Tomato Facts

Growing tomatoes in pots is one of the easiest ways to grow your own tomatoes no matter how small your garden (or even if you don't have one!).  You can grow any tomato plants in pots such as bush tomatoes or the normal standard varieties of tomato which require staking.

How To Grow Tomatoes in Pots

If growing tomatoes on pots from seed, follow the instructions as detailed in the previous post  - how to grow tomatoes from seed.

Once the tomato seedlings have grown to around 8 - 10 cm  (4" - 6") you can transplant the young tomato plants into bigger pots or containers.  One of the best ways I have found is to put some potting compost into the bottom of the new pot or container and then place the tomato plant, still in it's pot, on top of the bottom layer of compost.  Fill in the gap between the new pot and the old pot with more potting compost and then remove the old pot.

Now you can simply take out the tomato plant along with its surrounding compost and place it into the new pot.  Water well and that's all there is to it.

If the tomato you are growing in a pot is a bush variety you can just leave it alone, just remember to water it and do not let the compost get too dry.

Should you be growing standard tomatoes you will need to provide some support as they generally grow to around 3 - 5ft in height.

In this case it is a good idea to place a sturdy cane or stake into the compost at the same time as you transplant the young tomato, doing it this way means that the tomato roots won't be disturbed or damaged. Tie the tomato stem to the cane using soft garden twine, the best way to tie the tomato plant is by looping the twine around the stem and then do a double twist of the twine before fastening it to the stake. This way the tomato plant has room to grow without being strangled.

You will also need to pinch out any side stems that grow, the aim is to produce 1 strong, main stem.  You can see the side stems appearing between the leaves and main stem of the tomato.  Simply pinch it out.  Once the tomato plant has 4 - 6 tresses with flowers on them pinch out the top of the tomato plant to stop it growing any taller.  This is important because otherwise the plant will just carry on waste its energy growing taller and taller instead of putting energy into growing tomato fruits.

Carry on tying in the tomato plant every 6" or so. That's all there is to growing tomato plants in pots.