Haven't grown tomatoes since we were kids and would like to try it in planters. They'll be planted in two spots - one spot A) with nearly all day sun in summer for in-ground planting and some pots or planters; and another spot B) for pots with afternoon sun (from 1PM to sunset). We have on hand organic garden soil, Bumper Crop soil amendment and Espoma Plant Tone, though I'll check if there's an Espoma fertilizer specifically for tomatoes and vegetables.

1) Which varieties of tomatoes would you suggest for growing in planters? When should we plant them and by when should the tomatoes be ripe?
2) What type of planters (materials and depth, width and length) would you suggest?
3) Can we use the organic garden soil and Bumper Crop and in which ratio would you mix them? Which other soils would you recommend using?
4) Which fertilizer would you suggest? Prefer using organic fertilizers.
5) Any other vegetable you'd suggest trying that will do well in planters in our zone? (Keep in mind that the sun hours above are for summer. In early spring and late fall and winter, spot A in the backyard is shaded 1PM-3:30PM due to a shadow from the house and lower-angel winter sun).

I don't know much but New Big Dwarf is supposed to be a good dwarf- possibly finding a dwarf seedling would be a good choice. Celebrity is somewhat more restrained in its growth for me, too. That is one you will probably find sold many places. Cherry tomatoes, despite making little fruits, are often HUGE plants so don't be fooled in that regard. But cherry tomatoes do make a LOT of fruit when they grow well.
Bumper Crop - the Ace store showed a good comparison so I think that is a good potting mix although it seems just a little heavy for my tropical it is probbly great for tomatoes. I am not sure how your organic garden soil compares.

I would recommend determinate tomatoes, and there are a lot to pick from. Celebrity, the variety Sally mentioned, is one. They are usually much shorter than indeterminates, which retain more of the "wild" in them and keep growing because they are a vine.
I would use the largest containers you can find; yes, it's possible to grow tomatoes in a 5 gallon pot, but when in containers that size you are often watering more than once a day in the heat of summer. I use a mixture of good topsoil and compost, I don't know much about the product Bumper crop. Look for a fertilizer that is made specifically made for tomatoes or veggies, you don't want the nitrogen (the first ingredient in fertilizer) to be over a ten, because you will then get lots of big plants but few fruits. I'm also in zone 7b, but I would imagine your climate is different from mine, but since the last frost date for our zone is April 15th I think you could plant tomatoes now.

Two problems... Not much room for roots... not much sunlight.

And... I can't find a description of the containers...
Ok found it...

TreeSong said: 2) What type of planters (materials and depth, width and length) would you suggest?

I would probably create the largest raised bed that I possibly could... If I was married to a container...

I'd probably plant cherry tomatoes... they will usually produce fruit in conditions where the large types will not.


As far as what else to plant?
What do you eat?

I'd plant lambsquarter... cook it like spinach...

Maybe squash... maybe beans... A lot of stuff would probably grow in the spot with morning sun... a lot less in the spot with just the afternoon sun...

Seems like a lot of experimenting is going to be necessary...

I agree the direct sun could be marginal.
Grow cherry if you like to eat cherry tomatoes- snacks, salad, pasta dishes specifically for them. I don't use even a fraction of the cherries that one plant will make, I am not that crazy about them.

As (so far, or respondents) the nearest geographically to you, I'd vote Celebrity for this first try, IF you want a nice round, red, medium size tomato you can slice for sandwiches, salad, or on your plate. And as this week's cold goes by, you can probably get ready to plant, end of April, early May.

sallyg said: Celebrity is somewhat more restrained in its growth for me, too. That is one you will probably find sold many places...
Bumper Crop - the Ace store showed a good comparison so I think that is a good potting mix although it seems just a little heavy for my tropical it is probbly great for tomatoes. I am not sure how your organic garden soil compares.

Thank you @sallyg. Sounds like Celebrity is a good choice. What soil mixture would you recommend for growing them in pots, and what size pots or planters would you recommend (height, width, depth)?

gardenfish said: I would recommend determinate tomatoes, and there are a lot to pick from. Celebrity, the variety Sally mentioned, is one. They are usually much shorter than indeterminates, which retain more of the "wild" in them and keep growing because they are a vine.
I would use the largest containers you can find; yes, it's possible to grow tomatoes in a 5 gallon pot, but when in containers that size you are often watering more than once a day in the heat of summer. I use a mixture of good topsoil and compost, I don't know much about the product Bumper crop. Look for a fertilizer that is made specifically made for tomatoes or veggies, you don't want the nitrogen (the first ingredient in fertilizer) to be over a ten, because you will then get lots of big plants but few fruits. I'm also in zone 7b, but I would imagine your climate is different from mine, but since the last frost date for our zone is April 15th I think you could plant tomatoes now.

Thank you @gardenfish for the very helpful advice.
1) How large a pot or planters would you use in height, width and depth per each plant? (In addition to individual pots, we can also plant in long planters).
2) Would potting soil work as well as topsoil? I'll check Bumper Crop to see how much they recommend for vegetables in pots or planters.

sallyg said: I agree the direct sun could be marginal.
Grow cherry if you like to eat cherry tomatoes- snacks, salad, pasta dishes specifically for them. I don't use even a fraction of the cherries that one plant will make, I am not that crazy about them.

As (so far, or respondents) the nearest geographically to you, I'd vote Celebrity for this first try, IF you want a nice round, red, medium size tomato you can slice for sandwiches, salad, or on your plate. And as this week's cold goes by, you can probably get ready to plant, end of April, early May.

That's exactly one style of tomato we'd like, so sounds like Celebrity is a winner. Please note that the light is not marginal - beefsteak tomatoes and other varieties were grown in-ground in the backyard area with morning sun with fantastic results - quality tomatoes and high yields. Now I realize in summer that backyard area gets more light than I wrote above - the hours I originally noted above were for winter when the house shadows that area between 1PM-3:30PM. I'll edit that above.

We use all organic products (we realize organic products still include pesticides which are approved for organic use) - do you think it matters much to start with organic plants?

You're right about the cold - we're holding back planting some plants until after this [hopefully last] cold blast passes.

stone said: Two problems... Not much room for roots... not much sunlight.

And... I can't find a description of the containers...
Ok found it...

I would probably create the largest raised bed that I possibly could... If I was married to a container...

I'd probably plant cherry tomatoes... they will usually produce fruit in conditions where the large types will not.


As far as what else to plant?
What do you eat?

I'd plant lambsquarter... cook it like spinach...

Maybe squash... maybe beans... A lot of stuff would probably grow in the spot with morning sun... a lot less in the spot with just the afternoon sun...

Seems like a lot of experimenting is going to be necessary...

Thanks @stone, I just edited the original post to correct for sunlight - in spots A in the backyard it's full summer sun and beefsteak tomatoes were successfully grown here in good quality and high yields (I originally wrote the winter sun schedule).

What minimum pot or planter size would you use per plant for Celebrity tomatoes - height, depth and width)? We can use long planters in addition to pots.

sallyg said: I agree the direct sun could be marginal.
Grow cherry if you like to eat cherry tomatoes- snacks, salad, pasta dishes specifically for them. I don't use even a fraction of the cherries that one plant will make, I am not that crazy about them.

As (so far, or respondents) the nearest geographically to you, I'd vote Celebrity for this first try, IF you want a nice round, red, medium size tomato you can slice for sandwiches, salad, or on your plate. And as this week's cold goes by, you can probably get ready to plant, end of April, early May.

How large a yield do you think we can expect in A) the full sun area in the backyard, in-ground and in pots or planters, and in B) the 1PM-sunset area in pots? When do you think the Celebrity tomatoes would be ripe if planted after this week, late April? It will give us a good idea of how many plants to plant.

A

TreeSong said:
What minimum pot or planter size would you use per plant for Celebrity tomatoes - height, depth and width)? We can use long planters in addition to pots.

Seriously... I wouldn't try to grow tomatoes that way.

Even when I built wood sided raised beds that were like 4 foot wide and several feet deep... the tomatoes did not do as well as when grown in a normal vegetable garden where there was room to send their roots across the landscape... I've seen roots that were well over 4 ft long at the end of the season when I pulled the plants (in a normal veggie patch).

There just isn't the room for normal growth in those containers.
as far as celebrity in particular?
I googled them... And... While the description describes a plant that tops out at 3 or 4 ft... I'd still want said plant to have enough access to the surrounding soil to get what it needed.

I have grown tomatoes every which way you can and IMHO they need to be in the ground, planted deeply. Then there is the staking to consider. If you have a good support for the vines you will have a more bountiful harvest. I've had years when I didn't stake and those vines were just all over the place. I like a tidy garden though and that may not be an issue for you.

Tomatoes in containers usually require lots of watering just as @gardenfish implied.

The best fertilizer you could ever use is compost. Nothing beats compost in the hole as you're planting and as a top dressing afterwards.

If you are using tomato cages or a trellis or a fence it's best to install it as you are planting. That way it won't disturb the roots.

One last thing is to pull off those suckers and watch for the Hornworms. They can eat your tomato plants faster than you can say Scat.

The thing about growing in pots—crops or ornamentals, and especially tomatoes—is the need for regular fertilizer in that restricted environment. Tomatoes are heavy feeders. Organic fertilizer is usually composed of source materials: bone meal, feather meal, rock phosphate and many others, which are applied once a year and gradually break down in garden soil throughout the season and convert into useable form. Not so useful in the artificial environment of pots where the roots, as Stone said, are constrained and benefit best from immediate-acting fertilizer applied at regular intervals.

Most sources will tell you that tomatoes require a minimum 5-gal pot, but that truly is "minimum' and not close to ideal to and will rarely provide a high yield. 10+ gal is better. I'm not saying it can't be done—there are plenty of YouTube videos demonstrating fantastic results—but you really have to give them constant attention, especially with consistent, regular watering, as Lynda noted.

I have limited space and have grown tomatoes in pots for several years with wildly varying success and I'm always experimenting. I grow only for myself, so I don't need much. Even so, I won't bother with 5 gal anymore. The effort to yield ratio isn't worth it. This year I've made ground space as well. Looking forward to it.

I have zero experience with container Tomatoes.

I will measure my big pots and return to re post. I'm ok watering on a daily basis if needed. Determinates produce well in the larger pots, and I also use tomato rings in the pots, with the rings anchored with a piece of bamboo pole.
As for fertilizer, I don't think it would be hard to find a good organic one. And the more you water, the more frequently the fertilizer needs to be applied. But as Stone? Zoe? has said, compost does have its uses, and can be put in the hole when you plant the plant.

NMoasis said: The thing about growing in pots—crops or ornamentals, and especially tomatoes—is the need for regular fertilizer in that restricted environment. Tomatoes are heavy feeders. Organic fertilizer is usually composed of source materials: bone meal, feather meal, rock phosphate and many others, which are applied once a year and gradually break down in garden soil throughout the season and convert into useable form. Not so useful in the artificial environment of pots where the roots, as Stone said, are constrained and benefit best from immediate-acting fertilizer applied at regular intervals.

Most sources will tell you that tomatoes require a minimum 5-gal pot, but that truly is "minimum' and not close to ideal to and will rarely provide a high yield. 10+ gal is better. I'm not saying it can't be done—there are plenty of YouTube videos demonstrating fantastic results—but you really have to give them constant attention, especially with consistent, regular watering, as Lynda noted.

I have limited space and have grown tomatoes in pots for several years with wildly varying success and I'm always experimenting. I grow only for myself, so I don't need much. Even so, I won't bother with 5 gal anymore. The effort to yield ratio isn't worth it. This year I've made ground space as well. Looking forward to it.

Thank you for the very helpful advice. Sounds like we should only consider 10+ gallon pots (wonder how deep and wide those are?). This has also got me thinking about growing them hydroponically outdoors. Anyone try this? Hydroponically grown tomatoes shouldn't require large pots. I know someone who builds and manages larger scale hydroponic vegetable gardens who I'll ask. If anyone has any experience with smaller scale outdoor hydroponics (a few pots or a tray's worth), I'd appreciate your thoughts.

Even an 8 or 9 gallons is an improvement. I think a tapered pot about 17" wide x 15" tall is 8-ish gal. That might give you an idea. 5-gal buckets are easy to find, also a good way to guage.

Sorry, no hydro experience.

I have bought and used Growbox. Grew tomatoes and peppers in it. Amazing experience. You also need trellises to support the tomatoes. I love sweet cherry tomatoes and I was eating tomatoes everyday. One problem: they are not cheap, and you have to purchase from them new plant kits when you want to continue using them. I have not used them for a while---https://earthbox.com/value-bundles.

NMoasis said: Even an 8 or 9 gallons is an improvement. I think a tapered pot about 17" wide x 15" tall is 8-ish gal. That might give you an idea. 5-gal buckets are easy to find, also a good way to guage.

Sorry, no hydro experience.

My mom said she used large general-purpose heavy-duty white plastic paint store canisters used by painters for paint and by construction workers for various building compounds and had good results in a sunny spot.

So we decided to use 10 gal buckets because we don't want to give up flower beds for the tomatoes, and tomatoes have grown well in 10 gallon buckets in the spot we have in mind in the backyard. Bumper Crop recommends 1/2 potting soil + 1 /2 Bumper Crop. Checking with Espoma for which organic fertilizer blend they recommend (only because we'e already used them). I think they have one for veggies. We primarily want tomatoes for salads and sandwiches, and we could occasionally use tomatoes for cooking (not sure of one variety will be good for both of those uses).

1) Determinate tomatoes including the Celebrity variety were recommended above, because of their shorter vines. However, we do have the ability to trellis to 6 ft and widely along a fence and to use 10 gallon buckets. Would you still recommend determinate varieties because their roots will not challenge their 10 gallon buckets?

2) Or because we have the space to trellis tall and widely, and 10 gallons may be sufficient, are there indeterminate varieties that you think would work?

3) When generally should the first tomatoes ripen by in zone 7b and until when can the plants generally produce? What kind of yield can we expect from 10 gallon buckets, all-day sun, 1/2 good quality potting soil with 1/2 Bumper Crop soil amendment and good fertilizer?