Containers Growing ?

[AlittleSalt]

I have so much to learn about container gardening. My first attempt has been fun. Spacing - I thought I had that figured out with two rows, but I was wrong. I have tomato plants growing too close together at 3.5' apart and the rows being 5' apart. My health played a major roll in that. I should have had the bigger cages already built and I should have kept the plants trimmed. I wasn't able to do either.

The different mixes sounded like a good thing to experiment with, and I'm glad I did. I saw next to no difference. What I have noticed is not what wanted. The tomatoes don't taste right. Sungold tastes nothing like those grown in ground. The taste difference is enough to make me not want to grow tomatoes again - and yet, I want to improve the mixes and make them taste right.

As I have written all along, I'm letting you know my experience in container gardening.

[zipcode]

Are you adding the fertilizer mix at every watering in the correct dilution? You need to keep the EC high (2500+) after tomatoes are growing to have quality taste (you can go even higher than Mark, but that would be at the cost of production and possibly some extra wilting, not sure it's for your climate).

[Worth1]

Originally Posted by AlittleSalt

I have so much to learn about container gardening. My first attempt has been fun. Spacing - I thought I had that figured out with two rows, but I was wrong. I have tomato plants growing too close together at 3.5' apart and the rows being 5' apart. My health played a major roll in that. I should have had the bigger cages already built and I should have kept the plants trimmed. I wasn't able to do either.

The different mixes sounded like a good thing to experiment with, and I'm glad I did. I saw next to no difference. What I have noticed is not what wanted. The tomatoes don't taste right. Sungold tastes nothing like those grown in ground. The taste difference is enough to make me not want to grow tomatoes again - and yet, I want to improve the mixes and make them taste right.

As I have written all along, I'm letting you know my experience in container gardening.

Let me guess, they taste watered down.

Mine don't and I dont know why other than luck and I dont believe in luck.

All of the tomatoes one of our members here tasted watered down too from raised beds including sungold.
Mine tasted like some exotic fruit.
The tomatoes in my containers this year are on the acid side which is fine by me.
Nothing like store bought.

Worth

[zipcode]

They don't have to be necessarily watered down. Worse is when have an offtaste. In my first year of container gardening the tomatoes tasted what I call grassy. Kinda like a cucumber. It's very offputting. Some people, like my mum, didn't really taste it the same way, but she did admit the better ones tasted better.
Things have gotten better every year, but still get that taste sometimes, on some varieties.

[ginger2778]

Originally Posted by zipcode

They don't have to be necessarily watered down. Worse is when have an offtaste. In my first year of container gardening the tomatoes tasted what I call grassy. Kinda like a cucumber. It's very offputting. Some people, like my mum, didn't really taste it the same way, but she did admit the better ones tasted better.
Things have gotten better every year, but still get that taste sometimes, on some varieties.

Mine too but they almost always grow out if that strange taste later on. Luckily, I have such a long season that it has a chance to do it.

[AlittleSalt]

Acidic taste would be the best way to put it. The other variety that is ripe was supposed to be Medovaya Kaplya, but it turns out to be a cross. It does have that strong acidic taste, but it's not what I thought I planted.

[zipcode]

I see. Well, that sounds good actually. I have found that if nutrition is good (lots of K) then acidity will be high but also the aroma will be high (also variety dependent). You probably have to wait for next fruits for the sweetness to appear.

[ginger2778]

Sungold is very acidic in general. Try letting it ripen on the vine, to a bright screaming orange. It's really the only one I won't pick at blush, it never sweetened on the counter.

[AlittleSalt]

Marsha, you made me think about it. I may not know what some tomatoes are supposed to taste like because of the diseases in the soil probably do make tomatoes taste different.

That would mean I have to grow them all again in containers...sounds like a good idea

[Tomzhawaii]

Ahhh. This has been an ongoing conversation, between the wife and myself. She is Japanese from Tokyo. I am from upstate N.Y. When we go out to eat, our tastes differ completely. When my cherry tomatoes ,last year, started getting ripe we ate a few. I noticed a very strong flavor. I could not name it, just a wow !!! She said it tasted old. Huh ? After more came ripe and the plants got a more correct nutrition(my bad) the flavor was perfect, for both of us.It taught me a lesson. Somethings take time and not every fruit will taste the same to each person.

[Nan_PA_6b]

Originally Posted by Tomzhawaii

...not every fruit will taste the same to each person.

Oh, yes. My mother and I each took a bite from a single tomato. She raved about the flavor, and I said, "What flavor?" A lot of them taste bland to me, including Cherokee Purple.



Nan

[AlittleSalt]

Originally Posted by Tomzhawaii

Ahhh. This has been an ongoing conversation, between the wife and myself. She is Japanese from Tokyo. I am from upstate N.Y. When we go out to eat, our tastes differ completely. When my cherry tomatoes ,last year, started getting ripe we ate a few. I noticed a very strong flavor. I could not name it, just a wow !!! She said it tasted old. Huh ? After more came ripe and the plants got a more correct nutrition(my bad) the flavor was perfect, for both of us.It taught me a lesson. Somethings take time and not every fruit will taste the same to each person.

Originally Posted by Nan_PA_6b

Oh, yes. My mother and I each took a bite from a single tomato. She raved about the flavor, and I said, "What flavor?" A lot of them taste bland to me, including Cherokee Purple.



Nan

There is so much difference in all of our taste buds.

[AlittleSalt]

I did judge the taste of the Sungold tomatoes unfairly. I plucked the almost burnt-orange fully ripe tomatoes off the vine in 100F degree heat and ate them in the garden. It was also right after I found ripe tomatoes that was supposed to be Medovaya Kaplya that were not the right shape or taste - so I was upset (A nice way to put it). Medovaya Kaplya is one of my top 10 favorite tomatoes. I'm going to have to buy MK seeds because mine are very low germination rate crosses. I'm not going to grow them out either.

[Worth1]

Best way to test tomato taste is in the morning as the sun comes up first thing before anything else like coffee other food and smokes.

[imp]

Salt, thank you for this thread, I've been reading along and am learning a lot from all the information and what you are doing. Great thread.