This year is my first attempt at any sort of gardening. After scouring the Internet in the spring, I decided my best chance of success was to build 5-gallon self-watering containers which I could place on the tiny piece of land I have outside my apartment.

I filled both with Gardener's Gold potting mix and transplanted a Sunsugar cherry tomato plant into one, and an Early Girl into the other. The Sunsugar sat in my apartment (in the container it came in) for about a week before being transplanted. They were planted about 5 weeks ago. At some point, the Sunsugar really took off, but the Early Girl seems to have totally plateaued over the past two or three weeks. Here they are:

The Early Girl has also had curled leaves for the past week or two. It does not show any signs of flowering or bearing fruit. Both plants have had the same exact conditions, including sun, water, soil and fertilizer (they got a little 4-1-1 fish emulsion mixed in with their water two weeks ago).

Is there cause for concern? Is there something that might be holding the Early Girl back? Should I be looking for any signs? I should note that I lifted the inner bucket of the SWC the Early Girl is in, and it is definitely growing roots - all the way down to the aeration holes and wicking basket. The soil in the wicking basket was definitely moist.

I am at a loss for what could be causing the Early Girl to halt considering the Sunsugar is doing so well. I am new, so any advice would be greatly appreciated!

From the picture I see a bit of yellowing on the lower leaves of the cherry, though - perhaps the soil is being kept a bit too moist? I usually let my containers get pretty close to dry before soaking them again - partly out of habit of maintaining houseplants and partly just the conditions of my patio - and vie never had a problem with disease, root rot, etc. Does the soil get a chance to dry a bit and let air in to the roots, or does it stay consistently wet? Consistently wet is not usually good for most plants.

Regarding the yellowing, I actually noticed the same thing when I checked the plants after posting. I think it must have occurred in the past day or two. These are self-watering containers so the moisture is theoretically consistent. We have had some heavy rains in the past few days, so that could contribute to the soil receiving more moisture than usual (although most should be draining out the bottom). Could it also be a sunlight issue? Now that the plant is growing, could it be that the top leaves are shading the bottom, given the tight quarters? Would it help to keep rainwater out by using a plastic mulch?

Finally, I've been reading as much as I can here and elsewhere, and everyone seems to have a different opinion about fertilizing. I thought I was doing right with the 4-1-1 fish emulsion but it seems like there are many opinions... How am I to know which is right?

Thanks again!

Are you using a semi-hydroponic method of growing these tomatoes?

It looks like you are. If you are, did you put in any water level holes that let you know when you before your waterlevel supersedes the level of your inserted pot?

If not and its not too hard since your containers are not too big you might want to add them just below where your inserted bucket lies to prevent the water level from backing up into the top bucket.

Also, cherry tomatoes grow like weeds far and above faster than any other variety I have grown.

Finally, just a lesson that I have learned during my first run at semi-hydro gardening is that you need to add something else into the standard potting mixes even the ones as nice as Gardener's gold to help bring in more air like perlite or additional bark or compost mixes. It is really hard to get air down there naturally and I suffered some severe root rot from not doing so last year. I use Garden and Bloome's Harvest Supreme Premium soil amendment and I am having no root rot issues this year. Not sure if you can get this brand out east but you want something that keeps the potting soil from compacting.

Good luck!

These are self-watering containers that I build myself. (Is that the same as semi-hydroponic?) They do have water overflow holes (you can see the one on the container on the right, just left of the tallest blade of grass).

One thing I failed to do when building them, though, is use landscapers fabric on the inside of the bottom of the inner bucket. As a result, some roots are now reaching down into the water chamber. I'm now thinking how I could apply it on the outside somehow.

Thanks for the info on the potting mix - I will definitely make a note for next year.

Most likely, your mix is staying too wet. One way to check the moisture level is to lift your soil chamber buckets and feel the weight. If they feel very heavy, they're too wet. You can also insert a long dowel way down into the mix. If too wet, let them dry out a fair amount before watering again.

Believe it or not, the instructions for many DIY SWCs create an environment that is too wet for many plants like tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, especially in the lower zones.

Hmmm, maybe you could apply post but if the roots are down in the bottom bucket you probably don't want to cut them off. I know others who don't use a liner and are fine in terms of root rot though. Plus, I would think that you would encourage root rot if they got bundled up in weed blocker at this stage in the game. I may be wrong though.

My other thought was that potentially the fish emulsion in the water chamber may have gone bad. If I were going to add fish emulsion I would do it from above rather than down into the reservoir.

Other than that your early girl is shyer than her name implies.

Good luck

As for the fertilizer, am I correct in waiting for the fruit to set in on the Early Girl before fertilizing again? I assume that the cherry plant is now at a point where I can continue fertilizing. I will use the fish emulsion dilution once every other week, watered from the top.