[trogg]

I intend to grow some tomatoes in growbags, but I have two questions.

1, I'm going to cut the growbags in half and stand on end. If I pierce a few holes in the bottom of the bag, can I then stand the bag in water permanently (about half inch of water) or will it cause the roots to rot ?

2, I believe tomatoes have two root systems, one for water (bottom) and one for the feed/fertiliser.
My question is, can I add the fertiliser to the water and feed from the bottom or will I need to feed the tomatoes from elsewhere ?

Hope someone can help     

[Ice]

As the tomato isn't a swamp plant I would avoid permanently soaking the roots.  Also, they do have two root systems so I would suggest you water from the bottom and feed from the top.

[trogg]

Thanks for your reply Ice, what I was thinking is that the compost would 'wick the water to the roots rather than the roots getting saturated from the water.

If I made the distance from the tomato plant to the water reservoir longer, would this work ?

My problem is I work long hours and when the weather is nice I like to take my family out .

I know I can't have my cake and eat it , but I do want my tomatoes and eat them     

[blackbob]

I intend to grow some tomatoes in growbags, but I have two questions.

1, I'm going to cut the growbags in half and stand on end. If I pierce a few holes in the bottom of the bag, can I then stand the bag in water permanently (about half inch of water) or will it cause the roots to rot ?

2, I believe tomatoes have two root systems, one for water (bottom) and one for the feed/fertiliser.
My question is, can I add the fertiliser to the water and feed from the bottom or will I need to feed the tomatoes from elsewhere ?

Hope someone can help     

why growbags? much easier to go the pot route

[trogg]

Was going to use a pot (with the bottom cut out)  on top of the growbag, hopefully this would work , with the permanent water supply 

[blackbob]

Was going to use a pot (with the bottom cut out)  on top of the growbag, hopefully this would work , with the permanent water supply  

it does work,ive used that method for over 15 years.keep the grow bag wet and liquid feed into the pot.
your bottom roots are moisture seekers the roots nearer the top of the pot are feeders.
chill and dont worry, it's all a learning curve that isn't half as complicated as it first seems.

[Kristen]

My problem is I work long hours and when the weather is nice I like to take my family out .

How about some sort of irrigation then? Drip-irrigation from a bag, or those special pots that you put on top of (flat) grow bags that provide a water reservoir?


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[trogg]

I've got one of those 'bag' irrigation systems, it was given to me by the man I bought my greenhouse and shed from, forgot I had it until you mentioned it Kristen  .
And if you think the permanent supply of water to the roots works ok blackbob, I'm going to use both systems, using the bag system with the tomato feed in it.

A bit of trial and error