, melons, toms and carrots go in them every year. I have started using the black tomato pots for the peppers so its easier to move them about. Also, troughs are good for using canes as they are more stable.

[gojiberry]

I have put some of my tomatoes in Morrisons buckets this year and I can't believe how well they have grown. They are fed every day on half strength tomato feed.

Ian

[Tomatoking]

They'll grow fine in that size as long as you can keep them moist and fed. That's why I put them in bigger pots - I only need to water once a day then. Sounds like you're doing fine anyway

I have put some of my tomatoes in Morrisons buckets this year and I can't believe how well they have grown. They are fed every day on half strength tomato feed.

Ian

Two very good pieces of advice here, as most plants will grow fine in containers. The size that the plant grows to, is not really down to the size of the pot, but a larger one gives you more reserve.
Some nutrients can be washed out before the plant has a chance to take them up, so Ian's way of feeding is an exellent way of getting a bumper crop.

Mr TK

[jackarmy]

watched a few

youtube vids and a couple have suggested tewnty five litre pots , so yea, i went and bought some , 2 quid each on thinternet thingy.
I useten litre ones formy peppers 9 flower buckets ) but have never really had mega succsess with toms so thought i would invest

Also would you bother with broken crockery/stones with such deep pots if they have drainage holes ?

[Valleyman]

I find toms don't ever stop growing whatever size pot you put them in tho. Any smaller than 10L though and watering and constant feeding becomes an issue. I use 15L pots.

Sweet Peppers on the other hand are a little different for me. I find the plant matches itself to the size of the pot. A 5-6 litre pot gives a smaller plant and peppers than say a 15 litre pot, but watering remains fairly consistent between the two. Also, the smaller pots tend to fruit slightly earlier.

Chillis. In my experience they seem fine in smaller pots. In fact they seem fine whatever I do as long as they are kept in the greenhouse. Big pots, small pots, kept moist, allowed to dry out.... I always get a bumper crop and can't get rid of the things fast enough. Without the greenhouse though they turn from being the "easiest" thing to grow, to the most frustrating thing.

Cucumbers I can't help with re. growing in pots. I only do outdoor ridge types in the open ground. Again I can't get rid of them fast enough. They are the weeds of my veg plot.

[maverick451]

ebay is your friend for pots

You can get 20l - 30L pots for around £2 each is you buy in bulk

I use 20L pots for tomotoes, 30l pots for me spuds.