Help with Large tomato plant brought from nusery

11 years ago

I was gifted a very large tomato plant yesterday. Its in a large peat pot about 18Gallons i think. Plant itself is about 3.5 ft. tall and has tons of flowers and 10 or so developing tomatoes. I think it was ment to be grown in the pot but would it grow better if i cut the bottom of the pot off and planted it up to a few inches in the garden? Should I be protecting it from afternoon sun since it came from a greenhouse? Thank you for the advice

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Comments (4)

digdirt2
11 years ago
Could you possibly post a photo of it. AFAIK the largest peat pot made is 1 gallon so we really need to determine what the pot is to know what might be best to do with it. If not can you post the dimensions of the pot - H-W-D? Is there no tag with the name of the variety? 3.5' tall and already has 10 or so tomatoes on it sounds like it must be a determinate variety.

Dave
sjetski
11 years ago
last modified: 11 years ago
Some hardening off wouldn't hurt, it may have been out of direct sun for a while. I don't imagine it would take more than a few days though, 1 hour the first day, 2 hours the 2nd day, 3 hrs the 3rd day <-- just an example.

Sinking a large 18 gallon pot would preserve the root system, which means less transplant shock. I've never done it with tomatoes, and have no idea if there are any drawbacks. I've sunk pots with peppers, bottoms bursted open, and they performed pretty well. A friend had planted leftover tomato plants in buckets one year, he had drilled a lot of holes in the bottom. One day we were re-locating them and heard roots ripping on every one, they had penetrated the ground underneath. i don't think he relocated them again after that, lol.

Steve
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Seysonn_ 8a-NC/HZ-7
11 years ago
!8 gallon peat pot ?
If it is peat pot (aany size) , transplanting it easy.
-- dig a hole bigger than the pot.
-- Place the plant ( while in pot) it in the hole.
-- tear apart the pot and take the pieces out, including the bottom.
-- Fill the hole with good soil .
-- Mulch it.
-- Water it real good.>>> flood it !

For support, if using stake , drive it before tearing the top, not to injure the roots. If using cage, install it after transplanting.
Keep watering more often for a few days.

Sey
wormgirl_8a_WA
11 years ago
I have seen larger degradable pots, they are not quite like the small peat pots but are made of some type of paper and they have a rough finish. They are pretty thick and I think tomato roots would have a hard time penetrating (tree roots, maybe...)

But, I have never seen one of these pots that was anywhere near 18 gallons. If it truly is that size, you really shouldn't have any problem growing it in the pot. It's plenty big. If I were to put it in the ground, personally I'd want to remove the pot. But that would be difficult.

Post a pic if you can.