If you are a gardening lover but your garden space is too narrow, you might be planning to cultivate tomatoes in a sack. A new riddle arises: What size grow bag for tomatoes? Determining the suitable dimension is important in planting the trees as it directly affects the long-term development of the seeds.
The container measurement varies greatly for each type of tomato and the number of trees in one container. This article from gardening101.net will provide you with clear instructions on choosing the best size pack for your favorite plants.
What Size Grow Bag For Tomatoes Is The Best Choice?
How To Choose The Suitable Bags For Tomatoes?
Normally, planting packs come with a variety of sizes, from small size (5 gallons) to big size (1000 gallons). You should choose a big one as the plants need space for photosynthesis and metabolism.
So, what is the best size grow bag for tomatoes? Here are some factors that you should take into consideration:
Variety Of Tomato
This red fruit has a lot of species, from the mini size like cherry tomatoes to the big variety like kitchen tomatoes. It would help if you chose a sack that is fittable with the mature shape of the plants. Or else, a 12-inch pack can go with many varieties of tomatoes.
Land Condition
This plant requires a large amount of nutrition. If the garden soil is poor in nitrogen or other minerals, you should pick up the large sack so that the tree can breathe and absorb the nutrition easily.
External Environment
You can plant the seed both outdoors and indoors. However, the outer conditions also greatly affect the measurement of your cultivated sacks. If you let your plant be exposed to the outside environment, a big bag may be the best bet.
Temperature
This kind of vegetable has warm temperature preferences. If you are staying in a mild climate area, you could buy small growbags for tomatoes. Should your living space feature extremely high or low temperatures, a big sack is the way to go.
Water Resources
Tomatoes develop well in dampened soil. A large bag can contain a big amount of water for the trees so that you do not need to water them every day. In case you buy the small dimension sack, you could water the plants several times per day.
Portability
When you need to transfer your plant regularly, the pot scale is a big matter. Therefore, buying a small container is very convenient for transportation.
Location
Assuming that you have little space for planting, you should choose a small container for the vegetables. Besides, the compact containers can prevent the trees from being waterlogged in the rainy season.
What Size Grow Bag For Indeterminate Tomatoes Should You Choose?
Indeterminate tomatoes are climbing trees; you should plant them along the corridor or the balcony so that they can develop easily. One of the outstanding features of this type is that it can produce fruits in every season.
Therefore, if you are a tomato lover and prefer to eat a tasty, juicy fruit every time, indeterminate tomato plants should hit the spot. You could choose some types of indeterminate plants, namely Beefsteak, Big Daddy, Big Mama, etc.
This variety absorbs a lot of nutrition and water, so it has a complicated root system. What size grow bag for tomato plant is the best choice? You should choose a 20-gallon grow bag for the root to expand, and this container should also be from 15-inch diameter and 12-inch in depth.
What Size Grow Bag For Determinate Tomatoes Should You Choose?
In contrast with indeterminate tomato varieties, the determinate tomato varieties usually grow as a bush; they do not need to depend on the balcony to expand.
This seed only produces fruit at a specific time of the year, so it is suitable for temporary gardening. You can cultivate fresh tomatoes in the spring and switch to watermelon in the summer.
These are some brand names of the determinate plants you can choose: Celebrity, Early Girl, Goliath, etc. Compared with other types, this species is much smaller, so they can thrive in small-scale bags.
It would help to choose a 10-gallon container with 10 inches in diameter and above 8 inches in height. However, you can freely pick a bigger container as well.
Do Tomatoes Grow Better In The Bag Than In The Pot?
It’s advisable to plant tomatoes in a bag.
If your trees are cultivated in a bag – a sealed container, their root systems will likely be more complicated and strong. When the plant roots expand to the side of the containers, it will suspend their root length and create another branch to cultivate.
This happens because the outer dust layer does not have nutrition and water; the trees have to develop a new root system to absorb minerals from the center.
But in plastic containers (pots), the root will circle when it meets the pot’s wall. As a result, tomatoes in the pot will not be as strong as tomatoes in containers.
Regarding the drainage of the trees, bags are better at regulating the water flow. Living in an opaque pot makes it difficult for the water to run out when there is excess water. However, the water in a tree pack will penetrate into the fabric bags then evaporate quickly.
In the summer, plants are easily burned when exposed to a high level of sunlight. The pot can not spread the heat as fast as the pack. When the sunlight reaches the fabric pots (bags), it will ease the heat fastly, keeping the trees in normal condition.
Tips For Growing Tomatoes In Grow Bags
- These vegetables require a minimum of 8-hour exposure to natural sunlight; you should place them in a sun-kissed place so that they can photosynthesize easily.
- Try to plant the trees as deep in the potting soil as possible. The deeper the root, the more nutrition tomatoes will receive. Moreover, the stem will stay stronger when buried deep in the ground.
- When your trees step into the mature process, you need to water them more regularly. Plus, the water evaporates quickly in the container, so you must supply the trees with efficient water.
- As those fruits need large amounts of calcium to avoid dreaded blossom end rot, you should provide them with calcium carefully. A free way to provide that mineral is eggshells. You have to crush them into small fractions and spread them around the trees’ roots.
- Once the plants blossom, feed them with potassium so that the fruit will be tastier.
- Combining planting tomatoes with other supportive plants like compact marigolds and basil. These trees are excellent in maintaining moisture and eliminating pests for the vegetables.
Conclusion
Every time you wonder: What size grow bag for tomatoes?, you should consider the variables. A determinate variety requires a minimum 10-gallon grow bag, and an indeterminate variety needs a 20-gallon sack for mature growth.
Besides, if you plan to grow a single plant, a pack of 10 gallons is fine. But for a big crop, you should aim for a huge sack ranging from 20 to 30 gallons.