Don't try to be too scientific. The first thing to do is to water the plant until it stops wilting. That is a better system than measuring how much water you think it should want, whether it is happy or not. Any extra water will run out of the pot.

Some cultivars need more water than others, and OPs are fussier than hybrids. When I grew Golden Nugget, it wilted unless soaking wet.

You will almost certainly find that water is the problem - or at least one of the problems. (In July, no non-dwarf tomato should be only 2 feet no matter where you live. In Ohio, my bush tomatoes are over 3 feet, and others are 5-7.5 feet.

Tomatoes love water. Water each plant more. Forget measuring and rationing water to them. There is very little danger of overwatering tomatoes like other plants - especially when potted.

If the sides of the pot are straight, the average diameter is 14.5 inches, making the pot 2146 cu in = exactly 10 gallons.

If it is wilted in the morning then it needs watering.

Sorry but I have to strongly disagree with tarolli2011. Tomatoes are not water lovers and OPs are no different than hybrids in that regard. They want consistent lightly moist soil but it is the consistency that is important.

And it is very easy to over-water tomatoes in containers. Frequent watering creates water-dependent plants with shallow roots that wilt. And just as with under-watering, wilting can easily be caused by over-watering since it deprives the roots of air and causes roots to rot.

So yes I agree with Sey that it definitely sounds like you are watering too frequently. There is seldom any need for daily watering unless you live in a dry desert community so learn to stick your hand deep into the soil to feel it before watering. Then when needed water it well until it begins to drain out the bottom and then give it 24-48 hours to sit before checking the soil. If the soil knuckle deep still feels cool and lightly damp it doesn't need water.

As for feeding, container plants require regular replacement of nutrients since those nutrients drain out of the soil with all the watering. Many will use a 1/2 strength dose of fertilizer ever 7-10 days for container plants.

Dave

Some good advice above...with one additional comment. Watering regimens are directly related to soil/potting mix qualities. With container growing...you want a free-draining potting mix that is complimented with drainage holes in your container. My custom is to add cactus mix potting soil along with my potting mix. This enhances the free flowing drain of water and nutrients through the pot. It is really impossible to over-water this medium. The down-side is: it requires constant watering/feeding....especially in hot weather. Your local nursery sells inexpensive moisture meters...and they work really well.

Thank you all for the replies. Appreciate you taking the time. I'll come back when I get a little more time. Thanks for the welcome seysonn.

Are you 100% sure they are wilted? Are they limp when touched, or are just hanging like they are limp? Many varieties just look like that, including most of the italian 'cuor di bue', which are ribbed pear shaped. Just look at panic threads about Anna Russian.

The pot size is nice, but I think it might be just a tad much water at that size. Depends how much leaf area they have however, and how warm of course. Full size plants can eat water like crazy in the summer though.

Thanks fungus. "Are you 100% sure they are wilted? Are they limp when touched, or are just hanging like they are limp?" Not sure. I think they are hanging like they are limp. And it's not all the leaves, just maybe the top 1/3. The wilted looking ones are still soft and bendy, they aren't hard, rigid or crumbly. It does have a few flowers on it now, as do the 2 others. It's now been almost 3 days since last watered. When I stick my fingers as deep into pot as possible potting mix feels cool and not dry. For all 3 pots, Moisture metre says top few inches are "dry" but as metre moves down to near bottom of pot it reads well into "moist:. Maybe I have been overwatering all of them, but leaves on the other 2 look great. My wife is checking today with the seller we bought seedling from to see if she knows whether or not the leaves on this "Italian" normally have a limp look to them. EDIT: seller plants seeds then sells seedlings at a market and knows nothing about these plants other than they are suitable to this zone.

fireduck...we did use potting mix and there are holes in the pots. Hasn't been real hot here during day...70*-80* F. What do you consider to be constant watering/feeding? Do have a moisture metre.

digdirt2...thanks for all the tips. Consensus seems to be I'm over watering so I'll cut back a bit and try your method. Had only been watering 2 1/3 litres every day for 4-5 days before my post. And just about every time water came out the bottom of the pots, probably a no-no? I've fertized once so far and will continue every 7-10 days.

tarolli...ya, had a very cool spring here so they weren't planted until June 12. They have grown quite a bit, 18" or so in about 3 weeks.

Last year, 1st year with potted plants, had 6 pots of different types and all did incredibly well. Embarrassed to say I can not remember (getting old) and didn't make notes on my watering regimen. Whatever it was it worked. To be totally honest with you folks, because I couldn't remember how I watered last year I contacted a famous Canadian gardening organization and they recommended 2-4 litres (1/2 to 1 U.S. Gallon) per day per pot. And more in very hot weather. So that's when I started (4-5 days b4 my OP) watering 2 1/3 litres (1/2 + Gal.) per day. Felt that might be a bit much, wanted to double check so found this forum and posted. Do think I was over watering a little.

Thanks for the replies. Appreciate you all taking the time!

Come on. When you have plants wilting from too little water, water them. Duh! Real gardeners do not calculate how much water a plant is allowed. We water when needed.

Tomatoes are extremely tolerant of tons of water. They do not rot. They just produce more roots. Water your tomatoes!!!!!

Thanks tarolli. This is just my 2nd year with tomatoes so I don't consider myself a "Real" gardener like you apparently are. I came to this forum simply looking for help and advice from people with more experience than myself..."Duh", how silly of me eh...a newbie looking for help.

If you read my last post you will recall I said...that every day I put "x" amount of water into each of the 3 pots. And just about every time, water drained out of the bottom of all the pots. Seriously, what are your thoughts on this, too much water, too little, just about right? I know I haven't been putting "tons" of water on them but if the water is draining out of the bottom of the pot each time/day I gave them water is there any rationale to putting even more in? After 3 days without watering, the soil just below the top is quite moist although not sopping wet. So don't think I was depriving them.

I don't have plantS wilting, I have one plant (Italian Heirloom, at least that's what it was labelled) with wilted looking leaves. The other 2 are fine. All have had the same amount of water. Upon closer inspection, as mentioned in last post, the leaves on the wilted looking one are not dry hard, rigid or crumbly...they are soft and pliable. It has flowers. Last year one of my plants, not this variety, also had wilted looking leaves all summer and produced a ton of fruit. So, as I'm not an experienced tomatoer, I was just wondering if certain types naturally have wilted, kind of droopy looking leaves. And apparently they do.

Looks to me like, from the replies, there are varying views on watering potted tomatoes. I'll make sure my pots/plants don't dry out.

Thanks all for replying.

I need to get a photo but our Italian Heirloom is super large. We've never had them before and bought seedlings from a vendor at the farmers market not knowing anything about them. Thick stalks, tall, and broad--huge plant. My husband bought 8' stakes for it, Don't know how big it will get in a container vs. our raised beds. We also just harvested our first tomato, also very big @ 1 lb. 3.7 oz. It is very hot here and sometimes our leaves look a little wilted. This plant gets lots of full sun.

tarolli: "Tomatoes are extremely tolerant of tons of water. They do not rot. They just produce more roots."

It's very easy to make tomatoes unhappy by overwatering and even kill them. As others have been saying, a lot depends on the medium people are growing in, size of containers, weather/climate, etc. And it's not always about rotting the roots. Creating conditions that impede the roots' function by making it hard for them to take up nutrients can also damage the plant, and sitting in too wet of a mix for too long does this.

terry bartinson: "Looks to me like, from the replies, there are varying views on watering potted tomatoes. I'll make sure my pots/plants don't dry out."

I think if fireduck and Dave (digdirt) knew more details about your weather, your growing medium, your container size/shape, etc., they'd mostly agree on the approach to take to watering. What really varies is the conditions in and around the containers of each grower. Dave and fireduck are simply addressing different scenarios, talking about different sets of assumptions, etc.

The important thing is that tomato roots should be able to breathe. Lots of things besides simple volume and frequency of watering can negatively affect this. A mix that gets sludgy when moist, has a high perched water table (Seysonn has a good post on this somewhere, if you search), or one that is prone to getting compacted will suffocate roots. Another important thing is that tomatoes need enough nutrition, so if you have a well-draining mix (good) and water it frequently (good and necessary if it is actually well-draining), you will have to feed more often because you'll be constantly washing out the nutrients. On the other hand, if your mix drains poorly, it becomes very easy to overfertilize and produce excessive salts buildup in a limited space like a planter.

I think that, if your pot only has moisture at the very bottom, you're waiting too long to water, especially if your pots heat up a lot in the sun. However, if you happen to be growing in a medium that has bad drainage, that makes it really hard to water correctly, no matter what you do.

Thanks gorbelly In my original post I noted pot sizes. We put only potting soil in the pots. For 4-5 days I put slightly more than 1/2 US gallon of water in each pot. I did not put 1/2 gallon directly in each pot all at at one time but took my time moving from pot to pot 2-3 times until each pot got their 1/2 gal. When finished, It didn't take long before I noticed water coming out the bottom of each pot so I think they are well draining? I believe, contrary to some other opinions, I have been overwatering as temps weren't that hot (70*-80*F) during the 4-5days I was watering daily. I have now cut back on amount of water supplied and we got 1+ inches of rain 2 days ago. And as another poster suggested I am going to feed every 7-10 days at 1/2 the mfr suggested amount.

All this being said...2/3 plants look really good. All 3 now have flowers. What I'm most worried about is the "Italian Heirloom". It doesn't look so great. It's leaves, although soft and pliable, not dry or crunchy, look wilted. I was wondering if this is normal for this variety. It's been getting the same amount of water as the other 2 but looks droopy, the top 1/3 of leaves anyway.

Weather forecast is calling for 1.5 to 2" rain over Sunday and Monday. But it's time for feeding. I use a water soluble fertilizer but don't want to add a bunch of water to plants now. Sorry, newbie here...would it be a good idea to just sprinkle the fertilizer granules on the soil on top of the pot instead of mixing it with water?

Thanks for taking the time.

Containers should be filled with a soilless potting mix. Never anything sold as garden soil. And potting mixes differ a lot, depending on what their composition is. Water running out of the bottom isn't an indication of how well it drains, as even poorly draining mixes eventually reach a point where they cannot hold any more water. There's a lot of information on this in this forum, so do a search.

That said, let's assume everything is OK with the mix. Italian Heirloom is not reported to be one of those plants with wispy-leaved foliage, like the oxheart tomato varieties. There's a possibility that the variety is not "Italian Heirloom" but that the grower may have labeled as a generic Italian heirloom, and it could be an Italian heart variety like Cuor di Bue.

Did you, as fireduck suggested, check how the plant looks first thing in the morning? Does it look the same or different?

Also, I think people can help you more if you post a photo of your plant as well as photos of the other plants for comparison. Get a photo of the entire plant, as well as a close-up of the foliage you report as wilted.

Re: liquid fertilizing, it helps if the soil is wet. Fertilize as you normally would right after the rain. One episode of extra liquid won't hurt your plant if your mix drains OK. It's chronically incorrect watering that causes damage.

Also, a note about advice on here in general--
FYI, I have learned a ton from Sey, fireduck, and Dave. When they agree, whatever they're suggesting is almost certainly correct.

Hi gorbelly Thanks again. We have only potting mix in the container. Today I fertilized at 1/2 the mfgr recommended fertilizer rate with 4 litres/1.06 US gallons of water. Took my time putting the water mix in and within seconds of finishing each pot, water was draining out the bottom. I have no idea if this means anything. They were last watered July 4 but then we had a 1 1/4" rain on the 8th. As of last night all 3 plants still felt moist. But I fertilized this AM anyway as it had been awhile. Now, 10 hours after fertilizing the "Italian Heirloom" the top half now looks droopy, not just the top 1/3.

Earlier today I found this thread on which you posted. http://forums.gardenweb.com/discussions/4004396/cuor-di-bue-aka-oxheart-tomatoes-problem?n=14

The leaves in the pictures of the Cour di Bue look very much like my "Italian Heirloom". Words used to describe the leaves sound very much like my Italian..."spindly, weird leaves, wilt gene, wispy foliage". Maybe it is a Cour di Bue...I sure don't know and the lady we bought the plants from doesn't seem to know much either.

In this thread both Sey and Dave thought I was over watering. Fire duck didn't really offer an opinion on whether I was overwatering or not. I think I was. And I'm getting a funny feeling we are going to lose the "Italian Heirloom" or whatever it is.

BTW...your post of Thur at 9:30 AM on the above thread was very informative.

Thanks again for taking the time.

Terry

EDIT...oops, sorry. Yes the "Italian Heirloom" or whatever looks the same in the morning as evening. And we don't know how to post pictures. It would be helpful but we are old and not at all tech savvy.

Wow,, our "Italian Heirloom", Cour di Bou or whatever it is looks really good this A.M. Best in a couple of weeks. 1/4" rain overnight...fertilized 22 hours ago and it has really greened up. Not so droopy, wilty looking. Maybe there is hope.

Sounds like it needed to be fed. There's also something about rain that really perks up and greens up plants and pushes them into vigorous growth in a way that water from the tap doesn't do.

"Italian" still looks good this AM. We got 1.25 inches of rain here on thursday the 8th and the plant didn't didn't perk up at all after. So ya, must have really needed a feeding. Now going to be sure to fertilize every 7-10 days.

Thanks.