My exuberance got the best of me and I probably didn't do as much research as I should have before planting (I did quite a bit, but obviously not enough) and I think I planted too many tomato plants in one container. I planted a Black Krim, Cherokee Purple and Hillbilly in one City Picker (25" x 21" x 10"), but during my obsessive reading, I read that although the instructions say you can plant 2-3 tomatoes, it's recommended that you only plant 1 or maybe 2.

My question is this ...how long should I wait before moving one or two of the plants to another container? They have been there three days now ...tomorrow will be day four. I believe they are dealing with some transplant shock (some wilted/yellowing leaves), but the upper leaves on the plants look good. Should I just leave them where they are and do my best to make sure they get adequate sunlight/ventilation or is it best to give them more space?

They are all about 24" tall. The Cherokee Purple and the Black Krim have some flowers ...which brings me to another question. I have read conflicting information about whether or not to remove the flowers when transplanting in order to let the plant focus on settling into its new home rather than making fruit. Can anyone give more info on that and perhaps some anecdotal evidence?

Thanks in advance for help and please be kind ...this is all new to me and I'm trying to balance being excited about having my first "garden" and sorting through all the information on how to do it properly.

When your other container is set and ready, Water the plant in question REAL WELL and give it times to eat and drink.

Prepare a hole in the new location.
With a hand shovel , go around the plant(, a circle of say 8" in diameter, as if you are carving a watermelon half)

Dig it out( with shovel in one hand and the other hand's help) bring it to the new, prepared location, set it up, fill around it, pressing soil/potting medium gently to pack ...

Now water it, to the point of flooding, so that all the air is out ...

That is all there is to it. Once, when I move from one location, from one town to another neighboring town, I dug up my tomato plant which had been planted weeks ago and had lots of fruits. Transported it and transplanted in my new garden. That tomato plant grew a lot of fruits that summer.

As to the conflicting info on the blooms...the reason you see what looks like conflicts is because there is no one right answer. It is basically your choice. I mostly do, many don't. But when the plant is already stressed just from transplanting I sure would remove them to reduce the stress. When you remove them the plant can go back into developing roots and new growth it will need later on rather than expending energy now on trying to make fruit.

Be sure to do some reading over on the Container Gardening forum here since that is what you are doing. Containers have special needs when it comes to watering and feeding them.

You didn't mention what potting mix you used to fill your containers and that is an important part of the process.

Dave

PS: and welcome to growing tomatoes!

I'm going to finish planting my other veggies and then address the overcrowded tomatoes. Luckily, the Hillbilly doesn't have any flowers yet anyway, so I don't have to make that decision.

I'm using a homemade mixture ...50% peat moss, 20% Miracle-Gro Organic Potting Mix, 20% vermiculite, 10% perlite. I get confused about that part, too. There are so many different opinions and recipes for potting mixes. I guess I'll find out how this mix works for me.

I certainly have never had the greenest of thumbs, but I am optimistic!

That means approx. 70% peat moss since that is what the bagged potting mix is - peat moss. You will have some water issues - depending on where you are located.(you need to include that info in the box provided) - and acidic pH issues to deal with.

I'm going to finish planting my other veggies

Are you going to plant other things in that box too? Make things more crowded? The longer you put transplanting the less likely it will survive the process.

Dave.

When you say water issues, what do you mean by that ...holding too much water, too little etc.?

No, I'm not adding more plants to that box. I have additional boxes that I'm planting as well.

I guess I didn't know if it was better to add more stress to the already shocked plants by moving them again so soon or if I should let them grow a bit in this container and then transplant again once they appear to be healthy again.

It can be confusing but for future reference, peat repels water for the most part. It is difficult to get wet and then it dries out quickly and once dried becomes water repellant again. It becomes a cycle of water control issues.

The reason it can work in bagged mixes rather than making your own out of plain peat is the bagged mixes have additives. They come wetting agents already added to eliminate the water repelling and they are already pH balanced by adding lime to the mix.

Better to move while it is already shocked then to let it adjust some and then send it back into shock again. Kinda like folks - we'd rather have all the bad news at one time then get hit with a series of bad surprises. :)

Dave

Would you suggest using straight Miracle-Gro mix or do you have another mix you would recommend?

I'm debating just moving them into the ground. There is a spot next to my house that the dogs can't get to that gets plenty of sun. I feel like the tomatoes would probably be happiest there ...provided I do some soil prep.