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Mistake #4: Pots falling over
The tomato plants themselves aren’t the only thing at risk of falling over when growing in containers. The pots themselves can tip too.
We had this happen twice when growing tomatoes in containers for the first season. The first time the pots were tipped over by a bear who made his way onto our deck and tipped the pots over, as well as many other things we had outside.
The second time the pots were tipped over by strong winds.
Both of these times, we had a big mess on our hands, and our tomato plants suffered for our mistake. Their soil got dumped, roots were damaged, and stems were bent and broken. A few of the plants survived, and others didn’t.
This is an easy mistake to fix. We found that we could use bungee cords to secure the pots to the deck railings. If you don’t have railings in your outdoor growing space, you can brace the tomatoes with patio furniture when you’re expecting storms.
Mistake #5: Rushing to put them outdoors
I’ve made this mistake more times than I care to recount. I’m always so excited for spring after a long, cold winter that I pull all my houseplants outside on the first sunny warm day.
While many plants will adore you for this, tomatoes can wither and die in the blink of an eye.
Tomatoes can’t stand the cold and will easily die if they catch a frost. Many tender transplants can’t handle winds, heavy rains, and direct sunlight either.
Tomatoes are delicate, fragile little things. They need time to acclimate to life outside after living in a greenhouse or growing from seeds inside your toasty warm home.
After your tomatoes have properly acclimated, you can plant them in their big 5-gallon pots and leave them out permanently. Be sure you’re well past your last frost day and nighttime temperatures are above 50 degrees.
Mistake #6: Growing the wrong type of tomato in pots
Tomatoes come in a huge variety of shapes, sizes, and colors. That’s not just the fruit; the plants come in different sizes too!
Some tomato plants get to a certain height and then stop growing; these are called determinate tomatoes. This is the variety that does the best in pots; they stay short and stocky. Because of that, they’re not likely to outgrow their pots or tip over.
Try to stay away from indeterminate varieties of tomatoes when growing in containers.
These tomatoes just grow and grow, basically until either the growing season ends or they get too tall and tip over, but some even keep growing along the ground!
If you want to grow indeterminate tomatoes, make sure you ‘top’ the plants by cutting the tops off once they get to a reasonable height. This will discourage them from growing up and encourage them to instead grow out and get more bushy.
Mistake #7: Not amending the soil
All-purpose potting soil isn’t good enough for most houseplants , and it’s not good enough to grow tomatoes, either. Tomatoes are heavy feeders; they need a lot of nutrients like nitrogen, phosphorous, and potassium to grow big and strong.
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