Sweet 100 is a huge indeterminate that easily reaches 4 feet wide and 8-10 feet tall or more. You can 'maybe' grow it moderately well in a 10 gallon container. In a 3 gallon container, no, I'm sorry. There are very few tomato varieties - dwarf varieties - that can successfully be grown in a container that small.

Dave

Thanks for the info. I have plenty of room to plant them directly into the ground, but our soil isn't the greatest. I guess I'll have to give it a go anyway.

"...our soil isn't the greatest."

With enough compost you can turn just about any any soil into a great soil.

Check to see if you can get free compost from your local recycling center. Here I can get up to 6 cubic yards delivered. They charge a delivery fee, but I hear from people that just go there every couple days and stuff a few bags/buckets... they don't keep track of those people I imagine.

If you can get a lot for free or cheap, just loosen the soil as deep as you can while mixing it with compost.

Tomato roots can go as deep as 4 feet given the chance, and they would be able to withstand what nature throws at them better if they can get that deep.

If I did my math correctly 3 gallons is 12 quarts. I know that even Indt cherry tomatoes can be grown in containers of that size. I'm not saying it is ideal. It is not. You will have a redued yeild. I ave done it sucsesfully though. normally 20 quarts is the min amount of soil.

I'm very familiar with our local compost center and I've done some soil amending with their compost for other beds with good results. We have a shallow soil problem as well, which I don't think compost can really fix. There's a hard pan below the clay, and the deepest I've been able to dig anywhere in our yard is about 18-24 inches. I planted grape tomatoes in one of my composted beds two years ago, and it only got about two and a half feet tall (from what I've read they're supposed to get a lot bigger than that). I have some leftover cotton burr compost, so I'll set up a bed for them and see how it goes. I suppose it would still be better than a small container.

I just planted a sweet 100 in a 14 gallon container, I'm keeping my fingers crossed :-)

I would think that a 14 gallon container would be more than big enough.

Yardman,

So what you're saying is that the container will be like one of those Topsy-Turvy tomato planters?

Taz--You're scaring me--I did put a Sweet 100 in a container--A large one and I need to move it so it gets relief from the brutal afternoon sun, I think, because I've found out they split, from reading this forum.

If one puts one of those into a hanging basket--Go ahead and really laugh--if one fed it frequently with dilute fertilizer, might it actually be able to live and produce tomatoes? I was going to put mine into a hanging basket, but something told me that might not be a good idea.

So, I got a grape tomato to put into the hanging basket.

Rotsa ruck, right? :)

Vivian

Vivian
Your sweet 100 should do fine in a large container with the right mix. Brutal sun doesn't cause splitting, excess water (as in lots of rain) after a dry spell or when the skin is at the point it isn't going to stretch any further does. Your grape might make a couple fruit in a hanging basket.
My ROFL fit the situation perfectly IMO. Check my reply to yardenman which was made just before on the thread below and you should get it.

Here is a link that might be useful: too much light/heat on seedling?

Aha,

I thought you were ROTF-ing at the thought of a sweet 100 plant in a container, which I thought was funny after what people have said about how vigorous they are.

Thanks for explaining about the splitting. Do the split-resistant varieties have mor elasticity to their skins? Is cracking the same as splitting?

Why might my grape make a couple of fruit in a hanging basket? This is all a learning experience for me.

Can you tell me of any small-fruited tomatoes that can grow well in a hanging basket, a regular hanging basket?

Thanks,

Vivian

The four sweet 100s I have went in the ground today. Digging the holes was a chore because we've been so dry the last few months. I got the shovel in about four inches and hit our brick-like clay. Thankfully we're getting some rain now, and I'll keep them well-watered to soften up the soil. I highly doubt the roots will reach four feet deep, though, but I suppose it's better than being in a container.