5 Gallon Bucket Tomatoes & 3 Gallon Peppers Watering Question.

NoRoom2Grow

11 years ago

Is one Gallon per day on 90+ Degree days enough for 5 gal bucket tomatoes? And half gallon per 3 gallon Pepper Plant?

Potting Mix seems moist on top inch. Dont know if I should water again or wait until tomorrow.

Today the mix seemed dry on top around early afternoon.

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Comments (15)

dickiefickle
11 years ago
Check for moisure at 6 or 7 inches down >Another good way is to weigh by picking the container up,
Are the containers muched?
edweather USDA 9a, HZ 9, Sunset 28
11 years ago
Depends how big the plants are. Mine are almost full grown, and 1 gallon per day won't cut it. I'm closer to 2 gallons per day. They will wilt quickly when they lack water.
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I agree that its possible and that it takes more work in feeding and watering and that choosing smaller utlimate size of plants will help a great deal. A couple other suggestions. Rather than drilling holes in the bottom, try making just one horizontal saw cut, maybe 2" long, a couple inches up from the bottom. Much better water retention and it will still drain if you used a potting mix. If you can get 20 gal containers for anything like that price, I'd get several. Pots that big, in my climate serve lrg indeterminates very well. I dont even cut drain holes in them but if you have a very rainy spell you might need to build a mini well point to syphon excess water. If you don't have that rainy spell though, they'll be just dandy and your watering chores are much reduced. Again, only with potting mix, which confused me quite a bit when I started hanging around here. It must be regional thing. We have many products, and always have, labeled "potting soil" but has a light texture due to compost, humas, vermiculite etc. Many refer to this as soiless mix and can get kinda touchy about it :-) We do also have a few products that are labeled potting soil but you can tell from the heft, that un-ammended, are much too dense for containers and will not drain properly.
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wingspings
11 years ago
I am having the same issue. First time container gardening and some cherry tomatoes have yellow leaves and the better boys are having blossom end rot on them. I water every evening after work until water flows from the bottom (at least 2 gallons of water per plant) of the containers. Should I start with a watering in the morning as well?

Sorry not trying to hijack the thread but thought that this would be a good source since you had brought this up.
howelbama
11 years ago
No room, I agree with dickie and Ed... Try not to overwater too though.

Wingspings, you probably need to fertilize with swell balanced fert that has micronutes as well. The BER is most likely due to the inconsistent moisture levels... Too wet then too dry, etc.. Makes it difficult for the plant to distribute the calcium properly, leading to BER.. Try mulching, it should help
dickiefickle
11 years ago
wing your yellow leaves are most likely from over watering try putting a pop sickle stick .skewer or dowel in your planter and pull it out to check moisture.
Planters /mix holds most moisure in the bottom few inches.
wingspings
11 years ago
Thanks for the info on the BER.

First year container gardening so this is a whole new experience for me.

I made my mix myself, Peat Moss (1/2 bag), garden lime (3 handfuls), perlite (1 bag), composted cow manure (1/2 bag) and 10-10-10 (12oz cup) and 2 cups coffee grounds mixed up well in wheelbarrow.

Buckets/Containers 5 gallon with 1 1/2" to 2" rocks in the bottom and holes in the bottom of the buckets for excess to drain.
jonfrum
11 years ago
The rocks or broken crockery in the bottom thing is a horticultural old wife's tale. Just fill with soil. The big stuff in the bottom actually prevents water from draining.
greengrass12
11 years ago
Been in 80's (no cloud cover)here for several days with no rain. Today it was 87.
I have 4/5 gal buckets with celebrity toms using drip irrigation. Give them all 11 oz of water 4 x per day for total of 44 oz.

Picking toms and they are as good as a celebrity tom is going to get.
capoman
11 years ago
Too many variables. You need to learn to read the medium and the plant. As it can vary day to day.

For medium, use the skewer method of lift the plant. Learn to also recognize the early signs of wilting, so you can catch it in time if you misread the soil.

One note. Tomatoes in 5 gal containers can use up the water pretty quickly.
TheMasterGardener1
11 years ago
The ONLY way to tell is to lift the pot up to see just how heavy it is. That is the way I tell when it is time to water. Or when I see plants wilting from so little water. Your better off letting them wilt then you are over watering.
Nunyabiz1
11 years ago
If you use 5 gallon pots which BTW are too small and they have proper drainage which means about 10+ holes in the bottom and you are using good draining potting mix then it is basically impossible to over water them in this heat we are having.

If anything you probably need to water them 2-3X a day.

I have 15 gallon pots and water 2X a day in this heat.
capoman
11 years ago
Agree, even bush varieties with medium size tomatoes can require watering more then once a day in 5 gallons, as I am doing now. Dwarf Bush tomatoes I have such as Tiny Tims, still only require once per day. I don't use a fixed quantity. I water until 10% or so runs out the bottom.
TheMasterGardener1
11 years ago
I agree. Just today I had to repot some pepper plants into true 5 gal white buckets. I had them in two gal and that is just not enough. Next year I will do less plants in larger containers, but I'm still very happy with the results and predicted harvest.

For tomatoes a 15 gal pot is great. I do have a nice little cherry bush in a 2 gal but of course would have a better plant if it was in say a 7 gal.
dickiefickle
11 years ago
When you say you mix 1/2 a bag ,we have no idea how much that is ????????? Some bags are 4 cubic feet some a few quarts ....
Slappalachian
10 years ago
I have grown tomatoes cherokee purple, double rich, yellow perfection, in 5 gallon buckets with great results, mulch heavy and water every 2 days in really hot weather. I use 8 4 1 bat guano and a 0 12 0 seabird guano at flowering, I also add some wood ash. I use a 50 gallon barrel for making guano teas to water them with too!

5 Gallon Bucket Tomatoes & 3 Gallon Peppers Watering Question.

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dickiefickle

edweather USDA 9a, HZ 9, Sunset 28

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