Grow Bag Size for Tomatoes – Reviews of the Best Grow Bags

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Last Updated on March 20, 2023 by Cristina

When it comes to a grow bag size for tomatoes, the one that is best for you would depend on a few factors. To any person who is getting into gardening, I recommend two plants to start with – radishes and tomatoes! Radishes – because they are fast and provide a nearly instant reward – and rewards make a hobby addictive. So that first salad with your first radish is always great.

However, tomatoes take quite a bit longer, but wow they are worth it! A fresh homegrown tomato always tastes infinitely better than a shop tomato. If you do not have an actual garden, you can always grow a tomato in a pot or even a grow bag. What is the best grow bag size for tomatoes? This will depend on a few factors, let us have a look at these.

Best Grow Bags for Tomatoes

If you are looking for the best grow bags for tomatoes, then the following information would be useful to you. Seeing that the market is packed with several tomatoes grow bag brands, choosing the best one can be a bit intimidating. For this reason, I decided to test out some of the top-rated vegetable grow bags to see if they stood up to the reviews. Like you, my intent was also to create an abundant container garden so that I could bask in the glory of homegrown food. 

One of the most important factors when choosing a tomato-to-grow bag is to look at buyer reviews to counter their wins and losses. This is because while some of these growing bags perform exceptionally in producing delicious harvests, others may not. A tomato bag growing medium is also ideal for both outdoor tomato plants and indoor varieties. Your fruit can be planted directly into these ready-to-use bags, which makes the task of growing your own food much simpler.

Here’s our list of the best grow bags for tomato plants:

1. The Wraxly Fabric Grow Bags

If you’re in search of an attractive, sturdy, and convenient fabric grows bag, then the Wraxly grow bag is best. These reusable growing containers have several features and benefits that are valuable to avid and beginner gardeners. It has stain-resistant fabric that has a two-toned color pattern and doesn’t flop when empty because of its sturdiness.

At the bottom of this grow bag, you will also find that it has a breathable zone that allows for consistent aeration. Additionally, the Wraxly fabric bag also comes with a bonus bag that is 2 gallons in size. Both bags can be used for various other purposes aside from gardening.

Notable Characteristics:

• – Is an efficient fabric container that has an exceptionally sturdy structure.
• – The bag can be used to grow crops like strawberries, different types of herbs, and flowering plants.
• – The heavy-duty materials used in its construction are not prone to ripping when it is filled with soil, crop, or water, which is a bonus.

2. The Bagokie Tomato Planting Bags

The Bagokie Tomato Planting Bags are amongst the best grow containers because of their features and benefits. It comes with a viewing window or flap that is located on the side of the bag, which makes for easy use. This is because the side flap window allows you to monitor the soil as your plants are growing. Another reason that this bag is sought after is because of its size. He has a 10-gallon grow capacity which makes it ideal for tomato plants. The Bagokie bag is also built for both indoor and outdoor gardening as it has a compatible multi-season construction.

Notable Characteristic:

– Aside from tomato planting, Bagokie grow bags are perfect for growing potatoes and other vegetables. These include salad greens like lettuce, yams, peppers, onions, and carrots amongst others.

– The side flap on the bag allows you to see inside while your plants are growing. This is an excellent feature that not all grow bags come with.

3. Futone Grow Bags for Tomatoes

The Futone Grow Bags for Tomatoes is a favored brand as it has a durable structure and build. This bag comes with a double-layered breathable fabric that is quite strong. You also would not have any worries when it comes to drainage as these bags have three base holes for this purpose. Additionally, there is a viewing flap on the side that rolls up so you can monitor the soil and roots of your tomato plants. These bags also come in a variety of colors to choose from, which expands your design options to suit your indoor and outdoor gardens.

Notable Characteristics:

– The Futone Grow Bags are the ideal choice for growing a variety of edible garden plants, although they are not only restricted to this purpose. Aside from tomato plants, which they are designed for, you can also use the bags to grow strawberries, carrots, leafy greens, onions, potatoes, and much more.

Best Soil for Tomatoes in Grow Bags

When looking at the best soil for tomatoes in grow bags, there are a few things to note. Tomato plants grow best in soil that is organic-rich and well-draining. For this reason, a combination of sand, silt, and clay, commonly known as sandy loam, is an ideal mix to grow tomatoes. It is an organic potting mix that has exceptional drainage properties and sufficient nutrients to keep your plant happy and healthy.

Keep in mind that making use of the correct growing medium will have a positive impact on your harvest. This is because the soil is a key component in growing flavorful tomatoes. Depending on the variety of tomato plants, if the correct potting mix is not used, then it may flaw the taste of the final product. Seeing that most food plants get their potent flavors from the soil, a humus-rich mix is a must if you want to receive the same favorable results.

Here’s a list of the best soils for Growing tomatoes in grow bags:

• FoxFarm Ocean Forest FX14000 Organic Potting Mix – Our Best Pick
• FoxFarm FX14047 2-Cubic Feet Happy Frog Potting Soil – Our Best Nutrient Pick
• Miracle-Gro 25 qt. Potting Soil Mix – Our Best Value for Money Choice
• Espoma AP8 8-Quart Organic Potting Mix – Our Best Moisture Control Choice
• Black Gold 1302040 8-Quart All Organic Potting Soil – Our Best Organic Pick

A Quick Overview Of Tomatoes

I can write a lot about tomatoes, but there is one fundamental thing you must understand about them. They are very diverse! Rules that apply to one cultivar of tomato do not apply to all others. The most important thing to understand about tomatoes is that they are broadly categorized into two groups based on growth style.

Indeterminate Tomatoes

These tomatoes grow in a rambling style and the vines flower and shoot and produce fruit throughout the season. An indeterminate tomato can take over your entire garden, or if you try and grow one in a pot or grow bag – they can take over the patio! They require heavy pruning if you wish to grow them in a pot or grow bag.

Determinate Tomatoes

Determinate tomatoes grow to a specific size, flower, and fruit and then often die after this. Sometimes if you are lucky you get a second flush of fruit out of a determinate tomato but normally not. Determinate tomatoes are always my choice for growing in pots as they are not too likely to get out of hand and take over your life. When searching for tomato seeds, get determinate ones for your to-grow bags.

Italian tomatoes just taste good because well – Italians (in Italy life is too short to eat bad vegetables. If you are growing in small bags and are very space limited, one of these dwarf patio varieties can be useful.

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I have not grown that specific cultivar, but have grown yellow pear dwarfs that were very similar. Yellow tomatoes tend to have a bit less acid in them – so if you grow a few plants this minimizes the risk of you turning your stomach upside down. Commonly, we grow tomatoes, then they taste so good we eat too many from the vine (tomatoes straight from the vine are the best). This can then lead to a need to stay very very close to the toilet for a day or two and not drive on bumpy roads.

What is a Grow Bag?

Broadly speaking grow bags are any bag that can hold soil or growth medium for growing plants. In this article, we will specifically refer to grow bags made from a porous material. These bags have advantages with drainage and aeration that can be beneficial for growing tomatoes in certain environments. If you wish to grow in a non-porous grow bag, the rules for such bags and normal pots are about the same. These do not fit in the scope of this article. This article deals with the choice of porous grow bags, specifically answering the question “What Is The Best Grow Bag Size For Tomatoes?”

Here is an excellent example of a simple grow bag similar to the ones I have used.

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The Best Grow Bag Size For Tomatoes

The best grow bag size for tomatoes should have the following features:

• Space

Tomatoes can have quite deep roots. When we look at the function of roots they are there to help a plant scrounge nutrients from the soil. The more soil the plants have access to, the more trace nutrients they will be able to find. Many commercial tomatoes are grown on the bare minimum of soil and hence the taste of the fruit is bland and low in nutrition. We, as home growers, want to taste healthy, so my advice is always to try to get a bigger bag.

• Air circulation

Tomatoes need to have plenty of air circulation.  In this regard, a bigger bag allows you to build a support structure that can hold your tomato up and enable air circulation.

• Good drainage

Bigger bags make it easier to ensure good drainage. You can always place a bit of gravel at the base of a grow bag to augment drainage if you live in an area with very high rainfall.

• Suggested bag sizes

I would suggest a minimum of a 5-gallon bag, but a 10-gallon bag is probably going to be better if you have enough space. If you are gardening on a balcony also be aware of the mass you are adding to the balcony – you would not want it to fall off the building because you put ten huge grow bags and then it rained and they got heavy and overburdened the structure!

 

How to Choose The Best Grow Bag For Tomatoes?

A really important consideration with grow bags is the surface area to volume ratio. If you take a small grow bag, the surface area of the grow bag is high, and the volume is low – this means that there will be a lot of evaporation out of the surface of the bag, and in hot dry weather, you can end up with your soil drying very fast. If the water you irrigate with has high dissolved solids (salts) then you can end up with your soil becoming saline from this high rate of drying.

In my grade,n I mainly irrigate with rainwater that I harvest from the road outside and store in a reservoir. This water has a very low salt content and hence salt build-up in the soil is of little worry. I can, if I wish, use a small grow bag without the risk of too much salt buildup.

In most cases,s however, using a bigger bag reduces the surface area to volume ratio – this means that there will be less loss of moisture from the bag’s surface to the atmosphere. 

This is one of the reasons I would choose a 10-gallon grow bag over a 5-gallon grow bag. The 10-gallon will dry out somewhat more slowly, and still provide plenty of aeration for your tomato plants.

What Is The Best Grow Bag Size For Tomatoes? My advice would be to try for a minimum of 5 gallons but if you can use a 15 or even 20-gallon bag, go for that. The fruit will taste better.

What Are The Different Types of Grow Bags?

I find it easiest to break the bags down into ones made from synthetic compounds, and ones made from natural compounds. 

Synthetic grow bags

Various synthetic plastic materials are used to make non-woven fabrics. These are normally bonded together with some sort of heat process to produce a tough plastic material that will give years of service life. There is a risk of these bags shedding microplastics into your soil – this is a matter of increasing concern globally.

Bamboo and jute grow bags

Natural grow bags are an eco-friendly option. They can be used for both indoor and outdoor plants. They are durable and sturdy but will not last as long as a synthetic bag. The main benefit of these bags is that you do not need to worry about any microplastics entering your soil, or any plasticizers leaching into your soil. Consequently, they represent a safer option for your garden in the longer term.

Soil and Amendments

If you are going to invest money in grow bags, make sure to use decent soil.

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With tomatoes,s they are heavy feeders so if you want to make them taste really good you can add a bit of azomite or similar micronutrient-rich material.

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I would recommend it, and I know this sounds a bit weird, but never underestimate the power of human pee as a fertilizer for tomatoes. It is free, readily available, and one of their favorite nutrients – in moderation. Once a week.

I also give my tomatoes a lot of chicken, goat, and cow manure. If you can find a horse, get some dry horse manure and fill an a5-gallon bucket. Soak the manure for three days in water. Strain the solution and you get a nice black liquid manure tea that also works wonders with your tomatoes.

For supplemental feeding,g you can also get a bag ofslow-releasee organic fertilizer such as this.

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You will notice I always recommend organic fertilizers where I can. This is based on logic – it costs about the same amount of money to grow organic vegetables as it costs to grow ones that are fed chemical feeds, and hydroponics is more expensive. I find that when I grow organic food it just tastes better – so for me, taste, and health are important motivators for my gardening.

I do not know whether some of these chemical products out there can cause harm in the long term – in my life I have seen many things that were “as safe as water” get reclassified as carcinogens, so I use the precautionary principle. If you can do things in a safe, old-fashioned tried, and tested way – organically – why introduce variables that could expose you to risk?

In Conclusion

Grow bags provide a useful tool for us to grow tomatoes in well-drained, breathable containers that can in certain environments produce excellent results. If you live in a humid area, where the rate of evaporation of the surface will not be that great, these bags are a perfect way to get your soil moisture stable and provide breathable conditions for the tomato roots. If however,r you are in a hot dry environment with low humidity, you may find that these bags will give you problems – especially with salt buildup.

I have found that in high mountains the grow bags just do not work as the evaporation rate is too high due to the low atmospheric pressure. My general advice is with grow bags bigger is better – big bags give you more space for the roots of the plants to search out yummy micronutrients. These micronutrients make the difference between a bland insipid shop tomato that provides mere decoration on your plate and a homegrown tomato masterpiece that nourishes your body and soul.

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