Question
Hi there Mike

I have newly transplanted tomatoes into containers (35-40cm), and I've read all kinds of conflicting info on the net about how best to take care of them.  I've got 3 main questions

1.  Some of my plants (when I moved them to the big pot) already had yellow flowers growing on them - am I supposed to remove them?

2.  How often do you water them?  The pots are quite big now, and after testing on one plant, I need at least 5 litres of water to get water running out the bottom holes.  Because it's getting hotter and hotter here (25-32 Celsius per day), do you think watering every day in the morning is too much (and on that note, is 32 degrees too 'hot' for the plants)?

3.  Exactly what are 'suckers'...I pulled off little leaves right down the bottom of the plants when I potted them, but what about lower leaves that are quite big and not part of the main top 'cluster' of leaves?  Are they meant to be pulled off too to give the top leaves more energy?

Thank you for your advice!

Answer

Tomato Sucker There really is no reason to remove the flowers. Some gardeners feel this results in a larger harvest when the plant reblooms. I have never found this to be the case.

In regard to watering, you need to water only when needed and very deeply until the water runs out of the drainage hole. Shallow watering results in the roots reaching for the surface, which weakens the plant. Only water when the top 2" of the soil is dry. Excessive watering saturates the roots, depriving the plant of nutrients and oxygen.

Suckers are growths between the leaf nodule and main stem. These suckers eventually develop into a growth stem which produces additional tomatoes. Attached is a photo of what it looks like. Some gardeners remove these to concentrate the energy of the plant into fewer growth stems, which can result in larger fruit but a smaller harvest. For the slight difference in size, to me it's not worth the effort. I would rather have the additional tomatoes even if they are one or two ounces less.

I hope this answered all of your questions. Good luck, and please write again if I can ever provide assistance.

Regards,

Mike