[wbmkk]

I have grown tomatoes using ring culture in my greenhouse for a very long time, using fresh compost every year, but just a mixture of compost and soil in the ground.

Two years ago the crop was very poor and there were serious problems with wilt, I think the official term is 'verticillium wilt'  I suppose having the roots in soil for many years isn't a good thing. I know, the official ring culture advice is to use pea gravel at the bottom, but I never did.

last year I got some large 12" pots (actually chip shop mayonnaise buckets) drilled plenty of holes and grew my tomatoes in these.

Again, for the 2nd year running, not too good .. blossom end rot on many tomatoes, which I think is caused by over-watering.

Now I am thinking .. I should get a moisture meter, then just water when required.

There's this one for under a fiver .. https://www.wilko.com/en-uk/wilko-soil-moisture-ph-tester/p/0261281

Any advice would be appreciated.

[Hampshire Hog]

Hi I bought one of those meters really on a whim mainly thinking about ph.
I hadn’t tested it for moisture but just doing so it seems to give a rough indication of when things are dry or moist/wet. My only concern would be that I am uncertain about the exact meaning of the scale. Certainly putting it into pots that are pretty wet results in a wet reading and a pot that had soil but hadn’t been watered in this heat read as dry. As nominally a scientist I should want more data on calibration etc. But I think it is worth £5 even for novelty value! Just don’t rely solely on this meter though.

[mumofstig]

Again, for the 2nd year running, not too good .. blossom end rot on many tomatoes, which I think is caused by over-watering.

Blossom end rot is caused by letting soil/roots get dry between waterings/irregular watering.
Can you set up some kind of drip watering system so they stay continually just moist?

[Subversive_plot]

I've added some edits (in blue) to throw in some important points that I left out when I initially made this post.

There's no harm in getting a meter, but you can get a good read on soil moisture without one:

1.  Finger test.  Push your index finger straight down into the soil as far as you can, then withdraw it.  Is there an indication of moisture on your finger an inch below the soil line, or two inches?  An inch or less you should not need to water, but if you don't detect moisture until past 2 inches, you might need to water.  The assessment of soil moisture depth, and when to water, might be different for very young seedlings or seeds trying to germinate (that is, moisture should be apparent at shallower depth).Moisture may just be a cool dampness that you can feel, does not need to be saturated.

2.  "Skewer" test.  You need a clean wooden skewer (like you would use on a barbecue), or chop stick, or wood dowel.  Push it into the soil, leave it in place until you want to read soil moisture, then pull the skewer out of the soil.  Read it in the same way as the finger test, except you look for the moisture on the skewer.  Replace the skewer in the soil until you want to read again.

3. Trowel test.  Insert the trowel in the soil, away from the root ball of your plants,  and lift out a trowel of soil. Feel for moisture, determine from feel and appearance how deep the moisture starts.

Any soil moisture assessment, using a meter, one of the methods above, or just checking a fist full of soil, will focus your attention on the condition of the soil moisture, and is likely to improve the degree to which soil moisture is maintained.

[vikingraider]

I worked in a commercial greenhouse years ago during the summer months in between college. They used to get blossom end on their tomatoes and they were grown hydroponically

[Wilyingeld]

I have grown tomatoes using ring culture in my greenhouse for a very long time, using fresh compost every year, but just a mixture of compost and soil in the ground.

Two years ago the crop was very poor and there were serious problems with wilt, I think the official term is 'verticillium wilt'  I suppose having the roots in soil for many years isn't a good thing. I know, the official ring culture advice is to use pea gravel at the bottom, but I never did.

last year I got some large 12" pots (actually chip shop mayonnaise buckets) drilled plenty of holes and grew my tomatoes in these.

Again, for the 2nd year running, not too good .. blossom end rot on many tomatoes, which I think is caused by over-watering.

Now I am thinking .. I should get a moisture meter, then just water when required.

There's this one for under a fiver .. https://www.wilko.com/en-uk/wilko-soil-moisture-ph-tester/p/0261281

I stumbled upon a helpful resource with various tips and stories at https://studyhelper.com/argumentative-essay-samples. You might find it insightful!

Any advice would be appreciated.

I've had similar struggles with my tomato plants in the past, especially with blossom end rot. It can be frustrating when things don't go as planned despite your efforts. I've found that investing in a moisture meter can definitely help in regulating watering, preventing issues like over-watering.

[Goosegirl]

I've just got a soil water meter probe jobbie which I find very good. MOS recommended it so I went with her advice. It's for my plug plants which are in modules and some show wet, some are ok and some are a bit dry. I'm using John Innes No. 2 for the first time so it's a trial. I want to water them with some Tomorite but am holding off for the moment.

[Learnerlady]

Hi, I'm convinced that since going peat free I've been over watering both seedlings and plants, was also going to use vermiculite to cover seeds but forgot  as it forms quite a hard crust on the top. I'm using the finger test mentioned above and feel my seedlings etc. have performed better so far this year. Not had a problem with blossom end rot as I also make sure bottom of forming toms are clean and free of flower bits etc. TBH this was least of my problems last year as weather and blight did for most of my plants, even tried capilliary matting last year but didn't seem to work. Good job we all like a challenge eh!!