I think a minimum of 5 gallons for tomatoes. I prefer the 7 gallon and up variety myself. SWC's work great for tomatoes if you want to put the work into them. Luckily I was able to scratch the itch about 2 months ago. I live in FL, and everything is doing great so far.

Hope this helps.

-Nick

how do i determine what size is how many gallons? is there a math formula?

how do i determine what size is how many gallons? is there a math formula?

Oh, that it were that easy! Unfortunately, plant containers come in every size and shape under the sun, so no, there is no magic formula to tell what volume a container will hold. Nursery containers - those black plastic pots - do tend to be standardized because of industry regulations. But there's variation in even these - I know of at least 3 different shapes for 5G nursery containers :-)

The easiest way to determine the volume is to measure......get a 5G bucket, fill it with material and dump it in what you suspect is a large enough container. And take it from there. FWIW, it's not necessary to be too precise. In fact, if you provide sufficient drainage holes, those 5G buckets that are common to almost every home improvement store make ideal containers and are plenty large enough for tomato cultivars that are recommended for container growing......like 'Containers Choice'.

I do cherry toms and small determinates in 5 gal buckets, and have for over a decade. I use white buckets only, landscape fabric over potting soil and wood mulch over that; near the end of the season here in the wind they tend to get tippy but this is easily remedied.

This year I'll make a couple SWCs out of 5 gal buckets. Targét has Sterilite 18 gal containers right now for 4.99, these will hold two cherry toms and I'm going to make 2 SWCs out of these. 5 gal buckets are absolutely not a problem for cherry toms. Try it, you'll like it!

Dan