I've used 5 gals for years, only for cherry toms and small determinates. You'll find that your big toms will get tippy and stop producing because they've tapped out the soil in the bucket.

Dan

Instead of TMI you've provided TLI - too little information. Why do you want to use 5 gallon buckets? Urban? Condo? Apartment? Bad soil (like me)? I've used 7 gallon containers successfully for large indeterminates for the last two years primarily due to the d**n Florida nematodes in the soil...for me it requires stabilization of the plants but they NEVER suffer if provided with sufficient nutrient, water and oxygenation - the basics I've learned from Al and JAG.

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Those toms look great, but may I ask why all those dry leaves. Is that normal or is it bz of disease. My toms sometimes look like that and I panic. So I pull them and toss. Am I wrong?

Yes, you can grow any of the ones you listed. The plants will use all the growing mix in the container. Should they start entering the water resivoir some will adapt to being in water. One of the problems you will face is to provide something for them to climb up on.

kiee

Those toms look great, but may I ask why all those dry leaves. Is that normal or is it bz of disease. My toms sometimes look like that and I panic. So I pull them and toss. Am I wrong?

Here in Florida the plants will last 8 months from fall to summer, they start to shed their lower leaves and stems to accommodate new growth at the top after about 90 days, don't grow during June-Aug. due to night temps > 75F...guess you guys don't experience this.

Yup, that setup certainly will prevent them from tipping. And I sure am envious of the date on the picture...

Dan

Hi Dan,

You'll probably hate me for this then....

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Maters all grown in either 7 gallon or 5 gallon containers, beans in 5 gallon containers, peppers in 2 gallon containers....

Tom

Tom - I have lower leaves turn brown/dry also, mainly because of the intense sunlight/heat.

EG

To my eyes the plants in the pic show indications of disease, but here is the thing about tomato disease.

It happens. :)

Whether I grow in raised bed, the ground or containers some years the diseases simply strike. Once it shows up it is a race to harvest before the disease defoliates the plant.

It is just how it goes with tomatos.

Nobody seems certain where tomatos naturally occurred, but pretty much everyone agrees it was somewhere there was little to no disease therefore no tomato has much in the way of disease resistance. Hybrids have been developed to offer greater resistance, but that is all it is, resistance, not even close to immunity.

Tomatos are the kind of plant one can grow or they cannot. For me, I love growing them and I spread things out between containers, beds and soil, but even so some years are really good, others not so much.

Pro Tekt showed promise in 2008, but was not definitive due to weather conditions not favoring disease. 2009 will be a continuation of the experiment.

Hi JAG,

I've still got the plants going but your right, the leaves are defoliating quickly to the top and I can see some blight even though we're in our dry season. The tops are still going strong though so I'm letting the plants continue to grow to see if they pick up fruit production again, been too cold here the last few weeks but all the oaks are now budding so the maters should pick up again..., gonna spray for blight and see how it goes....

Lower leaf necrosis isn't that big of a deal, as toms can easily make more and fungi find it easy to invade the thin tissue. If it gets into the tops of the plant that is a problem.

Tom, I thought I was Mr Wonderful for having greens in an unheated cold frame in Denver area, but I might have to concede the title... ;o) ahhhh...the subtropics.

Dan

Dan - how do you tell which ones are large/small determinates? I know I can look up whether they are determinate or indeterminate. No luck on the size.

It's just trial and error, Alice, and seeing them in people's gardens over time (I had a small landscape design business for years and visited a lot of yards). A good start is the size of the fruit itself - smaller fruits don't need huge plants to support them, but this isn't foolproof. Often, your paste tomatoes will work, and certainly most cherries. I haven't been in Denver long, so I don't have it all down yet, but this season the non-cherries I'm doing are 'Better Bush' and 'Margo' in 5 gal SWCs. I think starting a new topic in the 'tomato growing' forum might be an interesting thread...

;o)

Dan

What I remember reading somewhere was that the container should be big enough to stand in and have room left over.
Kind of annoying for me because I've got limited room. And that I'm trying to use self-watering containers and don't have a better solution for larger containers. I did rescue a 20 or 24" container from the trash. Also got a 20 gallon one from the nursery.

I've been wondering if it is possible to do something like mostly burying some 2 liter soda bottles, then having the wick inside the bottle draw moisture out. I'd refill from the bottle neck sticking out.

It may not add much moisture but may help even things out.

To my eyes the plants in the pic show indications of disease, but here is the thing about tomato disease.
It happens. :)

Whether I grow in raised bed, the ground or containers some years the diseases simply strike. Once it shows up it is a race to harvest before the disease defoliates the plant.

Hey JAG,

Just thought I'd update you on how this turned out. The tops were absolutely beautiful but once I started trimming the bad stuff in the middle there was so much blight I realized I only had two options; 1) Cut the tops and root them 2) Cut it down to the base since healthy new shoots were coming up there. Since we get two seasons here in central/south Florida I decided that with good healthy roots why not try a second crop from the original plants, so that's my little experiment. These are the same plants in the pictures above. You can't really see the original stem well in the first picture so I shot a picture of the plant to the left of it, I've got blooms and maters already and I just cut them back two weeks ago...you should have seen the water pour out of the stems for three days, looked like a really leaky faucet :-)

Tom

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Showoff.

I've got a couple daffies sagging because of the mid-teen lows the past couple nights...

Dan

Hey Dan, It's Spring Break here :-) That also means it's already so hot that I've been using the my trucks AC :-(

Tom

I hate you, Tom :)

If my maters get blight it is pretty much end of story for them as I barely have one season in Wisconsin.

Good idea though. Maybe one of these days I will relocate to somewhere with a long enough season for me to try it.

Good idea though. Maybe one of these days I will relocate to somewhere with a long enough season for me to try it.

Well JAG, now is the time to take the last three days profits out of the market and buy a peice of dirt-cheap Florida real estate!

Hi tomncath,
Do good by JAG & make sure he actually gets sold property with dirt above water year round in Florida.

I use 1 cu ft pots for my tomatoes and they grow just fine...get to be quite large, actually. :)

The only problem is what would I do with my now dirt cheap property in Wisconsin? :)

The only problem is what would I do with my now dirt cheap property in Wisconsin? :)

Sorry, that one I can't help you with. Right now I think we all have property with very little value, except in our heads! Interested in a peice of property in the Bahamas? :-) :-(

Wow,Tom. Your tomatoes look really great.

I grow stupice in five gallon containers every year and in really bad years they can about the only ones that produce anything worth talking about. They are naturally a nice tidy compact plant with a strong desire to produce tomatoes.

Update of round two for these Beefmasters plants from the fall. Well, here we are about sixty days later and here in Florida the maters won't set fruit now that the night temps are greater than 75F, but I though I'd post a few follow pictures from the second crop from the same plants that I had cut back at the end of February. Lots of lower leaf necrosis again so I pulled them to keep the whiteflies from getting to the fruit....I should be able to harvest for another few weeks, then it will be all over for me here until September. I've been thinking, if Disney World can keep tomato trees going in their Epcot exhibit for years, why can't I? So, I think with these two plants I'll cut the stalks back to twelve inches again, put them in partial shade for the summer, and then bare-root repot them again in the fall to see what happens. Anybody tried this?

Tom

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Why not try a variety more resistant to that disease? Wont they just keep getting it over and over using the same plants?

That happens here in Zone 10 so close to the water, all varieties get this due to the significant heat and humidity. I tried the same thing with the Big Beefs and Jetsetters and they immediately came down with TYLCV, so the Beefmasters have been the most disease resistant plants for me here right off Tampa Bay....

I freaked out last year when I started getting brown leaves too. I'm still not sure if it was lack of water or disease or what, but now that I pay attention to pictures, it seems like a lot of people getting huge yields have leaf problems with their plants too, and it's not fatal or even that serious. How does everyone get them so big, though?? Maybe I just don't have quite enough light for that? Is there fertilizer involved??

How does everyone get them so big, though?? Maybe I just don't have quite enough light for that? Is there fertilizer involved??

Right variety, not too much CRF fertilizer, right amount of soil, water and sunlight...sounds easy, huh? Righhhhtttttt....