Growing toms

tomsolomon · 11 May 2008 at 4:02PM

I was watching that James Martin digs deep and he was growing toms in his green house. He was using grow bags with I think 10" pots with bottoms cut out, placed into the grow bags and filled with compost and planted with toms. Something about the roots, the top roots need the food while the bottom roots need the water, the crop of toms he got was astounding. Can you use this method outside of a green house, or is there a better way. We are SE facing so get most of our sun during the day up to around 4pm.

MRSMCAWBER · 11 May 2008 at 4:26PM

Hi there yes you can.. :T

Thats what i do and mine are all outside..my grandad did it and my mum does it..so i do

You can either do them into growbags or i have some troughs and sink the pots into that...so you water into the bottom but when it comes to feeding them you pour into the top pots...
Also i don't know if he does it -but when you are planting tomatoes out, if you sink them so that the 1st pair of proper leaves are just above the soil..then the stem that is under ground will grow roots for feeding

..ok so when you plant out your toms look a bit titchy but when they get going they are really strong and not leggy... ooh and also when you do feed them..do it in a morning as im reliably informed that they only take food in a morning

hope that helps

here you go..got a quick pic of what im doing..

tomsolomon · 11 May 2008 at 4:51PM

We had exactly that problem last year when we grew the plants from seed in a grow bag, they were difficult to keep upright. Thanks for the tips.

mary43 · 11 May 2008 at 5:27PM

I'll suggest that idea to OH (He's in charge of the veg). Normally he grows tomatos straight from the grow bag but this idea sounds a lot better. Thanks for the watering tip as well

BaileyB · 11 May 2008 at 6:16PM

I saw this on the same program last year (must have been a repeat) so tried it last year and it worked really well and did get a really good crop. Will be doing it again this year too.

Kantankrus_Mare · 13 May 2008 at 1:17PM

Ridiculous question I know.....but Im planning on doing this..(its my first year of growing toms) and plan to put two pots to a growbag.

How do I water from below?

Theres probably an obvious answer and I will feel raher silly :rotfl:

MRSMCAWBER · 13 May 2008 at 3:17PM

Hi there

you can cut a slot or hole in the growbag between the 2 pots and pour in there... and if the compost is deep enough you can cut the bottom off a pop bottle, take the lid off and stick it in the hole like a funnel- stick a cane through into the compost to hold it and it makes it easier to water

Jake'sGran · 13 May 2008 at 6:52PM

I grow mine in those black plastic pots they sell cheap in the supermarkets (they get their flowers in them). They are rather deep. This year I am growing about six different ones including one that is called Sweet Olive. apparently it looks a bit like an olive to begin with but has a very nice taste.Also Sungold, Ailsa Craig, Sweet Million etc AND about ten different types of chillies for my son who loves them (he's 50:o ).

A tip for next year, the tallest tomato in my greenhouse at the moment is one from an organic "on the vine" tomato from Morrisons. It already has flowers on it.

Sorry to go off at a tangent but I am mad about tomatoes.

There is a good picture on allotment4all.co.uk of the method asked about in the first post.

Growing toms

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