Transplanting Cherry Tomato Plants, Container Gardening

I am growing cherry tomato plants from seeds. The seedlings began growing in March and were started in eggshells. (See my post on eggshell gardening.)

This post contains affiliate links to products I’ve bought and recommend. I could earn a small amount if a purchase is made through my link – with no extra cost to the buyer.

From there, they went into either the container garden or single, larger pots. I’m all for trying different things to see which growing idea works out best. So far, the tomatoes in the big containers are not doing as well as the ones in their own pots.

The tomatoes growing in their own small pots are doing very well. Each day I take them off the patio table and set them in the sun, along with my basil, dill, cosmos and marigolds.

At night I put them back up on the table so the raccoons won’t mess with them.

Two small tomato plants are growing in the box below. One died, and the other is still fairly small. The tomatoes above in their own pots are doing much better.

Transplanting in Florida

Now it is the end of April. These tomato plants have outgrown their little pots so it’s time to re-pot. Since I don’t have a lot of space, I decided to use a tall pot. I prefer to grow plants in the ground, but here in Florida it’s difficult.

I bought one more tall pot, because I have two plants, and spent some time today moving the plants into their new, bigger containers.

I gathered up some Spanish moss for the bottom of the container – a perk from living in Florida. It will serve as drainage. Then I mixed in some Blood Meal and Bone Meal (both links are Amazon affiliate links) with the purchased organic dirt as I filled the pot.

The bottom leaves of the tomato plants were removed, as they should not touch the dirt, and I planted the transplants as deep as I could. Some people plant tomato plants lying down with only the top leaves showing. This creates lots of extra roots for sturdy and hardy plants.

Now my only problem could be with the raccoons that come each night and are nosy and destructive. They like to dig in the dirt with their little paws and mess with my plants.

To hopefully deter them, I places some tray bird feeders around the pots.

The old tomato plant

The tomatoes below are growing in a grow box and the plant has been growing all winter. These were planted in November, and I don’t suggest that. Here in Florida tomatoes should be planted in February or March.

Lots of the leaves became yellow and I trimmed them off. I’m just trying to get the tomatoes to turn red and be edible. I did use some organic spray on the leaves, which did seem to help.

I can’t remember what type of tomato these are, but they grew from a plant I purchased, and not from seeds – probably purchased at Home Depot. I really miss Tenney Farms in New Hampshire.

Tips for growing tomatoes from seed

• Start tomatoes from seeds in small containers, such as eggshells.
• Use a quality soil, such as Black Gold (Amazon affiliate link) (I bought this type of potting soil locally and paid half the price – so shop around – early in the season!)
• Once they have a few leaves and lots of roots, transplant to a larger pot.
• When they fill that pot, transplant to either the garden, or a permanent large container.
• Be sure they get lots of sun and consistent water all throughout their life. A drought and then lots of water will cause tomatoes to split.
• If you are in Florida and your tomato plants are growing over winter, they may have yellow leaves and scarred fruit. It can’t be helped because of the weather! Do the best you can and wait for the warm days to appear. This means covering them at night to protect from the cold.