tomato soil mix

[porthos]

i grow my tomatos in 5 gal. buckets. what should i use for a good earth mix. should i add some lime, manure, peatmoss ect. and in what mix ratio??

[Bulldogger]

Plenty of eggshells or other sources of calcium to prevent end rot. 5gal buckets will be challenging if you have strong sun. Be ready to water 2x or 3x per day unless you have some kind of system. Others can chime in with advice about fertilizer, but I've read Algoflash and other high nutrient options can give good results.
BDGR

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

that's a great question.

https://web.extension.illinois.edu/containergardening/soil.cfm

[Jim22]

How do you rejuvenate used potting soil? I have been adding one part year old soil, one part manure, one part peat moss, a hand ful of bone meal and a handful of blood meal. Can I do better?

Jim

[WRideout]

How do you rejuvenate used potting soil? I have been adding one part year old soil, one part manure, one part peat moss, a hand ful of bone meal and a handful of blood meal. Can I do better?

Jim

The only thing I would add is some compost if you have it.

Wayne

[deltaenterprizes]

Google “Square Foot Gardening”. It was a gardening show on PBS in the 80s and they had a wonderful soil mixture!
The classic square foot garden soil mix is made from 1/3 peat moss, 1/3 vermiculite, and 1/3 finished compost from several different sources. Measure by volume, not weight. We used a 5-gallon bucket to measure out equal amounts of each ingredient.

[T-Bird]

As far as containers, you should give Earthboxs a look. They are "self watering" and stop the daily wilt down that you invariably get with 5 gal buckets. I will leave their website to explain how they work. I have 6. I also use potting mix, lime, composted manure. I just kinda "eyeball" the mix ratios. Been using them for years. You could probably build one, but I didn't bother. I put 2 tomato plants in each earthbox.