Self Watering Tomato Planters and Containers Review

Tomatoes are one of the most popular vegetables for the home gardener. In the right growing conditions they can be prolific, creating a bountiful harvest. But growing tomatoes is not without it’s problems, and watering tomatoes is one of those areas. One other key advantage to container growing tomatoes is that they can be grown on a balcony or patio, no need for garden space to grow them.

Like any vegetable (or fruit), especially those that bear a lot of prouduce, water is a consistent need. If you look at the finished product, it’s clear that there is a lot of water in those big juicy tomatoes.

Tomatoes need a consistent 1- 2 inches of water a week (this varies some with the variety and time of growing season.) But you can’t overwater, or the plants will die be set back, and inconsistent watering is considered to be a cause for blossom end rot, which basically ruins the fruit.

Tomato Success Kit, Terra Cotta $64.95 Store: Gardener’s Supply Company Tomato Success Kit with Wood Enclosure, 31" H $139.00 Store: Gardener’s Supply Company Cage Extension for Tomato Success Kit $11.95 Store: Gardener’s Supply Company Green Earth Box Ready-to-Grow System $49.99 Store: MasterGardening.com 20" Cortina Self-Watering Planter, Rust $49.95 Store: Gardener’s Supply Company Self-Watering Trellis Planter, Large $129.00 Store: Gardener’s Supply Company 20" Cortina Self-Watering Planter, Ochre $49.95 Store: Gardener’s Supply Company Self-Watering Cascade Planter $89.95 Store: Gardener’s Supply Company

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Self Watering Tomato Planters - Generally speaking, the hanging tomato planters don’t do a great job of keeping your tomatoes watered. Especially the larger varieties of tomatoes will have a large root system, and you need more than the 11 quarts or so of soil that you get with many of these hangers.

Larger containers like the Earthbox can do a reasonable job of growing tomatoes. They have significantly more room for soil, and a water reservoir in the bottom of the planter that holds the water that is then wicked up into the soil as needed. The way the Earth box is designed, you can’t overfill it so there is no danger of overwatering either. For larger tomato plants there is a staking system available that straddles the planter, and you can usually grow 2 larger plants in one Earthbox.

There are other self watering tomato planters that are similar. Gardeners Supply offers one, and it even has a stand available to elevate the planter to a working height. The key features to watch for are a water reserviour in the bottom of the planter, an ample size container to hold enough soil for the tomato variety that you want to grow, some type of arrangement to hold a staking system for the tomatoes, and a wide base to avoid toppling. For the planter systems that have the staking system anchored in the planter itself, be aware that the wind may easily knock them over if the base is not wide enough. The Earthbox gets around this by having the staking system on its own base, but if you use a system that anchors into the planter consider adding some other anchor (e.g. tying it to a patio rail) to avoid losing your tomatoes at the peak of their harvest.