A Gardeners Forum Forums General Discussion The Food Garden Forum The Tomato Forum New to tomato gardening as of today

Hi everyone, I decided to try my hand at tomato gardening today. I am located in North Florida.

I have no experience in this whatsoever, and I barely have a green thumb.

Anyway, I picked up 3 starter tomato plants yesterday at Lowe's. 3 different varieties: 1 better bush, 1 champion and 1 mountain spring.

For now they are in the 2 gallon buckets they came in. Two already have green tomatoes on them.

Are there any pointers you can give me to make this successful? I fed them with Miracle-gro for tomatoes this morning.

Other than that, what else should I do?

Thanks in advance.

I don't have experience growing those specific varieties, but i'm thinking that at least the first 2 will need bigger containers, and that actually brings up other issues, whather you want to use only containers or plant out. In Florida, the danger of nematodes is fairly high, it's not something I've had to deal with here. you'll find that your season and conditions aren't really duplicated anywhere else in North America.
I'm going out on a limb here, but to counter the danger of nematodes in the soil, large containers might be a good way to go, and if any of those three have any code at the end of their name, like V,F,N, theplant will show some abitlity to resist Verticillium, Fusarium (it may say F, F1 and F2, all references to common diseases, and N, nematodes. Sandy hot conditions are conducive to Nematodes, but don't let talk of didease and parasites dicourage you too much, think somewhere between best and worst-case scenario, and model your growing to that.
One of the best things to do is go to your local County Extension Agency and see what the fact-sheets say for your area. These can usually be accessed online in PDF format...
if you decide to stick with container growing, most tomatoes won't be very productive in smaller that a 3 to 5 gallon container, and in Florida's heat, the bigger the better, 5 to 10 gallon are usually good enough for anything. Regardless of where or in what you plant, you'll want to mulch fairly heavily, you'll want the soil wel drained, and you'll want as much sun as you can get, excepting some shading in 100 plus degree weather (which I don't do). 8 hours a day is pretty good, 6 will keep them growing, over 8 hours is great.
Anyway, check back, the few tomato growers here just LOVE to help with tomato questions, but some of us just pop in at odd times, so have a little patience, hehe.

Hi Nyteeyes,
Dave covered things pretty well. I would suggest a bigger container. At least a 5 but a 10 gal would be better. I don't know your area but wondering if it maybe getting late for tomatoes there. If so afternoon shade helps here. Also you might be in an area where you can grow a fall crop also. Like Dave said your local extension agent should have some good information and know more what grows well and what methods in your locale. Another thing is too not over fertilize. And if potting up make sure you use a good potting mix that will drain well. I know there will be others along who have way more knowledge growing in containers and what to use. I've done very little so still experimenting myself. Wishing you the best of luck. And don't let a few setbacks discourage you. Gardening can be very rewarding. Jay

Well, not to sound like the "mutual admiration society," he he, but if ya got elk looking after you, you'll get something done!
You know how realtors say, "location, location,?" well, with tomatoes, it's, "information, information." There are just SO many tomato varieties, what it all boils down to, is how much taste are you after, and how much work are you willing to do?
Jay and I, and a number of others, like growing tom's that seed can be saved from, can't often get that intense, complex tomato flavor from a hybrid, but one of my mottoes over the years, (since I first began growing veggies,) has been, "If I get to eat homegrown tomatoes, I consider it a great year of gardening."
Oh well, gives me an attitude excuse when the weeds are knee high, but I can find tomatoes on the vines all summer long.
success in gardening is often measured out in small successes, it is truly a live and learn thing, with a lot of surprises along the way!