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Husky cherry red tomatoes in container

7 years ago
last modified: 7 years ago

Hi!

I am a newbie to gardening. I had an ok run with chilli pepper plant last summer. This time I'm trying my hand at growing a tomato plant. The husky cherry red tomato is a dwarf indeterminate hybrid which, according to the label, is perfect for containers. I am trying to understand if I'm overwatering, underwatering, or doing ok in terms of watering. The plant leaves look slightly bulged out as you can see from the photo below.


I typically water every 2-3 days, this week daily, because temperatures crossed 90, approaching 100.

For comparison, this is how the same breed in Home Depot looks like


Also, I wonder what to do about the "suckers". There is conflicting advise online. So far I have removed the suckers lower on the branch while keeping the ones on top. I read somewhere that suckers should not be removed on dwarf varieties.

Comments (4)

  • 7 years ago

    Some more info: Planter is a self-watering planter. I used miracle-gro potting mix and fertilized with Vigoro tomato plant food.

    I filled up the reservoir today morning and now it is completely empty (today's high was above 95F).


    The pic from above (first pic) was taken in morning, so I don't think its wilting due to heat.

  • 7 years ago
    last modified: 7 years ago

    I would just let the plant grow and not prune it unless it gets unmanageable. Pruning off the lowest leaves/branches for airflow is good practice for in-ground plants, generally, though not necessary in container plants unless their foliage is too dense.

    As for watering, the best way to learn how often to water your plant is to stick your finger down into the medium. If it's still moist an inch or two down, don't water yet. When watering, water deeply. You'll eventually get a feel for when you need to water.

    Leaf curling can be from too much water, too little water, too much heat, and a number of conditions. One thing I always do with this kind of PLR-type (physiological leaf roll) leaf curling is check the undersides of the leaves carefully for aphids or other sap-sucking pests. But leaf curl from aphids typically is limited to the newer growth, which aphids prefer, and this sort of all-over PLR is usually from something related to growing conditions. I wouldn't worry about it. PLR can happen from a brief period of stress, and sometimes it reverses itself when the stress goes away, and sometimes it doesn't. It's especially common in container plants, due to the fact that containers don't buffer temperature and moisture changes as much as the ground.

    Your plant otherwise looks fine, and the PLR is mild, and PLR doesn't typically hurt production. Now that it's flowering and setting fruit, you want to think about starting to fertilize it if you haven't already. For container plants, I use a liquid formula for tomatoes or fruiting veg diluted to 1/4 or less of the recommended dose and watered in every third to fifth watering or so (less frequently if watering frequently in the heat).

    Good luck, and enjoy!

  • 7 years ago

    Thanks gorbelly!


    I am going to cut back on watering and observe the plant. i used a wooden satay stick to poke deep into the container and it came up damp. Checked the undersides of the leaves, no bugs yet. The leaves are lush green, maybe a tad too green.


    I had fertilized the plant when i potted with with vigoro plant food (1 tsp as per the packet). The next round of fertilization should be 3 months later. Right now I'm at the 1.5 month mark. The plant seems to be growing vigorously. No yellowing or any other marks on the leaves apart from the leaf rolling under.


    I see a lot of small green tomatoes on the plant but they are not growing fast enough compared to the initial two tomatoes (which seemed to double in size overnight!)




  • 7 years ago

    Yeah, rate of growth of fruit depends a lot on fruit load on the plant and other factors.

    HU-779181886 thanked gorbelly
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