Size of fruit is mostly determined by the genetics of the plant variety. So we need to know the names of the varieties you are growing please.

Dave

Tomatoes on average don't get as large in containers as they do in ground. That has been my experience. Also, later in the season, fruits of many varieties tend to naturally be smaller than the earlier harvested ones.

Turning red before they finish growing---do they have blossom end rot?

Here where it's mostly 80's to low 90's, for 4 & 5 gallon containers, I use about 3 qts of water per plant daily, plus heavy fertilization regularly. Your temps probably need even more water. If you want big tomatoes from containers, you need lots of water & food... and most organic fertilizers get washed out of containers before they even have a chance to work, and those that stick around often take too long to work.

Mark

Those plants could have been mislabeled at the nursery, or otherwise mixed up with a smaller-fruiting variety. I would agree that you just have a small-fruiting type of tomato there. Maybe even a cherry. I echo what was said about frequent watering in pots and heavy fertilization. Personally, I also think the size of your pot for a beefsteak variety should be 15 gallon, particularly in your hot area. Try again next season, and make sure you buy your plants from a reputable nursery (places like drugstores and K-marts are more likely to mix up labels).

Unfortunately, labels can be mixed up even at the "good" places. Customers do it.
:>)

Beyond that, I echo the suggestions that you may have a cherry tomato, also that you need a larger pot.

Have fun in your garden. It's one of those things you learn by doing.

"i planted a beefsteak variety"

Oh c'mon azscp, tell us what you planted. It does matter. Are you hiding what you grew? ;)

Yardenman

the reason for the small fruit is the pots are to small and plants are root bound.

While I'd agree that the pots are too small for most varieties, root binding affects the plants themselves, not the size of the fruit. That is determined by the variety genetics primarily though also affected to a small degree by the watering and fertilizer used.

Since you don't know or haven't supplied the name of the varieties then the most likely explanation, given your description of "dime-sized" fruit, is that you have cherry tomato varieties (not beefsteaks) that were either (1) mis-labeled, (2) were grown from a seed that had cross-pollinated, or (3) were a hybrid seed that has reverted. All are the responsibility of the plant supplier.

And yes, it is late in the season to salvage much so enjoy what fruit you do get. Spend the AZ "Winter" researching how to grow tomatoes in containers (it is more complex than growing them in the ground but still quite successful), and finding a reptuable supplier. Then get some larger containers, a good potting mix (not soil), and specific named varieties for next year.

Good luck. ;)

Dave

Varieties determine size to a large extent. But the summer here illustrates again how climate conditions can affect the size of fruit. Most of mine have been smaller. And it has been a year where I've picked 4-14 oz. fruit from the same plant. Just mattered when they set. My soil is very good and I supplement feed some of mine as an experiment and they were the same. The hail hurt me and then you can see the affect the heat had. The fruit that did most of their growing before the heat and then those doing most of it afterwards are a lot bigger. Those that grew during the 100 degree days especially on plants with 30-60 fruit set are considerably smaller. I weight mine and date some so can do a comparison real easy. So size of container, variety and climate conditions all come into play. JMO. Jay

Droughts with heat causes tomatoes to ripen small when planted in the ground. In small pots in Arizona, then that's almost a given! Add the fact theyre beefsteak varieties which were probably inadequately fertilized, and you can almost guarantee the results you got.

Of course, getting tomatoes this time of year in Arizona is rare, so enjoy them no matter what the size.

One problem could be that your tomato plant was mislabelled. Cherry tomatoes tend to look different than larger tomatoes. The fruits tend to be in clusters along the stem. I won't be able to explain this very well, someone else might be better at it, but the clustered fruits usually indicate a cherry tomato. You might want to take a look (or post a picture) or the way the tomatoes are forming. If the aren't forming like a cherry tomato would, but more like a regular tomato (just too small), then I would think that your problem would lie more with the container (ie too small, rootbound plants).

If the fruit grow in clusters like grapes, it's a cherry tomato.

Other tomatoes grow in clusters, but they tend to be a smaller number of fruits per cluster. My OP Romas, for example, tend to grow in clusters of 6. Cherry tomatoes tend to have many more fruits than that per cluster, spaced quite closely together - more like grapes than anything else I can think of.

Sojourner

And I second the notion that regardless of anything else, your pot size was far too small. Next year try much larger pots. You can get large pots quite cheaply from Big Lots or Dollar General. I'm talking 20" minimum diameter for a beefsteak variety of tomato.

Sojourner

I have no problem growing large beefsteak types in pots as small as 3-4 gallons but they must be watered & fed regularly. Some of my largest, 2lb+ tomatoes were grown in 4 gallon buckets with 3 gallons of soilmix and drip fertigation. You need water & food to get good size. Heat speeds up ripening too, so does small pots. Your pots are 3-4x the size of mine so I think it's watering & feeding that made the difference.

I bet your plants were tag switched. You should have at least gotten a couple that were bigger I would have thought.
That's why I don't let my customers get out their own tomato plants. My hubby or I do it for them, and I have signs explaining that fact and why.
Basically, until they pay for them and take them home, they're MY plants, and I can make the rules. Bossy aren't I?

Am facing the same problem, can you help me with the solution you used.!?

You could grow your own plants from seed next time. Let us know what you like, for instance for cooking or eating fresh, and I'm sure there will be lots of suggestions.

Linda

This lady's problem is the temp is way to high and stunting the tomato growth. Once tomatoes set, if it gets too hot, the plant will quit expanding the fruit and ripen it just to get it off the plant. It takes a bunch of 105f to do that and Sept in AZ certainly will.

I agree. Tomato size mostly is governed by the genetics, within a range. That is why they say, eg, fruit size 8 to 16 oz. .

Deviation can occur due to growing conditions such as stress due to drought , lack of moisture, More load on the plant (excess foliage and fruits). Competition growers know this and they keep few fruits. This way the get all the attention from the plant.

But having said that, the OP's experience might have been due to wrong tag or a stray seed.

Sey

I too have the same problem in West Texas. It's hot and windy, I have my plants in five gallon buckets hanging to keep dogs from destroying them. I planted beefsteak, celebrity, and better boy tomatoes. I planted with miracle grown potting soil and peat moss mix. I am picking fruit from jaw breaker to slightly larger than golf ball size. What do I need to do??

Stress will fasten ripening. And high heat is a big stress. You should still be able to get good size with better growing practices though. Drip irrigation or self watering would help hugely in a high heat area. Also be sure to feed regularly, like weekly a big spoon of organic fertilizer once fruits appear.

Ditto on the heat hastening ripening at expense of fruit size. I have some Big Beefs still setting fruit in these last weeks of 100+, but they stay small.

interstingly, I also have a Mortgage Lifter in partial shade still setting fruit. The fruit that is getting 50% shade is doing better. It is a fine balance:. If you suppress sunlight, your fruiting goes down.

ejbizze: I too have the same problem in West Texas. It's hot and windy, I have my plants in five gallon buckets hanging to keep dogs from destroying them. I planted beefsteak, celebrity, and better boy tomatoes.

It's highly unlikely those varieties can produce much in 5 gallon hanging baskets in hot windy weather unless your career is watering them and feeding them constantly throughout the day. Even then, it's far from good conditions for large-fruited indeterminates. For the future, I would suggest much, much larger containers or in-ground if possible. Train the dogs or use a barrier they can't get past. Or grow smaller plants like dwarf varieties.

I am no expert but tomato plants need water, fertilizer when you plant them and they can grow in a 3-4 gallon bucket. Water them every morning and every evening just keep the soil moist (not flooded) do not use fertilizer after they bloom because what few tomatoes that will grow taste bitter. All they need is water.

matt bostic, I don't mean to be unkind, but have you ever grown tomatoes yourself? Did you use those methods? Because for almost everyone, following that advice is going to turn out very, very badly for them.

Gorbelly is right. 3-4 gallons is small. Also, watering twice a day will almost certainly promote root rot and leach nutrients rapidly. Sure don't need to do that to keep the soil moist. Need to fertilize regularly in any case. Fertilizer and bitter tomatoes? Not my experience. No, they need a lot more than just water.

This is an old thread, but I'd agree with others that while tomato plants can survive in small pots, they will be stressed, and it is unreasonable to expect regular sized fruit. I'm really surprised that one person managed to get them. But if you keep them saturated with fertilizer, in what might almost be a hydroponic kind of environment, you might pull it off.

Perhaps there's some confusion about gallon sizes? A "5 gallon pot" doesn't actually hold 5 gallons--more like just under 4. But a bucket not intended to be used as a pot will hold the volume it claims to hold, AFAIK. So a 4 gallon bucket would be the same volume as a 5 gallon/#5 trade pot, right?

Even so, that's really the bare, bare minimum for tomatoes and will still result in much reduced yield and constant threats of drought stress, etc. during the heat of summer for the vast majority of people if we're talking average indeterminate varieties. A dwarf/compact/patio plant could do fine in that, though.

And not fertilizing tomatoes? Tomatoes getting "bitter" if you fertilize them? That's not the experience of any tomato grower that I've ever known. One of the most common mistakes we see on this forum when people come on here wondering why their plants are doing poorly and dying, especially container plants, is that the person thought it was unnecessary to fertilize, often because they were adding compost and other organic amendments and thought that would be enough. The smaller the container, the more you have to water, and the more you have to water, the more nutrients get flushed out. I've seen you guys explain this to so many people so many times.

I am having trouble too.

Have you found the solution?

I'm having the same problem. I bought and planted a 7 inch beefsteak tomato plant from a nursery on May 3rd into a 5 gallon home depot bucket. I used miracle gro potting soil. The plant has grown to 4ft and yielding many little green tomatoes but some are now turning red but are only golf ball size. I wanted to have big fried green tomatoes. They are too small to pick green.

What should I do?

Unless you are growing a dwarf or compact variety, a 5 gallon bucket is too small for an indeterminate tomato. To salvage the situation, prune to one stem and add some fertilizer.

If you grow from seed, select dwarf or compact varieties to grow in 5-gallon buckets next season.

I'm having the exact same thing happen with mine and I too used EB Stone soil and fertilizer!

I live in Michigan abd my tomatoes are turning red and are way too small we are being sold defective seeds on purpose.

You people are stuck on a 5 to 4 gallon size not being large enough to grow tomatoes but everybody is not using a 5 gallon buckets I am using a 25 gallon bucket and my tomatoes are golf ball size obviously these people don't have a clue.

I have heirloom tomatoes they are in the ground. I have fertilized and used mirical grow food. Yet the tomatoes are cherry tomato size and red. Plants are 4' tall. And supported by fence and tomato stands. Why are they not growing?

What varieties are you all growing? What is the expected size listed (usually in ounces)? I've only seen one person mention varieties, and it sounded like they might be having a heat issue. No one has posted any pictures ... Details! Please!

I've grown may varieties of tomato all in pots with no size issues, and I don't just do dwarf varieties ... I've had smaller plant size from using a smaller pot, but fruit is still generally in range, so let's look at other possible reasons. Small tomatoes are likely either a stress or pollination issue.

Watering issues will stress a plant ... drastic will cause the whole plant to suffer but borderline may just cause stress that dwarfs or cracks the fruit. Not enough sun will stress the plant and usually cause excessive foliage trying to gather energy from the insufficient light and fewer, smaller fruit trying to conserve energy; these may be seedy due to the plant trying reproduce more efficiently. Heat is a common stresser ... tomatoes don't tolerate cold, but they're not great in heat either ... the fruit ripen too quickly if they set at all. Pests, disease, and and/or improper nutrient level/balance can cause all sorts of issues, too too, but I'd start by looking at water, sun, and heat.

Pollination is usually taken care of my insects/pollinators (you know, bees ...) ... if flowers aren't properly pollinated, they won't create proper fruit, either dropping or creating tiny, seedless fruit (no pollen = useless to the plant -> abort mission tomato ... try again with a new flower).

I planted beefsteak and the first ones ripened large then last week ( heat index over 100) and 20 degrees more suddenly all sizes are turning red! reading all this tells me it’s the heat. I am going to fertilize just in case. Thanks for the information!

I'm having the same problem and mine are supposed to be Roma tomatoes. They have been ripening (turning red) at all different sizes, so something is obviously inhibiting the growth on some of the tomatoes. I had to spray Sevin on them because bugs were eating into them and causing some to rot. This is my first season growing tomatoes in a trellis planter, inside my small greenhouse,

I watered more fertilize more And it worked So Other than the weather causing it I think it was all of them combined for me and my problem

Keeping in mind this was 14 years ago, I'm going to answer it anyway. If you're growing in an Earthbox, my first thought is to make sure the soil has all the nutrients that it needs.

You'll probably want to try different large varieties. Not all large varieties get large in the same conditions; so, try several until you find the ones that work.

If you're worried about messing up your soil by adding stuff, try foliar sprays with a pump sprayer (you'll probably notice what the nutrients do faster that way, especially if the pH of your soil is off).

If you're not using an Earthbox, make sure your container is large enough.

Your tomato may be an accidental cross with a smaller tomato, and/or mixed up seed; it happens a fair amount.

I recommend growing in the ground, if there's nothing wrong with it.

Everybody is being extremely rude with the reponses, but ultimately your tomatoes have surcome to the heat! they essentially just lose interest in producing once it reaches a certain temperature consistently. theyre a very finnicky plant. need sun, but cant stand the heat. need alot of water to make juicy tomatoes but one drop too much will cause it too rot. i dont think your pots are an issue. i know many people who grow one plant in a 5 gallon bucket snd do just fine. dont let these people doscourage you. get you a farmers almanac and dont listen to know it alls. a couple years of a lot of hsrd work with little to no yield will get you learning the proper ways! best of luck gardening and never stop!