Carol,
I grow tomatoes in anything and everything that will hold dirt, including (but not limited to) the following: white (or colored) 5-gallon buckets, the white or yellow buckets that large quantities of cat litter comes in (I spray paint them a lovely dark green with the Fusion paint made for spray-painting plastics), galvanized tubs, clay flower pots, plastic flower pots, window boxes (very dwarf tomatoes), cheap black plastic nursery pots (the size that large shrubs or small trees come in) and (as Terrence mentioned) Sunleaves Grow Bags. I haven't tried Smart Pots yet, but trying them is on my "to do" list. My gigantic containers are somewhat larger than a half whiskey barrel--about as big around or a maybe a little larger, and a few inches taller. One of my "old rancher" gardening friends gave them to me. He gets some sort of cattle feed or supplement in them. Some of them are black, others are beige or white, and one is pale pink!
Over the years, I've tried many soilless mixes and potting soils. I also tried ordinary garden soil just to see if it would be as awful as everyone said it would be (and it was).
One of the worst was the Miracle-Grow Moisture Control Soil. I had though it might be a good thing to use, but it held too much moisture and did not drain well enough. (I had thought that in our heat, it would be impossible for it to hold too much moisture--but I was wrong.) It might have worked well in summer's heat, but it kept the plants way too wet in the spring.
Any soilless mix is preferable to a really heavy bagged potting soil. In my experience, the cheaper the potting soil, the poorer the quality, too, and some of the cheaper ones are really heavy and just do not drain well at all.
So, I've finally gotten to where I just mix up a tomato-growing version of Al's Mix (from the container forum).
I start with his basic recipe and make a few changes. My changes to his original ingredients are noted in the parentheses:
3 cu. ft. pine bark fines
5 gallons peat or compost (I prefer compost)
5 gallons perlite (I substitute composted manure because I don't want the containers to drain too quickly in our heat)
1 cup lime
2 cups controlled release fertilizer (I use Espoma Tomato-Tone 4-7-10)
1/2 cup micro-nutrient powder or 1 gallon composted manure (I skip this since I use compost instead of peat and manure instead of perlite, and the tomato tone gives me all the trace elements I need.)
Then, to this soilless brew, I add a few of the amendments from the Earl's Hole Method of Growing Tomatoes from the Tomato Forum:
1 handful of epsom salt (per plant)
1 handful of bone meal (per plant)
And then I make my own addition:
1 handful of greensand (for potassium)
I mix all the major ingredients (but not the 'handfuls') together, usually in a blue plastic wading pool. Then, I put the mix in the container I'm going to use, and then I add the ingredients that are measured by the 'handful'. In an average container (5 to 10 gallons), I add one handful. In a large container (10 to 20 gallons) I add two handfuls. In a gigantic container (over 20 gallons) I add three handfuls. I stir the 'handfuls' into the soilless mix really, really well and then add the plant.
I water the plant well to settle down the soilless mix. Sometimes I use plain water, but if it is a really hot, dry day and I am worried about transplant shock, I'll water it in with whatever liquid organic fertilizer I have handy--liquid fish, compost tea, Garret Juice, liquid seaweed, etc. THEN, I add mulch....either bark or grass clippings, whicheve is handy. THEN, I scatter a handful or two of Tomato-Tone on the soil surface so it can slowly wick its way down into the soil over time. Depending on how much I find myself watering, I top dress with Tomato Tone throughout the growing season (I go though lots of it each year) every 2 to 4 weeks.
I do not bottom water. I think bottom watering tends to have an adverse effect on the roots since they always stay wet. I top water, using either a water hose/watering wand or drip irrigation. (The advantage to drip irrigation is that you can put it on a timer if you are going to be away a lot.) Sometimes, during the worst part of the summer heat, I have to water all but the gigantic containers twice a day.
The pots probably do get too hot but I choose not to obsess over it. (EVERYTHING gets too hot in our heat, so I just don't worry about it.)
One advantage to using containers is that you can move them around to suit you, if you want. In the early spring, I keep the early-planted pots on the concrete apron that is attached to the garage/barn so they can soak up the heat from the concrete slab. If a heavy rain or hail threatens, I drag them up under the patio cover (like I did early this afternoon).
In the summer, I just put them wherever.....but I will move them to a spot where they get some late afternoon sun in the late July to mid-August timeframe if we're having our typical relentless heat.
I take great pains to match the mature size of the tomato plant to the size of the container. For example, in five gallon or smaller pots I only plant the smallest determinate or ISI tomato plants--like Better Bush, Bush Early Girl, Bush Celebrity, Bush Big Boy, Extreme Bush, Polish Dwarf, New Big Dwarf, etc. Window boxes are for the tiniest tomatoes like Red Robin or Yellow Canary or Window Box Roma. Medium-sized containers (10-20) are great for almost any standard determinate or semi-determinate (or ISI) , and I save the largest containers (the ones I call 'gigantic') for the most vigorous indeterminate plants--Better Boy, Sweet Million, Brandy Boy, Porterhouse, Neves Azorean Red, Brandywine, and Black Krim, for example.
This is my first year to try SunLeaves Grow Bags. I actually ordered them last year when the rain wouldn't quit, but never got around to using them. They only hold 10 gallons of soil, so I'll probably only plant dwarf, determinate, or semi-determinates in them. I don't know if they are big enough for ISIs, but I have some Husky Red and Husky Gold that I might try just to see.
If I ever come across Smart Pots in a store, I'll probably buy a couple so I can see how they do.
I don't just grow tomatoes in containers....but herbs, peppers, and flowers as well. I use the same soil for them all, pretty much, but substitute Plant-Tone for the Tomato-Tone plant food for the herbs and flowers. (I use Tomato-Tone for the peppers, though.)
So far this year, the only tomatoes I've been growing in containers are the ones I planted for really early tomatoes: Better Bush, Husky Red and Grape. On those eight plants, I have a total of seven tomatoes so far, and lots of blooms. Yesterday, I planted a few more plants (Husky Red, Husky Gold, Bush Big Boy, and some others) in containers of various sizes. I'm going to try to plant my Grow Bags next week, if life and weather permits.
If you have more questions, feel free to ask.
Dawn
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