Quote:
Should 10 gallons each be ok? what about cherries?
I take it they need less? I also guess that indeterminate are
better (not to mention more useful).
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For some compact cultivars, 10 gallons is ok. It depends more
on the size of the plant (leaf surface area) than on the size
of the fruit. Growing in the ground, most tomato plants, both
determinates and indeterminates, can easily fill a 3'x3'x3'
space with roots.
What you find growing in containers is the need to water
daily, sometimes twice a day, in hot weather (which you
have an abundance of there in Sardinia). A moisture meter
would probably be a big help here, so you can get an idea
of how fast the containers are drying out.
"Will grow well in a container" and "does well in the heat"
are not necessarily going to be the same cultivar. These
do better than most in the heat: Eva Purple Ball, Mule Team,
Arkansas Traveler (or Traveler or Traveler 76), Carmello (or
Crimson Carmello, a French Hybrid, should be available
locally there), Rio Grande (determinate paste), Principe
Borghese (indeterminate cherry), Stupice. There are doubtless
others, but those are the ones that I have heard "kept setting
fruit in the heat of midsummer" comments about from people
that live in climates as hot as yours. All but one are
indeterminates and can get big.
What you will probably find is that the size of the plant
ends up limited by the size of the container (meaning that
any of them will be modest-sized growing in a 10-gallon
container compared to how big they would get growing
in the ground in the same climate).
If you are looking at commercial hybrids recommended
for hot climates, look for "semi-determinate". Those will stay
more compact than most indeterminates yet produce fruit over
a longer season (usually) than determinates. Some of them
behave like a 2-crop determinate, where you get a concentrated
set of a lot of fruit all at once, more or less, then after you
harvest them the plant keeps growing and produces another
set that also ripen at almost the same time.
Another one to try is Russian Red. It was not bred for the heat,
specifically, but it is known as a tough plant that can take
a lot of abuse and still keep producing. As a rugose-leaved tree-type dwarf (stubby growth habit, thick stems), it should
take longer to outgrow your containers than regular
determinates, semi-determinates, and indeterminates.
So what are the local farmers growing? How do they taste?
You are probably close to the water. What about scrounging
around down there for shells, fish skeletons, kelp from nets,
stuff like that? In a location like that, you should be able to
add marine sources of calcium and other goodies to your container mix practically for free.