Growbags

[donedigging]

Can you seriously get a good crop of three tomato plants in one growbag?

There just doesn't seem to be enough soil?

Have never grown them like this before, so any advice would be appreciated

Thanks all in advance

[seedling]

I have grown tomatoes in growbags before with much success. I used to put 3 plants in each but 2 works better . They do dry out quickly so need regular watering.
An alternative would be to cut the grow bag in half and stand each half on its end so that there is more depth of soil - just an idea

Seedling

[John]

Hello Donedigging
I gave up on growbags quite a few years ago now for several reasons but mainly because of the variable quality of the compost in them, trying to keep up with the watering and trying to support the plants especially when they were carrying a load of fruit.
What I do instead is to grow those bush type plants that are sold for containers or hanging baskets like 'Tumbler' or 'Tumbling Tom' and set them up individually in 12 to 15" pots. The fruits are you get are smaller but they ripen quickly and taste just as good as any cordon variety. Its all much easier for watering, no pinching out needed and the pots can be moved easily if necessary (ever tried moving a planted up growbag?) - also you can fill the pots with a good quality potting compost to get them off to a good start.

John

PS Only few of these types ever turn up as plants in the garden centres but if you can raise your own plants there are a lot of different varieties in the catalogues.

[Monika]

I do use growbags for three tomatoes each, but I cut out three holes and sort of 'screw' three bottomless pots (about 8" pots) into them, and then plant the tomatoes into these pots. I also push two bottomless plastic bottles upside down into the growbag (between the pots) and use these for watering. Plain water goes into these bottles and water with tomato fertiliser goes into the three pots direct. That method has worked for me for many years.

If you are using growbags, make sure you pummel them properly before cutting them open, so that the compost is fluffed up and well distributed in the bag!

[Tigger]

I only use growbags in my tunnels, for a number of reasons. I find Richmoor's are the best quality and I use them doubled up. Lyndon made me wooden boxes or trays, exactly the right size and deep enough to hold 2 bags (nearly 100 of them!).

I put a plastic sling in the bottom to make it easy to remove them at the end of the year. Then I put the first bag in, cut out a large oblong in the top and put the next bag on. Cut out the opening on the top bag and put a sharp knife down through the soil to cut an oblong in the bottom of the top bag. I pull that through to remove it.

Then I add water retaining granules and plant 3 tomatoes, or 4 chillies/peppers, or 2 cucumbers/melons to each bag. Once they're established, they never need watering more than once a day and in a summer like last year's, considerably less.

[Geoff]

I use them almost the same way as Monika but I use plastic ring culture rings and only 2 per bag. I seem to get on better with only 2 but it might be because I grow a double row. I only use them in my heated greenhouse as it has an insulated concrete base and only grow 10 plants in there, 8 in 4 growbags and 2 in pots. This gives me the earliest crop before the ones in the cold greenhouse bed and then outside follow on. This method and Tigger's double depth both work for the fairly obvious reason that there is more compost per plant (I use 2 extra bags to fill the rings and the 2 pots) and therefore watering is more even. I find support very easy, I just hang a length of binder twine from the roof and bury it under the plant that I twist round it as it grows.

[Johnboy]

I make my own grow bags from disused coal bags and fill with Comfrey impregnated compost I grow only one Tomato plant per bag. I only use just more than half of the bag and this is about the equivalent to a grow bag. I have made some planters following Lyndons initiative but I only have 24. The 24 can be put on a sack barrow and taken outside when the weather is very sunny. I grow the rest of the Tomatoes in the tunnel soil direct fed only on Comfrey Concentrate. I grow the Peppers in the tunnel soil direct and they always seem to do fairly well.
I used to grow Melons in the tunnels but this year I have decided not to as I have cut down on a lot of things this year.
JB.

[FelixLeiter]

I gave up on growbags years ago, mostly because it is so difficult to water them. For sure, they work well if you've got a nice little drip system rigged up for them, much like the commercial growers use (after all, growbags were developed for commercial production) but that fiddling little gap in the top, combined with sedge peat, and you can get in a lot of trouble if the bag gets dried out for any length of time. Also, the nutrient levels are very variable. They get compacted, too.

Instead I've got some nice big robust tubs, black plastic which will last for years, the sort used in nurseries for trees and topiary. I use half growbag compost and half multi-purpose, add a handful of slug eggs (as I call them: slow release granules like Osmocote) and leave a nice big gap at the top of the pot so that I can give them a good drench without the water running everywhere but through the compost. I've got a rinky-dink drip system this year, which I'm hoping will be useful for when I am away.

[Binky]

I use growbags for my greenhouse tomatoes (2 per bag) as I don't want to use the border soil over an over again (or dig it out). I also use growpots in the growbags - this gives you a little bit more compost and makes the watering easier. To support the canes I use growbag supports. Initially, buying the growpots and supports will seem a bit expensive, but they last for years.

[Primrose]

I think one of the major problems with growing tomatoes in growbags (unless you grow a tumbling variety) is providing adequate support for the plants as they get taller. In my opinion it's probably better to get a couple of really deep pots, empty the compost into the pots, adding either a little composted manure or a few chicken pellets, and grow your tomatoes in the pot. You can then poke a tall stick right down to the base of the pot and anchor it so that you can something you tie your growing plant to. I use this method successfully for my peppers and aubergines which grow quite tall. . It's also makes it easy to move the plants around the garden to catch the moving sun, if necessary or to dot them around near my automatic hosepipe irrigation system for easy watering if we go on holiday.

[FelixLeiter]

For supporting tomatoes under glass, use string suspended from the glazing bars. You simply twine the developing stems around it when you side-shoot. This is how the commercial growers do it and it saves an awful lot of faffing around getting the canes to stay upright and having to fiddle around tying in.

[oldherbaceous]

Dear Felix, may i just ask, do you twine your tomatoes clockwise or anticlockwise.

[Binky]

Felix - I need a bit of help here. I can imagine the string hanging from the glazing bars - just sort of dangling next to the tomato plants. But how do you persuade the tomatoes to use the string as supports? You mention that this method reduces the need for fiddling about tying them in.

[FelixLeiter]

You twine them around, as I mentioned. You wind it around the stem. Simple.

Growers in the Northern Hemisphere should wind their tomatoes clockwise, while their Antipodean counterparts are forced to wind them in the opposite direction. Growers on the equator, meanwhile, are faced with a torment of indecision. Here, too, when sliced bread is toppled, remarkably it lands on its edge rather than butter-side down. When draining a bath at the Poles, rather than spiral in one direction or another, water freezes solid.

[Johnboy]

Hi Felix,
Your method of winding the plants around a string is fine for people who are old hands at growing but people who are new to growing can cause very serious damage to their plants.
If you are beginner I should not try Felix's method until you are more experienced and understand just how fragile Tomato plants can be.
JB.