Fertilizer & Tomatoes in Pots question
 

Hey Folks:

I'm going to pot up my indeterminate 'mater plants in big pots. (Several
gallon sized black nursery pots.) What sort of fertilization schedule do
they need? We have a Tumbler on the kitchen windowsill in a one gallon
pot. The SO took some of my 8-32-16 granules for the flowerbeds and
mixed it in water "until it tasted right" (!) -- he's a hay farmer -- don't
ask -- and fed the plant. He didn't burn the plant.)

Should I just go buy some Miracle Grow for 'Maters and follow the
directions? I have fresh horse manure here, to make some manure
tea. (We have horses.) How often do you use the tea?

Will someone sell me a clue? *blush*

Jan, Zone 3

Fertilizer & Tomatoes in Pots question
 

A one gallon pot is not big enough for tomatoes, you need at least a 5
gallon pot or better a 7 gallon.


--
Sam
Along the Grand Strand of Myrtle Beach SC
"Jan Flora" wrote in message
...
Hey Folks:

I'm going to pot up my indeterminate 'mater plants in big pots. (Several
gallon sized black nursery pots.) What sort of fertilization schedule do
they need? We have a Tumbler on the kitchen windowsill in a one gallon
pot. The SO took some of my 8-32-16 granules for the flowerbeds and
mixed it in water "until it tasted right" (!) -- he's a hay farmer --
don't
ask -- and fed the plant. He didn't burn the plant.)

Should I just go buy some Miracle Grow for 'Maters and follow the
directions? I have fresh horse manure here, to make some manure
tea. (We have horses.) How often do you use the tea?

Will someone sell me a clue? *blush*

Jan, Zone 3

Fertilizer & Tomatoes in Pots question
 

Oh, heck. I have a bunch of 5 gallon buckets and have an extremely
high tolerance for, um, things that my more upwardly mobile
neighbors wouldn't *dream* of doing/putting up with. (I'm trying
to be polite. *We* are the neighbors with the old cars in the yard,
but we don't live in a trailer. We even have old bulldozers parked
in our yard, but we use them all the time. This place is a beef cattle
ranch. We own almost all of the land surrounding our yuppie neighbors,
which drives them nuts. They can't tell us what to do with "their" view,
but they *have* tried.)

Anyway, I just hate using 5 gallon buckets for planters. I'll build
some beds in my new greenhouse instead. Either that or cut some old
55 gallon poly drums in half and use them for planters. I'll bet that
cutting the ends out of poly drums, setting them on the ground, then
filling them with composted cow manure & dirt would keep 'mater
plants happy...

Thanks for the feedback : )

Jan

In article , "samuel l crowe"
wrote:

A one gallon pot is not big enough for tomatoes, you need at least a 5
gallon pot or better a 7 gallon.


--
Sam
Along the Grand Strand of Myrtle Beach SC
"Jan Flora" wrote in message
...
Hey Folks:

I'm going to pot up my indeterminate 'mater plants in big pots. (Several
gallon sized black nursery pots.) What sort of fertilization schedule do
they need? We have a Tumbler on the kitchen windowsill in a one gallon
pot. The SO took some of my 8-32-16 granules for the flowerbeds and
mixed it in water "until it tasted right" (!) -- he's a hay farmer --
don't
ask -- and fed the plant. He didn't burn the plant.)

Should I just go buy some Miracle Grow for 'Maters and follow the
directions? I have fresh horse manure here, to make some manure
tea. (We have horses.) How often do you use the tea?

Will someone sell me a clue? *blush*

Jan, Zone 3

Fertilizer & Tomatoes in Pots question
 

On Sun, 15 Jun 2003 14:25:09 -0800, (Jan Flora)
wrote:

I'm going to pot up my indeterminate 'mater plants in big pots. (Several
gallon sized black nursery pots.) What sort of fertilization schedule do
they need? We have a Tumbler on the kitchen windowsill in a one gallon
pot. The SO took some of my 8-32-16 granules for the flowerbeds and
mixed it in water "until it tasted right" (!) -- he's a hay farmer -- don't
ask -- and fed the plant. He didn't burn the plant.)

Should I just go buy some Miracle Grow for 'Maters and follow the
directions? I have fresh horse manure here, to make some manure
tea. (We have horses.) How often do you use the tea?

A 1-gallon pot is far too small for a tomato.

Horse manure is great, although often weedy. Composted better than
fresh. I am not experienced in manure tea. Tomatoes are said to be
"heavy feeders," requiring plenty of nutrients. I generally set up
pots with half "potting soil" or some generic dirt, and half composted
steer manure. While I don't taste it, this is what "looks right" to
me. When I had an in-ground garden, I just tilled in as much steer
manure and compost as I could afford/transport. Occasionally, I'd mix
up a couple gallons of Miracle Gro (according to package directions)
and slosh it around a bit. Have had pretty good success with my
tomatoes.

a later post -- What's the problem with 5-gallon paint buckets?
They're not exactly in a class with a urinal planted with marigolds on
the front lawn. You could spray them black or green or terra-cotta to
make less conspicuous, I suppose.

Fertilizer & Tomatoes in Pots question
 

On Sun, 15 Jun 2003 22:32:16 -0800, (Jan
Flora) wrote:

Oh, heck. I have a bunch of 5 gallon buckets and have an extremely
high tolerance for, um, things that my more upwardly mobile
neighbors wouldn't *dream* of doing/putting up with. (I'm trying
to be polite. *We* are the neighbors with the old cars in the yard,
but we don't live in a trailer. We even have old bulldozers parked
in our yard, but we use them all the time. This place is a beef cattle
ranch. We own almost all of the land surrounding our yuppie neighbors,
which drives them nuts. They can't tell us what to do with "their" view,
but they *have* tried.)

Anyway, I just hate using 5 gallon buckets for planters. I'll build
some beds in my new greenhouse instead. Either that or cut some old
55 gallon poly drums in half and use them for planters. I'll bet that
cutting the ends out of poly drums, setting them on the ground, then
filling them with composted cow manure & dirt would keep 'mater
plants happy...

Thanks for the feedback : )


I also found 5-gallon pots too small for (regular-sized)
tomatoes.

Last year, we had a tomato growing in a pot on the deck -
accidentally, rather. I'd not intended it to be
there...anyway, it was a Yellow Pear (cherry tomato) and it
got HUGE. I was watering it three times a day!

So we transplanted it into a Rubbermaid storage tub (holds
22 gallons). We had drilled holes in the bottom first, for
drainage. The tomato grew happily enough in that.

The plant was about 5' tall when we transplanted it, and I
worried that would kill it: nope. Didn't even make it
hesitate...

So - maybe you could pick some of these up cheap at garage
sales? Sales in stores such as Wal-Mart?


Pat

Fertilizer & Tomatoes in Pots question
 

in article , samuel l crowe at
wrote on 6/15/03 5:37 PM:

A one gallon pot is not big enough for tomatoes, you need at least a 5
gallon pot or better a 7 gallon.

A one gallon container, a Dutch pot for example, is more than adequate for
hydroponic growing.

Bill

Fertilizer & Tomatoes in Pots question
 

in article , Jan Flora at
wrote on 6/15/03 11:32 PM:

Anyway, I just hate using 5 gallon buckets for planters. I'll build
some beds in my new greenhouse instead. Either that or cut some old
55 gallon poly drums in half and use them for planters. I'll bet that
cutting the ends out of poly drums, setting them on the ground, then
filling them with composted cow manure & dirt would keep 'mater
plants happy...

Five gallon buckets can be the basis for cheap hydroponic growers. If you
have a greenhouse, you are more than half way there.

I am on a soapbox pushing hydroponics for amateur and commercial farmers.
Hydroponics uses less water compared to soil farming. It avoids many soil
borne pests. It is really worth a try.

Bill

Fertilizer & Tomatoes in Pots question
 

In article , Repeating Decimal
wrote:

in article , Jan Flora at
wrote on 6/15/03 11:32 PM:

Anyway, I just hate using 5 gallon buckets for planters. I'll build
some beds in my new greenhouse instead. Either that or cut some old
55 gallon poly drums in half and use them for planters. I'll bet that
cutting the ends out of poly drums, setting them on the ground, then
filling them with composted cow manure & dirt would keep 'mater
plants happy...

Five gallon buckets can be the basis for cheap hydroponic growers. If you
have a greenhouse, you are more than half way there.

I am on a soapbox pushing hydroponics for amateur and commercial farmers.
Hydroponics uses less water compared to soil farming. It avoids many soil
borne pests. It is really worth a try.

Bill

Honey, I live on 400 acres with the most awesome, deep topsoil you've ever
seen. My domestic water source is a 7 acre lake that's 40 feet deep. And
Alaska just doesn't have most of the bugs and diseases that ya'll enjoy.
I'm not going hydro, but thanks : )

Jan

Fertilizer & Tomatoes in Pots question
 

In article , Pat Meadows
wrote:

On Sun, 15 Jun 2003 22:32:16 -0800, (Jan
Flora) wrote:

Oh, heck. I have a bunch of 5 gallon buckets and have an extremely
high tolerance for, um, things that my more upwardly mobile
[...]

Thanks for the feedback : )


I also found 5-gallon pots too small for (regular-sized)
tomatoes.

Last year, we had a tomato growing in a pot on the deck -
accidentally, rather. I'd not intended it to be
there...anyway, it was a Yellow Pear (cherry tomato) and it
got HUGE. I was watering it three times a day!

So we transplanted it into a Rubbermaid storage tub (holds
22 gallons). We had drilled holes in the bottom first, for
drainage. The tomato grew happily enough in that.

The plant was about 5' tall when we transplanted it, and I
worried that would kill it: nope. Didn't even make it
hesitate...

So - maybe you could pick some of these up cheap at garage
sales? Sales in stores such as Wal-Mart?


Pat

I have a bunch of slabs from our sawmill, to build planter boxes
and beds with. (I usually burn the slabs.) I can build some big
planters for the 'mater plants.

I make planters for next to my door out of firewood rounds -- fire
up the chainsaw, cut the 4 edges off the round, throw the middle part
in the woodstove, nail the outer edges back together, nail some screen
to the bottom and you have a free, cool looking little planter. I always
plant two leaf lettuce and one pansy in those. Edible landscaping : )

I keep my potting soil in a Rubbermaid tub and store it under my bunk.
That way, my SO thinks it's full of summer/winter clothing and doesn't
give me any $%^@ for keeping "dirt" in the house, and I can repot my
houseplants as needed, even in the wintertime.

Did you like the Yellow Pear 'mater?

Jan

Fertilizer & Tomatoes in Pots question
 

in article , Jan Flora at
wrote on 6/16/03 5:40 PM:

Honey, I live on 400 acres with the most awesome, deep topsoil you've ever
seen. My domestic water source is a 7 acre lake that's 40 feet deep. And
Alaska just doesn't have most of the bugs and diseases that ya'll enjoy.
I'm not going hydro, but thanks : )

I would appreciate you sending me an acre or two of your land and a small
portion of your lake as well. How much would that cost me?

Bill

Fertilizer & Tomatoes in Pots question
 

On Mon, 16 Jun 2003 16:48:26 -0800, (Jan
Flora) wrote:



Did you like the Yellow Pear 'mater?


Yes, we liked it. Very nice, tasty. I like regular (red)
cherry tomatoes even more, though.

But last year the Yellow Pear was really the ONLY tomato
from which we had any significant quantity of tomatoes: the
others didn't ripen before frost.

I'd bought plants, and I'll never do THAT again - they
weren't suitable for our location and they were just teeny
tiny things when I transplanted them.

Our season isn't long enough for tomatoes that are teeny
tiny when they go in the garden, plus it gets cool at night
here even in summer - takes even longer for tomatoes, they
don't appreciate that.

I didn't have the facilities to start seeds last year, I do
now. :)

Pat

Fertilizer & Tomatoes in Pots question
 

On Tue, 17 Jun 2003 03:32:59 GMT, Repeating Decimal
wrote:

in article , Jan Flora at
wrote on 6/16/03 5:40 PM:

Honey, I live on 400 acres with the most awesome, deep topsoil you've ever
seen. My domestic water source is a 7 acre lake that's 40 feet deep. And
Alaska just doesn't have most of the bugs and diseases that ya'll enjoy.
I'm not going hydro, but thanks : )

I would appreciate you sending me an acre or two of your land and a small
portion of your lake as well. How much would that cost me?


I'll take some of it too....

Pat (who has a bit less than 1/2 acre to work with)

Fertilizer & Tomatoes in Pots question
 

In article , Repeating Decimal
wrote:

in article , Jan Flora at
wrote on 6/16/03 5:40 PM:

Honey, I live on 400 acres with the most awesome, deep topsoil you've ever
seen. My domestic water source is a 7 acre lake that's 40 feet deep. And
Alaska just doesn't have most of the bugs and diseases that ya'll enjoy.
I'm not going hydro, but thanks : )

I would appreciate you sending me an acre or two of your land and a small
portion of your lake as well. How much would that cost me?

Bill

The land and water wouldn't be too expensive, but the freight would probably
break both of us ;-)

Jan

Fertilizer & Tomatoes in Pots question
 

Jan Flora wrote:


I would appreciate you sending me an acre or two of your land and a small
portion of your lake as well.


Sure, would you like moose with that?

Fertilizer & Tomatoes in Pots question
 

In article , WCD
wrote:

Jan Flora wrote:


I would appreciate you sending me an acre or two of your land and a small
portion of your lake as well.


Sure, would you like moose with that?

I used to have two cow moose that hung out in the yard all the time and a third
who was an occasional visitor. Well, it's calving season. Now I have six
regulars
and three occasionals. (Moose have twins every year, 'bout now.) The babies are
cute little buggers -- they look like really funny looking Irish Setters
with long legs.

We do our landscaping around moose up here and cage anything they'll eat. We use
fishnet for garden fencing. (I'm on the coast, near a commercial fishing
town. We
can get old nets for free from the local "net loft." (That's the place
that builds and
repairs nets.) (That was a big, fat hint for folks new to coastal areas.)

Cabbages are moose-heroin. If a moose gets into the cabbage patch, it's history.

Jan