How to Grow Tomatoes in Pots?
Have you ever been so busy and feeling stressed about life that you want to start a refreshing hobby? Have you ever dreamed of harvesting fresh, healthy, and juicy fruits and vegetables from your garden? Have you ever considered starting your mini green oasis at home? and thinking about how to grow tomatoes in pots?
Do you have a garden? A small plot? Or even a just pot? Maybe, growing versatile, red, tasty, and vine-ripe tomatoes straight from your own home that you can use in different dishes and salad are some of the best ideas that you can think of but do you have any idea how to cultivate some of these questions:
healthy treats? What are tomatoes? how long does it take to grow tomatoes?
They are fruits that contain multi-seeds, which later on could grow another generation of sprouts that turn in yellow flowers, which crawls up to create vine and bear fruits. It is used universally not just in the big culinary world but also in our home kitchen that delights our tummies with its versatility in different kinds of dishes.
Know these Things Before Growing Tomatoes
Just like any other plant, tomatoes can also grow at home, given the optimal conditions needed to survive. Green thumbs must include the following minimum requirements to improve their vegetables.
A gardener must have tomato seeds (make sure that you find the tomato you want to harvest in the end). A source of light (bright sunlight), sufficient water, premium quality soil, regular fertilization, appropriate pot, and a small bending fence or support for tomato vines.
Before planting tomatoes, take into consideration the climate. These pot fruits could only grow in warm environments and conditions. Therefore, it will not sprout and bear fruits on less than 55 degrees Fahrenheit.
Temperature to Grow Tomatoes
These seeds germinate best at room temperature between 70 to 75 degrees Fahrenheit. Once they reached maturity, it is advisable to keep them on a cold room temperature of 65 degrees Fahrenheit. Under circumstances wherein you do not have enough sunlight to keep your plant warm, you can use a LED grow light to compensate.
Insufficient lighting might lead to weak plants. It is also applicable to have an adjustable kind of light for the seed starting phase. Germination could also speed up if you provided your pot with some heat mat.
How Long Does it Take to Grow Tomatoes?
Some kinds of this plant could take 70 to 80 days or less than three months to develop. Some of its species only take 20 to 30 days to reach maturity and could be harvested on their 40th-50th day of life.
Now that you know the prerequisites in these small Farmville moments. The real question is, How to grow tomatoes at home? There are just several steps to remember.
How to Grow Tomatoes From Deeds
The four easy tips to how to grow tomatoes,
Find the Right Spot in the House
The part of the home must be accessible to sunlight for at least six hours a day. Living organisms are sunlight dependent on performing photosynthesis.
Now that you find light, next, you should have enough water to retain the constant moisture that the plant needs. If there is no nearby water, make sure that you have a watering hose.Choose the Right Kind of Tomato Seeds
Choose the kind of tomato seed that you will plant. There are different kinds of tomato, such as sweet million cherry tomato, husky cherry red tomato, Roma tomato, sunrise sauce tomato, patio tomato, and many more.
Also, please note the size of these plants when they reach maturity. There are determinate tomatoes that grow only up to 3 feet and are ideal for containers while indeterminate tomatoes could grow as tall as 6 feet in height. All kinds of this plant, whether determinate or indeterminate, need support such as tomato cages, fences, and ladders. An important note is to make sure that the tomato of your choice is disease-resistant. Some diseases could affect the tomatoes in your region.Find the Best Pot
Make sure to find the best pot that would fit to grow tomatoes. Seedling makes look small, but based on their kinds as stated earlier, these tomatoes could grow up from three to six feet and may even need ladders to support their crawling vines and might need enough space to support a healthy root system.
What size pots for growing tomatoes?
To determine tomatoes require an ideal pot of 18 inches in diameter while the indeterminate tomatoes need at least 24 inches. It is also alright to use a 5 to 10-gallon bucket container.
However, smaller plants also require more watering and feeding. Gardeners must also remember that all kinds of pots and containers except the fabric pots need drainage holes. It is ideal for drilling some holes in the pan if it doesn’t have any.
Avoid black plastic containers if you are living in hot climate countries. Black colour tends to absorb more heat than other colours. Therefore it stops and slows down the growth of your plant. It is also more convenient to purchase some biodegradable pots and seed starting pots.Choose right kind of soil.
it is also to check on your list the kind of soil that you will use for gardening. It is alright to be knowledgeable about potting soils, but the best one to use for seed starting doesn’t need to be soil.
A sterile or soil-less mix is the most applicable for this step. Garden soils do not drain properly and sometimes contains organisms that can harm your plant and even cause diseases like blight and pests such as nematodes, it is also too heavy and might over impact.
For mature plants, premium quality potting mix soil and composed enriched, which are light and fluffy in texture, could provide plenty of space for air and moisture to move through the soil could be the best choice for home gardening.
How to Grow Tomatoes in Pots
A. Moisten the seeds and then fill half of the container. Slightly firm the seeds, but make sure that you do not overpress them.
B. Put at least 2 to 3 tomato seeds. Cover them with about 1/4″ of soil. Slightly put enough water in it (make sure not to put too much water on your seeds).
C. At this point, it does not need to be placed on direct sunlight, or else your seeds will dry out; just put your pot or container on a warm place or your heat mat.
D. Keep the mix wet or moisty, but make sure that you will not soak it with water.
E. Check your mix regularly, and as soon as you see some sprouts, place it in a sunny space but only keep the lights just an inch above plants.
Things to Know After Planting a Tomato
- After seeding, continue growing your plant. Always keep in moisture and good air circulating system to protect from the diseases that your seedlings might catch on poor ventilation. On a window still, location, rotate the port regularly so that your plants will grow upright.
- Also, trim the excess seedlings and leave the healthiest ones. You may transplant those seedlings on other pots. Only leave the number of seedlings that you can only accommodate. When the second real leaves appear, you can start putting a water-soluble fertilizer every once or twice a week.
- When they start to grow, you may begin to repotting your plants on larger pots, and it’s time to set them indoors. You may also insert support such as a tomato ladder or cage.
- Please do not put them in the early stages because it might disturb the growing roots. To create your tomato cage, you may use a bend metal fencing or hog wire. It can be inserted straight on its soil or slipped over the outside on its pot.
- One of the keys to success is watering your plants regularly to keep it moist but not too much saturated. It is time to water your plants when the topsoil is dry already. The irrigation system can also help in your watering and keeping moisture.
Enjoy your healthy and juicy harvested tomatoes at the end of the season. You may clean your plants and use them again.
Harvesting your plants is satisfying and a very cool way to ease your stress and start a new hobby! It is fun and easy.
If you have any questions or suggestions about How to grow tomatoes? Please leave a comment below.
