Best slicing-size tomato for container growing?

I'm looking for suggestions on a tomato cultivar for growing in an "Earthbox" type container. It looks like I won't be growing anything in the dirt this year. I fell in December and damaged ligaments in both knees. That's in addition to the broken foot that I've been fighting since last July. If I want to grow tomatoes this year it will have to be where I can reach them in my wheelchair. : /

I'd like an indeterminate growing season, but determinate plant size. Maybe there are some semi-determinates that fit the bill? I don't care (for now) if it is hybrid or open pollinated. Ideally, the plant won't require too much support and will be adaptable to the limited soil in a container. I'm hoping for something that will still be somewhat productive. The whole effort of preparing, planting, and growing is too much for a plant that will only produce 3 or 4 tomatoes.

I'm thinking of using self-watering containers since it is generally hot and dry in central Texas. The extra water availability seems very important here. Grow bags or normal containers would probably have to be watered at least twice a day!

I'm going to try at least two plants of the new Sweet Ozark Orange. It did really well in my garden last year, so it would be nice to know if it will grow in a container. I need at least one or two other types to try, though. Hopefully there are a few that are known to do well in containers. Any suggestions or other comment? Also, what's a good cherry type for containers that is productive without overwhelming plant size? Thanks!

David R

So sorry to hear about your health. You have been a great contributor on the tomatoes forum in the past years and I was looking forward to your posts.
I have no experience growing tomatoes in container, but I think this variety will do great and it is actually one of my favorite tomato: GOLD NUGGET.
It is a small 2" yellow cherry, determinate. First to produce every year. It is very small. Maybe 2-3' tall. No need of caging or support. This plant will produce so many tomatoes. Bottom/older leaves always get brown (not worry - it is not a disease).
I hope this will help and good luck.

dreaves, so sorry to hear of your health troubles. I, too, really look forward to your posts!

I start several tomato plants for my parents, ship them up to Illinois, and they plant them out in big pots on their patio. They always ask for Margo (more of a salad tomato) and Extreme Bush. Last year I also sent them New Big Dwarf and, I think Livingston's Dwarf Stone and Livingston's Giant Oxheart. They said they really liked the Giant Oxheart so I'll probably grow that one out for them this year. I would think any of the Dwarf tomatoes would work well and it might be a good opportunity for your to experiment with those and see which do well for you in an earthbox or pot. There are a few slicers to chose from in the Dwarf varieties. And then post the results for us all to follow along.

I know that Gymgirl has done a lot with container and earthbox gardening. I think I remember her saying she is crazy for Momotaro tomatoes. Perhaps Gymgirl can chime in and let you know which tomato varieties did best for her container garden projects?

Hang in there, dreaves! I went almost the whole gardening season two years ago with a cast on my hand due to broken fingers and subsequent surgeries to keep the fingers! It was a pain in the patute not being able to get out there and dig and hoe and do much else. But at least I got better by fall so that I could get in a garden then (as opposed to not being able to start a new garden in the fall when I lived up North). Hope you get well soon! ☺

Shoot, I lost all I had written to you because I went to get Gymgirl's (Linda's) site for you. here it is. http://allthingsplants.com/thread/view/3230/Make-an-eBucket/...

What I said was that you and I are pretty much in the same mess this year, as I was last year. I am scheduled for surgery in 2 weeks, and then will be on a walker for 4 or 5 months. I broke my hip near a prior surgery prosthesis. Anyway, last year I had my ankle replaced, and then broke my leg a few inches above it.

So, last year I had my tomatoes planted in 8 Earthbuckets like Gymgirl perfected. And 2 more in an Earthbox. I did pretty good with an Oregon Spring in one end of the EBox.and can't remember what the other one was in with it. But, yes, I had pretty good luck with the Tomontaro in an Ebucket. The Ebuckets are just like the Eboxes only using a food grade 5 gallon bucket with an inverted colander for the reservoir. and a pvc pipe for the filling tube.

The biggest problem I had was the only place I had to be able to take care of them was on a deck that didn't have much sun so they didn't ripen, none of them, until just before frost. And then they all ripened at the same time. At that time I had tons of tomatoes.

Good luck with growing your tomatoes, and most of all healing.

Hey Dreaves - so sorry for your health issues! One of my all time favorite tomatoes that is very productive and seems to be resistant to sunscald is Jaune Flamme - the tomatoes are golden and about the size of an apricot. I would think in a container the plant would not get huge. If you send me your address I would be glad to send you some seeds.

Keith

I have heard that is a good one too.

Thanks for the replies so far. I have used the self- watering buckets. I made some and used for peppers and herbs. I still have 6 buckets that I will use for sweet peppers this year. They work well, but seem small for tomatoes. Also, I've grown Juanne Flamee in the dirt. It didnt have much flavor. Do y'all think it would be different in a container?

I don't use dirt. I use soiless mix. Don't know if that would make a difference or not.

Jnette, sorry-- I meant that I'd grown it in my garden, not a container. I use soiless mix in my containers too.

David

One of my all time favorites is Husky Red (pictured), which is a dwarf indeterminate or semi-determinate. I think it has a really good flavor, good production, and grows only about 4 feet tall. Not to be confused with Husky CHERRY Red, which Bonnie Plants sells at the big box stores. I tried that thinking it would be like Husky Red, but was disappointed in the flavor.

I tried New Big Dwarf in a big pot once. It produced splendid fruits, but not many of them.

I have grown (in the ground) Mountain Magic, which is advertised as a 'compact indeterminate'. The fruit is about the size of a Campari but the taste is great. It will need a bit of staking in the south but so will Momotaro and almost anything not strictly dwarf IMO. The only reason I'm not planning to grow it now is that I too am cutting back a bit.

So sorry to hear of your health problems. I had ACL knee surgery in Feb last year and wasn't able to grow as much. That coupled with the early wet rains and my travel most of the summer pretty much did our garden in. It was very late and I was gone, so he ended up freezing and giving away a lot of stuff.

Oh, I forgot about Mountain Pride. I grew that one in the ground the past two years and it did quite well. It is determinate, I got heavy production both years, and I thought the flavor was quite good. Definitely large enough fruits to call them slicers. I think I'll start some tonight when I get home from work!

Decided to try Husky Red, Gold Nugget, Momotaro, and Isis Candy. I couldn't find a dwarf indeterminate red cherry that looked good, so I'm going to see how the Isis candy, a bi-color full-size indeterminate does in an Earth Box. I have four Earthoxes on order, so all I have to do now is get the seeds started, get container mix, setup, and grow.

Thanks for the suggestions.

David R

Good for you David. Hope they do well for you. BTW, have you considered, or would you be able to, use a knee walker rather than the wheel chair. I suppose it depends on how bad the opposite knee is from your bad foot. I used one of those to keep all the weight off of my ankle and really liked it.

Also, if you can use one, look into buying one thru Google, or Amazon.

I rented one for 4 months and spent more in two of those months than it cost me to buy one.

I had a knee scooter for the broken foot. That's what caused the knee problem. I lost my balance on the scooter, fell backwards, and hyper extended both knees. Completely tore both patellar ligaments.

(Edited to fix speling). ; )


This message was edited Jan 22, 2014 7:42 PM

Wow-I guess you don't want any more of those, do you? Talk about bad luck- I hope things improve for you before growing time comes- well, I guess in Texas that is now. Here in WA it won't be here any time soon. I am just now getting my shelves and lights set up to start sowing seeds soon.

Good grief David, what were you doing to make that happen? I used mine for 6 months and never had any problems with it. Those things aren't for the circus you know. :0)

Wow, David! That sounds like something I could do.

Who would think I could practically slice off my fingers just handling cattle panels???? My husband sure didn't when he drove off on the tractor that morning and came back a couple hours later to find me flat out on the sofa. With all five dogs sitting in a row just watching me (I think they might have been waiting for me to die or something!).

We must have the same klutz/injury gene!

I discovered that carrying boxes of dialysis supplies on the cart is not a good idea. I'd done it several times before, but this was the one time something went wrong! Luckily, my wife insists that I carry my cell phone ALL the time. When I fell, I couldn't get up (both knees were destroyed) but I could call 911. The EMT gave me two large painkiller shots and waited about 30 minutes before they dragged me through the door to a place where they could get me onto the stretcher. Fun times! Surgery on both knees, 5 days in the hospital, two weeks in a rehab hospital, and now home healthcare for a month or so. Eventually I will go to outpatient therapy, but not yet.

Best of luck for a speedy recovery! I always feel that just being home is half the battle...

Same here terri. So, David, you had both knees replaced. Wow.

OH MY GOODNESS!

I step away for awhile and all this goes on???!!!!

Let me just say that I'm glad we're ALL still alive here, LOL!

D, I've already sent you my mail suggestions on the EBs and eBuckets. I think you'll be ok with what you're growing. Just get that trellis in place early on. An a-frame over the line of EBs would be ideal. Then you could just train the vines up a single line thrown over the top of the Frame, and keep the vines trimmed to one main stem, like Cricketsgarden does in her greenhouse.

When're you planting out your tomatoes?

Seeds were started a week ago on a heat mat at 80 degrees. I have seedlings in every pellet already. I'm planning on going straight to the Earthboxes, hopefully by the end of the month. I'm putting casters on the boxes. That will allow me to roll everything into the garage if there is a late chill.

DR

Sounds like a good plan!

I was gonna put out my 16 Sweet Ozark Orange seedlings this morning to start hardening off, but, at 34° and with blustery winds, it was all I could do to hand water the raised beds and not freeze. My fingers burned like never before! And, it's supposed to be the same tomorrow morning.

I may need to construct another mini-greenhouse to put the seedlings out to harden off. They have 9 days before planting out. And, I've gotta get my own trellis and watering systems in place.

AAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH...

This cold weather is putting a hitch in my giddy-up up here in Rains County, too! I think I might need wheels to trundle my whole garden into the barn to avoid these cold nights =)

Terri,
I have truly discovered the benefits of using HOOPS to cover my raised beds. To date:
►The fastest growth ever because the plants aren't wind-whipped and stressed
►NO BUG HOLES, ANYWHERE!
►My soil is holding moisture longer and not drying out as fast
►Way Earlier start to the season

I'm about to order some greenhouse plastic to replace the current contractor plastic I've been using. The greenhouse stuff blocks the UV Rays, and is crystal clear so more light will penetrate to the plants. The contractor plastic is kind of opaque. I stuck my hand under there once and was surprised by how warm it was inside, LOL! It really works, and the plants seem to love being under the cover.

Also, I'll be ordering some shade cloth 70-90% for the summer, and some tulle (bridal veil fabric) to protect the summer seedlings from the stinkbugs and squash vine borers.

Yep. I'm learning about protecting the plants with HOOP COVERS, LOL!

Yes, I have one of Eliot Coleman's books on winter harvesting. I've wanted to do the low hoops, but didn't really this past fall or winter to get things started due to work. So you are preaching to the choir regarding the hoops. I have shade cloth I use everywhere. But this winter temps have been dipping down into the low teens on a regular basis. So I guess if I can do a stay-cation this summer I might get started on some projects for a winter veg garden.

Try to stay warm!

Terri

This is a photo of the seedlings after one week. I've adjusted the temp down on the heat mat to about 72. Once they all have a set of true leaves I will set the temperature down to 60 or so. I want to try and keep the seedlings from getting leggy.

I'm not using much of my seed starting space. Empty canning jars are filling the seedling grow rack.

(Photo isn't on my tablet... Have to post from my phone)

David

David, how many earthboxes are you going to have? And, how many plants in each?

Photos from the phone won't load.... :/

I have four Earthboxes and some self watering five-gallon buckets. I'm going to try 2 plants per box and one per bucket. I'm going to plant Gold Nugget in buckets, since it only gets 2-3a feet tall. The other four types will go into Earthboxes.

Finally, I was able to copy the pictures from the phone to my desktop....

Seedlings after only a week on the heat mat at 80 degrees.

The blanket and cardboard around the light rack is to keep the heat from the mat and the lights around the plants. We've had a couple of cool snaps, where the garage temperature got into the 40's. I put the thermostat sensor into an unused peat pellet to get accurate heating. I also have a kitchen thermometer in the pellet to check the accuracy of the thermostat settings. This would normally have up to four 72-pellet trays, with two trays on the heat mat. One 16 pellet tray for now, and one partial refill for peppers in a few weeks.

The wire rack full of jars would normally hold up to 12 flats of seedlings in pellets. That's over 850 plants... not this year, though.

David

Sure hear you there David. I think I will have to stick to a dozen this year again. I was scheduled for surgery last week but the roads were so bad and the temps so cold, that I had to cancel. I live a hundred miles from the hospital. About half 2 lane highway and half 2 and 4 lane freeway. That is about half and half too. So, I know the NE has had it a lot colder than we do, but I am not one to push it. Trying to get re-scheduled isn't easy.

Put a small fan on the seedlings to beef 'em up. Just a gentle breeze will keep them from getting leggy --that, and cooling the temps downward after the true leaves come on. ..

Hope you are all well, and for all of you having surgery,or having had surgery, good luck! David, I mostly grew in grow bags last year and I grew Brandywine, Anna Russian Aunt Gertie's Gold, Orange Strawberry.
All did well. The trick is the bigger the better container and consistent watering and fertilizer.
I tried Gold nugget - personally I wasn't a fan. Loved Sun Sugar.
I just want to say nothing gets a gardener down from the sounds of it! I'm loving the earth boxes etc. much easier on the aging body than in the dirt!
Good luck and happy gerninating! I only start end of March and I can't wait.
The weather has been dreadful, thank goodness for the lure of tomatoes to keep us sane!
Sharon

Here are the tomatoes after two weeks. All have started showing true leaves. It was a little sad, but I thinned as many as I have growing! Heat mat is set to 65 degrees.

David

D,
I think it's time to take them off the heat mat. I believe they only need the heat to get them germinated. Now they need some COOL to make them fat. Aim a small fan at them with a gentle breeze, to beef them up.

Do you know why some leaves are yellowing? Too much water, perhaps?

I hear yah about having to thin them. I hate doing it, which is why I end up with so many seedlings, LOL!

With the temps we have had he may need the heat mat to keep the plants warm enough.lol I have kept mine on one or in an area that was warm with no problems.

I am using the heater, set to low, to keep the seedlings warm. We had temperatures in the 30s still last night. I'll move them off the heat entirely once the garage heats up a bit. I think the color is just the light in the photo. I didn't notice any yellowing when I was thinning. Hopefully there's no problem, since I cut the alternates out!

Looks like I will have plenty of time to work with the Earthboxes. Found out today that my knee surgeries are both failing-- probably due to my kidney disease. We find out Thursday what the MRI of my knees shows. The expectation is another round of surgery, with donor ligaments for tied in to reinforce the joint. I will lose the ability to bend either knee fully/normally, but should be able to stand and walk with some stiffness. Recovery will be much longer. Hopefully I will be walking by the end of this year. :/