Tomatoes in a pot: tips for planting and growing
May 8, 2020 25 Comments
Tomatoes wonderful and delicious from our balcony! Those who have not grown cherry tomatoes in pots are missing out on a huge opportunity to enjoy unique flavors from distinct cherry varieties at home. Cherry tomatoes are an ideal horticultural choice for planting in a pot that we recommend to gardening beginners and young children who want to start growing and enjoy their first crop without much care, but also to more experienced ones who love their taste. Tomato cultivation gives us many fruits from one plant and they grow very easily in a pot. A suitable time to plant cherry tomatoes in a pot is in the spring so that we can enjoy the delicious and tasty fruits in our salads and in various cooking recipes during the summer.
1. Which tomato variety should I grow in a pot?
Most tomato varieties are quite hardy and give us good production. Cherry trees when planted in a pot usually reach up to two meters in height, and have a long harvest season from summer to winter. The tomato varieties we choose for growing in pots are cherry tomatoes with acorn-shaped fruits with a sweet taste or cherry-Santorini tomatoes, with small spherical fruits and a relatively sour taste. For those who want to try something more special, it is an opportunity to grow yellow cherry tomatoes with a characteristic sub-sour taste and black (purple) cherry tomatoes with an aromatic taste, as well as two-color red-green varieties.
Advertising
2. What position do we choose for potted cherry tomatoes?
We place the pot with the cherry tree in a sunny position on the balcony, relatively protected from the wind. We usually choose a balcony with a south or west exposure so that our cherry tree can have satisfactory growth and fruiting. Intense midday sun in the summer months can burn the foliage or stress the plant. That is why it is good to cover for a period with a special net to protect from the sun (40-50% permeability to solar rays). If we do not do this protection, we can move the pot with the cherry tomatoes to a more semi-shady place in our balcony or yard during July and August. Also, it is important to choose a location protected from strong winds for potted cherry tomatoes.
3. What pot and soil do we choose for cherry tomatoes?
We choose pots with a diameter of at least forty centimeters to plant one tomato plant in each pot, while we can choose planters with a length of at least 80 centimeters to plant two tomato plants. It is essential that the pots have a drainage hole at the bottom for the water to escape. In addition, we place a thin 3-4 cm layer of gravel and pebbles on the base, to better drain the water. On top of the gravel layer, we put a piece of geotextile, which allows water to pass through and at the same time holds the soil. We choose special potting soil for vegetables or mix compost together with plenty of digested manure, peat and perlite in a volume ratio of 1:1:2:1 and a small amount (3-4 tablespoons) of complete organic fertilizer.
4. Do potted cherry tomatoes need staking?
When growing cherry tomatoes in a pot, due to their large growth and because most varieties are climbing, it is necessary to stake them to support them. Usually, the supporting of the cherry trees is done with wooden or metal stakes so that we don’t have problems with the air, as well as with the increased load weight of the fruits. It is important to tie the shoots with an elastic rope on the straws, so as not to injure the tomato shoots and cause them to dry out. Some tomato growers choose stainless steel mesh, and wrap it around the plant to provide a more stable support frame for the tomato shoots to support the weight of the fruit that will form.
View this post on Instagram
5. How often do we water the cherry tomatoes in the pot?
Tomato cultivation is relatively demanding on water and frequent watering is required to ensure satisfactory growth and fruiting. We water the pot with the cherry tomatoes, twice a week in the spring season and every two days in the warm season of July-August. We must be careful, as excessive watering of cherry trees can cause the flowers to drop and the leaves and stems of the plant to turn black. Especially in the 2-3 weeks after planting the tomato, we avoid frequent and daily watering, because a surface root system is created in the plants, resulting in them being weaker and having reduced growth. Also, it is important not to wet the foliage when watering, in order to avoid the development of diseases such as downy mildew and powdery mildew.
6. What fertilizer do we put on cherry tomatoes in a pot?
Tomatoes need enough nutrients during cultivation to have good growth and abundant production. Even if the potting soil we have added to the pot is enriched in nutrients, we incorporate into the pot two tablespoons of complete organic fertilizer rich in nitrogen and potassium every 20 days. Tomato cultivation is not as demanding in calcium fertilization as in large-fruited tomato varieties, as it does not often show the phenomenon of the dry top of the tomato, i.e. the browning at the base of the fruit. Also, during hot summer days, we spray or water with seaweed fertilizer to stimulate the plants in adverse weather conditions and not to stress.
7. How do I ecologically protect potted cherry tomatoes?
Cultivation of tomato is resistant to diseases and insects and shows fewer attacks compared to the cultivation of tomato varieties. To protect against the fungal diseases of downy mildew and powdery mildew, when the cherry tree reaches a height of 15-20 cm, spray the foliage of the plant with a wettable solution of water-soluble copper and sulfur every 2 weeks. Also, we can spray the plants every week, preventively to deal with insects such as mealybug, meligra (lice, aphid) and liriomyza, dissolving one tablespoon of grated green soap and one tablespoon of alcohol in one liter of water. Alternatively, to deal with insects in an ecological way, we use ecological preparations such as potassium salt soaps and natural pyrethrin that we get from agricultural stores. To deal with the tomato blight, which mainly affects larger cherry tomatoes, we can dust or spray our plants with Thuringia bacillus.
9 secrets for delicious cherry tomatoes
8. When is the cherry picking season?
We start cutting cherry tomatoes about 2-2.5 months after planting and the harvest lasts until the end of autumn. We harvest the ripe cherry tomatoes with our hands or with special thin scissors if we want to cut the whole bunch of cherry tomatoes. It is worth noting that in southern regions of our country that have a mild winter, if we secure a sheltered position in the pot with the cherry tomatoes, we can continue picking cherry tomatoes even in the winter.
9. And a secret about potted cherry tomatoes
The cherry tree is a particularly productive plant and one pot of cherry trees is enough to ensure satisfactory production and a large number of fruits. So even if we have very limited space in our yard or a small balcony, it is worth trying to grow cherry tomatoes to enjoy wonderful fruits and to experiment with special varieties.
Share the article with your friends: