It won't kill them if you separate them unless you do a lot of damage.

You need a really big pot for each one, at least 10 gallons.

And there's also the option of cutting one down. I know. It hurts, but in the end, you'll get more from one plant than you'd get from two unhappy ones.

Agree with Donna. Cut it down as far as you can so it doesn't resprout from the root.

Did the tomato plants have a tag or label on them saying what variety they are? It makes a big difference when determining how big they will get and what size pot they might survive in. Some tomatoes only get to be 3-4' high (some even smaller), while others can grow to 8-10' or more. Same thing with how they grow -- "determinate" tomatoes set all their fruit more or less at the same time, while "indeterminate" tomatoes will fruit all summer long, but also keep growing all summer long. If you tell us the variety, we can help you figure out what you can expect from your plants and where they'd grow best.

That said, I'd agree that you either need to carefully separate them into their own pots -- at minimum, you could pick up a couple 5 gallon paint buckets to put them in if larger containers are too expensive or hard to come by for you -- or snip one of them off at the surface and transplant the remaining plant into a larger pot.

OMG! 8-10 FEET?! I guess I should have done some research before I bought the tomatoes lol. Honestly, they were a spur of the moment purchase as they were only $1 each. I asked the farmer if they would be ok in a pot and he said yes. I still have the tags, I will look at them tonight and let you guys know! If all else fails, I have an area of the yard I can plant them in, I was just hoping to not dig up the yard that much.

I'm laughing so hard at myself. When I moved to MD, everyone around here told me how easy it is to grow tomatoes so I figured they would be a good start! I didn't know what I was getting myself into! lol

Rutgers & Jetstar

Rutgers and Jetstar are both large indeterminate plants (Rutgers has a determinate form but the indeterminate is more common) and easily reach 6' or more in height depending on growing conditions provided.

They will both need at least 10 gallon pots as already mentioned or planted in the ground. It is possible to cut two plants apart with a sharp knife by just slicing straight down through the root mass. But depending on how much the roots are tangles together it will be better to just sacrifice one plant for the good of the other. You still have time to buy more plants if you want to grow more than one.

For future reference the smallest size container recommended for growing tomatoes is a 5 gallon bucket and then only for dwarf or container varieties.

Dave

Digdirt! What are you doing over here?! Y'all have already turned me into a canning fiend, now you guys are gonna turn me into a gardening fiend!

Well, it looks like I have a lot of work to do tomorrow!

Thank you for all the advice!

digdirt is one of our top resident experts over here. Welcome to the veggie garden forum! You'll love it here, and before long, you'll be as hopeless an addict as the rest of us! (Think of as your enablers for the Harvest forum.)

Just a note, Rutgers is a really wonderful tomato. I have not grown the other, but unless someone here says it's truly fabulous, I'd sacrifice it in favor of the Rutgers.

I had a friend that started a garden years ago. She put in about 2 months of planning before hand with excel spreadsheets and everything. She practically autoCAD her garden out (however, that was the first and last time she gardened. She said it was too stressful! LOL)

I'm the exact opposite. Walking around the farmers market, I'm all, "I'm bored. Maybe I'll start a garden!" 5 minutes later I was buying random plants and putting them into pots. LOL. Trial by fire, it's the Army way!

I'll have you guys know that the lettuce is still alive and doing marvelously and I've only killed one cabbage! AND My basil and oregano are happy little plants! LOL

Ok, update. I was able to separate the tomatoes yesterday and I put them each in their own 10 gallon containers, WITH tomato stakes, AND marigold companion plants! I'm learning! I think I was successful *keeps fingers crossed* I had watered them well when I transplanted them and then it rained last night, so hopefully they do well.

AND marigold companion plants

Uhhh hopefully they weren't too many of them or that they were the common Mexican marigold varieties? Their root chemicals have growth retardant effect on many plants, especially in containers. Pretty? Yeah. Beneficial? Nope. Plant separately.

Dave

Are the calendura genus marigolds the ones with the growth retardant effect or the tagetes?

They are all tagetes - just different species.

Pot marigold, Calendula T. calendula (daisy family)
------------------------

Mexican marigold, Tagetes lucida and t. minuta
African marigold, Tagetes erecta
French marigold, Tagetes patula

plus some 50 others. All in the sunflower family rather than daisy. All secrete allelopathic chems just as sunflowers do but it is strongest in the common Mexican varieties.

Dave

Uaskigyrl, you have a great attitude! All new gardeners make mistakes, so expecting them and having fun with them is the best way to learn. :)

Dave, you taught me something new. I had no idea about the roots of marigolds and sunflowers having a growth retardant affect. Does that apply in the main garden, too, or just containers? I don't generally companion plant, but I'd be curious how far away marigolds need to be planted from veggie crops to be "safe".

And me too. I knew about sunflowers, did not know about marigolds.....So maybe it was the marigolds in the early years that were causing less than outstanding tomatoes....maybe I double dug my beds for nothing? Either way, no more marigolds with tomatoes.