can I container plant sweet 100,s tomatoes?

jeanwedding. zone 6

7 years ago

cause I have lots of volunteer seedlings. and we hope to move soon....

1 have had them planted off and on for years. even brought them in compost(unknown) from my former city home...

Now can I prune them so they dont get so tall...?

I have plenty of wire cages we made from fencings years ago

anyone with pics?

thanks yall

Featured Answer

gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9)

7 years ago

No pics but Sweet 100's are one of two varieties I grow........and only in containers!! (the other is SunGold). You need a big container - I'd suggest 15G at a minimum - as both are indeterminate varieties that get very large. And a large container is more easily able to support a large enough cage :-))

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Comments (10)

digdirt2
7 years ago
Agree it can be done as long as you use a big enough container. I use 20 gallons but 15 gallon would work if that is all you can find. No smaller though for that variety as it is a huge plant.

As for cutting back the tops so they don't get so tall - what many don't understand about large indeterminate like this is that the more you "prune" them the taller they grow. That is their nature. If you lop off the top it just sprouts 2 new branches from that spot that grow even taller than what you cut off. If you don't do any low side-shoot pruning the plant will remain shorter and bushier. It will still get tall but you can always lop off the top close to fall.

Dave
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jeanwedding. zone 6
Original Author
7 years ago
so I dont remove any suckers? so prune what parts? I sure wish I could understand more. even though been gardening for over 40 yrs one way or another.

but mostly in the ground stuff

Ive got some beets started now in "gutters" the larger aluminum gutters.I tried the toliet paper and or one ply paper towel with "flour glue" but Im thinking the germination rate isnt good. I prob need to put some "bag around them to speed germ. even though it rained lots lately....

The gutters are like 4 foot long each and was cut and made back in former city at a "guttering and siding distributor." with end caps prof applied too. Very resonable priced too. Made while I watched even...

I have them setting on brackets outside the deck. Prev I just grew baby lettuces in them.......

I made landscape fabric liners to custom fit back then. now the "liners" have kind of deterorated....

We brough them with us when moving... even though Im not fond of growing stuff in plastic, aluminum etc...
Dawson North TX (z8a/7b)
7 years ago
I may be wrong about this but wouldn't a smaller pot create a more controllable plant? I would think that having a smaller root system would be better to keep the plant small just like grafting a dwarf rootstock onto a standard tree grows a dwarf size tree. Please correct me on this if I am wrong, this is just the information that I have heard.
Barrie, (Central PA, zone 6a)
7 years ago
It's true Dawson that a rootbound plant will stay smaller. It will produce fruit sooner once rootbound. The downside is that you get very poor yield and set yourself up to a host of other problems that usually result in a short plant life.
Dawson North TX (z8a/7b)
7 years ago
I ask from a slightly worried standpoint because I have 2 heirloom tomato plants and 1 Sun Gold tomato plant that are all in 10 gal pots as I heard that you can grow tomatoes in as small as 5 gal pots but 10 gal was better and now hearing this that it should be 15 gal I am a little worried. Also I am looking at putting 2 cucumbers in a 5 gal pot, is that to many for a 5 gal? Thanks in advance.
digdirt2
7 years ago
It depends on the variety Dawson. Many heirlooms will do fine in 10 gallons, even most indeterminate hybrids can do okay. But Sun Gold, like Sweet 100's the OP asked about, are monster plants. Cherry tomato varieties are deceptive. The fruit may be small but many of the plants are the biggest monster plants in existence, far bigger than even the plants that produce beefsteak tomatoes.

jeanwedding's problem is going to be trying to move the monster. Even a 10 gallon pot full of soil and growing plant is he-av-y.

Dave
Dawson North TX (z8a/7b)
7 years ago
I have a Black Krim and a Yellow Pear, they are the heirlooms. What would you suggest now that they are already in a 10 gal, I don't really want a stressed out plant that is producing poor quality fruit.
Barrie, (Central PA, zone 6a)
7 years ago
Ten gal pots are fine. I tell most people buying my seedlings that 7 gal. is the lower limit. I sell lots of dwarf varieties in 2 gal. pots and plants do as expected for a short term plant. If I had to prepare a 20 gal. pot I would think twice about the benefits vs. the extra labor and costs involved.

The tradeoff is more frequent watering, fertilizing. Anything in a pot will need to be supported to avoid falling over. The shape of the pot might have some bearing on that.
digdirt2
7 years ago
Black Krim did fine for me in 10 gallons. Yellow Pear is such a lousy tomato IMO that I'm sure you'll get all the fruit from it you'll want out of a 10 gallon container. Have you read any of the many reviews of it here? Might want to do that. ;-)

http://www.gardenweb.com/gardenweb/query/yellow-pear/topic=tomato

Dave