Recently been trying to grow my own food plants every summer/spring to make myself a bit less reliant on the store, and while it’s worked out wonderfully for herbs like basil, I’m disheartened by tomatoes, with this being my first year growing them.
So have begun harvesting my tomatoes this week, and this is about half of what I have from my single pot (the other 2 pots failed because squirrels got into and dug up the pot after I planted them). There’s still some ripening, but only about this amount again.
Now, these taste good and all compared to store bought, but I primarily use tomatoes for sauces (pizza and pasta), and this small a yield is making me worry that that growing them isn’t really any financially better than just buying cans for making sauce.
I plan on trying again next year as I feel like i learned a lot for the next go around (spreading them out to only 2 seeds for a 9 inch pots instead of 3 for example, as the surviving pot is a bit crowded), but is this small yield to be expected normally per pot?
by TurtlesBreakTheMeta
11 Comments
For slicer tomatoes you need at least a 10 gallon pot. I grew in a 5 gallon my first year and had very poor yield. This year grew in 10 gallon and fertilized every 2 weeks. Watered every day. And got some huge tomatoes and a much much better yield than I ever have before. Cherry tomatoes tend to grow pretty good in 5 gallon but not the bigger tomatoes.
That’s very good for a single pot if I may say. And I’m confident it was cheaper to grow them then buying them, even if you bought the seedling. Keep some seeds for next year and it will be 100% free
You could try dwarf varieties or determinates. A 5 gallon pot is considered the absolutely minimum, 10 or 20 gallons and they do much better. Plants grown in a container also often need additional nutrients or fertilizers added once they start flowering/fruiting.
If you want tomatoes for sauces etc. try Roma varieties.
If yield is your primary goal stay away from heirloom varieties. Go with more hybrids that have better disease resistance, and higher yield potential
First off, one plant per pot once they’re past seedling stage. They have roots that like to grow deep, and they like lots of soil. I’ve never grown in pots so I can’t give you an exact size but 10-15 gallons is generally the recommended size. A 15 gallon pot is approximately 17 inches by 16 inches tall and wide. A 9 inch pot simply isn’t large enough to get a good harvest. Also, are you using fertilizer, and if so, what?
Lastly, don’t get discouraged. You will learn something new every year. It’s how gardening goes. You will have failures and also great results.
These look like my dwarf Tasmanian Chocolates. They’ve had very good flavor.
Honestly that is tiny for a tomato plant. And you had three in there so you should be happy your getting as much as you are. I recommend a 15-20gal fabric pot or put it in dirt.
Why are you not planting them in the ground? Container plants need so much more attention with watering and fertilizer to be productive and happy.
I’m actually shocked you got this many tomatoes from a 9 inch pot! That’s vastly undersized. If you were to buy heirloom tomatoes in the store you’d pay a high price for them so you probably broke even here. However, for many of us who grow in small places, we grow for access to varieties not otherwise available , for taste, and for the love of the task rather than to save money. Farmers make money because they grow at volume and can absorb some loss to pests. That said, you can make an excellent sauce from good canned tomatoes so you need to decide if gardening is right for you.
If you do grow again next year in a small space, I’d recommend choosing a prolific saladette variety like Juliet or even a large cherry variety because they make great sauce and can produce a lot in a small space. Try growing in at least 5 gallon pots, larger if you can.
Honestly I’m shocked and impressed you even got this many from a 9in pot lol