Quote:
Originally Posted by kilroyscarnival
Do T-ville folks have observations or any research on the effect of different height/width dimensions of containers on tomato growth?
I'm asking partly because I did a little experiment this summer with my indoor micros. I started too many, and could only fit so many one-gallon pots, small as they are, under the grow light structure we made. So I simply took some in their upcycled styrofoam cups and razored the bottoms off, fluffed the roots and placed that on top of another cup filled with new growing medium. They seemed to do well, and I could really pack them into my limited horizontal space under the lights. I finally had to move them out this week because my fall starts needed the space, and the roots extended down to the bottom of the second cup, but fine and fluffy ones, not rootbound.
I've been thinking of trying a double-stacked five gallon bucket setup to give me a taller, narrower container for a few of my determinate tomatoes and various peppers. For one, it would get them an additional foot off the ground surface, perhaps a little protection from ground critters. I was thinking of trying that versus a ten-gallon root pouch.
To be clear, I'm describing cutting most of the bottom out of the top bucket and stacking it on top of a second bucket, both filled with soil mix - not the typical self-watering 5-gallon bucket setup. I was reading in another thread about paste tomatoes and BER and the notion that planting them very deep may mitigate that.
Surely someone's tried this? Any thoughts? One concern I can think of is higher susceptiblity to wind for tip-over and stem breakage. Another is I won't have the same excellent drainage that the root pouch grow bags affords me.
Thanks for any ideas,
Ann
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Wow, Ann. Great idea.
Thank you a million. Your idea has solved my long-lasting problem with space. I grow some of my tomatoes indoor, i.e. on my window sill, over the winter. Overheating and drainage aren't an issue indoor, but my windows are limited in both number and size. Stability can easily be achieved with a rope or wire from one side of the window to the other. No problem either.
I started thinking about the best shape of the containers and removable bottoms as cutting off plastic bottoms with the plant in will probably be quite hard. I could damage the roots. But these are just details that I am sure to resolve. Conical isn't really a good option. Perhaps square rather than cylindrical for better stability. Maybe even reversely conical: the bottom wider than the top. And the bottom could be held in place with sellotape as it will only be needed temporarily.
Bingo.
Milan HP