Tomato Lessons Learned - The Early Season

After last year's disaster with the Bush Goliath, I decided that this year I would grow tomatoes in containers where I can control the soil, fertilizer and water. After hours of reading, I still didn't get it all right. Here's what I learned about the early part of the season.

1. Keep better track of expenditures. I do it for fun and great tasting, Salmonella-free tomatoes, but I like to know how much I paid for all the gear.
   
2. Keep better track of dates. Seedling purchase, pot up, transplant, etc.
   
3. After the seedlings have made it passed the cell pack stage, put each seedling in its own pot. This seems obvious now, but I didn't realize how fast the roots would grow. I put 27 seedlings in an 18 gallon EarthTainer. In 4 weeks when it was time to transplant, the roots had spread through the entire container. More importantly, the root had gotten intertwined and it was a pain separate them. In the process of separating them, there was lots of root damage. Probably set back growth significantly.
4. When the seedling goes in the pot, only fill the pot 1/3 full of potting mix. As the seedling grows, add more potting mix. This encourages a strong root system.
   
5. Indeterminates with multiple stems are bad in two ways. First, the plant spends lots of energy maintaining multiple stems. Second and probably more important, it makes managing the growth way more difficult. Each stem should have it's own stake or the cage is much more dense. They are basically suckers that grow right out of the ground. If the seedlings show multiple stems, prune back to a single stem.
   

Check back later for Mid-Season and Late-Season Lessons.