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How to Grow Tomatoes

A Guide To Growing Tomatoes In a Smart Pot

Container gardening tomatoes is a great way to garden in limited space. There are many ways to container garden and many products out there to help you. The Smart Pot® is one of the best. Here are some tips for your next container gardening adventure.

1. Make sure you have enough sunlight. Plants like tomatoes need at least 4 hours of direct sunlight. Make sure your container is positioned optimally.

2. Select Your Variety. Traditional container gardening focuses on smaller fruiting varieties of plants, such as cherry tomatoes. With the Smart Pot® fabric aeration container, you will be able to grow full size tomatoes and other vegetables. Of course, cherry tomatoes and smaller vegetables also thrive in the pot. We hope you will select a variety that performs well in your geographic area.

3. Choose a size. Since you have chosen the Smart Pot®, you can have fun with size. Many of our customers find a 10 gallon Smart Pot® is a good starting size for tomatoes. The 10 gallon is large enough to grow a nice plant, but still small enough to be portable. If you want to grow a larger tomato plant, use a larger Smart Pot®. We have seen full size cherry tomatoes grown in a 1 gallon Smart Pot® and the largest beefsteak tomato plant we have ever seen was grown in a 100 gallon Smart Pot®.

Container size is up to you and your space. Plants like tomatoes need a lot of roots to produce a lot of fruit. The Smart Pot® creates those roots by air pruning. hat means growing more, smaller side roots by exposing it to the air that flows through the container. With the Smart Pot®, you should be able to grow a larger plant for the container size when compared to plastic containers.

4. Make your mix water retentive. Many mixes made for plastic containers are light, made to aerate. But the Smart Pot® is an aeration Container, breathing and aerating at the top, sides and bottom. So the ideal Smart Pot® mix, when compared to a medium prepared for plastic containers is more water retentive. Think of the Smart Pot® as a miniature raised bed. There are many recipes for making a water retentive mix. Ask your local grow store for recommendations. Another great way to treat your container is by top dressing with something like mulch, straw or shredded newspaper to maintain moisture. Water as needed.

5. Fertilization. Whether you are growing tomatoes or flowers, growing in containers requires fertilization. There are many nutrients and fertilizers, both organic and not, available. Consult your local grow store for recommendations which will be best suited for you and your plants.

6. Enjoy. When your neighbors see your tomatoes or peppers, be prepared for the inevitable question, “How did you grow that?” Then enjoy the homegrown tomatoes, carrots, cucumbers or parsley fresh from your Smart Pot®.

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2 Comments

  1. highcalipergrowing says:

    Hi Nina,

    Depending on the type of tomato plant, we typically recommend one tomato plant in a 15 gallon. If you are growing smaller tomatoes like cherry or grape tomatoes, you could plant two in a 15 gallon.

    Happy Gardening!

  2. Kellie Zimmerman says:

    I just ordered 5 10 gallon pots after reading the blog post. Now you say they should only go in a 15 gallon? Ugh.

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