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sheltieche

Mixing determinate with indet in same container?

13 years ago

Good idea or not? I have little experience with det tomatoes in general but have several early det and several early indet tomato varieites. It seems like a good idea from the point of watering to put couple det varieties in very large container let it get ripe and be done. OTOH it seems like a waste of container for the rest of the summer...

Comments (5)

  • 13 years ago

    Size of container? 2 det. work in a half whisky barrel or bigger for me - Earthtainers are great for them too. When they are done just put 2 more plants in it for a second crop or plant something else in it.

    I never mix det with indet plants. The indet smothers and shades out the det.

    Dave

  • 13 years ago

    Thank you!
    I have 25-30 G large containers on first floor rooftop so there is no support just sprawling plants. Now that I said that am thinking it is possible to rig some kind of support cages with PVC though...
    however if they are sprawling there should not be issues of shading out.

  • 13 years ago

    Growing indet. plants in a container? Unless it is a container variety I have found that yes you can do it but it definitely will have an impact on the yield to the negative. I used a 20 gallon container and one plant. I pruned my plants daily as well. Next season I'm considering using a large plastic trash can ( 30+ gallon) to see if I have better results. LOL.I'll probably have to use an eight foot ladder to prune and harvest them. Anyone have any results, planting indets in containers? Please let me know. Thanks

  • 13 years ago

    I have never container planted tomatoes but judging from how deep and wide they grow(I just pull few off them few days ago), I can tell that their roots will not grow much deeper than a foot. and will not spread in an area more than 3 sqr-ft. So planting in a bigger container(trash can ?) may not have the pay off. Actually it may have negative effect, by growing a more than needed roots and a lot of foliage. Keep in mind that tomato is an annual and lasts just one season.

  • 13 years ago

    Tomato plants can grow roots that are 5 - 6 feet in length. I just finished breaking down my garden and did a study on root size. My German Johnson(indeterminate heirloom) had roots that extended well beyond a foot (depth). It also exceeded 8 ft. in height Also, a few of my plants in 5 gallon buckets had roots growing thru the holes and when measured were 2 feet+ in length. I also want to add that all of my plants were in excellent organic soil with plenty of nutrients. The roots obviously IMO weren't searching for nutrients.

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