We are planting our tomato trench style in the hopes of a bigger stronger plant. Roots develop over the whole buried stem giving the plant access to more food.
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Question by lops: How can I care for my re-potted tomato plant?
I’ve been growing an indoor container tomato plant. It’s my first tomato plant, and I think it was doing pretty well. It’s reached about 2 feet, and is starting to produce a tomato (and I can see other little blooms starting). I had repotted it twice before– once into a 2 quart planter, and again into a 2.5gallon planter, where it has been, and where it has grown to the size it is today.
I kept reading that tomato plants should really be in 5-gallon containers at the least, and my plant was rootbound in the 2.5 gallon it was in, so today I decided to repot it into a big 5-gallon bucket (even though it seemed to have been doing well and already started to produce fruit). I made sure to keep the huge root ball in tact by not removing much of the soil, and I buried it a little deeper than it was before to encourage more root growth. I also staked it.
This was about 2 hours ago, and now my plant is VERY droopy already. I watered it a little and put it out of direct sunlight. How can I best care for my plant while it’s recovering (if it DOES recover???)? Was it a mistake to repot such a mature-ish tomato plant when it was seemingly doing well in the 2.5 gallon pot? Will the repotting affect the fruit that’s already started to grow?
Best answer:
Answer by frank
Your plant is fine unless you added too much fertilizer or something to burn it. Tomatoes love compost, and like to dig their roots deep into it to get the nutrients they need. Put the plant back in the sun, and keep it moist. Find a good mild organic fertilizer, and in about a week put a little around the plant. If you are too concerned about the drooping, feed it with a solution of two gallons of water to which you will have added one table spoon of B1.
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I would make sure it has enough water without being soggy, if you have plenty of drainage in the pot just water until it runs out the bottom. If you don’t have enough drainage add some -drill holes around the bottom/side if that’s all you can do without dumping the plant again. Then keep it out of direct sunlight tomorrow morning until it Is no longer wilted, then move it back in to the same amount of light it was growing in. If it was growing in light sunlight gradually move it further and further into full sun to acclimate it (over 2-3 days). If you used potting soil that “feeds” do not add more fertilizer or you’ll burn it. as to size it depends on the tomato plant- some are bush varieties that do well in a 3-5 gallon pot, some are gigantic (like Sweetie) and need lots of room to grow and spread.
It will be just fine. It is having transplant shock. It will grow much faster now that you have moved it into the 5 gallon container. I have never had one die. You should have ripe tomatoes in about 40 days.
Water it more. Plant is in transplant shock. You just disturbed the roots it needs time to grow more roots. It can slow down plant growth, and probably will effect the fruit.