One Of The Biggest Mistakes You Can Make When Planting Tomatoes In Containers

Tomatoes (Solanum lycopersicum) are said to be among some of the easiest types of plants you can grow in a home garden. While this includes planting tomatoes directly into the ground, many gardeners choose to grow these plants in containers. Not only is it possible to grow healthy tomato plants in this way, but it's also more practical if you're limited on yard space. It's also a great way to start growing tomatoes if you've never done so before. Still, there are many mistakes that can spell trouble for your tomatoes. A lack of space is arguably one of the biggest mistakes people make for container-grown tomatoes.

Tomatoes are one of the most popular types of vegetables grown in home gardens, but these plants aren't without their problems. While hybrid varieties may be resistant to diseases, most others are susceptible to a range of bacterial, fungal, and viral diseases. These include blossom end rot, Fusarium wilt, blights, and many others. You might even find yourself trying to rescue a tomato plant from root rot. Gardeners must also be on the lookout for numerous pests that can attack tomatoes, including mites, beetles, hornworms, white flies, and fruit worms. Additionally, fertilizer adjustments might be needed to help your tomato plants flourish when they've started flowering.

On top of all of this, you need to make sure your tomatoes get adequate water, drainage, sunlight, and space. It is this last requirement that is often overlooked, as many people may not realize just how large tomato plant root systems get. In fact, tomato plant roots are wider than they are deep.

Since tomato root systems can grow very wide, it's easy to see how a plant might run out of space in a container. This is especially the case if you make the mistake of planting tomatoes in containers that are much too small. A tomato plant that is in a small container might grow well at first, but once its roots run out of space, your plant will stop growing and thriving. You might even notice that your tomato plant is wilting and drying out. While the exact sizes can vary based on cultivar, most tomato plants can grow between 3 and 10 feet tall, as well as 1 to 4 feet in width. With this in mind, it's easy to see how choosing the wrong size of container for your tomatoes can be detrimental to successful plants.

To help prevent this issue, it's important to choose containers that are large enough for your tomato plants to grow. When starting out, you should choose containers that are at least 5 gallons, as well as 1 to 2 feet deep. Some experts recommend going even larger with containers of 15 gallons or more in size. Since tomato roots grow quite wide, the width of a container is just as important as its depth, if not more so. Also, never place multiple tomato plants in one container. Instead, you should plan on having a separate container for each tomato plant you plan on growing. You'll also want to consider the best types of tomatoes for your container garden to ensure better success.