Need help and advice with growing Tumbling Tom tomatoes

[paxosisland]

I am a first time veg grower and have some tumbling tom plants I have grown from seed. I have 8 plants which are 8 inches tall and have 6-7 leaves on each. Do I need to put each plant in its own large pot now? What else do I need to do with them in order to get nice tomatoes. Are they ok to be put outside in my south facing garden? I have some Tomorite food, when do I need to start feeding them? Thanks in advance for any advice received

[Nicos]

Hi there!
I've moved your thread to where more peeps will see it!

you say south facing- but where is your location? it'll make a difference to your advice! Can you please pop your rough location into your profile???

Oh - and welcome to the Vine!!

[Florence Fennel]

Hello and welcome. I take it they are all in the same pot now, so yes, they'll need their own pot. If you look around the threads there is loads of advice to be had, or if you can answer Nicos's questions we can help you directly.

[Potstubsdustbins]

Hi Paxo and welcome,

Don't go straight to a large pot use something like a 5" dia pot. I would put 1 " fresh compost in the bottom of the pot lay the root ball on this and top off again with fresh compost to within an inch of the top of the pot. This may well bury some of the main stem but don't worry that will throw out extra roots and make for a stronger plant. Keep them in these pots until you have root growing out the bottom of the pot, then pot on again. Water by standing the pots in a dish or tray so that the water is drawn up into the compost. Don't overdo the watering when you first pot on or you could drown them.

I presume you are not in the far north of the country so yes after hardening of they can go outside now.
Put them outside in a sheltered spot during the day bringing them in at night for the first 3/4 nights, beware of windy conditions at this stage of their growth wind would be most damaging.

When they are in their final pots, something about the size of a Morrisons bucket or large hanging basket I would feed with a high nitrogen feed such as Miracle Grow until such times as the first baby toms appear and then change to tomorite.

Hope this helps Colin

[sewer rat]

I agree that location would help re whether to put them outside yet or not.
As regards potting on, I would pot each into a 1 litre pot of MP compost as soon as you can, and then from that into their final pots when they have started to flower. This is when you would start to feed them the Tomorite, which is a high potash feed which promotes flowering and fruiting.
Tumbling Tom are fairly trouble free - no need to remove side shoots etc as they grow as a trailing bush but when they get really bushy it can be hard to get enough water to them, so if they are in pots as opposed to hanging baskets, it might be an idea to sit each pot in a large saucer or trya and water from the bottom up - this also has the advantage that the actual plant / flowers and fruits will not get wet which can be a cause of poor fruit setting (the water knocks the small flowers off before the fruit has set) and some rots. In addition , if your plants get really thick and bushy, watch out for mildew.

[bronwen]

Hi paxosisland, welcome to the vine!

I am growing tumbling tom also. They have been in hanging baskets outside for a few weeks now but have suffered somewhat from the wind and odd weather lately. But they're doing alright producing several flowers sets. They were started in small newspaper pots in the blowaway, then potted up to 3" pots, then to 5" pots and then their final positions.

I hope the other posts so far have been helpful to you and good luck with your growing.

[paxosisland]

Thanks everyone.You`ve been a great help. I`ll get going now with putting them in their own pots Ps I am in South Yorkshire. Not sure how to edit my profile, if anyone could give me a hint I would be grateful

[Sylvan]

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[Noosner]

Great advice re tumbling toms, thanks everyone! This is a great forum - there seems to be info on almost everything! I am growing tum-toms for the first time this year and will try some on a high shelf of our new lean-to greenhouse and also some outdoors in hanging baskets on a south-facing wall.

After 3 years of trying to grow vine toms outdoors here in Yorkshire I hope 2013 will be the year I can call a moratorium on green tomato chutney!

[Jay22]

Hello everyone! First time growing tumbling tom tomatoes and I have them in 3"pots. I have started hardening them off in one of those little greenhouses which resemble a Wendy house. Can anyone tell me if they can go straight into their final position or should I pot them on to maybe a 5" pot for a while. One has flowers already! I was planning on putting some in a 40cm container and wondered how many plants to put in this? Also am I a bit too early putting them out here in Scotland? Lots of questions I know, but thank you for any advice in advance!

[Potstubsdustbins]

I would pot them on into 6" pots to start with and due to your location give it another couple of weeks before putting them out. To give you an idea on planting density I grow one tumbler per hanging basket or Morrison's cut flower bucket.

[Jay22]

Thank you for the advice Potstubsdustbins will pot them on to the bigger pots today and leave them another couple of weeks! Appreciate you taking the time to answer.