All of them will do quite well in a 20 gallon pot - 1 to a pot. In your zone they will still require an intensive watering regiment so for best results I sure wouldn't do 2 to a pot in zone 8B.

What will you be using for the soil-less mix to fill the containers?

Dave

Dave,

If my budget doesn't allow for more pots (seeing as more pots means buying a LOT more potting medium), what 6 would you recommend?

And I'm not 100% sure what I'll be using as medium yet. I dont want to use a gritty mix, as I have used this for my herbs. And with the heat we get here, the gritty mix starts rejecting water far to quickly.

I'll probably use a mixture of miracle grow potting soil, a lot of perlite, and some sand. I've got my current tomatoes and peppers in just miracle grow and perlite and they are doing very well.

Thanks,
Emily

And a quick question Dave, why wouldn't you recommend 2 in a pot because of the zone I'm in? Just curious. I have a lot of fertilizer and mineral supplements on hand, if nutrients washing out due to heavy watering would be the issue.

I'll take all the advice I can get :)

Thanks,
Emily

x2 plants = x2 amount of roots vs limited space in a container = less soil (soil-less potting mix) to absorb water = problems in a hot zone ;)

Reason is pretty much what Djole said - your climate is too hot to maintain consistent soil moisture levels without difficulty. I couldn't even do it here and I use auto drip watering systems on my containers.

1 indeterminate plant can do pretty well in 20 gallons. 2 would be heavily stressed in anything less than 30-35 gallons and even then they'd do best in SWC.

Of your list above Black Krim, Brandywine (Pink not Red), June Flamme, Super Sioux, and probably Dr. Carolyn and Yellow Perfection. I wouldn't waste space on Yellow Pear or C. Genovese or the Peach. Green Zebra you either love I hate. I don't care for it. JMO

Dave

Thank you everyone for the suggestions! I think I'll stick with one per pot. I don't want to compicate things or cause problems for my plants.

Another question I've got is concerning the price of potting soil/ soil-less potting mix.

I think it would be cheaper to make my own, but I'm not sure what all to use. I don't want to use a gritty mix. With the heat here, I know that even with the short time between waterings, the gritty mix would start rejecting water.

Do any of you have a tried and true favorite that is more inexpensive to mix yourself for the volume than buying pre-mixed potting medium?

As for ferts to mix in, on hand I've got osmocote, fish emulsion, bone meal, and some kind of fertilizer that looks like colored salts. I cant remember the name, but it comes in a bright orange box.

If you are going to mix your own then the Container Gardening forum will be the best source of info on that. It is a topic specific to that forum and there are any number of recipes on that forum.

Based on the many past discussions here about container mixes - the search will pull them up if interested - the few of us here who do any containers use professional packaged mixes as it is really easy to screw up a homemade mix and shoot yourself in the foot in the process. Check out Raybo's EarthTainer posts over on that forum for some good tips.

Dave

As for fertilizers, if you want to "mix in and forget", from what you've mentioned i'd use osmocote. Organic fertilizers are not very efficient in containers as they need the "Soil Food Web", (which is present to some extent in containers as well, but not enough), to be made available to plants.
Another suggestion would be a water soluble fertilizer (either powder or liquid form), with weekly applications (stick to the label instructions). You'd want something balanced with a slightly higher potash value, preferably with micro nutrients included. Don't let some of the labels mislead you just because they state tomato fertilizer. Get some N-P-K value of 15-15-19 or similar proportion with Mg and Ca.

Cheers,
Djole

Here is a link that might be useful: Soil Food Web

I grew Costuloto this year, and like Dave wouldn't recommend. It's pretty much inedible raw, very acidic and tomato-ey. I read a review on it afterwards that it's only suitable for sauces, so if that's what you want you might use it, but I won't be growing it again.

I agree with others that say to skip yellow pear, it's a yuk for me. Ildi is a much better yellow cherry tomato IMHO. When you say you are planning for ordering plants? With your new found green thumb, you might find starting the seeds pretty easy and much cheaper.

Thanks so much everyone for the response.

Dave, I think I'll be using the 5:1:1 mix :)

Djole- If I just use the osmocote, will I need to reapply it during the season?

Mccoml- I make a lot of my own Italian sauces, so that's what I would use it for. I find that making my own sauce for things like lasagna, spaghetti, etc tastes so much better than anything from a can or jar.

Lorimcp2006- Yeah, I think I'll be avoiding yellow pear. From what everyone's told me, it's awful haha.
And regarding growing from seed, I still don't quite trust myself that much. I've tried starting all kinds of seeds in the past. I can get them growing but something always grows wrong and I kill everything :/

As for reapplications, you will have to check the label for instruction. Osmocotes do tend to last longer than ferts in form of sticks or similar, but nevertheless it can be tricky to know when they are done (one of the reasons i tend to use solubles on weekly basis). Keep in mind tomatoes are heavy feeders, so if the label says 4 months / 120 days, it might be 90-100 days for tomatoes.
You might also want to check the N-P-K ratio of your osmocotes since not all are the same - some are for flowers, some for pines, some for fruit etc. I've got Scotts Substral osmocotes for berries. It's intended for strawberries, raspberries, currants, etc. Due to the N-P-K ratio of 11-11-19 i've used them for my container peppers and they seem to enjoy it. Hope this helps.

Cheers,
Djole

Plants grown in containers will need regular supplemental feedings throughout the season regardless of what is added to the soil at planting time.

Slow release fertilizers will leach out of containers with watering just like any other fertilizer does.

Dave