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Outdoor Tomatoes - in grow bags or open ground?

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  • #1

    Outdoor Tomatoes - in grow bags or open ground?

    I'm making plans for where to grow my outdoor tomatoes this year (I have no greenhouse on my allotment) and wondered if any of you have thoughts on which is best - in growbags / large containers or in open ground? Which works best for you and if in open ground what varieties suit that growing medium?

    All thoughts and experiences will be greatly appreciated. I will try both this year although I have always stuck to grow bags and containers in previous years.
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  • #2
    I would expect watering to be easier / less frequent if the plants are in the ground.
    K's Garden blog the story of the creation of our garden

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    • #3
      I grew 4 bush tomatoes in pots last year (surprise, surprise ) and they did extremely well. A neighbour grew 6 plants in the ground and I had a far better yield. That may have been down to TLC though

      I did however have to extend the support structure with cane outriggers as one day I returned home from work to discover they had been blown over and I'd lost a couple of trusses

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      • #4
        Can you get there to water daily and feed regularly? If not then avoid pots and grow bags (to be honest I'm not keen on grow bags at all unless cut in half and stood on their ends or used with rings sunk into them to make the depth much deeper). Pots do however have the advantage that they are easy to move if you need to which can be especially useful at the end of the season. I used to grow in pots at home due to lack of space but since I got the lottie everything is in the ground and personally I think this gives a better yield.


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        • #5
          I had a few weaklings left over last year which my daughter persuaded me to stick in a flowerbed rather than on the compost heap. I can't say they grew huge, but after months of total neglect they actually produced some fruit! And it was much tastier than some of the ones grown inside, although the skins were thicker. I'd never have remembered to water them enough in pots in the garden.
          sigpicGardening in France rocks!

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          • #6
            A lot depends on your soil of course, in containers you are in control, but you cant rely on rain getting into them. Toms need a lorra lorra water.


            I am ditching grow bags in the gh this year for tomatoes and plan to use pots, does anyone know the best size for cordon toms in pots? would 35 litres do for one Sharon plant?
            photo album of my garden in my profile http://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gra...my+garden.html

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            • #7
              Originally posted by Bill HH View Post
              A lot depends on your soil of course, in containers you are in control, but you cant rely on rain getting into them. Toms need a lorra lorra water.


              I am ditching grow bags in the gh this year for tomatoes and plan to use pots, does anyone know the best size for cordon toms in pots? would 35 litres do for one Sharon plant?
              I see no reason why a 35L pot shouldn't work for you, however I'm not familiar with growing Sharon. I was growing bush cherry toms in circa 15L pots. Whilst they did very well, they needed multiple waterings per day and were limited to 5 or 6 trusses per plant. They were also fed every 10 days or so.

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              • #8
                Sharon are quite vigorous cordon toms, the fruit is so prolific that the bottom trusses need support or they break off with the weight. They are best grown in the GH though. i grew some outside last year but had a job ripening them.

                Regarding the original question you could have the best of both worlds and sink your containers into the soil so that the roots search out moisture through the holes in the bottom, in fact i would drill extra holes around the sides near the bottom to allow this. I suppose you could do the same with grow bags.
                photo album of my garden in my profile http://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gra...my+garden.html

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                • #9
                  To me, a lot depends on location....i.e amount of sun etc
                  I use grow bags and pots outside up against a south facing garage wall, always do well....
                  I dream of a better tomorrow, where chickens can cross the road and not be questioned about their motives....


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                  • #10
                    I grew my toms in the gh last year. Some in pots and some in grow bags - I emptied some grow bags into the pots so they had the same type of compost. No noticeable difference between the yields but I found it easier to add supports when they were in pots.

                    I'm not sure on how big the pots were in terms of litres but they were free from Morrisons - the ones they get cut flowers delivered in.

                    I experienced a bit of disease in the plants and scrapped the plum tomato plants in fear that they would infect the other toms in the gh with them.

                    The year before I grew my toms outside, in grow bags. They had a much greater yield and far more flavour so I'm going back to that method this year. They were on the patio which is a sun trap in the afternoon. Just for info I used 'New Horizon' grow bags mainly because they were quite affordable and was more than happy with the outcome
                    Your brain gets smart, but your head gets dumb

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                    • #11
                      I don't use grow bags I find them just to much hassle to get the watering right.

                      For my corden toms I use morrisons flower buckets about 10 ltrs. My Bush toms are in standard hanging baskets on a south facing wall. I have the advantage of growing at home so can get to them daily.

                      Potty
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                      • #12
                        I use the £1 buckets from the diy store for the smaller fruiting types and into the g/house borders with the bigger olympe and black Russian and the chocolate cherry into the topsy turvy hanging tub, I will be sowing all mine the weekend in my new propagator.....

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                        • #13
                          I loathe grow bags because of the difficulty with watering. I've grown tomatoes in both pots filled with grow bag compost and in the soil outdoors with some compost added. With an outdoor variety (I use Sungold) there is no comparison - they grow bigger and better and produce better flavoured tomatoes when grown in the soil. With the pots I find that as small as 7 inches will do and I once did an experiment with some in 9 inch pots and some in 12 inch pots and noticed no difference at all (Shirley). If you grow them in this sort of size pots and keep on top of the side shoots etc you can move them inside if there is a frost forecast. The biggest problem with tomatoes in pots is that they become top heavy and easily blow or fall over. You therefore need to attach them to something solid to prevent this.
                          A life is like a garden. Perfect moments can be had, but not preserved, except in memory. LLAP. - Leonard Nimoy

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                          • #14
                            I've some of those 'grow bags for tomatoes', ( the fabric type ones, not growbags ) never used them before, not had much success with tomatoes, did some in pots last year, but don't think they had enough sun. This year I'm planning on growing them on top balcony ,which gets a lot of sun. Can you advise please, just multi purpose compost? And how many Tom plants in each of the bags? Thinking a small cherry type, maybe Sungold.
                            Last edited by Dorothy rouse; 27-01-2014, 05:26 PM.
                            DottyR

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                            • #15
                              Originally posted by Dorothy rouse View Post
                              I've some of those 'grow bags for tomatoes', ( the fabric type ones, not growbags ) never used them before, not had much success with tomatoes, did some in pots last year, but don't think they had enough sun. This year I'm planning on growing them on top balcony ,which gets a lot of sun. Can you advise please, just multi purpose compost? And how many Tom plants in each of the bags? Thinking a small cherry type, maybe Sungold.
                              Do you mean these? http://www.amazon.co.uk/Pack-Planter...rds=tomato+bag

                              If so, I would think one plant per bag. I always use gro-bag compost which is formulated for tomatoes, rather than multipurpose.

                              Sungold is quite tall, and would need staking - you may be better with a bush variety on a balcony.
                              A life is like a garden. Perfect moments can be had, but not preserved, except in memory. LLAP. - Leonard Nimoy

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