I'd like to learn more about this New Big Dwarf. Yes, Dave's input here would be great!

Glad to know about this thread; thanks for tagging me.

Yes, the Dwarf Tomato Project originated from New Big Dwarf. That was the basis for the varieties that came from that project. If you haven't seen it before, I highly recommend you read our page on the project here:

https://victoryseeds.com/colle...

Scroll down below the products and you will see a very long article that tells all about the history of the project, along with the details on how each variety was bred. It is really interesting stuff.

As for the heights, they are very much influenced by where they are grown. A small container will result in a much smaller plant, while a field grown plant can get to a pretty good size. This same thing is true of the micro tomatoes. I grow some in 4" pots and they bloom and fruit at just a few inches tall, while others in 5 gallon grow bags get 18 inches tall with bigger fruit and bigger leaves.

That makes sense, and it's good to know these have the genetics to do well in containers.

Do you have a general recommendation for container size with the dwarf tomatoes? Would most hit their listed height in a 5 gallon grow bag, for instance?

I want to incorporate some into my front landscape, but I don't want them to get as big as the indeterminates in the veggie garden. Maybe instead of planting them into the ground, I should put them in half-buried containers. The containers should limit the plant size, and burying them 6-8" will let me water them less.

Dave, thanks for joining us and for the article!

I put my Hannah's Prizes in 5 gallon grow bags. Some of them are in 7 gal I think.
Jill, that's a very good idea about burying the containers to control the size of the plants! Perhaps if I'm allowed enough in-ground space next year, I will try that! I want my dwarfs dwarf for a reason!

Yes, I think all the dwarfs will grow great in 5 gallon containers. That's what I'm using here, as well, for a lot of my tomato plants.

Yes, I was thinking that if my tomatoes were in pots they would have been much shorter. And that really long tall height was at the very end of season.

At first all my dwarf tomato project plants pretty much grew to advertised size and flowered and fruited. After the fruits matured the plants started to grow again and kept growing.

Rita, I wonder if you could have pruned that new growth and kept them fruiting at that advertised size...

I've found that if I sink a container even a few inches, it'll be as moist as the surrounding garden area, so it'll need less supplemental watering than if I'd just put the container on top of the ground.

Dave, thanks!

I looked up dimensions, because I tend to underestimate the volume of large containers -- a 5 gallon round nursery pot is only about 11 inches tall and wide.

Yeah 5 gallon pots are surprisingly small!! This is a cucumber (Pick a Bushel F1) growing in a 5 gallon grow bag.

critterologist said: Rita, I wonder if you could have pruned that new growth and kept them fruiting at that advertised size...

Humm, I might try to prune them some and see if it keeps them short but bearing fruit. As far as I remember the flowers were on the new growth but I can be wrong.

Watch out for the "5-gallon" nursery pots. They're closer to 4 gallons now, which is a little tight for regular-sized tomatoes.

I especially like this offering from Home Depot

Imo a 5 gallon pot or container is way too small for a regular sized indeterminate type. Whenever I grow one in that small a container the plant gets very leggy, sickly and it's a miracle if it produces.

Zoe, that's hysterical!

Nice looking cucumber plant, Dave!

That dimension of about 11" tall and wide was helpful to me, because my bigger pots are mostly re-used ones, not new purchases. Of course if the pot is a tapered shape rather than a straight cylinder, the diameter will need to be greater for it to hold 5 gallons.

I planted my Dwarf Projects plants late this year so they are tiny seedlings as of now. I do hope they grow fast and are big enough to plant out by end of May. End of May would be very late for me to plant tomatoes but a lot of people on Long Island plant around Memorial Day.

It is 3 weeks from now and seedlings outside in cellpacks can do a lot of growing in 3 weeks.

I have 8 varieties I have started.
Adelaide Festival
Metalica
Andy's Forty
Speckled Heeart
Stony Brook Heart
Beauty King
Choemato
Ohuru Ochure

If anyone does see a theme here it is stripes and swirls. I do love stunning and unusual tomatoes.

It simply surprises neighbors that had never seen tomatoes that look like that before. And they taste soooooo good.

Newyorkrita said: I do love stunning and unusual tomatoes.

Same!!!!! Have you ever grown Black Beauty?

TomatoNut95 said: Same!!!!! Have you ever grown Black Beauty?

No, I have not tried that one although I do love black tomatoes. This year doing Early Choice Black.

You're going to **love** Adelaide Festival. Uluru Ochre is also an excellent one that you're really going to be happy with.

Dwarf Beauty King is also a real winner.

Really, all your selections are excellent. Great choices!!!

My tomato patch is sounding very boring by comparison!

critterologist said: My tomato patch is sounding very boring by comparison!

A tomato patch is never boring!

dave said: You're going to **love** Adelaide Festival. Uluru Ochre is also an excellent one that you're really going to be happy with.

What's Adelaide Festival?

Also I want Uluru Ochre but Victory was out of stock. I put in to be contacted whenever it comes back into stock though. Same on those cool green fruits varieties I want. I've totally fallen in love with dwarfs!

Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum 'Adelaide Festival')

Really pretty tomato.

Uluru Ochre is one of the one we're growing on a rented farm northwest of Fort Worth. My son Jon and I planted around 100 plants of that variety and we're hoping for a very large seed harvest. It'll be back in stock by July if all goes well.