Tomato growing

Hi all
Being new to the forum please forgive me if this has been asked before,
I have a 6x8 high eaves greenhouse and wondered how many
tomato plants I should be able to grow without overcrowding it
I will be using large pots not growbags,
regards
Grumps,,

 

Hiya Grumps.
I have a greenhouse the same size. I grow mine in the border, and I can just about squeeze 5 plants per side. Bear in mind that since you are using pots, this will reduce the amount of trusses, because of the height of the pots, which should be large.
Hope this helps

 

Good evening @Grumps

There is a dedicated "Tomato Growing" thread, which we run annually, to discuss all things tomato (no spuds permitted ).
You may get a few more answers if you visit: THE TOMATO GROWING THREAD 2018

 

Hi Freddy
I don't think height will be a problem as the greenhouse
has high eaves ,
the pots I used last year are about the size of a builders bucket,
is that big enough ????
Thank you "M"
I had a look at the thread earlier but could not find anything
Regards
Grumps,,,,

 

Hmm, ...


... try asking?

Freddy seems to know what he is talking about (I've met him, he does seem to know these things ). My personal experience is very limited, so I cannot answer your question with any confidence/experience/detail. I do, however, draw much insight from the link I posted - but that may just be tomato newbie safety net

 

Hiya Grumps.
Regarding the trusses, I just felt it was important to point this out, as ultimately it will reduce the crop, even if by not that much.
Apart from the odd plant that I grow outdoors, I don’t/haven’t really grown in pots, but do feel that you need something a bit bigger than bucket size pots. If it were me, and it had to be pots, I would go for something maybe half as big again?

 

Thank you Freddy,
Do you grow yours in growbags or a different way ??
I am sure you can tell its all new to me,,,
Grumps

 

As I said, I grow mine in the greenhouse border, directly in the soil. I prefer this because it gives the roots unrestricted growth. The downside of this is that the soil needs to be replaced to prevent build-up of disease. Some will say that it should be replaced every year, but once every two years has worked for me, so far. I have used grow bags in the past, with some success, but the problem with those is watering, the water can often run round the sides, so when you think you’ve given them enough, you haven’t.

 

Thank you for your advice Freddy,
My greenhouse is on a flagged area of my garden
so that's me off looking for bigger pots over the weekend,
Grumps

 

Grumps, I would hang on for some other replies, as I am by no means an expert. I only state my opinion, based on my own experience. @JWK May well be able to add more...

 

Hi Grumps
This was my old 8 x 6 greenhouse with toms grown in 12" pots you can see from the picture you can get a good crop in that sized pot the secret or problem is the watering. I am retired and my greenhouse is just outside the back door so not a problem for me. If you cannot get to greenhouse twice a day you may want to put some sort of drip watering system in
I have grown six plants down each side, sometimes as many as ten plants down each side. six is a good number. I still use some pots but mostly quad grows now.
I used to stagger the pots but I am unable to put a layout plan on here.
Regards Sandy

 

Last year I crammed 24 tomatoes in each of my 6m x 1.2m polytunnel borders, 48 tomatoes per 3 x 6m tunnel. 9 along back row, 9 middle row but only 6 only the front row as they're tight up against the central path.

For tall cordon tomatoes the minimum pot size I'll use is 30 Litres 10 X 30 LITRE PLANT TREE POT WITH HANDLES HEAVY DUTY 30L LT BIG LARGE PLASTIC | eBay My plot is 10 mins walk from home andI want a size that doesn't require watering twice a day.

For early season Red Alert bush tomatoes I use 9.5L ex-Morrisons flower buckets (NB The new ones are 9L), 8 for 99p from Morrisons. That size will fit amongst my cordon tomatoes during May until danger of frost has passed and the can go outside leaving more room for the cordon tomatoes.

 

Thank you to all for the advice given,
Being honest I think the builders bucket size pots do look small,
I will try larger pots I think,
Time in the greenhouse for me is not a problem
only working 3 hours a day {evenings} and the greenhouse
is just outside the house so keeping an eye on watering is no problem,
I have had the greenhouse for 2 years and done pretty poorly with it,
It was a busy time and just bought tomato plants wherever I could but
to me it was late in the season,filled the greenhouse with Italian plum last year
bought from a local shop and they grew well but refused to ripen,
Going to try growing my own this year so I will be posting again for advice on that,
Thank you all again for the advice given
Regards
Grumps