This AM I punched nail holes in the sides to try to get the containers to breathe and elevated them (possibly the bricks supporting the containers were blocking drainage)

I have not been watering because the containers have remained heavy even as the mix does not feel excessively wet when I stick my hand in - but now with a week of storms coming and the appearance of BER and Yellow Leaves I am concerned - the in ground toms nearby are fine.

I figure it's too late to remove and repot with a drainage layer and while they are not my only tomato plants I would like to get some yield from them

any suggestions on how to improve drainage without major shock - or other theories to what is wrong

Your mix is way too heavy and water retentive for containers, that's probably the cause of the yellowing leaves.

Maybe next year you could try a fast draining soilless mix for your containers. The 'containers' forum has lots of good suggestions for container growing mixes.

Don't know of anything you can do at this stage other than maybe root cuttings of these plants and plant them into new containers filled with a proper container mix that will drain properly.

Plus you don't mention any form of nutrients, any feeding of the plants?

Dave

Remove those yellow leaves and they will look a lot better. The tops look good!

Linda

Next skip the compost. It will hold more water for too long. I would have added more perlite. All of the things you added hold moisture. I made my own mix this year with one having perlite, the other I used vermiculture. The planters with the perlite need watering a day or two before the ones with teh vermiculture. Though I will note it is hot, and humid here. We had some minor rain last week. I had to water twice since then for the ones in containers. Though the plants look fine.

http://www.onehundreddollarsamonth.com/diy-how-to-make-your-own-potting-soil/

http://www.gardeners.com/buy/container-soil-mix/34-358.html

both references and many others have the same three items I used what should be omitted/added in the future

I fed with espoma tomato tone and liquid fed with fish emulsion after planting - the plants were started from seed and grew well and rapidly - everything looked perfect until a few days ago but the containers were always feeling heavier than the should to me - when everything else needed watering they did not.

as I said - exactly the same mix is causing no problems in other containers where it is freely draining and requiring regular watering -

window screen is a good thought - perhaps the fabric is just not porous enough for this - I have large containers made of window crates lined with landscape fabric that work wonderfully but they are much more open,

I did not use rocks in these - in others with rocks - the rocks are below the fabric and create a larger drainage area - separating fabric from bottom of pot - it seems to work well - agreed I have not had success with rocks just at the bottom with mx directly on top.

Sorry your having problems with the containers not draining. Couple ideas that might help with what you have going on now.

If you could lift the pots and add absorbent wicking in a few of the drain holes, and extend it down to the earth, that should allow the ground to wick the excess water down. Though with the rocks in the way, I'm not sure how well that's going to work.

Or... have you ever held a flower pot after a soaking out in front of you ? When it seems to be finished draining, if you tip the pot at an angle, it drains more. So with the bigger container you have, drilling some drain holes on the front bottom edge, then adding a length of something like a 2 X4 on the back edge it should drain more than if it's setting flat. Tricky with the tomato support so that would need to be tied off to something behind it to prevent the whole business falling over.

Neither are ideal, but it seems worth a trial, since as is, the current set up is not going to work and you are asking before it looks fatal.

I've never really understood the popularity of vermiculite. I assume in some places with some sorts of plants, for some gardeners it works fine.

It's only been since the guy wrote the book on square foot gardening that the popularity of vermiculite increased to the point where so many new gardeners buy the stuff and big box stores stock it. Potting mix companies add it becasue folks want to see it on the label and maybe because it is a real, one use product, with the used once potting mix being so compressed due to the vermiculite, it's best tossed far away and never reused even as a part of the next years potting medium. I obviously don't know for sure how manufactures think, but why buy the stuff when there are so many other choices ?

Take a piece of vermiculite between your fingers and squeeze. Flat blob results. Do the same with a piece of perlite. Still usable. Pumice is even better and my main choice when I have enough stock piled.

. It's really to bad too, because using it is often not right for their plants or region or maybe their watering habits. Resulting in failures and people that falsely think they just have a brown thumb, and give up, not learning the true lifetime pleasure of time in the garden. I too learned my lessons about all these soiless potting mediums way back in the beginning. Rotted some perfectly nice plants to death because of vermiculite.

I think you will benefit from some reading over in the container forum. Al has a long , ongoing thread with the basics so I'll link to that, though it is not a quick read. It's a bookmark and work through it thread, over time.

UGH - this is helpful - that stuff is expensive too - in the past i have used perlite but the perlite at my lowes all had miracle grow in it so i picket the vermiculite. - bad choice i guess - there are no rocks in the problem containers (containers with the rock drainage are better) i can cut through the landscape fabric and try to add some wicking - I will put some more holes in too - with 100degree weather coming it wont be fun ;) thankfully I have tomatoes in raised beds too its just hard in the city to do them all in ground. I have some pots with perlite done later that definitely drain super fast, maybe too fast. I never thought there was such a difference between the two but definitely is true.

Add to that I only travel by bus, so things need to be on a bus line and fit in my granny cart. LOL Once in awhile my neighbor picks up a pick up-load of something I want for potting mixes and I rat-hole it here and there to last for the next X years. We had a in city feed store until a couple years ago that I could reach on foot, with my little wagon. When they had to move for the light rail construction, I went back and forth till I wore grooves in the sidewalk, stashing enough bags of chicken manure and various supplements to last for years. It was pretty funny watching people all dressed in their business outfits, coming and going, or sitting in the cafe on their laptops, watching me and wondering what that odd older lady was doing with wagon loads of chicken poo and bales of peat-moss. I'm easily amused it seems.

You and I and a few others reading see all those gardens with rows and rows, and the huge harvest on the kitchen table... it's not the same. I wouldn't trade though. I love all the people and things going on. Each person eventually works out the best ways that fits their unique situation. I still guess at some of my pot / plant, soil mix combos since even experience cant' tell us how the years weather and that plants genetics is going to work out. For me this year is a major shift in wind due to a bunch of larger buildings being torn down. I had no idea those building were protecting my garden. Odds are this little development will take a few years to judge depending on the seasons weather. I lost a few things last winter that should have been fine.

It's all part of the fun though. Sometimes things turn out so awesome I remember that one for years. Other times I still commit plant murder.

So now you know that vermiculite may not be the best thing for you and tomatoes. A little more reading of the thread I directed you to, and you'll figure out a little more. I bet if you can get those to drain a little better , you'll see them rebound. They don't look that bad. Glad you here with us. :)

To me that combination is highly moisture retentant. Especially Vermitulite. Instead of that , That mixturewill have a very high Perch Water Table and will stay soggy for a long time. Holes at the bottom is not going to get rid of the water. IMO, you should've added perlite (instead of vermitulite, to give it a chance to drain rpoperly.
Yellowing, in part, is due to too much water.

The only solution that I can think of is : WATER LESS FREQUENTLY !

Incidentally this morning I turned over the offending container to open up some draining and it was very dry - even at the bottom - I cut out the fabric enlarged the holes and watered - and water actually came out of the bottom this time - I think the problem has been the fabric no more of that stuff in that application - and perlite for vermiculite in the future -