Tips on Growing Tomatoes in a Pot

Tomatoes are one of the most beloved and popular garden vegetables. They are grown around the world in most temperate, sub-tropical, and tropical environments.

While they are most often found in gardens and fields, tomatoes can be grown in more modest volumes of soil.

You might be wondering if tomato plants can be grown in pots?

The answer is yes! In fact, growing tomatoes in pots are really easy. A single tomato plant can thrive in as little as three gallons of soil in a pot on your deck or patio.

Yet, there’s a lot more that goes into growing tomatoes in containers with a high yield of fruit.

If you drop a seedling from the garden center into some dirt in a pot, you might be lucky enough to get a red tomato or three before the end of the growing season.

The truth is, there are a lot of important factors that go into growing healthy tomato plants in a container.

When done right, you might even be able to get a higher volume of quality tomatoes out of a container-grown plant compared to a garden-grown one!

In this article, we’ll take a closer look at popular types of tomatoes to grow in containers and how to grow tomatoes in a pot to get the most out of them.

This includes choosing the right soil, planting them the right way, tending to their needs throughout the season, and developing an effective fertilizing strategy to grow tomatoes in pots.

Related post: Companion Planting Different Vegetables (Including Tomatoes) In Your Garden

Starting Tomatoes From Seeds Or Seedlings

Starting Tomatoes From Seeds Or SeedlingsPin

Tomato plants originated in Northern South America and Central America as a small bush that produced a husk filled with a little greenish, yellow fruit about the size of a blueberry.

Early Meso-Americans recognized that the plant was given to change and could be manipulated into other colors, forms, plant shapes, and fruit characteristics.

This means that today there are literally thousands of different types of tomatoes around the world. Every year “Eager Beaver” gardeners introduce their own takes and new varieties.

If you want to enjoy the taste of a fresh-from-the-garden tomato sliced onto a BLT sandwich, and you don’t care for anything fancy or exotic, you will get by just fine with tomato seedlings offered in the garden centers.

If you have a green thumb, and you want to try something that you can’t find in the grocery store or garden center, then you might want to try your hand at growing a few plants from seed.

If so, you’ll need to start them six to eight weeks before they show up in garden centers.

Should something go wrong, the pop-up greenhouse in front of your local grocery store can serve as a seedling backup plan.

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How To Grow Tomatoes In A Pot

Like many other long-term projects, getting the little details right in the beginning reduces the chances of problems “Snowballing” along the way. This starts with addressing some key topics and answering some key questions.

1. Choose The Best Tomato Varieties For Containers

How To Grow Tomatoes In A PotPin

There are literally thousands of different types of tomatoes grown around the world. Garden centers and popup greenhouses offer some standard varieties as well as a few popular heirloom options.

If you want something more exotic and have a green thumb, you can turn to the internet to source heirloom seeds.

Different criteria define tomato plants. This includes the type of plant, the shape of the fruit, and the timing of how the plant produces fruit.

Whether or not that plant will produce reliable seeds that you can harvest and plant the next year comes down to whether or not it’s a hybrid or an heirloom/open-pollinated variety.

Which Are The Best Tomatoes To Grow In Containers?

Just about any tomato plant will grow in a pot. However, some giant-sized tomato plants, like the Russian heirloom and Ispolin, should not be planned in a container.

The following is a list and brief description of some of the best tomato plants to grow in pots or containers.

Beefsteak

Beefsteak is a hybrid, indeterminate tomato plant that produces large slicer tomatoes. It’s also known under other names like “Big Boy” and “Beef Master.”

Roma Tomato

Roma is an indeterminate tomato plant that is available as a hybrid and heirloom. It produces plum tomatoes that make great sauces or are chopped into salads.

Glacier

Glacier TomatoPin

Glacier is a small globe tomato that works well in fresh green salads or chopped into Panzanella.

Early Girl

Early Girl is an indeterminate hybrid that makes slicer tomatoes early in the season. It’s prized in northern states with shorter summers.

San Marzano

San Marzano is an indeterminate heirloom tomato that traces its roots back to the monastery of San Marzano near the Italian Mount Vesuvius.

It is prized for its depth of flavor and ratio of meat to seeds. It excels in slow-cooked sauces and has many alcohol-soluble flavor compounds for cooking with wine.

Moskovitch 

Moskovitch is a determinate heirloom tomato from Poland. It produces flavorful plum tomatoes early in the growing season. It also tends to tolerate cooler soil temperatures.

Sweet 100

Sweet 100 is a very popular hybrid cherry tomato that produces up to 100 very flavorful cherry tomatoes on an indeterminate plant.

Brandywine

Brandywine is an indeterminate heirloom tomato from France. It has a large following, and many people describe it as one of the most flavorful slicer tomatoes in the world.

It’s also one of the heirloom tomato seedlings you are likely to find in a garden center.

Purple Cherokee

Purple Cheeroke TomatoPin

Purple Cherokee is a very popular heirloom tomato that produces large purple fruit with distinct flavor on a sprawling indeterminate plant.

It is also one of the heirloom tomato seedlings you are likely to find in a garden center.

Celebrity

Celebrity is a hybrid determinate tomato that produces quality slicer tomatoes during a relatively short window of time.

Mortgage Lifter

Mortgage Lifter is a manmade heirloom tomato that produces large, flavorful slicer tomatoes. There are duplicate varieties sold in some garden centers, which are so close to the original that only an aficionado would notice the difference.

The plants can get over five feet tall in ideal conditions, so it probably represents the top end of the scale of what you can reasonably grow in a container.

Other Plants In The Tomato Family That Do Well In Pots

The tomato family is incredibly diverse. This means there are things that you might not think of as being a traditional “Tomato” that grow the same way and have the same needs.

Ground Cherries

ground cherriesPin

Ground Cherries are a real treat for kids and adults alike. They are essentially leftovers from the earliest days of tomato cultivation.

They produce a large number of small berries that are the size of a small cherry tomato. Only they are in a light paper husk.

To harvest them, you need to gently stroke a vine, and the ripe ones will fall off.

They taste surprisingly sweet, with hints of cherry tomato and pineapple. Ground cherries can be eaten fresh or made into flavorful jams and jellies.

Tomatillos

Tomatillos are essentially larger ground cherries. They aren’t quite as sweet and take a little longer to ripen.

You can raise them in containers for half the price of what you will pay for the fruits in a store. They are great for people who live to make their own salsa verde.

Suggestions On Where To Buy Your Tomato Seeds

There are many places you can buy your seeds, your local gardening store or online at Amazon or specialized seed sellers. 

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BEEFSTEAK TOMATOES
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2. Other Plants In The Tomato Family That Do Well In Pots

Starting Tomatoes From Seeds Or SeedlingsPin

Obviously, the larger the tomato plant, the more soil and space it’s going to need. A small determinate tomato plant like Moskovitch can produce a fair amount of fruit with as little as 1.5 to 2 gallons of quality soil.

As a general rule of thumb, you want at least three gallons of soil for an average tomato plant. Five would be better.

If you’ve got a half whiskey barrel, you could try growing a larger variety like Mortgage Lifter or Purple Cherokee.

With tomatoes, plants depth is very important. When you plant a tomato up to its bottom leaves, the stem below the soil line will start to produce new roots, which will help anchor and feed the tomato plant throughout the summer.

3. Use Best Soil For Growing Tomatoes In Pots

Best Soil For Growing Tomatoes In PotsPin

All tomato plants need well-drained soil. This is especially important for container-grown tomatoes. For best results, use high-quality potting soil which contains peat moss, compost, sand, perlite, or vermiculite. 

If possible, you should avoid using soil from your garden as it could have dangerous fungi and other plant pathogens that can exacerbate with container-grown plants. Garden soil also tends to compact easily.

What Type Of Soil Do Container-Grown Tomatoes Prefer?

Instead, it’s best to use high-quality potting soil from a store. If you intend to grow tomatoes in containers next year, you might be able to save a lot of money on high-end potting soil by purchasing it from a fall clearance sale.

Hardware stores will often sell big bags of it in October and November for half the price they sell it for in the spring.

Then stash the bag in the basement. This is a practice I use every year!

When you are setting up the pot, it can help scatter a few small rocks at the bottom and make sure there is adequate drainage.

This will help drain away excess water to prevent water-logged roots.

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4. Place Pots Where They’ll Receive At Least Six Hours Of Sun

Choose An Ideal LocationPin

Like peppers, tomatoes are members of the Solanum family. As the name implies, it means they need a fair amount of sun to thrive.

You need to place them in an area that receives at least six hours of sun per day, if not more.

The timing of those sunny hours can also be a factor. Like many other fruiting plants, tomatoes love the morning sun.

This allows them to soak up energy and process it through photosynthesis right away in the day. If a tomato doesn’t get sufficient morning sun, it might start to lean or “Leg Over” toward the light, which can gradually weaken the stem.

Do Tomato Plants Prefer Morning Or Afternoon Sun?

Do Tomato Plants Prefer Morning Or Afternoon Sun_Pin

Once a tomato plant develops fruit, it can help to shade it from the late afternoon sun. This will reduce the heat and potential drying caused by the sun in late summer.

Of course, the nice thing about growing tomatoes in a container is that you can move them to more favorable locations as the seasonal light pattern changes.

5. Plant The Tomato Seedling A Little Deeper In The New Pot

Right Technique To Plant Tomatoes In PotsPin

Tomatoes are technically a vine that is meant to grow along the ground. This means that the stem will sprout new roots when given prolonged contact with the soil.

So, What’s the best way to plant a tomato seedling?

Ideally, you want to plant the tomato seedling deeper than it is in the original pot it came in. You can go as deep as the lowest branches of true leaves.

Within the first week or two, the plant’s stalk will sprout new roots, which will give the plant a little extra boost.

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6. How To Care For Potted Tomato Plants

Support The Tomato PlantsPin

Once you’ve set up your pot of choice with rich, well-drained soil and you have your preferred seedling has been placed, it will still need proper tending.

Support The Tomato Plants

A small determinate tomato plant like Moscovitch might not need a stake or a cage. You need to make sure that it’s properly sheltered from high winds.

When it comes to indeterminate tomato plants, you should assume that they will need a stake or cage to help support branches and fruit.

Do I Need To Stake Or Cage A Tomato Plant In A Container?

It’s a good idea to install the support structure early on in the season to keep from damaging roots.

Some people will place the cage or insert the stake the same day they plant the seedling.

How To Stake Tomatoes In Pots

When it comes to square versus round cages, it really is a matter of personal preference. If your container is a little on the shallow side, you should look for a cage with shorter legs.

If possible, you can use a hacksaw to cut off the excess metal from the bottom to add support. The goal is to set the cage so that the lowest run on the cage is high enough to support the lowest branches of the tomato plant.

There are also some people to forgo using cages and instead will drive a single stout stake into the soil next to the base of the plant.

If you use this method, you should insert the stake when you first plant the tomato.

7. Water More, But Less Frequently

Starting Tomatoes From Seeds Or SeedlingsPin

Developing an effective watering strategy can be a little bit of a challenge for tomato plants in the garden, let alone growing them in pots. Consistency is the key!

When the potted tomato plants are small and haven’t formed fruit, you need to ensure that the soil isn’t dry.

If you stick a finger two or three inches in, it should feel slightly moist but not damp. Overly wet soil can lead to a problem called “Damping Off,” where the base of the stem essentially rots and kills the plant.

This watering strategy holds throughout most of the tomato plant’s early life cycle, and if you have the tomatoes on a porch or deck with a covered pergola, you might need to water them lightly once per day.

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How Often Do You Water Tomatoes In Pots?

When the plant starts to bear fruit, your watering strategy may need to increase. Tomatoes that are allowed to dry out and are saturated again can become increasingly prone to splitting and cracking.

There are few things more disheartening than spending an entire summer taking care of a tomato plant, only to see the fruit crack and be ruined because you forgot to water it for a day or two!

If the weather is particularly hot and dry, you might want to try lightly watering the plant in the morning and then again when you get home from work in the late afternoon.

8. Feeding Tomatoes Grown In Containers & Grow Bags

Fertilize your tomatoes in containerPin

Tomatoes have a high nutrient demand, and their heavy feeding requirements can change throughout the season.

Adapting your fertilizing strategy to meet their needs will go a long way toward maximizing their yield, as well as reducing your chances of some common tomato plant diseases.

The Best Fertilizer For Tomatoes At Different Stages Of Growth

If you are growing them from seed, you will need to give them gentle doses of a phosphorus-rich fertilizer.

This will promote healthy root growth. One telltale sign of a phosphorus deficiency is a slight purple tinge under a seedling’s older leaves.

It’s especially likely to happen with plants grown under artificial grow lights.

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When you plant the seedling in the pot, you want to bury the stem right up to the bottom of the first true leaves.

Then give it a full dose of phosphorus fertilizer, followed up with another dose a week later. This helps the plant to sprout a good root base from the buried stem.

For the next few weeks, you should stick to a nitrogen-rich fertilizer, in either half-strength dose each week or full-strength doses every two weeks.

The nitrogen will promote vigorous foliage growth, which the plant will later use to generate sugar for the fruit.

Lush foliage also helps shade the fruit from possible problems with sun-scald.

Once the fruit starts to develop, you should switch over to a rich fertilizer in potassium.

Also known as “Soluble potash,” this key mineral helps with fruit development and drought resistance.

If you are a proponent of “Suckering” or plucking excess branches and flowers, this is the time to start.

Identify And Correct Tomato Nutrient Deficiencies

Of course, tomatoes need more than just the basic N-P-K. They also rely on other minerals and soil nutrients to grow and bear healthy fruit. Two of the most important are calcium and magnesium.

What Does Calcium Do For Tomatoes?

Calcium helps provide structure for stems as well as fruit. When calcium levels in the soil are low or calcium is leached out by excess water and acidity, it can leave tomatoes vulnerable to the dreaded Blossom End Rot.

One way to prevent this is to work “Garden Lime” or crumbled dolomitic limestone into the soil before planting.

If you notice blossom end rot starting to develop on early fruit, you can add more calcium to the soil. This involves dissolving a double dose of garden lime in warm water.

How Do You Add Calcium To Potted Tomato Plants?

You will then need to apply a small amount to the soil in the container a little bit at a time, every other day, for two weeks.

This may restore enough calcium to save later tomatoes from blossom end rot.

However, it will not save any existing fruit that has a soft spot or active rot. You might as well pull them from the plant to save its energy for future fruit.

Identify And Correct Tomato Magnesium Deficiency

On a chemical level, magnesium plays a critical role in the process of photosynthesis. This means you are most likely to notice low soil magnesium levels in a tomato plant’s leaves, where most photosynthesis occurs.

It typically shows up as a gradual yellow color that spreads through the leaves, while the “Veins” remain green.

This is a sign that the leaves are consuming more natural sugars than they are producing.

Magnesium problems are more likely to develop in container-grown tomato plants and plants that are overwatered.

How Do You Add Nitrogen To Soil For Container Grown Tomato Plants?

If you catch it early, you easily adjust the magnesium levels in the soil by mixing warm water and Epsom salt.

This is such a common garden remedy that most Epsom salt retailers will even put the ratio and mixing instructions on the bag!

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9. Prune Tomatoes For A Big Harvest

Prune Tomatoes For A Big HarvestPin

So, should you Sucker Or Prune your Tomato Plants? This is a point of debate for many tomato enthusiasts.

Some insist that suckering is absolutely necessary, and those who advocate letting the plant grow naturally.

When a tomato plant is allowed to grow untended, it will naturally sprout new branches and leaves from the crux or crotch of established branches.

This does consume some of the plant’s energy. People who swear by suckering would rather have the plant divert its energy into flowering and fruiting.

As we discussed in the fertilizing section, a tomato plant needs foliage early on in its life to be able to feed fruit later.

The only way the plant can create sugar is through photosynthesis, and it needs leaves to do this.

So, early on, it’s best just to let the plant make as many leaves and branches as it wants.

Once it starts to set fruit, you might want to go in and sucker the plant by carefully pinching off new shoots.

Just bear in mind that the wounds can exploit bugs and dangerous fungal spores this leaves behind.

If you are a fan of suckering, it’s best to do it when the sun is still high in the sky to dry out the wounded area.

Theoretically, a consistent suckering strategy will encourage the plant to divert more of its energy into producing and swelling fruit.

Should The First Bud Of A Tomato Plant Be Pinched Off?

It’s convenient late in the season when you try to get the last few tomatoes to ripen fully.

If you’ve noticed signs of blossom end rot or other mineral deficiencies, pinching flowers might help prevent further fruit loss.

10. Common Tomato Problems

Starting Tomatoes From Seeds Or SeedlingsPin

Tomatoes are relatively easy to care for. However, some common problems can affect the soil chemistry or the plant’s overall health.

With many of these issues, an ounce of prevention and thoughtful preparation will go a long way toward providing you with a bountiful harvest.

Dealing With Freak Frost

Frost is a concern if you put your tomato plants out in the spring or ripen the last fruits going into the fall.

When you grow tomatoes in the garden, you have to wait until your region’s “Average Last Frost Date” before you plant them.

Even then, you have to cross your fingers against a freak seasonal frost. Should the temperatures drop too low, you’ll have to cover the plants with bedsheets.

Tarps and plastic sheets are a bad idea, as they don’t insulate and can sometimes concentrate on the cold.

How To Warm Soil And Protect Seedlings From Frost

If you plant your tomatoes in relatively easy-to-move containers, you can bring them into the house or the garage for the night to shelter them against the cold.

With a little bit of luck and a little elbow grease, you might be able to get a head start in the spring and ripen the last fruits of fall. Your garden-growing neighbors may even be a little envious!

Some gardening tool manufacturers sell special surrounds like “Walls of Water” to help protect the plants.

Since water is a natural heat sink, the water will prevent the cold from damaging the plant. This is great when a freak cold snap is in the forecast.

Just don’t leave the Walls of Water in place once warm sunny conditions return. The water will absorb a portion of the sunlight and rob the soil of thermal energy.

The long-term cool soil temps could delay the plant from flowering and setting fruit.

11. Avoid The Dangers Of Early Blight

Avoid The Dangers Of Early BlightPin

Early blight is one of those things you think won’t happen to you right up until it does. It’s actually more common than most novice tomato growers think.

It’s a type of fungus that sends spores on the wind and can infect soil and a tomato plant’s foliage.

Other plants can harbor early blight fungus without showing overt signs. Raspberries and other brambles in damp locations are notorious for hosting early blight spores.

Control Of Tomato Early Blight Disease

It’s a good rule of thumb not to plant or keep tomato containers within 50 feet of a raspberry or blackberry patch.

Early blight tends to strike in mid-June to early July. It tends to show up as little yellow spots on a tomato plant’s oldest leaves.

Left unchecked, the blight spots can spread and turn black. In time, it can kill a significant amount of foliage and reduce your seasonal tomato yield by half. Not to mention a serious blight problem is very ugly.

If you catch it early, you can deal with it by plucking all affected leaves. You should then treat the plant and the soil with a mixture of water and organic copper sulfate. This will reduce the fungal population.

Check out the pre-mixed solution we found useful when growing our own tomatoes.

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Yet, you shouldn’t expect it to be a total cure. You may need to reapply again in two weeks.

It would be best to wait at least three days and thoroughly wash any existing fruit on the plant before eating them. Copper sulfate is not gentle on the human digestive system!

In Conclusion

I think you’ll be surprised at how well tomatoes can do in a pot. Many patio gardeners have embraced this increasingly popular growth strategy with great results.

Just make sure to keep consistently moist, adjust their fertilizing strategy as the season demands, and make sure to watch out for signs of a mineral deficiency.

With a little luck and a bit of a green thumb, you could still be enjoying vine-ripe tomatoes all the way into October!

Lastly, check out these grow bags. These are excellent alternatives to containers as they also are easy to transport and drain water very well.

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