Growing Tumbler Tomatoes and Trailing Varieties
It wasn’t that long ago that the idea of growing tomatoes in a hanging basket or upside down planter seemed a bit unusual.
Now it is fast becoming one of the most popular ways to grow tomatoes and the new varieties available for this type of growing show that this is the case.
What is a Trailing Variety?
A trailing variety is a bush tomato plant that will grow in a confined space (small root area) with a sprawling growing habit. In other words, its branches grow long enough to hang down over the sides of a container producing a cascading or fountain like effect.
The first very popular variety of this type was called Tumbler F1 and is still an excellent variety with a great taste and good yield.
Then along came Tumbling Tom in both red and yellow strains. This variety is one of the most popular trailing tomato varieties today, partly because it looks so good, its produces a good crop with a very good taste. It also has a good shelf life and doesn’t split easily.
The only disadvantages of Tumbling Tom is that it takes slightly longer to mature than Tumbler F1 and the fruit tends to be slightly smaller.
Popular Trailing Varieties
These varieties include: 100s and 1000s which is a smaller cherry size (cocktail size really) but does produce an amazing crop, Maskotka, Gartenperle or Garden Pearl, Rambling Gold Stripe – very compact, Cherry Fountain, Ildi which is yellow and an established favourite, Tumbling Tom Junior, Bajaja and Cherry Cascade.
Tumbling Tom Red & Yellow Seeds Here
Non Trailing Habit
Some bush plants that produce cherry tomatoes aren’t suitable for hanging baskets because they have a non trailing habit and require some support or need more room for their roots than a hanging basket can give.
These include, Red Alert and many of the small upright bush plants such as Balconi Red and Yellow which are great in window boxes and containers along with Venus, Vilma, Totem F1 and Sweet ‘n’ Neat to name but a few.
Losetto F1, which is said to be blight tolerant, and other hybrid bush plants are probably best grown in large containers on the patio (more room for their roots) in order to take full advantage of their vigour and get the best possible yield.
Containers for Trailing Varieties
It goes without saying that if you wish to grow trailing varieties you need a high sided container or hanging basket so that the tomatoes can hang over the sides without touching the ground. Slugs and snails love tomatoes!
Hanging baskets are great – especially as a visual feature but their disadvantage is that there is a limited amount of room for plant roots and the small amount of soil will hold less water than a large deep pot.
A large pot or container with high sides will be more suitable in that tomato plants will produce a better crop, given more room.
Optimising Soil In Hanging Baskets and Pots
Adding perlite, vermiculite and water retaining gel crystals will help the soil absorb more water.
This will mean that these containers won’t dry out on a hot day and your plants will be a lot happier!
Tomato plants are prone to stress when moisture levels are up and down like a yoyo, and stress leads to a poorer crop of tomatoes.
Try Lizzano F1 in the 2018 season – it is UK bred and ideal for baskets and containers – seeds from Suttons.
The great benefit of growing tumbler cherry tomatoes is that most varieties are very sweet and usually mature earlier than medium and large tomato varieties!
Manda
I have grown two tumbling tomato varieties, both did well initially but now all of the main stems seem to be breaking and I am losing g the tomatoes….. cant stake them, because they’re growing out rather than up. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks .have
Melanie
I brought a tumbler tomato plant for the 1st time and I planted into a large pedestal type container, and put some tomato pellet fertilizer around the outskirts of container. Some of the bigger leaf edges have turned brown and crinkled, is this the fertilizer, or too much water or too much sun?
Nick
Hi Melanie, I wouldn’t worry too much if most of the leaves are OK. Too much sun or over feeding can have this effect but as the plant grows, the new growth should be fine.
Katrina Wardrop
Am I to late now to grow trailing tomatoes I’ve never done this before and I’ve no idea.how any plugs for a hanging basket.large one. Thank you
Nick
You may find seedlings for sale on the internet or at your local garden center.
Lynne Wilkinson
Hi, I have grown tumbler hanging basket tomato plants this year and they are very tall and may need support. Can I take the top off to encourage them to bush.
Nick
Tumbler can grow to 12 or 15 inches at most … any higher you can prune them.
Sandy
Do you top of the tumbling Tom plant when you plant it? If so how
Nick
I’m not sure of your question.
Are you asking if we prune the top of the plant when we plant it?
The answer is no, pruning unnecessary for Tumbling Tom bush varieties.
Nick
Bush/trailing varieties like TT do not need to be pruned.
Mariana Hamel-Smith
Hi Nick,
I planted 3 tumbling toms plugs into a hanging basket at the beginning of May and they have shot up nicely – 2 of them to almost 30cm and third one to about 15cm. Reading about the limited room in the hanging baskets I wondered if I might be overcrowding the basket? Would you suggest separating them?
Jo
Got 4 tumbler tomato plants – indeterminate variety! – at our farmers’ market. How many gRow bags should I go for please?
Nick
You could grow all four in one bag but would get better results if you had two grow bags – two plants in each.
Jasmine Huang
Hi, is mini Kumato a trailing type of tomato?
barry
Tumbler Tomatoes and Trailing Varieties i have started growing theses for the 1st time ,does one nip out the side shoots >?
Nick
Hi Barry,
Let the side shoots grow on tumbler and trailing varieties.
Regards,
Nick
Shannon
I bought a basket of Tumbler tomatoes at the Farmer’s market this past Sunday. I’ve never grown them before. It’s been five days since my purchase, and the leaves are curling in. I’ve been watering the basket everyday. Temperatures here (Edmonton, Alberta, Canada) have ranged from 5C at night to 27C, with a midday average this week of about 17C. I haven’t put the plant in full sun yet, but it probably gets 3 hours of evening sun at the moment.
I’m wondering if the curled leaves and twisted twirly ends of the stems are part of the normal growth for Tumbler tomatoes, or if my plant’s diseased. Most of the photos I’ve seen of Tumblers do have curled leaves, but I’d like your opinion, as your website offers the most information about Tumblers that I’ve come across thus far. My Tumbler’s leaves don’t look the same as my Early Girl, Sweet 100, or Lemon Boy.
Thanks!
Nick
Hi Shannon,
As you say, Tumblers often have curled leaves, especially their lower leaves, and it is nothing to worry about. However, if there is severe curl on the upper leaves and the leaves stop growing, it is either stress or disease – probably a virus. Plants can become stressed because of over watering or too much variation in temperature, but usually settle down after a week or two.
Best wishes,
Nick
Dave
Interesting to read about required space for root growth.. I’m thinking of deploying the Pot containment method.
I’d be glad of your advice based on your own experience about this method. I intend to grow a few Ailsa craig , Sungolds, and Balconi Reds in various pot sizes ranging from 12” to only 5”. I got this idea from observing a Alicante side shoot I planted last year, which although contained in a 5 “ pot still managed to produce four trusses, although some of the fruits didn’t grow to full size.
Nick
Hi Dave,
Balconi red should be ok in a 5 or 6 inch pot but I would use the biggest size for Ailsa Graig and the next size down for Sungold. The bigger fruited plants usually need the most root space.
A side shoot will fruit sooner than a plant grown from seed, so it is true that cuttings can be successful in smaller pots. However, cuttings/side shoots will produce over a longer period in a bigger pot – the pot size may also affect the size of the fruit.
Regards,
Nick