Hi.

I'm Tom Butzler, a Penn State Extension educator.

And in this edition of Year Round Gardening, we'll talk about growing tomatoes in containers.

Growing in containers is a great way to grow vegetables and other plants during the winter months, or when you've run out of room in your home garden.

We'll go over the tomato varieties that grow well in containers, the kinds of containers you can use, potting media, and more.

Let's get started.

[upbeat music] Tomatoes are one of the most popular container vegetables to grow, second only to herbs.

There are some excellent varieties that are easy to find in seed catalogs and garden centers to get you started in producing great flavored tomatoes.

I'll get you started with these tips.

[upbeat music] Unlike more standard garden varieties, you may have to hunt around for a greenhouse that grows these varieties, or start the plants yourself.

Look for varieties that are labeled compact or for containers.

Larger garden varieties, even those considered determinate, will simply get too tall for a container and require excessive support.

Unfortunately, only a few varieties have required no support.

[upbeat music] Use at least a 14-inch pot to make sure it can contain the growth, but larger is better.

Growing in larger pots gives the plant more capacity to get larger and produce more fruit.

Larger pots also hold more root mass and water, which helps a lot when the days get hot and plants continue to grow, increasing their water needs.

Using only potting media that is labeled for larger pots, a good mix be one that has composted pine bark blended with peat moss and perlite.

Other mixes use coir, peanut shells, and rice hulls for similar bulking purposes.

Mixes that are high in peat moss will compress too much during the growing season, thus reducing root mass.

Without this mass, the plants will be unable to develop properly and hold enough water to get through the day.

Container tomatoes benefit from upright support.

Since container varieties tend to be shorter, conical wire trellises with two rings are sufficient.

These are readily found in garden centers.

Be sure to install these in the container shortly after planting, or you are likely to damage the plants by installing them once they are really needed.

Some of the smaller cherry type tomatoes are so small that no support is required.

[upbeat music] Good tomatoes require a lot of nutrients.

Most potting media comes with about a two-week fertilizer charge, but afterwards, the plants need to be fed, or growth starts to slow down.

Start by applying a timed-release, pelleted fertilizer, following the label directions for rate based on pot size.

At about two weeks after planting, begin watering weekly with a soluble fertilizer.

Until the plants begin flowering, you can use a balanced fertilizer with a 1 to 1 to 1 ratio, such as 20/20/20.

Once flowering, change over to a high-potassium fertilizer.

Most fertilizers blended for tomatoes fit this description.

Apply more time to release fertilizer after 10 to 12 weeks.

[upbeat music] While insects are seldom a big problem on tomatoes, diseases are common when growing during humid summers.

Septoria leaf spot occurs on all tomatoes and requires attention, or it will defoliate the plants just as the fruit is really coming on.

This disease is very easy to diagnose.

It starts as scattered speckles or lesions on the lowest leaves.

Then the speckles become larger and more numerous and spread upward, eventually leaving dead leaves behind.

Without these leaves, the plant cannot produce sugars and other compounds that go into creating flavorful fruit.

Eventually, Septoria leaf spot will kill the plant outright.

From the first flower buds, apply either Daconil and Fungonil or copper solutions weekly.

If the weather is dry, you can reduce fungicide applications to every two weeks.

[upbeat music] Harvest your tomatoes as they ripen completely.

This timely harvest allows the plant to move resources to other fruit.

Never leave rotten or overripe fruit on the plant, as they will degrade other fruit.

For the best flavored fruit, leave them on the vine until fully colored.

When growing outdoors, harvest any fruit that looks even somewhat ripe at the first sign of frost.

Toss the plant or cover the plant with row cover during cool periods.

The row cover will increase the heat and protect the plants from frost, until it gets below 25 degrees Fahrenheit.

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