Hello everybody!

I have very limited space and I ma thinking to downgrade this year to 10 pots on my desk (still can not figure out how to convert 26 seedlings into 10 plants LOL). However, I am planning not to remove suckers and let each plant to have 3-4 stems to make them bushy. According to my experience such plants make more fruit than single stem ones, so - why would I keep more pots? At the same time I read that single stem plant makes tastier fruit since the plant does not need to disperse resources to many fruit at the same time. Alternative is to make it one stem. I have a question: since tomato is a vine, can I let it grow to 5 ft up and them direct it down? It is possible and are there any problem with it?

Have you thought of trying dwarf tomatoes this year? Most are in the 3 to 5 ft range in height...

It is possible to redirect it down, but it's not the easiest thing, it's easier to do the lean and lower method. Not entirely sure one stem should do better tasting tomatoes, as long as you let sufficient sun to all the branches, it should be fine. One stem has the big advantage of less disease (for sure) but also much easier pest management if it comes to it.

It's the easiest thing in the world to direct a tomato vine back down. Mine reach the top of the tomato cage and, without any more upward support, fall down the outside. Tomato vines are mostly very weak, and especially as they get weighed down with fruit.

The only potential issue I can see with bushy, 3-5 stem tomatoes in containers is water consumption. IMO you would need minimum 10 gallon containers to attempt that, unless you have drip irrigation. I routinely grow dwarf varieties in 5 gallon buckets and by mid summer they require daily watering, sometimes twice a day if it is in the 90s.

wykvlvr wrote: ↑Sun Mar 28, 2021 11:49 pm Have you thought of trying dwarf tomatoes this year? Most are in the 3 to 5 ft range in height...

I actually do planning to grow some dwarfs this year and are waiting for seeds to come. I was not aware about them and already sprouted a lot of seedlings. For this season I will be about a month behind with cherries since I did not started them yet. I am excited to try them and learn more!

jmsieglaff wrote: ↑Mon Mar 29, 2021 6:30 pm The only potential issue I can see with bushy, 3-5 stem tomatoes in containers is water consumption. IMO you would need minimum 10 gallon containers to attempt that, unless you have drip irrigation. I routinely grow dwarf varieties in 5 gallon buckets and by mid summer they require daily watering, sometimes twice a day if it is in the 90s.

I have 10-12 gallons containers and it was not the hardest think to waters them last year. About container size: I expect that dwarfs produce about the same amount of fruit from a shorter bush as a tall heirloom. Is it true? If it is true why smaller container will work since they need the same amount of nutrition? Is my assumption correct that the size of container determine by minimum volume of soil to provide nutrition?