Thanks again for all the info, everyone!
Most of the plants have already set fruit, but were looking yellowish... additionally, several of the plants have not grown much in the last month, and since I am in southern California and the growing season is long and scorchy, I would prefer that they spend the next few weeks bulking up their leaves, for a longer season overall.
I applied a mulch tea about a month ago, and that may be why the soil is active and made the urea available. Also, the PH is a little high, and I am trying to bring it down with diluted vinegar.
Here's a question... I am trying to get the roots to grow strong to the bottom of the containers, so I am being careful to not drown them, which I may have done last season. So now I am in a situation where the top half of the container can get pretty dry while the bottom half stays wet (I put both perlite and vermiculite in the mix, so it drains well, but still retains water.) As a result, I am staggering the watering to allow the top half to dry out, and so encourage root growth... but this is leading to fruit cracking on the larger tomatoes as a result of this feast or famine watering. Is this a sign that the roots are not penetrating to the wet soil below or is this just the price of growing the roots, and later in the season I will be able to water more regularly and avoid so much cracking?
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