My first attempt growing tomatoes in a self watering pot. These are determinate varieties.
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I used to grow 2 determinate tomatoes in 25 gallon containers but decided they ended up too crowded and now just plant 1. Good luck with them.
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I should have planted 1 plant per container. I’m thinking about setting up a second pot with 1 Rutgers.
Did the self watering work well for you?
The sticks are to deter my cat until I put a cage around them.
I never used the self-watering pots. I used to have them set up with drip irrigation on a timer but the last few years I just hand water with a wand. The self watering pots look interesting, been watching Texas Prepper on Youtube talking about them.
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I use the No. 10 cans around mine and leave them through the season. It helps protect from the wind when they are still tender.
I grew dwarf indeterminate tomatoes, 2 to a pot, in Earthboxes. I water maybe every other day during July, somewhat less doing other months. They seem to have less disease issues than in the ground and yields decently and tastes good. They’re a reasonable solution for people who can’t grow tomatoes in the ground due to space or deer. Eventually got tired of watering for 30 minutes several times a week to grow something we don’t even like mu h. Thinking of growing blueberries in the Earthboxes this year.
It is a bit tricky to get the growing mix right, promix is recommended but it can liquify in high moisture . A pinebark fines dominant mix (I usually do 60:30:10 of pinebark:compost:perlite) is probably better for plant health but won’t wick water as effectively.
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Looks good. I start giving mine Calcium Nitrate once a week after the first tomatoes get about the size of a quarter. I also cut off any leaves that start touching the soil.
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Update on the 42 Day tomato. First of all there is no way it will ripen fruit in 42 days and as suggested one plant is all this container needs. Looking at the bright side the plant appears to be vigorous and healthy. You probably can’t see them in the picture but there are about 5 small fruit starting and what I consider a huge amount of flowers that I hope results in a heavy set of tomatoes. Vine is currently growing in a bush form compared to my other determinate types.
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