Tomato Planter

- Can tomatoes be grown in a pot or box?
I've been growing tomatoes in large planter boxes that just sit on the ground. For the past couple of years they haven't been growing because surrounding trees have gotten so tall the area doesn't get enough light anymore. I could convert some of the yard area, that is more open to the sun, into growing space but I'd rather not tear up the lawn. Would it be possible to grow tomatoes in some sort of box or pot on a patio? If so, isn't there a different way of going about planting with pots?

A For this type of situation, I recommend the 'Earth Box' planting system. It works well with tomatoes and is moveable. www.earthbox.com

- Tomatoes with Blossom Rot -- What caused the problem?
I have one of those upside-down tomato trees.I planted bush type tomatoes in the three openings (two plants per opening) and planted herbs on top (cilantro, mint, basil and oregano). The directions that came with the planter suggest watering them as needed every day or every other day with at least two gallons of water. I also fertilize twice a week as per the directions on the bottle of vegetable fertilzer and remove as many of the "suckers" as I can find. I left on vacation for two weeks. I had a neighbor look after the plants. When I left they were really thriving and had lots of little green tomatoes popping out and tons of blossoms. I left a two gallon watering can, asked her to water every other day, and said not to worry about fertilizing the two weeks that I would be gone. When I came back, the soil was very very dry, the tomatoes vines were about half dead with lots of dry brown shriveled leaves and blossoms. The herbs had not been cut back. Some were very over grown and others were dead. The neighbor claimed that she watered the tree as instructed, every other day but I have a hard time believing the plants would be so dried up, if that were the case. I removed a great deal of the dead leaves/vines and went back to watering everyday as I had done before the vacation. It has been a week and the vines that survived are really perking back up. There are many new blossoms popping out and lots of little green tomatoes. None have gotten ripe yet. HOWEVER, I have noticed almost all of the little green tomatoes have brown spots on their ends. I looked this up online and it said that is called Blossom Rot and can be caused by over watering, not enough calcium and a drought situation. I have been removing the affected tomatoes as I notice them so the energy of the plant can work towards new tomatoes and not the damaged ones. My questions are: What is causing this problem? The drought? Over watering? Lack of calcium? Am I giving too much or too little fertilizer? Are the herbs a problem? Will future tomatoes be affected as well? Basically... Is there something I can do to help my plants recover from the two weeks of neglect and get over the Blossom Rot?

A Blossom-end rot is not caused by a parasitic organism but is a physiologic disorder associated with a low concentration of calcium in the fruit. Calcium is required in relatively large concentrations for normal cell growth. When a rapidly growing fruit is deprived of necessary calcium, the tissues break down, leaving the characteristic dry, sunken lesion at the blossom end. Blossom-end rot is induced when demand for calcium exceeds supply. This may result from low calcium levels or high amounts of competitive cations in the soil, drought stress, or excessive soil moisture fluctuations which reduce uptake and movement of calcium into the plant, or rapid, vegetative growth due to excessive nitrogen fertilization. Management Maintain the soil pH around 6.5. Liming will supply calcium and will increase the ratio of calcium ions to other competitive ions in the soil. Use nitrate nitrogen as the fertilizer nitrogen source. Ammoniacal nitrogen may increase blossom-end rot as excess ammonium ions reduce calcium uptake. Avoid over-fertilization as side dressings during early fruiting, especially with ammoniacal forms of nitrogen. Avoid drought stress and wide fluctuations in soil moisture by using mulches and/or irrigation. Plants generally need about one inch of moisture per week from rain or irrigation for proper growth and development. Foliar applications of calcium, which are often advocated, are of little value because of poor absorption and movement to fruit where it is needed.