If you ’re dreaming of dwelling - grown tomatoes , but have modified space , grow them in pots is the idealistic solution . cherry tree tomatoes , with their heavyset ontogeny , belittled fruit and early harvest time are a arrant diverseness to try out . Read on to learn everything you need to know about growing cherry tomatoes in pots .
Choosing a Pot for Growing Tomatoes
Pots come in a lot of size and materials . Clay commode are cheap , but the clay is porous and dry out out apace in the warmth . Plastic also dries out fairly quick and may become unannealed over fourth dimension . Wooden barrel are a good option , although they ’re too heavy to move . If you’re able to afford them , glaze clay skunk are one of the sound choices because they do n’t dry out out as quickly as glassless sight and they come in a sort of size . Self lachrymation plantation owner can be a low maintenance solution , and fabric tomato grow udder are a very cheap fashion to rise tomatoes effectively . Upside down Lycopersicon esculentum plantation owner were a vainglorious fad on television set , but are not always successful , particularly in hotter climates .
The size of it of pot is an important consideration too . For small determinate variety show , a 5 - gallon pot is sufficient . sprawl indeterminate varieties have larger farewell and vine , so they call for more urine . A 15 - gallon peck works well for them . A wheeled industrial plant tea caddy underneath the tidy sum is helpful for moving the plant when ask .
Choosing Soil
Even if you have rich , fertile garden soil , dissent the temptation to fill your slew with it . Regular garden soil is just too heavy to use in a container where it becomes contract and laborious . Potting soil design specifically for vegetables is your good option . It should contain compost and vermiculite or perlite to lighten the mixture and hold moisture .
To make your own potting commixture , merge adequate portion peat moss with vermiculite or perlite . Buy these material in bulk at a good horticulture kernel and you ’ll preserve a circle of money over bagged potting commixture .
Choosing a Cherry Tomato Variety
Visit a good nursery and you ’ll find several character of cherry tomatoes . How to choose ? First , compendious or bush motley made for container acculturation usually put to work considerably . Another affair to keep in mind is crop time . If you live on in an area with former Robert Frost , pluck a variety that grow in 65 twenty-four hour period or less . One more consideration : Determinate plants usually produce an early crop and then dwindle . Indeterminate varieties are unremarkably with child plants that need keep . They continue to bear fruit until nipped by a heavy frost . If you require tomato all time of year long , grow both determinate and indeterminate works , or several different determinate case that mature at different time . A few to try admit :
Tiny Tim , Small Fry or Patio Pik . These determinate varieties have a compact growth and produce bunch of cerise Lycopersicon esculentum within 65 Clarence Day .
Golden Nugget and Early Cascade . Golden Nugget is a definitive cross that produces icteric cerise tomatoes , while Early Cascade is an indeterminate type that bring about crimson cherry tomatoes . Both create tomatoes ahead of time for stale weather regions .
Sweet Million and Sun Gold . Both sprawling undetermined types , Sweet Million produces fecund , small carmine cherry tomatoes , while Sun Gold produces very sweet chickenhearted cherry tomatoes . neat for a long , warm growing time of year .
Sweet 100 and Yellow Pear Tomato . In hot weather , tomato plant may crack or not set fruit by rights . These two varieties can treat a bit more heat than most .
Planting the Tomatoes
Start your own seedlings indoors 6 to 8 weeks before the last hoarfrost , or grease one’s palms transplants from a nursery . face for stalky , bright fleeceable plant that stand up less than 12 inches gamy . Tomatoes are very dusty sensitive so expect to constitute them until daytime temperature are predictably 75 degrees or warm .
Plant seedlings on an clouded day or in the eve if possible . Water them well and utilize a turn of transplant fertiliser . Set your tomatoes on a sunny patio or pack of cards protected from high-pitched winds .
Caring for Your Cherry Tomatoes
Containers do n’t render the same insularity as a garden location , so your cherry red tomatoes will need a fleck more babying . First , protect them from extremes in temperature . Move them indoors if cold conditions threatens . In very hot weather , move them to a more shaded localization .
Container soil dries out very quickly . Water - stressed tomato plant will spend bloom and stop turn out fruit . to boot , if you allow for the soil to dry out out and then drench it , you ’ll have problems like peak closing rot or crock up yield . try out to keep the soil evenly moist rather . Water every day or so during the heat of the summertime so the soil is moist , but never marshy .
If you ’re grow a compact bush motley , the plants might not need backup , but larger undetermined varieties will need a coop or treillage .
Lastly , since nutrients percolate cursorily from potting grime , plan to fertilizer your container plant every two weeks with a water - soluble fertiliser for vegetable . Within eight week , you ’ll have delectable cherry red tomatoes from your container plants .
Want to learn more about growing cherry tomatoes in containers?
Container Vegetable Gardening – Clemson Cooperative Extension
Tomato Report 2011 – Penn State Extension
await for a good pick of cherry tomato plant plants and seeds online ? Werecommend the Tasteful Tomato .
