Bush Big Boy is a good plant, in my opinion. Seeds hard to find anymore though. I might have a few left. Grew it in 5 gallon buckets, one plant to a bucket.

I prefer 10-gallon nursery tree tubs, but can get by in 5 or 7 gallon tubs by watering pretty much every day. Friend of mine grows two indeterminate vines per 5-gallon bag of coir in hoophouses but that's with a constant drip irrigation system including fertilizer injected into the drip lines every 6 hours.

Grew it a couple of times several years back. Agree it is a nice plant and produces well. Never found the fruit flavor to be anything special but it's ok. Better varieties are readily available.

Agree with hoosier above - max of 1 plant to a minimum of a 5 gallon container. Personally I'd never use just a 5 gallon container because of the watering demands and feeding problems with them - I only use 10 gallon or bigger for a tomato plant - but some folks here swear by 5 gallon buckets - 1 plant each.

Dave

hoosiercherokee - that was the problem I ran into last year was the daily water, plus the other patio tomatoes (forget the name), grew about 5-6 feet tall. I used Miracle Grow on them nearly every or every other time I water so they may have been over fertilized.

What exactly are 10-gallon nursery tree tubs? Would those work much better than the 5-7 gallons?

For the Bush Big Boy Hybrid this year, I was actually going to order plants directly from Burpee.

digdirt - is there something better that you suggestion that is also in the "bush" style?

What kind of 10 gallon container do you recommend? I actually had to bungee tie the containers to the side of my deck by mid summer as with summer storms, they ended up falling over a couple of times before I started doing this. Not much weight to hold them down in relation to the height.

Is it better to use a slow release tablet or something of the sort over Miracle Grow? Is that too much nitrogen? Was using the Bloom Booster then for awhile which was much lower nitrogen.

Seems I added calcium, about a cup or so, to each pot when I planted them, but then still suffered from Blossom End Rot and after getting a few rotten tomatoes, started applying the spray and still added a little more to the soil.

Cannot recall if I used the Miracle-Gro Moisture Control Potting Mix last year as the soil seemed to really dry out fast. Does regular Potting Soil work much better?

There are many bush varieties available. But not as plants. If it is plants you use rather than growing your own from seed as most of us do then your choices will be severely limited. Big Boy is likely as good as any of the other common variety plants you'll find available.

Still I would certainly check other sources before I'd use Burpee. Local nurseries or growers, selectedplants.com, heirloomtomatoplants.com, etc. Google 'who sells tomato plants online' for links to many plant sellers we can't list here.

As to 10 gallon containers, again there are many options available. Nursery pots (many local nurseries will sell used ones to you cheaply), grow bags, plastic barrels from a recycling center cut in half, Earthbox, plastic feed tubs from the feed/coop stores, even Rubbermaid storage bins that sell for $5-7. Search 'earthtainers' here for lots of discussions and photos of how to make your own SWC out of Rubbermaid containers.

Dave

How would something like this work:

Here is a link that might be useful: 10 Gallon Round Nursery pot

Sure but injection molded pots last longer and are heavy duty. You can often get both types for free or for a couple of dollars from a local nursery.

Black poses a problem with overheating roots, depending on where you live so some folks paint theirs white, or wrap them in foil. Lots of different online vendors so shop around.

Dave

Here is a link that might be useful: Injection molded pots

Big Boy,

I get black plastic tubs from a friend who owns a large commercial nursery that sells and plants lots of trees. That's what I mean by black nursery tree tubs. They're about 15 or 16 inches tall and maybe 12 or so inches in diameter if I remember right. I get the used ones free and usually plant 20 each year for varieties I'm trialing or growing for seed.

As far as wind blowing the tubs over when the plants are near mature, I drive a single metal fence post through the bottom of each tub and hold them to the ground that way. Or I drive the post right next to the tub and tie the vines to the post. Either way.

When the vines look like they're gonna grow way taller than the fence post, I lash a bamboo pole to the post as an extension. Didn't have any blow over.

BER on potted tomatoes often is caused by 1) uneven irrigation schedule allowing potting mix to dry out, and 2) black plastic pot getting hot and scalding the roots. Either way, when you stress the roots, you invite BER. Also, most mixes do not contain sufficient calcium and I don't care what else anyone says, that is an issue.

I don't have that issue because I use a homemade mix that includes native clay loam in small proportions along with agricultural lime mixed in. Clay will bind with organic material (the rotted bark and manure in my mix) and together, those particles have a charge (cation exchange capacity) that will hold nutrients far better than organic material alone and much much better than sand.

Also, for container plants I use an iron supplement like Ironite or Fertilome's equivilent product both of which contain essential micronutrients.

I don't think you need to fertilize with MiracleGro every other time you water. That seems excessive. Once every 7 - 10 days with 1/2 strength has done well for me in the 10-gallon pots. Like I said, the tomato or rose formula is what I use regularly. But I have used bloom booster on seedlings (early because studies have traced tagged phosophorus in the fruit of plants that were fertilized with the tagged phosphorus at the seedling stage), and again after first fruit set to stimulate a more vigorous second blooming.

Okay, as to the Burpee issue, I start some Big Boy (the regular indeterminate ones) each year for a friend's father. That's all he wants to grow and since he is like in his late 80s, I'm not gonna argue with him.

But othewise, I'm boycotting Burpee because they "appropriated" the name Tye Dye for a tomato they released this year that does not bear any physical resemblence, in the picture they printed on the cover of their 2010 catalog, or other relationship to the original Berkeley Tie Dye from Wild Boar Farms, in my opinion. And that is shameful and unethical, in my opinion. Well, I mean if Burpee doesn't compensate Brad Gates with royalties for using the name.

When I sent an email to Burpee about what I perceived as their scandalous behavior, this is what they replied, in part: "The tomato Tye-Dye is a hybrid with similar flavor and traits as the heirloom variety Tie Dye. We thought we could play on the name due to similarity with the hybrid we developed for improved vigor, yield and fruit quality."

What a load of horse hockey!

By the way, there are many other determinate and dwarf tomatoes that grow well in pots and make large, delicious tomatoes. Just sayin' ...

hoosiercherokee - Sounds like I need to make a trip to my local nursery to try and round up 4 of the 10 gallon containers.

I am putting these containers on my Trek deck so have to be careful what I use and obvious cannot drive anything into the containers.

What would be a simple store bought soil to go with; some more the Moisture Control or Potting Soil or something else?

Besides Bush Big Boy Hybrid, can you recommend any others better than this? Last year, I went with Bush Goliath Hybrid Tomatoes and not sure if it was due to fertilizer or what; but they sure did grow awfully tall.

Doubt you could find the plants locally but the links above may have some. But if you grow from seed - Red Rocket, Bush Champion, Sophie's Choice, John Baer, or Biltmore. They are all either bush or compact varieties suitable for containers.

Dave

Hopefully going from 2 plants per pot to 1 and 5 gallon containers to 10 gallon containers, things should dry out less this season.

Would appreciate suggestions on soil to go with to keep it simple; Moisture Control, Potting Soil, etc.

Picked up (3) 15-gallon nursery tree tubs today. :-)

If you get the tree tubs at a nursery or commercial landscaping company, go ahead and ask them if they have bulk qtys of landscape mix or whatever kind of manmade bedding mixes they fill large landcape islands or beds with.

Usually, these will run from $25 dollars a "scoop" (generally 1/2 cubic yard) to maybe $55 - $65 a cubic yard, which would pretty much fill a shortbed pickup truck to where the bumper was down on the wheels.

So, if they do, sweet talk the operator into letting you fill the tubs with this mix for some dirt cheap price like 50c or a buck per 10-gallon tub. One farmer I get this stuff from will let me fill 10-gallon tubs for 25c - 50c each depending on what kinda mood he's in or how close it is to Miller Time.

He makes his mix from rotted bark and wood chips from the utility company right-of-way trimmings, rotted horse manure and stall bedding, native clay loam, sand and agricultural lime. I notice a lot of lawn care contractors also drop off leaves and grass clippings in his composting area.

Anyway, get something that drains readily. Don't use garden soil! If the mix isn't sterile, such as homemade like what I get from that farmer, cut a piece of porous landscape fabric to top the filled container and suppress weeds.

I plant my tomato transplants on my tailgate at the farmer's loading yard as I fill my containers in the spring.

Don't go buying fancy shmancy bagged mixes if you can get something that works cheap from a farmer, soilbuilder or commercial nursery, etc.

I add a little release Ozmocote fertilizer and some cheap 12-12-12 granules like what you can buy at Dollar General or Walmart for 2 or 3 bucks a 4-pound box ... right into the tubs as I fill them. Like in the top half of the growing mix. Then I still fertilize with half strength Miracle-Gro type tomato formula or rose formula every week to 10 days and water every other day or every day when it gets supper hot.

You can stuff some wheat straw in the top of the containers and pile some up around the containers if the sun causes the black tubs to get exceedingly hot 'cuz if you don't, you risk baking the roots, distressing them, and causing BER.

Good growing.

Bill

Made the mistake last year of not realizing the necessary level of lime needed. Going with about a cup per container when first planting and then add another cup about every 4 weeks.

Because the farmer from whom I get my potting mix already includes agricultural lime in his "landscape mix," I don't add any calcium other than what may be in the various fertilizers, including Fertilome iron and micronutrient supplement, that I use periodically during the season.

Yes, a friend who grows tomatoes in 5-gallon bags of coir in hoophouses has a fertigation system that injects a high phosphorus liquid fertilizer four times per 24 hours and liquid calcium once per 24 hours through his drip lines.

I think adding calcium to the potting mix during the growing season would depend on 1) whether the original mix was deficient in calcium to begin with, 2) whether your potting mix is comprised of enough organic material and clay to create a high enough cation equation coefficient to bind the nutrients to the potting mix particles for the plants to take up, and 3) how much water you pass thru the mix leaching out the calcium and other nutrients.

Just to resurrect an old thread and mention that Burpee is selling the Bush Big Boys again. This fine bush tomato disappeared for a couple of years. I have not done it in a container but it does very well for me, produces more than my heirlooms, and is a pleasant a little sweet 10 -12 ounce tomato. Works well in the cages.

I am reopening this to leave a review of Bush Big Boy from a Big Boy-lovers point of view. I grew one plant to test for friends who have to grow in pots.

It does not resemble Big Boy in any way.

BAD TASTE. Big Boy has a wonderful high-acid taste. This thing has a bland, low-acid taste similar to Celebrity or grocery-store tomatoes.

DISEASE-PRONE. Got early blight very early and gave it to neighbors in the garden.

TRULY A DWARF. Only 5 feet tall.

LOW PRODUCTION.

Must be the container. Have you done Big Boy in a similar container?

Try the Bush Big Boy in a regular raised bed and I think you will like it.

I had also found the 2010 version of Bush Big Boy to be about 82% as close to tasting like the best red open pollinated tomatoes that I have experimented with and tested for the same results in different places and different years.

Sorry to say it but Brandywine tested low in production, maybe 8-10 maters before it fell to diseases and was no better than the other tasty red heirlooms I have tested.

Those were Druzba, Abraham Lincoln (original or improved) and Cosmonaut Volkov (Cosmonaut Volkov was disease prone but omg every year each plant quickly produced like 40 -50 of the best tasting maters ever before they croaked by sometime during July)

And celebrity, a very disease resistant mater always has had a very noticeably hard time with transplant shock. That never happened with Better Boy hybrids. Some had to be replaced in a few weeks and took 2 weeks longer to ripen than Better Boys did. Better boy was always "KING" in my hybrid experience with the exception of Sun Gold which is still the #1 Cherry tomato in my experience, an orange tomato that tastes a bit like a tangerine tomato and very very resilient and disease resistant.

But Better boy as far as red highly disease resistant hybrids go was always #1. Big beef, a Better Boy cousin that was very similar, always developed more cracks on top which let diseases get a start.

What I was wondering was if bush big boy becomes unavailable or changed for the worse how it might work out to take a great tasting indeterminate plant and cut the growing point and prune it to keep it short and bushy. I've never tried that.

Also I would recommend using a laundry basket lined with weed block material as an air pruning style container along with a rain gutter self watering system to make use of all of the unused root room. Then fertilize frequently with low doses of liquid organic fertilizer.

I found them on youtube. (Self watering rain gutter systems and air pruning).

I am using PVC and drilling 3" holes for the potting mix net pot wick instead of the original rain gutter for the water in my systems.

Burpee's Atlas F1 is a large-fruited bush tomato for containers that sounds possibly promising (it's supposed to be prolific and tasty). I think it's too new to have reviews, though. They offer plants.

You might also research Bush Champion II F1.