Every time I post on the vegetable gardening subreddit it's just a flood of people telling me to direct sow (mostly on cucumbers and tomatoes)and the pots are too small, label says 3 gallons but it's more of 4-5 if you fill to the top. I just don't get it it looks like everything is growing fine (cucumbers are getting out of hand just had to extend the trellis) they get full sun I water daily which I don't mind and they get a 5-5-5 plant food every 2-3 weeks and everything is growing like weeds. My point of doing them in pots is so they don't get out of hand and stay manageable. Regardless everything is too established now to report so we'll see how everything goes. I'd imagine I won't get as big of a harvest as a fully direct sowed plant but I should get cucumbers and tomatoes right?
by tony-ravioli504
5 Comments
Tomatoes need 5 gallons minimum, but hell if you feed em lots they’re fine. I’ve had hybrids do fine in 5 gallons before. Of course, more fert and water does them OK. If they get too rootbound they get grouchy. Look into Marijuana fertilizer practices. Very similar to tomatoes.
As for cucumbers, I don’t know. The roots I pulled up end of season were always smaller than I thought, so I imagine they might do fine. Happy gardening
Think about how big you want the plant to get and will the amount of soil support that. I wouldn’t grow tomatoes in anything smaller than 10 g but grow them in 20 g. I also grow my cucumbers in that size. I want the soil to hold a lot of water, especially when it’s hot.
I say work with what you got. experiment. trial & error. adjust. theres always next season. just enjoy.
Its your garden do with it what you want, part of gardening is experimentation. The reason people go nuts is smaller pots will lead to them being rootbound which will limit the growth/stunt the plants and limits how much crop you will get.
If you aren’t concerned with how much crop you get or the size of the plant then dont worry about it.
Also smaller pots means you will be probably be watering them several times a day as they get bigger and temps rise up so can also be a time management thing.
Yes, theyre that bad.
OP, read up on landscaping gallon pot sizes vs. an actual gallon, like we think of with milk.
Your 3 g pot is not holding “more like 4 or 5”. It’s not possible.
Your pots are too small for the plants to thrive.