Tom's and cucumbers

[WelshBoa]

What are people's thoughts on using either pots or growbags to plant their tomatoes and cucumbers when they have grown on?

I have always used growbags but seen some cheap plastic large pots, and read that it's easier to keep the plants well watered in pots as opposed to grow bags.

Also does it make much difference if buying cheaper grow bags providing you continue to feed the plants

[colin1957]

This is how i grow my toms and cucumbers, i use both grow bags and pots.

With two largish pots cut of the bottoms then cut a circle the same diameter of your pots in the grow bag and push it into the grow bag compost about two inch then fill with compost.

Then plant your tom plants in the pots and the roots will grow down deeper into the grow bag, giving the plant a better root system and better crops.

Been using this method for over twenty five years and i find it works very well, also i get a large pop bottle and cut the bottom of and stick it neck down in the grow bag near the plants roots and fill with a liquid feed or weak liquid horse manure and it slowly seeps down as the compost drys .

I think cheap growbags are ok , just feed the plants well and or apply something like growmore to the compost

Hope this helps.

Colin..

[Nicola_D]

my mother-in-law does the pots and bags combo Colin described. Maybe you should experiment with both ways and see if there's a difference in yield?

[WelshBoa]

Thanks for the advice will give that a go! What sort of diameter pots do you use? Do you put canes in for cucumber plants to be supported?

Cucumber plants are really leggy and they have sent out shoots to attach to something

[colin1957]

Something like 12inch pots will do, i use canes for cucumber plants to be supported or if outdoor i grow them up a fence where it is sheltered from wind. My Cucumber plants grow leggy as well.

[WelshBoa]

Well cucmbers were repotted today and put in greenhouse with canes (there are already small flowers/fruit on them) and tomatoes went out in grow bags with the pot method you mentioned.

Should I not feed the tomatoes until they flower?

What about cucumbers - can they be fed and is growmore - tomatorite ok?

[colin1957]

Tomato plants, until they begin to fruit, feed them with general purpose plant food ( I usually add growmore or chicken pellets to the compost ). Tomato food is mainly for the fruiting, keep the compost moist and not over wet but only feed with tomato food when plants are beginning to fruit.

Cucumbers, yes tomatorite is OK and you can also buy a combined tomato and cucumber all in one feed if you so wanted. I would think a good sprinkling of growmore would be OK as well

[GMB27]

I opt for the grow bag option and always buy miracle grow, however its pretty good valiue and im not too convinvced that it makes a great deal of difference. If you try both iid be really interested in the results

[Alison_Kristina]

Apparently Tomatoes like depth for the roots, so I am going to use the contents of growbags to fill big pots and plant the tomatoes etc in that.

[GMB27]

Originally Posted by Alison_Kristina

Apparently Tomatoes like depth for the roots, so I am going to use the contents of growbags to fill big pots and plant the tomatoes etc in that.

Ive never had problems growing them in grow bags, but i see the logic here. I find that when its time to throw them out, almost the entire bag is covered in root systems! They grow like mad!

[plantmark]

I always used grow bags for Tomatoes but I tried the Ring Culture method last year and results were much better plants and crop. I think previously I had kept the grow bags too wet, but with the pots on top it didnt seem a problem. I intend to try Cucumbers using Ring Culture this year.

I would agree that cheap grow bags are fine. The compost is only a medium to hold nutrients so as long as you feed regularly they should work fine. I paid £1.20 for mine this year in Aldi. They are a little smaller but as I will use the pots on top this shouldn't matter.