Is it true that heirloom tomatoes do not make good candidates for container planting?

It's categorically false. They do fine in containers.

The first bit of advice in terms of how to prepare the soil for container growing is don't use any soil. It won't drain well at all. Use a soilless potting mix like Miracle Grow or similar. If you are inclined to make your own potting mix head over to the container gardening forum and read the posts by Tapla.

I would suggest a 5 gallon container as the minimum size. 15 gallons is as large as you would ever need to consider. anything between is great. Anything smaller than 5 gallons and you are likely to have problems with the potting mix drying out. Tomatos are not fond of this happening at all and will reward you with blossom end rot and other problems. Consider that a large plant can go through 2 gallons of water per day and you can see why a 5 gallon bucket filled with potting mix is the smallest practical size.

As long as you are using a potting mix that drains well you shouldn't be afraid to water heavily. When the plants are small water use won't be as high, but when they are large and setting fruit watering daily with a potting mix that drains well wouldn't lead to over watering.

That certainly is a broad statement. My sister who grew more Stupice tomatoes than she could eat using a hanging pot on her stair landing would argue that it works just fine.

I can't add much to what Justaguy suggested. Good dirt, and enough of it, and don't forget to water.

Enjoy your adventure!

Dawn

Thanks everyone. the person who wrote that newspaper article is much more well known for ornamental gardening - she seemed pretty sure of herself. Smug that new modern tomatoes are more superior to heirloom forms. Heirlooms get more mildewy than hybrid ones. It was an upsetting article to me at least.

I don't plan to use pots for tomatoes but to use sacks of potting mix instead. Perhaps I'll limit the plants to 2 per sack.

If by 'sack' you mean a 2 cubic foot bag I would definitely not go over 2 plants per sack.

Why don't you write a letter or email to the "well-known gardener" and make the correction. I hate it when supposedly reputable gardeners say things that are obviously not true about growing tomatoes.

Maybe you're not the type who would actually write to the author, but if I came across such an error in "tomatology", I would definitely write to them about it. :P

Looks like someone milked the sacred cow again.

I do not think the statement was made one "can't" or "couldn't" but rather he was addressing a larger audience and suggesting there were better choices for that situation. Something in general I would agree.

I think a better choice of words might have been to suggest determinate or compact varieties but it's his show. The way a TV host worded it here was "patio varieties".

Ianna,

Because I have limited garden space at home, each summer I'm forced to grow a few tomato plants in containers to increase my seeds supply.

Two tomato varieties that I've found repeatedly grow well in containers and yield plenty fruit under minimal caretaking are Indian Stripe and Bradley ... both open pollinated, "old fashioned" varieties.

Indian Stripe is an indeterminate vine with nice sized fruit for slicing and has a deep pink color with chlorophyll retention that make it appear "purple." Indian Stripe begins yielding ripe tomatoes about 75 days after transplant and yield continuously until frost. It's fairly heat tolerant and has an excellent flavor much like Cherokee Purple.

Bradley is a determinate type but yields over an extended period of time beginning about 80 days after transplant. Bradley fruit is deep pink when ripe and appears deep red in the slices. It's sweet with a mildly tomatoey flavor and heat tolerant.

Both varieties grow well in 10-gallon containers filled with well drained soilless mix if irrigated frequently ... like as soon as you can stick your finger down into the mix and it feels dry. You might want to mix in a bit of time release granular plant food and then follow up with a dose of half-strength Miracle-Gro tomato formula once every week or 10 days when the plant begins flowering.

There are other tomatoes that have done well for me in containers, but those are the two best I've found for size and flavor of fruit and for which seeds are easily available from Victory Seed Company.

Ianna, any tomato that is grown in the ground can be grown in containers. My containers range in size from 1 gallon to more than 15 gallons, depending on the variety to grow.

Those folks on TV are not experts and shouldn't be relied on for exact information. In addition, the Monsanto Corporation (IMHO) is conducting a mis-information campaign which has the goal of scaring growers away from heirloom crops so that more profitable (for Monsanto) Genetically Modified Seeds will be sold. That means more profit for them and less choice for us.

In an 18 Gallon Tub, which holds about 2 cubic feet of potting mix, I usually put two average sized tomato plants. Smaller plants like Sophie's Choice can go into a 5 gallon bucket and Tiny Tim will thrive in a 1 gallon nursery pot. I have two Tiny Tim plants going right now - one in a 1 gallon black nursery pot and one in a self-watering container made from a two liter soda bottle.

It all comes down to water and nutrients. The smaller the container, the faster the plant will need to be watered and the more often it will need to be fed.

Ted

Ted - Monsanto hasn't attacked tomatoes, and let's hope they don't. The great thing about heirlooms is that you can save your own seeds, whether or not Monsanto attacks the commercial supplies. So if you see Monsanto as a threat, start saving seeds. I hate them and all the GM stuff, but when it comes to tomatoes, they're not of much concern.

catman

Think again.

Monsanto is buying seed companies left and right, and that includes tomato seed developers.

Anyway, ianna, that "tomato expert" ain't. If hybrid tomatoes can be grown in containers, so can heirlooms and other open pollinated ones. Hybrids haven't been bred to seek comfort in a container but rather to increase a lot of characteristics that most home gardeners don't give two hoots about, like shipping durability, skin thickness, color, & disease resistance. These characteristics are what commercial outfits want to see so they can earn lots of money. Not taste and desirability as a tomato.

I suggest that if you don't want to contact this person directly, send her an email including a link to this thread. Maybe send the email to her boss, too.

Here is a link that might be useful: Who Owns Your Tomato?

Think again.

Monsanto is buying seed companies left and right, and that includes tomato seed developers.

I would have to agree. My neighbor was a seed sales manager for Jung seed and they were bought by Monsanto a couple years ago. Fortunately it affected only the commercial seed business and not the retail business most home gardeners would use.

I still have not seen any evidence Monsanto has (yet) gotten into the seed business as it pertains to home gardeners, but it wouldn't surprise me if they did at some point.

"Hybrids haven't been bred to seek comfort in a container but rather to increase a lot of characteristics that most home gardeners don't give two hoots about, like shipping durability, skin thickness, color, & disease resistance."

There are hybrids specifically developed to grow in containers ... along with incorporating other characteristics such as disease resistance, color, taste, whatever. There also are many open pollinated varieties that do very well in containers, and I think that's what the original poster is looking for. So, let's hear more about that and less about what Monsanto's perceived mission may or may not be.

Of the three hybrids I've grown that were "bred to grow in a container", usually with the name "Bush" in it, I have never had one approach the heirloom determinates that I really like in flavor, so you can't convince me that seed hybridizers have produce "taste" in tomatoes "bred for containers". Let's face it, determinates can all be grown in containers, hybrid or OP, as can indeterminates, even if they weren't specially bred for it.

The OP no doubt has received an answer by now to her question about whether her heirlooms can be grown in containers!

Just don't mention Monsanto and everything will run smoothly.