cherry tomatoes....first plant ever!

So basically I have never planted a single thing my whole life. I'm pretty awful with plants, but I want to try to plant something.

I have a cherry tomato plant in a pot, and the stem is about a foot high. My roomies tell me I just need to dig a hole and move the plant and soil from the pot into the hole outside. The problem is that there seems to be 3 stems/plants in the pot, and I'm not sure whether I should just plant it all together as it is now, or whether I should somehow try to delicately separate the roots of the plants and plant each one separately. Any advice? Im not looking for a big fancy garden or anything for now. This being my first plant ever, I kind of just want it to grow some fruit that tastes good. If it works out, I'll probably be inspired to grow more stuff :)

If the plant/s were shorter, I would try to separate them. But since they are already a foot tall, I would just plant them as they are. I doubt it will hurt them to be planted together.

Cherry tomatoes do get several feet high, so be prepared to stake them or tie them to a trellis. I grew Sweet Baby Girl this summer, and the plants got about 4 feet tall. Don't over fertilize as then you will get lots of vine and few tomatoes. Also, they will need plenty of sun.

Water when the soil feels dry about two inches below the surface or if they are wilting from the heat. I personally have killed more plants from overwatering than underwatering.

Good luck,

Karen

Thanks! I'll give it a try. Like I said, I don't know anything about plants and whatnot, so is there any suggestions you can give on fertilizer? How often does it need fertilizer. (I definitely would like it organic).

Here's some good info on growing tomatoes. Scroll down and there is a paragraph on fertilizing, how much and when, using organic methods. There is a section on preparing the soil, but I agree with your roomies that you don't need to go to that much trouble as long as where you are planting it the soil is good. Tomatoes are pretty tough plants.

http://www.onewest.net/~klack/Garden/tomatotransplant.html

Karen

Tomatoes are easy to root so if something goes wrong or you want a back-up, snip off a sucker or little stem and put it in some vermiculite or a glass of water (some people just stick them in the dirt).

The Black Cherry tomatoes I put in the ground May 15th are over 12 feet tall but one I neglected and left in a 7" pot (without water for days on end and without much sun) set a dozen or so tomatoes.

For fun, there are a few tomatoes which don't need much of a pot. Below are "Micro-Toms" planted last January in 4" pots. Did fine. About a dozen tomatoes on each plant. Taste isn't anything great but not bad. Another good one is Orange Pixie. It does fine in a 7" pot.

I have suckers from my tomato plants that I have rooted in potting soil. My earlier plants are not doing well after three weeks of 100+ temps, so I have these new little guys getting ready to go.

They are indeed easy to root. I have also read that suckers won't produce when they stay on the main plant, but I noticed that several suckers did have fruit and blossoms on them. I cut ones that didn't.

Karen

I've been reading about rooting cuttings from cherry tomato plants and growing them indoors through the winter and planting them in the spring, apparently under the right conditions you can harvest fruit through the winter if you give them light and water and keep the temp warm enough.

I've also read about putting a hoop house over your veggie bed to grow tomatoes and such through the winter. I haven't tried it yet, but it's an intriguing idea.

Karen

Any time you plant tomatoes, if the plant is tall and "leggy" bury at least the bottom two thirds of the plant under the soil (you can remove the leaves, if there are any.) This will help the plant grow a stronger root system, which will make for a better plant. The first time someone told me that, I almost freaked when I saw my big tall (although skinny) plant going under the ground. Apparently the stem turns into roots, which causes a stronger stem...thus more fruit, because it is strong enough to hold up the heavy fruit.

I live in Florida, and we don't even plant our tomatoes until late fall because of the heat. Our winter is perfect for tomatoes. By spring, though, they die off because of the heat.

As far as the three plants together, I'm afraid I would be more apt to cut down the two smaller plants to leave room for the strongest one. you could replant the others in another pot (I usually put the stem in water until roots form, but I don't even know if that is really necessary. Tomatoes are pretty hardy critters!) Your plants not only need light and water, but they also need air, and if they are too close together they can get sickly from not enough air. Don't be afraid to pinch them back, too. (at least until they start getting lots of flowers...once that happens, tomatoes aren't far behind!)

Good luck. I imagine you will soon have a whole vegetable garden!