Having more than 5 popular varieties(overall hundreds) of tomatoes, it is very easy to grow them in garden pots even for beginners. You don't need extra farming skills to grow tomatoes.
Cherry tomatoes are a small-sized variety of tomatoes, they are juicy, shiny, and very good for daily consumption for health.
I'm here to help you to grow cherry tomatoes from scratch. So be ready to taste the cherry tomatoes of your garden that are grown with your own hands.
How to grow Cherry tomatoes in garden pots?
Considering cherry tomato plants annually is not wrong because they can't handle too cold in winter even if they are perennial. They survive till the fall and then start losing a life.
Growing cherry tomatoes in garden pots need some requirements, the right climate conditions, and the right method. But before telling you that, let's understand a few more things about cherry tomatoes and then we'll move further.
Season of growing cherry tomatoes
Spring is considered as best growing season for cherry tomatoes. You can start sowing seeds from the first week of spring and then it will start producing tomatoes after 70 to 90 days.
In warm climate regions, you should start cherry tomato sowing early but in cool climates(avoid snowfall), you can start it from mid-spring to early summer
Cherry tomatoes Vs ordinary tomatoes
- Cherry tomatoes are small-sized with many visible seeds. Ordinary-size tomatoes are double the size of cherry tomatoes with less visible seeds.
- Cherry tomatoes hesitate in hot temperatures after harvesting, but ordinary tomatoes can survive longer.
- Cherry tomato water portion is higher than ordinary ones as they are called juicy tomatoes. But some varieties of ordinary tomatoes contain more water percentage as well.
Requirements to grow
- Soil type- Loamy soil, rich organic matter, and well-drained
- Soil pH- 6 to 6.9
- Temperature- 50F to 80F
- Humidity- 10% to 40%
- Irrigation- Every week 2 to 3 inches
Tools required
- Cultivation tools
- Wooden stands
- Harvesting knife/scissor
Materials required
- Organic compost/vermicompost
- Cherry tomato seeds
Selection of containers
Though I'll suggest you grow cherry tomatoes in the ground if you want to grow them in soil, you need some specific containers or pots. The size of each pot should be 5 to 6 inches in diameter and 6 inches in depth while sowing seeds. For transplantation, you need different and bigger containers.
For further growth, you need 12 to 15 inches wide in diameter, and 15 inches in depth that should have drainage holes.
The material of the container can be plastic, wooden, or metal. But choose always lightweight containers that you can shift easily and easy to open drainage holes.
Method of growing cherry tomatoes
Following are the point-by-point steps to grow tomatoes as I grow personally, they will help you too-
- Soil preparation in pots
First, you need to prepare a rich soil mixture and then fill it in the pots. For that, you should take garden soil, coco-peat, sand, and organic compost in a ratio of 2:1:1:1 respectively. It will be easier to mix these components in a large container so that mixing will be easier for you.
- Sowing seeds one by one
So if there is early spring, then you are ready for sowing cherry tomato seeds. Fill this mixture in pots or containers. Now, sow high-quality seeds in the pots. Just put seeds in a tiny dig in the soil and cover them with the soil. It shouldn't be more than half an inch deep and a layer of a half inch as well. Spray some water if the moisture is too less.
- Seed germination
Seed germination will take up to 2 weeks maximum for cherry tomatoes. Initially, it will grow slower, and then the leaves will start to get bigger. Let them grow for at least a height of 5 to 6 inches before transplantation.
- Young plants care
Before transplantation, you can irrigate once to all of the cherry tomato plants. You don't need fertilization until not suggested. And genuinely, plants don't need fertilization too early after seed germination. Give them some time to adjust and habitable to the climate conditions.
- Transplantation of young plants
Now, you need to transplant all the small 5 to 6 inches cherry tomato plants in bigger and wider containers. It will help them to be more comfortable growing and provide them with more space for flowering and producing tomatoes.
Before picking up the plants, wet their soil so that it can lose the pot easily otherwise dry soil pots may damage the plants during picking up.
After picking, transplant them in new pots with the same soil mixture and cover them with a 2 inches soil layer. Spray some water and let it grow in sunlight.
- Stand support to plants
Before flowering, you should place wooden stands in the pots and containers so that plants will not bend or incline while producing tomatoes. Take 15 inches of strong but thin wood and fix it in the soil beside the stem of the plants. Use a thread to bind them with each other and plants will stand tall with the support. Repeat this with each plant.
- Irrigate regularly
Don't forget to irrigate regularly to each tomato plant. You can irrigate once in 2 days if the temperature is too hot otherwise once a week is good enough in moderate temperatures.
- Flowering on cherry tomato plant
Till now, if you provide sunlight and irrigation to your plants regularly, they will not hesitate to flower within 45 days from sowing seeds. These are white flowers on cherry tomato plants before turning into green tomatoes.
These flowers bloom for some time and automatically close after a while and then new green cherry tomatoes appear further.
- Fresh green cherry tomatoes
After a few days of flowering, green tomatoes start to appear at the place of each flower. These tomatoes stay green till got the maximum size. Initially, these green tomatoes stay hard for pressing but with maturity, they start to be soft. After
getting maximum size, they start to change color and turn into red cherry color.
- Harvesting of red cherry tomatoes
So after 70 to 90 days from sowing, you can harvest your first red cherry tomatoes. These are fresh, juicy, and cherry-sized tomatoes.
Use a harvesting knife to safely harvest them without hurting the plant or you can use scissors to harvest.
Don't cut the branch but harvest the bud of tomatoes.