QUESTION: I don’t have room for a garden at my house, but I want to grow my own tomatoes. Can I grow tomatoes in a five-gallon bucket?- Linda K
ANSWER: Five-gallon buckets make convenient containers for growing tomatoes and allow you to grow up to six plants in a 10-foot space in your yard or on your balcony or patio. Tomato plants perform well in black buckets because the black soaks up heat, and tomatoes thrive in warm soil. You must drill four to six drainage holes in the bottom to use five-gallon buckets for growing plants, however. Use a mixture of equal parts peat moss, perlite or sand, and potting soil rich in organic material to fill the buckets halfway or up to three quarters full. Plant your tomato seedling in the soil so that only its top two to four leaves rest above the surface. Add any additional soil that’s needed to keep the plant sitting securely upright, and use your hands to gently press the soil and keep it firm.
Now is the time to add staking or trellis if you’re growing indeterminate tomatoes or a determinate type that requires support, as adding the support system later can damage the plant’s root system. Water the tomato plants deeply until the water is flowing through the drainage holes in the bottom of the bucket. Provide the plants with a dose of water-soluble fertilizer.
You will continue to apply fertilizer every 10 to 14 days and water the plants whenever the top inch of soil has dried out. You can check the moisture level of the soil by sticking your finger into the dirt an inch deep. If the soil clings to your skin, it is still wet and you don’t yet need to water your plants. When it’s especially hot or dry, you may need to water daily. Choose a location for your tomato plants that gets direct sunlight for six to eight hours per day.
I read dry milk can be put around plants to add calcium. Is that true ????
That is true–however, usually there’s enough calcium in the soil to prevent blossom-end rot (which is why you’d add milk or ground-up eggshells), and the problem is caused by inconsistent watering instead.
Are plastic 5 gallon buckets safe, as far as chemicals leaching into soil, to plant vegetables in?
Depending on the type of plastic. If you look at the bottom of the bucket it should say a number. As long as that number is related to a food grade plastic, then yes. (from what i seen as long as it is NOT a number 3 on the bottom it should be fine)
What’s a good homemade fertilizer for tomatoe plants
We have 30+ tomato plants growing already. They are in a heated patio and we have grow lights and a fan going. When transplanted we added fertilizer and ground up eggshell.
Our issue is the flowers start to come then they dry up. The plants are about 2 ft tall and no flowers have remained to produce tomatoes
Are the plants lacking something to produce flowers.
It sounds like they aren’t getting fertilized or its blossom drop which means it isn’t staying warm enough or possibly too warm for fruit. Anything above 85 degrees or lower than 70 will cause blossom drop. If it’s that tyt hey are getting fertilized you could try an old electric toothbrush with frayed bristles just brush it gently over the blossoms. You might have a lock of pollinator problem.