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Container Gardening

Tomatoe & Pepper how Big or should I say small of a container

16 years ago

I bought two tomato plants today, grape & cherry and two bell pepper plants. I'm wondering how small of a container I could use for each. I don't want to plant in the ground I'm afraid the rabbits & groundhog will devour them ;) But I'm hoping I don't need huge containers either LOL

Thanks,

Laura

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Comments (5)

justaguy2
16 years ago
A one gallon container for peppers is fine and a 5 gallon container for tomatos. You can go a little smaller with the tomato container, but I don't recomend it. Peppers don't take much water, but tomatos take lots. You want the larger container so it can hold enough water that it doesn't go dry before you can get back to it. A 10 gallon container is probably ideal.

Plan on a large tomato plant drinking 2 gallons of water per day once the heat sets in. If you do the math you can see why a 3 gallon container isn't so great unless you can reliably water at least 2x/day in summer.
mea2214
16 years ago
My peppers all go into 4 and 5 gallon containers. By the end of the season the peppers fill the entire container with roots but they do fine. I wouldn't put them into anything less.

For tomatoes you can go with a small container like a 5 gallon bucket but the bigger the container the bigger the plant will get and the more tomatoes you'll get. My tomatoes are all in 20 gallon or greater containers.
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misspenny
Original Author
16 years ago
Wow thanks, I think i've decided to just go with a small veggie garden I don't have the $ right now to buy containers that large or potting soil for them. LOL I guess next time I should do the research first. But I'm I didn't spend much on the plants so if they get eaten by the rabbits and groundghogs it's not a major deal I guess.
Thanks so much.
Happy gardening,
Laura
deweymn
16 years ago
Buy a roll of chicken wire and find some scrap wood and drive the wood in a circle around the plants. Tack the chicken wire to the posts and you will be rabbit proof.

Buy a few wire tomato cages and set them inside the round enclosure you made and set one long strong stake right next to the stem of the plants but don't injure the roots. (stake first and then insert plant and you should be fine.)

Not the strongest setup and you will have to twine the vines as they grow but it should work for you. Once the plants grow you could let them crawl along the ground if you do a heavy mulch. You'll lose a few fruits if you don't pick them early.

Both plants are indeterminate I (think) and you can also attach a trellis to the strong stake to train the vines.

Good luck.

I tomato cage and stake my peppers and I have lots of squirrels but they leave them alone. They seem to do ok in the wire t. cages. BTW, last year I used 5 gal containers for some tomatos and they got root bound and quit producing before I quit eating. Not enough room and I had to water daily. This year peppers get 5gal containers with a city mulch and regular garden dirt mix, and the tomato containers are at least 12 gal, some more. Both will get a soaker hose running on them.

I also fertilize with a box of tomato food. Works for me.
el34
16 years ago
I do peppers and tomatoes is 5 gallon buckets with great success.

See my link for some pics.

Here is a link that might be useful: My container garden

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