Growing cherry tomatoes in pots is a rewarding experience, especially for those short on garden space or looking to keep a close eye on their plants. Cherry tomatoes are prized for their bite-sized, sweet fruit and can thrive in small spaces, making them perfect for beginners. To grow cherry tomatoes in pots, start with a container at least 10 to 12 inches in diameter and aim for 6-8 hours of sunlight daily, watering consistently but not excessively. For a successful harvest, balance light exposure and hydration.
To ensure proper air circulation, use one pot per plant and ensure at least eight hours of sunlight daily for the best growth and fruiting. Choose a spot with at least six hours of sun, with eight-plus hours being ideal.
Select the right container, which should be at least a foot deep and placed in a sunny corner of your deck or patio. Keep the soil in the pots consistently moist but not soaking wet for long periods of time. Place containers or growbags in a sunny sheltered spot, fill containers to within 2-3cm (about 1in) of the rim with moist compost, and cut out holes in growing bags.
Tomato plants love warmth, so choose a spot with at least six to eight hours of sun each day. The soil should be slightly acidic, loose, and well-drained. Get some fertilizer and mulch, and top dress with granulated composted chicken manure to give it a bit of water every time you water.
📹 Grow Cherry Tomatoes in a Container
Cherry tomatoes differ from other tomatoes and those differences have to be taken into account. I had a lot of viewers taking my …
Are eggshells good for tomato plants?
Eggshells can be used to upcycle materials and add calcium and nitrogen to soil, which are essential nutrients for plants. Calcium is beneficial for tomatoes as it prevents blossom end rot. To start from seed indoors, you need clean eggshells, an egg carton, seed starting mix, and tomato seeds. Place the seed starting mix in the eggshell, making holes for the seeds. Gently sprinkle soil over the top, ensuring they get full sun for 6-8 hours. Grow lights can be used instead of traditional light sources. To maintain soil moisture, use a spray bottle with a few squirts two to three times per week.
How do you take care of a large cherry tomato plant?
Cherry tomatoes thrive in well-drained, organically rich soil with full sun and warm weather. Regular watering is essential to maintain soil moisture, but avoid overwatering or keeping roots soggy. Mulch is recommended to retain moisture and deter weeds. Fertilizers like aged compost, 5-10-10, or 18-18-21 can be used every 4-6 weeks. Cherry tomatoes are full grown in 66-75 days, and should be picked when they are firm or by the vine. Once established, snip off leaves and small branches to reduce diseases and pests.
Do cherry tomatoes do well in pots?
To grow cherry tomatoes, choose a container that can hold about five gallons of soil. A five-gallon bucket is ideal, while a large flower pot is aesthetically pleasing. Ensure the container has drain holes to prevent soggy soil. If the container lacks holes, drill them. Cherry tomatoes require good quality potting mix, which can be made or purchased. A general vegetable potting mix with fertilizers is usually sufficient. If the container lacks drain holes, drill holes in the bottom.
What is the best fertilizer for potted cherry tomatoes?
To ensure healthy tomato plants, add a slow-release fertilizer at planting time, either a balanced 10-10-10 fertilizer or a specially formulated one. Add bone meal to increase soil calcium and water-soluble fertilizer every 1-2 weeks once plants start to set fruit. Use Proven Winners ® Continuous Release Plant Food to support tomato plants throughout growth stages. Tomatoes are classified into three groups: indeterminate, determinate, and semi-determinate. Indeterminate tomatoes have a larger vining habit, while determinate produce fruit over a shorter period.
Should cherry tomato plants be pruned?
Indeterminate tomatoes are plants that grow all season long and require pruning to produce fruit. They thrive in tall vertical structures and are commonly grown in greenhouses or large cages. Pruning determinate tomatoes may decrease potential harvest by removing limbs that would have produced flowers and fruit. To prune a tomato, look for suckers, new leaf sprouts that pop out from the point where an existing branch meets the central stem. These sprouts snap out easily when small but may require scissors or pruners if they grow larger. Some large suckers may hide and grow before being caught, but they are not damaging the plant.
What is the best fertilizer for cherry tomatoes?
To ensure optimal growth, growers often use high-phosphorus fertilizers or a formulated tomato fertilizer with a 3-4-6 or 4-7-10 ratio. It’s crucial not to over-fertilize, as too little is always better than too much. To start plants, dig a hole, place the recommended amount of fertilizer in the bottom, cover it with clean dirt, and side-dress them with fertilizer every three to four weeks throughout the season. Avoid over-fertilization and amend the soil with manure at planting time.
How do I know if my cherry tomato plant is dying?
To save a dying tomato plant in Edmonton, it is essential to recognize common symptoms such as yellow, wilting leaves, sticky leaves with black spots, and brown, spotted leaves. Tomatoes are finicky plants and can suffer from common ailments, making it crucial to intervene before they become a problem. Plants can be treated like babies, but they don’t cry out for attention. Instead, they start wilting and giving visual cues that something is wrong. Recognizing these signs is a valuable skill that can save your plants from an untimely fate. Here are some common symptoms and solutions to help you save a dying tomato plant in Edmonton.
Do cherry tomatoes need cages?
Growing cherry tomatoes requires a large cage for optimal results, but if space is limited, there are still options. The author’s collection includes various shapes, sizes, and colors, but they are particularly fond of cherry tomatoes. Growing cherry tomatoes is similar to growing big tomatoes, but it is important to choose the right variety for your soil, climate, and taste buds.
Despite being small in size, cherry tomatoes have robust and varied flavors that can hold their good taste even after the end of the season. With the right care and varietal choice, you can enjoy great tomatoes all season long, even in a smaller package than expected.
The cherry-tomato season begins in early spring when seeds are started. Start seeds in an unheated greenhouse or indoors under grow lights for best germination. Wait until seedlings are about 4 inches tall before hardening off and transplanting them into the garden. Don’t try to get all plants outside too early in spring; wait until two weeks after the last spring frost, when the soil is warmer and cool spells are fewer or no longer occur. Tomatoes planted too early will struggle to grow in cool soil and weather, succumbing to blight later on.
Soil should be amended with composted poultry manure several months prior to transplanting. Granular synthetic fertilizers don’t work as well at giving plants a needed nutrient boost. Plant seedlings in holes poked through black agricultural plastic for weed and disease control. Organic mulches don’t limit weeds or splashing as well as black plastic.
How do you keep cherry tomatoes good?
To preserve tomatoes, store them vine/stem side down to prevent squishing or bruises. Once ripe, store them in the refrigerator and bring them back to room temperature before serving. For cherry tomatoes, keep them on the counter, but if they are very ripe or warm, move them into the fridge. Allow them to come to room temperature before freezing. To speed up the ripening process, store them in a paper bag with an apple. Learn easy techniques to preserve seasonal tomato bounty.
What conditions do cherry tomatoes grow best in?
To ensure tomato plants thrive, add garden compost before planting and choose a warm, sunniest spot sheltered from wind. Space plants 45-60cm apart, depending on their size. Avoid growing tomatoes in the same bed consecutively to prevent soil build-up. Ring culture in a greenhouse border is a suitable method. Regularly water tomato plants to maintain soil or compost moisture, as fluctuating moisture levels can cause fruit problems like splitting or blossom end rot. Container plants may need daily watering in hot weather. Curling leaves may indicate a lack of water.
📹 Grow Cherry Tomatoes in a Container
Cherry tomatoes differ from other tomatoes and those differences have to be taken into account. I had a lot of viewers taking my …
My grandma who’s been growing cherry tomato for years always said to cut the leaf under the suckers once they get big enough, so that the plant will put energy into growing the fruit bearing part. This directly contradicted all the tomato articles I’ve watched. Finally, your article is the first that’s told me to do what my grandma does, but for cherry tomatoes only! I finally feel justified and like I’m not going crazy. Thanks!
I learned to garden organically from perusal how my grandparents did it. They never bought any amendments or soil conditioners. They only put down heaps of compost and manure in late fall after the last harvest and cleanup and then tilled in spring. Once it was warm to plant they sowed their seeds and planted their tomatoes and peppers and added fresh grass clippings throughout the summer to keep down weeds and enrich the soil. The tomatoes were out of this world with flavor and we could never eat a store bought tomato after the last of these wonderful fruits was eaten and all with simple readily available organics.
Since you are not a huge cherry tomato fan, I will give you our favorite recipe to use lots of them. Use whatever you like as your favorite crust (unbaked), brush with a bit of olive oil, top with some shreaded herbs, then halved cherry tomatoes, cut side down, salt and pepper. Bake at 375 until bubbly. Magic happens in the oven. You can drizzle some pesto or sour cream if you like, but these never last long.
In my younger days I put a foot of yard dirt n grass clippings in 6 stainless trash cans in fall. They had lids and drain holes 2″ up sides not on bottom. Bury to cover drain holes so worms get in. Over Winter we tossed in n mixed up all kitchen scraps from our large family. … used paper napkins n cardboard too. In spring lined with cardboard and filled with soil to plant cherry tomato in each…. fed neighborhood all Summer 😊 they grew to 12 feet wired to garage!
I appreciated your cherry tomatoes in a container article because that’s exactly what I’m doing this year. We have voracious rabbits in this area so I stacked the growing container on top of an empty container upside down, This raises the plant taller than any rabbit can reach. Also the slippery sides of the containers foil rodents that might try to climb.
Compact dwarf cherry tomato varieties are great when you need to fit 2-3 plants in one large container. Just make sure there’s extra soil, water, nutrients & airflow. Six to eight hours of full sun too. Noticed plants placed to receive the first blast of cooler early morning light grow & produce the best. (Plants placed to receive mostly blazing mid to late afternoon light wilt & struggle with spotting & other diseases much more.)
I always plant deep. In fact I grow them long and leggy in the pots just for that reason. I also like to lay them over and plant that deeply as well. I can sometimes get almost two feet of stem under the dirt. When planting sideways, you can leave a side shoot intact, and it will make a second vine from the same rootstock.
When the tomatoes get really tall and you are near the end of the season, the top flowering stems make great cut flowers. They last forever if you replace the water regularly and they smell herby and fabulous. The greens are beautiful with other cut flowers, too. They will also root if you want to try a winter indoor plant. I never tried planting the rooted stems and keeping over winter but I can imagine someone with the space and light might try it.
I grow almost exclusively cherry tomatoes (just love snacking on them throughout the season). My favorite for flavor is sun gold and my favorite for production is super sweet 100. Mine always end up growing 8 feet plus, so be prepared! Grown in ground, Zone 7B. My method, for what its worth: I grow on tall stakes, not in cages. I grow 8 plants in close proximity to maximize space. Looks like this… : : : : … each of those dots is an 8 foot tall stake, about a foot and a half apart. Prune the bottom foot of all growth to protect from soil splashing and then at the 2 feet mark I’ll allow for another offshoot, tie it off. Then allow for another offshoot at about the 4 foot mark. Then another one at about 6 feet. By the end, each plant will have 4 main growing stems, tying them to the stake as they go. This works for a stake growing method and growing in compact spaces. I’ll be fun to see how yours do when allowed to bush out! BTW, I use Neptunes Harvest fish/seaweed product since perusal your articles. My container peppers/okra last year loved it!
My friend gardens and had a ginormous cherry tomato plant that produced an incredible number of tomatoes. She decided at some point to count them and picked over 1,000 cherry tomatoes off the one plant! I don’t have a the perfect place to grow one in the ground — not enough sun – so am going to try your container method! Hoping for a bumper crop.
I love your double tomato cage. Great idea for stabilizing the structure. I’ll be using this to discourage the stray cats and challenge the wind. Might even use it to set up a planter for a vining plant. Still modifying my layout. The more I put outside, the more I change my plans. Also, thanks for the “sucker” advice. I didn’t know not to prune them on cherry tomatoes, this year I will make sure to let the armpits bush out. (Give Hairy Vetch a run for its money. LOL.)
I like the idea of the bottom trellis being upside down. Years ago, I lived in inner city Philly. My back yard was as big as a bedroom. I wall mounted some pots with Cherry Tomatoes and let them hang. The pots were a little small, but this could work anywhere. And it’s decorative. I did have to water more often than a regular garden.Now there are many more options for wall mounted planters.
I would like to bring up a tomato propagation question if I may. Last year I discovered the ease of propagating tomato plants. I propagated a top producer in water for about 12 days and it produced lots of hairy roots. I transplanted this in a raised bed in August and it produced well. By December I removed all my plants to the trash except this propagation. I trimmed it to about 24 inch tall ( was about 48 inch tall), removed flowers and unripe fruit and put it into a container and overwintered it in a south facing window propped up with bamboo sticks for support until last frost was over, early March for me. I hardened it off again and It has now been in a raised bed for a month and is showing new growth and has reached about 40 inch in height.
Brian you are in for a treat. Sungolds are incredible. I have been growing them in pots for about 8 years. I use at least a 10 gallon pot. I also grow most of them in fabric pots. You definitely have to stay on top of the watering, but I love the fabric pots. Very healthy plants. Looking forward to see what you think of the Sungolds. My neighbors and co-workers ask for them by name each season, when I start sharing. In fact one of my friends named them “little balls of sunshine”. Like the idea of turning over the tomato cage, because they can get very big. I will do that this year. Love your website, always learn something new. Thanks again!
Due to my mom getting old and not very healthy, I’m planting and maintaining my parents’ garden this year (first time). I feel like I just got a GREAT crash course for my cherry tomato plant because I knew none of this. THANK YOU!! Now I’m going to see if you cover all the plants I’ll be planting (not more than 10-12; small garden basically for salad vegetables).
6×6 road mesh works great for tomato cages. Put in pot first, and then soil. As for watering, I have water heater pans under my buckets that hold water and I can add liquid fertilizer for plants to wick up. After the plants are toward the top of the cage I take a piece of PVC pipe and string it through horizontal at the top of multiple buckets for added stability during the growing season.
My first time trying central stem style pruning, I tried to prune my cherry tomatoes this style. One plant died. The other just kept putting out side shoots. I ended up with a very strange looking plant, with FIVE support stakes and many, many cherry tomatoes. I appreciate the information on pruning difference between cherry and standard sized tomatoes. Here in the pacific northwest, we have plenty of calcium in the soil, but the soil in most areas is acidic and this prevents calcium uptake. Adding calcium doesn’t work, but correcting the ph level does. What this tells me is checking ph levels would be a good idea when planting any calcium hungry vegetable.
Very timely article as I’m growing indeterminate cherry tomatoes for the first time this year. 1 in a pot and 3 in the garden. I was searching YouTube last night to see if you prune them the same as regular indeterminate tomatoes. This article gave me the answer I was looking for. Much more clear than the articles I watched last night. Thanks!
Great info. I am growing just cherry tomatoes and also experimenting with growing cuttings from the lower branches that were too close to ground of the Sun Sugar yellow cherry tomato! The prices at the big box were over $5 per plant so propagation makes sense. The cuttings are growing root hairs right now after about 5 days in the water.
Excellent tips! I grew cherry, grape and a mediums sized slicer last year- the double cage into a trellis is an awesome idea! “Almost” makes me regret getting rid of the cages left by the previous homeowner when I bought my house 8 yrs ago! 😄 Almost, but not quite! Thanks so much and have a great day! ☕😊
Thank you so much for this information! Here in Florida, we mostly grow cherry or determinate tomatoes; as the humidity and heat get to be too much for larger tomatoes to develop. I love knowing I can leave those suckers on there and get a bounty. I am also growing them all in containers because we don’t have our raised beds up yet; plus I can move them around if I need to. Your articles are always so specific and so informative, and I love that you include notes for different climates. I hope you’ll show us your cherry tomatoes as they grow throughout the season.
Brian, I just finished perusal 2 of your articles on growing tomatoes in pots, this one and one from last year which by the way it was so informative. Ive had blossom end rot for several years in a row and everything ive read talked about calcium deficiencies and it didnt make sense because i used different soils every year, but you were the first to say it’s related to the absorption of calcium. Thank you, thank you, thank you for these articles. I’m so impressed! Last year was the first time I had heard of indeterminate variety and I couldn’t believe how big they got, and this year I’m going to try peardrop, jet star and a patio tomato so the information you gave on feeding them is so great. I can’t wait to grow my tomatoes this year. Everything from the bucket and nutrients you told us about to the staking and pruning was super helpful!!!