[tomato] Watering Container Grown Tomatoes
Greg Park (Tomato@GlobalGarden.com)
Fri, 18 Jun 1999 10:58:07 -0700
Hi all,
I have attempted to grow tomatoes in containers for the past few years with
little success so far. This year is looking the most promising though! My
plants are all setting fruit and are disease free (knock on wood) thanks to
much of the advise given here. Thanks to all!
The first year I tried to grow tomatoes in a container started great, but I
ended up with blossom end rot on all my slicers and tough skins on my yellow
cherry tomatoes. I'd really like to circumvent that from happening this
year and I know that to do this, I need to keep the plants well watered to
avoid calcium deficiency problems (I've added bone meal dressings as well).
So my question to you container gardeners. How do you THOROUGHLY water
container plants throughout the season? For me, as soon as the top of the
potting soil gets dry, it becomes very difficult to get the water to
penetrate evenly. It seems that the water just finds the easiest path to
the drain hole without really soaking the soil. I use plastic mulch and
tried lightly cultivating the top soil but that only seems to get the top
inch or so moist.
What works for you?
TIA,
Greg Park
Zone 9, Santa Monica, CA