watering in containers

[homefry]

i live in chicago. it is hard to judge when and how much to water because we have temps that change from 75 to 92 in matter of a day, then right back to 75. i know the rule one inch per week. my tomatoes are in 8 gallons containers.

[neoguy]

First timer trying to grow tomatoes in pots, so I am no expert. I'm trying to salvage a Brandywine where the main stem cracked and another Brandywine where a branch split from the stem. I put each into 5 gallon pots. The way I water is I took a 1 gallon plastic milk jug and punched 6 tiny little holes in the bottom, fill the jug and place right in the pots, a poor mans drip irrigation system. The frequency is based on the weather, if it's really hot, almost everyday, if a little cooler probably 3-4 times a week. I can monitor the amount of water it needs because it starts flowing out of the bottom tray.

By the, I'm watering the tomatoes in the ground the same way, but I place 3-4 jugs around each plant, a couple times a week, this way I know they are being deeply watered.

[Rena]

I have almost all my tomatoes in containers. I water sometimes twice a day in the summer and 3 times a day when they are putting on fruit in late Spring. This year was my biggest production year. I actually had more time to water as my children are no longer toddlers

[Earl]

I use a water dip stick with inch measurements on it that I stick down into the water pipe. But soon you can judge which ones need water by how heavy the growth is. Those with heavy growth need water every day.

[Tomstrees]

I can say for all my pots that watering at least every other day is nec. -
The Ind. plants drink a lot of water than the dwarves but I use my finger to test how wet the soil is ...

~ Tom

[dcarch]

Originally Posted by Tomstrees

----------- but I use my finger to test how wet the soil is ...~ Tom

Tom,

You got it wrong. That's not what they mean by "digital" moisture testing.

dcarch

[felpec]

For what it's worth, here's what we did this year:

Put in a drip irrigation system.
Bought a $12 moisture meter.
http://www.northerntool.com/webapp/w...2779_200332779

We have twelve container tomatoes and 2-25' x 6' raised beds for tomatoes. Two of the container tomatoes were our guinea pigs. We'd water those when they "looked dry" or "felt dry" - and no cheating by using the moisture meter. The rest we watered based on the readings from the moisture meter.

Surprisingly (or maybe not?), every tomato (so far) in the two "look and feel" buckets has BER - one is a Sioux and one a Kalman's Hungarian Pink. Very wild swings in WAY too wet to WAY too dry. Not a sign of it in any of the others (and very little splitting of even the cherry tomatoes).

But, there was not much rhyme or reason to how much to water (like an inch a week, water an hour every other day, etc.) We just have to check it every morning (part of the ritual - get coffee, walk up to garden, test soil moisture, turn on water or not, snack on fresh veggies, decide what to pick for dinner, etc.)

Also, we came pretty close to losing our eggplant crop last year to oedema (too much water). We were overwatering based on how the top couple of inches of soil felt. This year, we will probably have enough eggplant from eight plants to feed a small country.

[amideutch]

I find it hard to believe you can overwater plants in containers unless you are intentionally trying to do so or they do not have good drainage. I have 10 plants out in the open in containers and had intermittent rain for three weeks straight with no problems. One of those is Sungold and now it is spitting out tomatoes with no sign of cracking which it is notorious for when it gets wet feet. But then again I treated my plants with Actinovate and Mycorhizae when I planted them in the containers initially. Ami

[blatanna]

Ami, could you tell me what is Actinovate and Mycorhizae. I plqant a lot of my toms in containers and would be interested to know more about these .

[amideutch]

blatanna, be glad to. Here is a couple links. Ami
http://www.fungi.com/mycogrow/index.html
http://www.tomatoville.com/showthread.php?t=5456

[Earl]

I'm puzzled by the fact that the plants in earth boxes takes so much water when they're grown to full size, like several gallons a day. So where do they get all this water when planted in the soil? We're lucky if we get an inch of rain a week in summer, then if not, water a few gallons per plant per week. If seems odd that they require so much water in EBs.

[Worth1]

Heat on the sides of the containers help evaporate the water.
Capillary action in the soil brings up moisture from deep within the ground.
This is why it is necessary to not have a dry spot in-between the deeper moisture and surface moisture.
Thusly water well when you do water.

There is a lot of water evaporated from the garden and the plant will use some of this water.
In a container you can tell just how much it will use.

I like to keep my soil moist at least 2 feet down; it helps a lot in hot dry weather.

Odd ball thinking but it has always been a good line of thought for me to follow.
Worth