[alancas]

greetings to all,i am intending to grow toms in pots this year,last year i used grow bags and the toms didnt get above 12" high can anyone tell me what contents to put in the pots,eg fertilizer compost lime etc,thanks.

[sunshineband]

Decent compost to start with, in pots about a foot deep , ten inches across (flower buckets are ideal) Plant the young plant deep, right up to the first proper leaves

Once you have flowers, feed with proprietary tomato feed, keep them regualrly watered and all should be well

Should do the job 

[agapanthus]

You'll need to make sure the pots are fairly large...at least 10" and fairly deep 'cos the plants need staking. Good compost should suffice until you start feeding the plants....I feed them once they have 2 trusses formed with a phosphorus based fertiliser. Last year I put a few 'bits' of horse manure on the top of the compost and water and fed through them and had a very good crop even though they had been planted out very late.

[agapanthus]

SNAP!!

[sunshineband]

SNAP!!

   

[alancas]

thank for the input.

[JayG]

Despite the rule of thumb that multipurpose composts should, on average, contain enough nutrients for 6 week's growth before additional feeding is required, I think the compost I used last year for my toms was distinctly below average (I suspect that fertiliser is an expensive componest of MP composts, and many of them have not exactly been the model of quality and consistency in recent years.) 

If your plants seem to be a bit pale and weak, especially compared with other people's growing in similar conditions, a liquid feed will give them a timely boost, but don't continue with high-nitrogen feeds when fruiting starts - stick to tomato food.

[HuwG]

What variety did you grow. The only toms that I have seen that stay that low are the hanging basket varieties or ones that have lost the growing tip. Even then a side shoot should take over

[Totty]

I use two, ten inch bottomless pots sat on top of a grow bag. I use Levington M3 to fill the pots and mix the bottom of the pots around with th grow bag compost. Sink a five inch pot in the middle of the bag and feed and water  through this. Keeping the pots on top from drying up also.
get the best compost/grow bags you can afford. Growing media is in my opinion the most important part of all when growing veg, so don't skimp on this. I have used both Levington m2 and m3 as well as vitax q4 and highly recommend them all.

Totty

[ruralbob]

I use ten inch pots without bottoms sat on top of a larger planter that has stones in the bottom for drainage. Both top and bottom filled with a multi purpose compost. I use a cheaper compost for the bottom planter but better stuff for the top ten inch pot. Last year I mulched some with manure and seemed to get a better crop from them.

My baby toms didnt do well.

Whats a good cherry cordon tom? Dont want to do cherry bush toms but cordon ones?

[DD.]

Black Cherry have a wonderful taste!

[mumofstig]

I'll second that, but the grandkids won't eat them cos they're the wrong colour   

so they grow sweet million  in 'their' pots

http://www.dtbrownseeds.co.uk/seeds-plants-gardening/11289/tomato-sweet-million-f1-agm-seeds

[JayG]

I like Sweet Million - a good balance of acid and sweetness and very prolific.

I have to mention Sungold because they seem to be very popular amongst growers, although they didn't actually do that well for me last year (the first time I'd tried them but I'll give them another chance given that conditions were a bit challenging for toms.)

[Ema]

I grew toms in the morrisions pots last year all did well. Just used homebase grow bag compost emptied in and fed them often

[angelavdavis]

I grew in pots last year - having had two years of pretty poor growth from grow bags with bottomless pots on top.  They did much better.  I also used a couple of inches of manure added to the top of the pots when the plants really took off.  We had good crops, although got weird growth once the tomatoes reached the top of the GH - misshapen leaves.  I still don't know if it was the manure (which was bought in, organic) or just a virus.