What is "organic" soil? :

it is the remains an drops of plants and animals:

That includes all kinds of compost, forest products ( barks, chips ), peat moss, tops soil ( decomposed plants parts mixed with inorganing earth.

So in effect every potting soil is mostly organic.

Garden Soil:

The names says it all. It is NOT suitable for container growing. It is a good product for raised beds, mixed with top soil or native soil. JMO

Sey

Agree with Sey. Not a good idea to use "garden soil" in containers. I would redo them with some potting mix that has some added perlite.

"Organic means no chemical fertilizers among other things."

It means no synthetic fertilizers or pesticides. The idea that organic means chemical free is a fallacy. Plenty of organic chemicals can be used.

Rodney

In fact, just like the so-called non-organic version, it says right on the label "not for use in containers".

Dave

Thank you, everyone. The responses are more than I could ask for! I will be remixing the soil today. Any recommendations on a particular brand that contains the proper balance? I don't know if I can find the ingredients (perlite, vermiculite, etc.) individually.

I've use MGOC in containers but I mixed it with perlite and MG Orchid mix non-course blend. I've also used MGOC with a lot of perlite and had success, but I did have to use MG liquid ferts a lot, nature of container gardening. Now that I have space for a raised garden bed, I am choosing to move away from MG products and go with a non synthetic route.

You can condition ant soil for container. Fo example by adding a lot of pine bark fine and perlite ( ~ 20% by volume ). But that is like re inventing the wheel.

On the "Chemical" Rodney cleared it up. Everything that exists is one form of "chemical" or the other. Everything is made of the elements in the periodic table, be it organic or inorganic.

One more thing : Native virgin soil is "INORGANIC" . Is it bad ?

Actually it is very good when amended with organic matter in the right ratio.

Sey

Are those Lowe's buckets?

Those 5 gals will be way too small unless you side drill and dunk them in a reservoir.

"Those 5 gals will be way too small unless you side drill and dunk them in a reservoir."

Read the post. Look at the photos. See the fill pipe? They are sitting in a reservoir.

Dave

Thanks, guys. I reused the soil in one of my garden beds and rebuilt the buckets using a potting mix with added peat moss. The mixture was much lighter and more appropriate for container growing. I also moved them to a shaded area for a day or two due to the transplant. I'll keep y'all posted on their progress.

Hi!

I live in SWFL and I have tried the system you are using in the past. I was never successful in getting the right soil mixture for the self watering bucket. However, I did plant an early girl three and a half weeks ago. I'll upload some pics for you to see. I have had amazing success thus far. I found a little secret called Mater Magic, not sure if you have heard of it before? It is organic and really works! I planted the early girl 2/3 of the way in a regular pot with Miracal grow moisture control. I worked 4 capfuls of the Mater Magic 3 inches into the soil. Here are my results after three and a half weeks. Let me know what you think! If you have any questions ask away! I have been through just about everything imaginable when it comes to tomatoes! Good luck :-)

P.S. Don't forget to pinch the suckers off. Also,I'm not an organic buff by far and the only reason I used the MG mix was to get rid of it. I only water when the first 3 inches of top soil is dry.

Planting day 1

Day 18

Flowers!

That's great, Marcus!

If my system doesn't produce, I'll consider yours! What are you saying I should punch off? Can you be more specific?

"Don't forget to pinch the suckers off."

Reed - he is talking about pruning, what he calls pinching off the suckers. A century ago some folks believed they "sucked" energy from the plant and never produced fruit. That has long been proven false so it is an option only and not required. There are too many variables involved to make a blanket statement that it is something you must do.

There is a FAQ here about it called "To Prune or not to prune" and is a often debated topic too so lots of discussions about it the search will pull up.

Dave

Hi Reed!

Dave is correct. However, I have done both in terms of pruning and have always had better results in pruning my indeterminate tomato plants. It's a preference and you can read a ton of articles for and against it. Either way I have found that it works for me! In addition, you aren't supposed to prune determinate tomato plants.

Suckering depends on whether you want to delay fruits or not. Short season - kill suckers. Long season - let it watermelon.

6 way competition - challenging :)

Thanks everyone! If anything I have some direction on what to research. I think I'll leave them alone for a few days to see if the yellowing goes away. I'm hoping it's a success so I can start growing other vegetables!

Ok guys and Dave, I remixed the soil with the appropriate potting mix/peat moss, used dolomite and fertilizer...all according to the excellent advice I've gotten here and via globalbuckets.org for my 2 container gardens. My tomatoes are growing, but one is rotting, another is turning brown, and a couple others are splitting. What does this mean? There are a lot of marks on the leaves from what I imagine are bugs. Can I save them? How long will these Early Girls produce?

I did get one nice-ish tomato from this bunch, but it has the start of a split on it already.

A shot of the good tomato and a shot of the whole plant(s).

Glad you re-potted. I made the same mistake one winter and the bag was so big and heavy that I couldn't turn it over until I had filled all my pots. On the back, It read "not for containers" - sigh! I decided to try it anyway with disastrous results!

Splitting is due to too much rain/water.

The marks on the leaves are from leaf miners. Remove those leaves.

You should remove all the dead and yellow leaves. Cut them close to the main stem and dispose of them in the trash because it may be a disease called Early Blight that is causing them to yellow.

Otherwise there is some nice healthy growth higher up, and your Early Girls should keep on producing until frost.

Linda

Oh! I forgot to mention that it would be a good idea to let the plants dry out before you work on them. Messing around on plants that have wet leaves just spreads disease spores.....

Linda

Thank you, Linda! Will do. :)

Linda,

I removed the bad leaves and yellow leaves. We had a terribly hot day in Florida and my plants are now wilting. I keep the reservoir full of water and I even top watered to be sure they didn't burn up. When they start wilting is it possible to save them?

Some wilting in the heat of the day is normal. It is when they don'tperk back up in the evenings or when they are already wilted early in the AM that you have to worry. That usually means the plants are root bound in their containers - a common problem with 5 gallon buckets. When plants are root bound there is little soil left to absorb and distribute the water and the only way to save them is to transplant them to larger containers.

But in your location I would think your first tomato growing season is almost over anyway and it is time to get ready for the fall planting. Root some healthy cuttings from those plants and get them ready for replacing those you have now for the second season you have.

Dave

Edited to add - the rotting and splitting tomatoes are being left on the vine too long. Learn to pick them with early color and let them continue to ripen inside on the counter,

I have leaf miners!!! What can I do about it? Almost every leaf is affected. I'm thinking about just starting all over. :(

Reed - in general leaf miners pose no threat to the plants so most just ignore them. They are almost impossible to kill anyway, have a relatively short life-cycle, and the plants tolerate the damage they do with little problem. If you want to you can feel along the trail in the leaf until you feel the larvae bump and then squish with your fingers. That takes care of that one. If you have leaves where more than 2/3 of the leaf is tunnel damaged just remove that leaf.

Dave

Thanks, Dave!