Pot size management

[Barmaley]

Hello,

I am trying to figure out the minimum, the optimal and the abundant size for a container to grow different types of tomatoes: determinate, indeterminate and dwarf. I just bought at Lowe's bush early girl plant in 2.5 gallon container and Burpee recommends to keep it growing in it - no re-planting needed! It sounds suspicious - I think it will benefit of at least 5 gallon bucket. At the same time if I could provide the best soil with regular daily watering and constant fertilizing - why would even big plant needs big pot if roots can get everything they need anyway? My ultimate goal is to find the smallest size container so I could grow healthy plants which will not suffer from nutrients deficiency!

[zeuspaul]

I agree you can use a smaller pot if you can keep up with fertilizing and water although I think 5 gal is still too small if we are talking standard size tomato plants. I need a larger taller container to protect from rodents. Anything smaller than 25 gal would be too small for me. I water by hand and I would only use a smaller one if I had a drip system setup preferably automatic. A smaller pot for me would require watering at least twice a day on some of the hotter days.

[Rockoe10]

The plant is going to want to put out more roots. If you want to keep it in a small pot, you will need to trim the roots to prevent the roots from forming a ball and choking itself.

There are pots designed for this that allow the roots to grow out of the bag, and you can trim them with clippers without having to pull the plant out. The only issue here is they those pots dry out quickly. And you will already be working extra to keep the plant hydrated in a 5gal pot.

Can it be done? Absolutely. Will you see the same success as larger pots? Not without tons of extra work and investment.

[Mark_Thompson]

I grew a KBX and an Emerald Apple in five gallon fabric pots this winter with pretty solid success. I have a drip line with a cheapo hose end timer set to water twice daily.

This is the Emerald Apple at about four months old.

35DABF9B-7D7B-4399-84CD-0EEDBB847A6B.jpeg

[jmsieglaff]

Sounds like you've got the makings of a great experiment. I generally believe, to a point (e.g., can't be way undersized), container size is dictated by how the plant will get water and food. If you can setup drip water feeding, not that dissimilar to hydroponics, you probably can get way with a rather small container. If you're only able to water manually once a day, the container sized needed grows much larger (I can speak to that out of experience). I'd say if you've got the desire and ability, do an experiment and report back!

[Barmaley]

Is growing in bags better than in plastic containers?

[Barmaley]

There are pots designed for this that allow the roots to grow out of the bag, and you can trim them with clippers without having to pull the plant out. The only issue here is they those pots dry out quickly. And you will already be working extra to keep the plant hydrated in a 5gal pot.

Where can I learn about this technique?

[Rockoe10]

There are many different pots and methods. I've grown a lemon tree for over a decade by pulling it out of it's pot and trimming by hand.

High tech pots exist now, that if you are into it, can be a good investment.

Here is an article

https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/specia ... ir-pot.htm

PS
I'll just reiterate what has been said. Water and food are important. Smaller containers require more work or investment from you the gardener. And don't forget that roots need aeration too. This becomes the issue when a pot is too small and the plant wants to get bigger.

[bower]

Another thing people haven't mentioned is the length of your season. Since my season is short, I am satisfied to grow small to medium sized tomatoes in a five gallon pot in the greenhouse, just watering once a day, and I don't have to prune roots before season is over. Outdoors here it's windy, so there's a lot of stress from drying out in 5 gallon, and sometimes wants water twice in a day. Ten is better, I have some deeper ten gallon totes that will keep two small fruited plants happy planted together. Depth makes more difference to retaining moisture.
Bigger fruited tomatoes need big containers. Some may do okay even in a 5 gal, but it's a gamble to keep them happy and setting.
Also if you want the plants to continue fruiting as long as possible, and you have a long season, the bigger your container, the better.

[mama_lor]

The smaller pots I find don't really show nutrient deficiency symptoms per se, they just grow like smaller versions of themselves. Determinates vary wildly in size. And then, as mentioned, there's climate, watering, etc.
For me I find 7 gal is just about right, good growth without seeming a waste of potting mix or bigger pot (expensive after all).

What one shouldn't consider however, is saving space with small pots (like on a balcony). This is not the case, you will be more limited by properly spacing of top growth than by the size of the pot. At least for tomatoes and other fruiting plants.

[Rockoe10]

I'll share this because I find it incredible and informative. Not too say less is impossible, but this sure shows the impressiveness of tomato roots

[Sue_CT]

I found the smaller the pot, the higher the maintenance. With pots less than 20 gallons, hand watering, I could not keep them consistently moist enough and had lots of BER. I find it difficult to support really large plants in pots like KB, KBX, Brandwine, etc. But Early Girl is not one of those. It is a smaller plant, but still grows to 3-4ft for me. Without an automatic drip watering system set up, the work involved and the decreased productivity would not be worth the time and effort. I would grow Early Girl in a 10 gallon pot, but once it gets to high summer and near its full size, you are still going to need to check it several times a day or an automatic drip system I think.

[Barmaley]

What about this guy growing tomatoes in 1 gallon? was it a photoshop?

[Texgal]

In my experience, an indeterminate will grow ok in a container as small as 5-7 gallons. But as others have mentioned, they need lots of water and the fruit will likely be smaller than normal on large varieties. I grew some indeterminate in a Walmart bag one year in a grow bag where I sub-irrigated them in a kiddie pool. Those bags are 7-gallon. I would get one or two fruits that were large and then the rest would be small. After that I decided to only grow indeterminates in 15 gallon or larger. I’m not sure about determinates altogether. I Grew the Dwarf Tomato Project variety Boronia last year in a 15 gallon pot and it barely grew to 3 feet so it seemed to be a waste to use a bag that large. This year I’ll be growing it in a 7-gallon pot, but other dwarf varieties that get over 3 1/2 feet I will put in 10-15 gallon pots. For micro dwarf tomatoes, those that grow 6-18 inches, I have had success growing in 3/4 to 1-gallon pots.

[Sue_CT]

Barmaley, no one that I read above said it couldn't be done. BUT, the plants in your video are "patio tomatoes" he said. Not sure if they are dwarfs, but dwarfs also do better in containers, especially smaller containers. It is more effort and more difficult to grow in smaller pots unless you have an automatic drip irrigation system, which he does in the video. It becomes more difficult the larger the plant gets. Especially without an automatic irrigation system. If you grow dwarf type plants, and have an automatic irrigation system you will probably do pretty well. Don't think anyone here said anything to contradict that. If you want to push it, you can grow plants without any soil at all hydroponically. But you were asking about growing Early Girl, not a dwarf or a patio tomato and it seems those who have tried similar things here simply felt that they either needed an irrigation system or failing that, at least larger pots, in order to be successful.

[Barmaley]

Sue, thank you very much for clarification. The main reasons that I am looking for a smaller container are: 1. I would like to experiment. 2. I may need to move in the middle of the summer to another state. Is it difficult to make drip irrigation? The next step for me will be to learn hydroponics growing, but that will be after the summer is over since I am about to try to provide good care about my current tomato plants.

[zeuspaul]

Drip irrigation can be easy to set up. I have several drip systems all with drip line tubing. Depending on the water supply I don't use a filter and I don't use a pressure regulator. Pressure is regulated by the number of emitters. I don't have any timers so I can't comment on those. All of these are in my main garden. I only need to water once or twice a week so a timer is not important to me.

I don't use drip with my containers because I don't want to deal with drip lines all over the place. For daily watering in a container garden I would want a timer. Also drip tubing would probably not be the best solution. You would need individual emitters.

[Rockoe10]

20210501_083229.jpg

This is Dwarf tomato plant i grow indoors. It's several months old and is starting to put out flowers. I grow it in a 4.5 inch pot.

It's totally possible to grow plants in small pots. But know that if i put this outside, it would dry out in a day without a lot of input by me. So i baby it and enjoy the experiment.

[Growing Coastal]

Here's an image of a couple of dwarfs in 5 gal pots up on a bench. Always many stems requiring support for each one.


These are in 15 gal pots. Darwfs on the right and left. Ordinary sized old lawn chair.
July 25/20

[Barmaley]

I work from home and and watering twice a day is not an issue. Let me re-phrase the question: provided two conditions: A) I water them very often B) I fertilize as needed and generously will the plant develop the same amount of fruit and the same taste in a 5 gallon container as if I grow the same plant in 25 gallon container? I am talking about full size tomatoes like Cherokee Purple and Brandywine...