Growing tomatoes in Pots

[eskymo]

Hey All

What's the smallest size pot I can get away with? I've got some rectangular pots that are 18cm square at the top and 21.5cm tall - apparently they have a 6.2 litre capacity. Would this be an OK size to grow tomatoes in - one per pot?

Not that my tomaotes have sprouted yet...still waiting...but it's over 20 degrees in my unheated greenhouse, depsite the cold weather outside, so there's still hope.

E

[skegblade]

Hi Eskymo, through neccessity I grew them in pots some years ago. I started them off in 3" pots and gradually worked up until the fully grown plants were in 10" ones. Using growbags is a lot easier.

[lyndap]

I grow 2 bush toms together in B&Q bucket,but individually in 10 in pots.

[eskymo]

I guess pots will be ok then

[Protea]

Having always had problems getting enough water into gowbags, i grew my greenhouse tomatoes in pots last year. I used the Sankey tomato pots, but a big black bucket would do the job just as well. The pots were 30cm diameter (12 inches in old money!), i would say this is the minimum size suitable - i'm going to try to get some bigger ones, or use buckets as the roots filled all available space and the plants were huge! I also mixed in the water retentive granules. The bigger the pot, the more compost you use, the less you have to water! (well, thats how i see it anyway )

[shirlthegirl43]

I used Morrison's flower buckets last year - one tomato per pot in multi-purpose compost. They did fine so will repeat this system for this year

[rustylady]

Sorry, I'm old and still have trouble with centimetres. 10 inch pots are good for tomatoes - I got some recycled flower buckets from the Co-op last year, drilled holes for drainage and they were perfect. Cost me all of 10 pence each.

[Snadger]

Bed soil for me I'm afraid, can't guarantee I'll get to the lottie every day!

[bramble]

Personally I think 10inch pots are too small. You will of course get tomatoes from plants grown in this size of pots but I think if you congine a tom plant to 10inches it is not going to reach its full potential.
Only my personal opinion of course.

[ian]

Hi, I grew my toms in large pots, prob 10inch, last year aswell as growing them in bags. Problem I had with pot toms was stability, they get so top heavy and a couple of my plants toppled over. So I would recommend grow bags, and I use those metal supports which loop underneath the bag to hold a sturdy cane in place. I plan to save my pots for tumbling toms this year. My advice is this only use pots if you have a sturdy frame to support the toms.