Heirlooms I would grow again in a container

[platys]

I know I'm not done with my tomato season, but I definately have some tomatoes I'd grow again in containers. These aren't anything fancy, and I'll note the size of the container. I used MG potting soil, with tomato tone every two weeks.

1. Japanese Black Triefle (5 gallon bucket) - This plant is just cranking out the tomatoes. I've had no problem with blossom end rot, and they taste great.
2. Hawaiian Pineapple. (5 gallon bucket) - This is one happy plant, and its growing absolutely huge tomatoes. No problems with blossom end rot, taste great. Not producing as heavily as JBT, but its going along well.
3. Amish Paste (5 gallon pot) - This plant is loaded with tomatoes, and again, no blossom end rot. The taste is milder, but I expected that.
4. Stupice (5 gallon pot) - I started out with a little BER problem, but it soon resolved itself. It heavily produces, and tastes very good.
5. German Queen (5 gallon bucket) - No blossom end rot, and while its only produced 4 ripe tomatoes so far, they were all huge and super tasty.
6. Berkeley Tie Dye (10 gallon pot). I've had very little BER with this plant, and while its not yielding as well as some, they've all tasted great. I have a lot more on my plant to harvest.
7. Sun Gold (5 gallon) - a big big producer, and everyone loved them.

Mixed Results:

1. Black from Tula. In one 10 gallon pot, it did great - a very big producer. In the other pot, which perhaps got a little less sun, it did less well. The plant itself looks fine, so I'm not sure what's up.
2. Great White. (10 gallon pot) This plant produced 3, huge, perfect tomatoes that everyone has raved about. However, all the rest of the tomatoes got severe BER.
3. Blue. (5 gallon bucket) Its producing well, with little blossom end rot. However, the plant itself seems unhappy - lots of wilting leaves.
4. Zapotec (5 gallon bucket) - this plant stayed pretty small, and I've only picked one tomato off it. It does have another 5 on the plant. No BER, however.

Would not grow in a container again:

1. Opalka (10 gallon pot) - for obvious reasons. I've picked one so far with no blossom end rot. All the rest have it to various degrees. I never planned to put this in a pot, but someone gave me an extra plant.


The rest, I can't make a judgement on, because I've been fighting off a foliage disease on them. Zogola is producing tomatoes, but the foliage is very unhappy. But I'm not sure if that's the pot, or the disease.

[platys]

I just remembered that I made this post last year!

My results pretty much stayed the same. Berkeley Tie-Dyed came on like gangbusters towards the end of the season. My season was shortened with a white fly infesation, which I didn't recognize until WAY too late. That was my "foliage disease" I was having problems with. I grew way too many plants last year, so I'm cutting back this year.

I would move Great White into would not grow in a container - I just had a horrible time with it as the season went on. It was a heart breaker - it'd start out with these beautiful tomatoes, and then, boom, huge BER.

[Lunacy]

Very good info, thank you very much, I will use your results to help me chose my toms for next season. I'm growing Japanese Black Trifele, Sun Golds and Stupice now, both in the ground and in containers.

So you really liked the taste of the "Great White," so you would recommend growing it in the ground?

[platys]

I really liked Great White, but honestly, they almost have more of a melon taste than a tomato taste. So, if you are looking for big time tomato flavor, you'll be disappointed. They were great in panzella salad, when mixed with other tomatoes. It provided a nice freshness.

[Irv Wiseguy]

Thanks for your list, Platys. I grow almost exclusively in Earthboxes and Earthtainers and it's good to hear what grows well in them.

I don't think I've ever read a bad review of Sungold. Everyone seems to love them. I don't have room for them this year, but I think I'll try Sungold next season. This year my cherries are Reisentraube, Baxter's Bush Cherry and Fond Red Mini.

Every place I've seen Sungold seeds for sale, it's listed as a hybrid. Are you growing a de-hybridized version?

Irv

[jamie_savoie]

question, did you staked them or were they caged?

[platys]

My Sun gold was a hybrid - I should have called that out separately.

I used cages - I got the biggest one my Menards had, and once the tomatoes got bigger than that cage, tied on a second cage upside down on top. Here's a pic from last year:


Tomato Garden! by knittergail, on Flickr

I had way too many on that back driveway - I won't do nearly as many this year. They are just regular containers, so it was a lot of watering.

[tam91]

I put my containers in a row, and did a Florida weave. I had some cages at the bottom, but they were not nearly tall enough. This year, I will not use the cages at all.

[newatthiskat]

That container garden looks great. Good luck this year! I am going to stick some peppers in containers this year. the ones in the ground are doing awful.
Kat

[platys]

I've had great luck with peppers in containers. In the picture I posted, you can see the jalepeno right in front. Even in that pretty small container, it went gangbusters all season long. I have a gallon sized bag of jalepenos in the freezer from last year.

I also did a green pepper plant that I planted really late in the season, and got 4 huge peppers off it, despite the small container and the shortness of the season. I did have to put one of my tomato cages upside down on it to keep it upright.