I want to have some tomato plants this year and don't have time at the new house to get some beds or a whole garden together.
For those that do them in buckets, will you share with me some do's and don't's

Drainage, fertilizer and water, water, water.

Water every day, gets hotter water twice a day. Better boys do good in buckets, others not so much.

Google earth container or earth bucket, only way to go if doing buckets

I'm trying the Earth Buckets this year. I have three set up. If I can find some cheap buckets, I will make some more. Everything I've read on them says it should retain water /moisture very well.

I tried some maters in buckets once and even one of those stupid hanging things that were the rage at one time. I found I couldn’t keep them watered well enough. You missed one day, they dried out. Bad. Forget about it if you’re gone 3-4 days on a trip.

I do maters in tires and it works well believe it or not. Just keep adding ties and dirt. Took it up to 4 and 5 tires. Then when ripe just remove tires and push over dirt.

I will be looking into getting this system going next year.
May be the solution to your problem AC

I have my buckets in a location where they get sunlight from daybreak until about 2:00 and shade after that to hopefully keep the hottest afternoon sun from drying out my roots too bad.

This photo shows when I planted the first 4 buckets on the bottom and a week or so later in the top



This photo shows the other 2 buckets I got going.

If you want to get fancy you can get some small diamater polypro hose and drip emitters for each bucket plant. Lay the hose by the plants and use a punch to connect the emitters to the hose and stick the emitters in the buckets. It will also keep them alive if you have to go away for a day or two. Irrigation mart (google it) in Louisiana have all the supplies. If you go this route make sure you get the pressure reducing parts because normal hose pressure will rip apart a system that small.

I love 'em but haven't fooled with growing my own in approx 20 years. How do you guys keep the birds and squirrels out of them??

I have no problem with birds or squirrels stink bugs are wayyyyy freaking worse.

I get some kind of crazy long legged stink bug on my tomatoes. They can Tony Montana sevens dust! I have to pull them off by hand.

Years ago the interstate contractor was putting some new 8' hog wire fence up and they had scrap end pieces they said I could have. I made some 8' high cages for my Better Boy maters in 5 gallon buckets. I used cow manure/dirt out of the catch pen to put the plants in. Some of them came out of the top of the wire and hung down another foot or so.

Yep the stink bugs are a PITA! They will introduce some kinda bacteria or yeast into the tomatoes n they will get splotchy yellow kinda like blight. Haven’t found a safe pesticide to kill them yet.

My father sets these big black tubs filled with mineral lick out for his cows. He gets them from the local feed and seed store. When the cows have licked them clean I take them; drill some holes in the bottom and use them as planters. They are way bigger than the 5 gallon buckets a lot of people use. They will hold about 2 of the 50 pound sacks of top soil. The larger size seems to dry out more slowly. During these mild spring days I don't even have to water every day and even in the summer I never have to water more than once a day.

I did the same thing. Only complaint is they hold ALOT of soil. Probably should have used some fill dirt in the bottom and potting soil on top. Got five young plants in one right now, probably transplant them to individual containers soon. Growing really well.

So I'm about a month into this gardening thing and I am starting to see some action.
I hope the pests and other problems don't get me now.
Can't wait to pick some.

This is a five week update on my buckets. I'm seeing some little black ants and a fly looking rascal every now and then. If anyone sees anything I need to do i would greatly accept some knowledge.

Has your bucket got a hole in it....

Put several in near and in the bottom.

Those are some funny looking tomatoes.....

Don't you mean potatoes?

Just try not to get plants wet. The water splashes soil on leaves and causes diseases. U can over water also so learn about givin too much water and when because it affects flavor. Especially in mellons.

Haven't done an update in a while.
I'm still waiting for the tomatoes to ripen up but the peppers are making nicely.
Yesterday for lunch we cut up a fresh picked banana pepper and put it on a Red Barron to wake it up a little bit.

So here is the update from yesterday.
My tomatoes seem to be taking their sweet time to ripen up, but I'm being patient.
The banana pepper seems to only make one at a time.
I may be overrun with jalapenos in about a week.

My tomatoes in buckets have been growing like crazy. Buds all over the place too. I will say, mulch on top of the soil has drastically increased retention of soil moisture.

The mix I used had some bark in it already, but I may use some mulch as it is getting hotter to maintain some moisture.

Something else ya'll can try to maintain moisture, go to almost any farm supply, Lowe's, etc and get a package of those moisture retention beads. Just mix them in with the dirt mixture before you plant the plants. They absorb moisture and the plants roots get it out. It doesn't take but a tablespoon or so of them, depending on the size of the pot and type of plant They swell up a LOT.

Pretty excited that I picked my first tomato yesterday.
Mater sandwiches soon