Hello! I have ten dwarf, determinate, heirloom tomato plants with expected height of 36-48"growing in pots, in an 8x10 greenhouse. They are nearly 56" and producing fruit. However, they have outgrown their pots with roots showing on top of the soil and some have roots growing out of the bottom of the pot. The tomatoes are just starting to grow, they are about the size of a quarter. I've been adding more soil to the top of the pots when the roots are exposed. Is it worth trying to transplant them into a bigger pot and then moving them outside? They are so big I don't think I could do it without damaging them and then they would lose the protection of the greenhouse.

Welcome to the site!
Moving your question to the Vegetable and Fruits forum.

Good growing, but I would definitely put them into bigger pots as soon as you can. It's only July, you have at least another month or two of growth and production to look forward to with those plants.

Move the smallest plants (easiest to move) to outside and plant in the ground. Try wrapping a mover's blanket around the plant to protect it's branches while moving. Plant deep, they'll put out new roots on any part of the stem that you bury. Being determinate, they will still thrive and bear before they need cold protection, I would think. That will give you more room for the bigger plants inside the greenhouse.

GardenRayne
Big ones!
It would help to know the size of the pots and how full you've filled them. Are they 5 gallon pots? Smaller? You say "I've been adding more soil to the top of the pots" which makes me wonder if they've been underfilled from the beginning. Roots at the surface? Could you show us pictures?

Without further information I agree that bigger pots sound like the logical fix. Crowding the roots will result in stunted fruit. Also, when is your first average frost date?

Thank you for your responses! I'm so excited to be a part of this community 😊

We are currently experiencing severe thunderstorms and heavy rain (very thankful for the little greenhouse!) I will take a photo of the roots as soon as possible! Here is a photo of the tomato plants from July 11. I've since taken everything off of the top shelf and removed it and they've grown passed it. And they are still producing new flowers!

The pots were full but as the dirt has settled, I'm able to add compost and more dirt over time. But now some of them are mounded in order to cover the roots peeking out.

The pots are 8.5" diameter x 15" high.
First frost date is October 20. Can't wait to hear your thoughts! 🍅

Beautiful plants, but definitely too small pots. I'd try to move at least half the plants outside, both for more root room, and for more sun. Pot up the other plants and leave in the greenhouse, to prolong your harvest if it gets cold early.

I'm from BC, and used to grow short season varieties, so that they would bear starting in June, and finish before the sun got too weak. Even if there isn't frost until October, the sun gets so wimpy by then that the tomatoes ripening really don't taste that great. More sun = more sugars. So take advantage of those long days and that strong sun as best you can!

I agree with Elaine. For those big plants, the pots are too small. Go to a minimum of 5 gal—the size of your orange bucket. Bigger, like 8ish, would be better.

Curious, If you're mounding the soil on the top, how do you thoroughly water them? Drip?

Thank you both! I have been patting the soil down lightly and then watering gently until it absorbs and then watering again. I have other pots that are 14" diameter x 12" high. My only worry about having them outside is the potential critters getting at them. This is my first year gardening and I'm a bit of a worrywart
My mom offered these raised beds which were made this year... only I don't know what type of wood it is (looks like they may have been made from pallets?), and what's up with the black lines? I'm just not sure it would be safe to grow food in. Thoughts?

Those are very nice planter boxes, Rebecca. The black lines might just be natural colors of the wood weathering, if they've been out in the rain without any paint or sealant on them. To make them last longer, you could seal the wood with something non-toxic like linseed oil.

Smell the wood to see if you can detect any kind of treatment or sealer on it. If not, I wouldn't worry at all about using them to grow your tomatoes. But I'd only put two plants in each of those boxes - you're trying to give them more root room, don't forget!

What kind of critters do you have around where you live? Daytime pests like squirrels and birds are easy to discourage if you just go out with your hose a few times a day and scare them off. It's the nighttime visitors that plague my tomatoes - raccoons and possums here.

56" ain't a dwarf plant! What variety did you grow?

Nice setup and greenhouse you have! The cover looks quite like mine! Is that a Groundworks?

Thank you, Elaine! Squirrels and birds are what I would be worried about - I didn't realize they were only a daytime pest. We are in a subdivision where the houses are close together and somehow, when we have nighttime visitors - it's deer! They've eaten my neighbours tulips a number of times, but mine have been safe so far. I will take your advice on the planters too!

Anne - I'm shocked they have grown so large! Here are the photos of the package - it lied! The greenhouse I bought from Amazon, the brand is "Ohuhu". I also have a planter box from Amazon (made by Outsunny) with the same type of cover. They are excellent!

You're right, they fibbed! But, this exact same experience happened to me. I purchased seed to a micro dwarf and it turned out to be the complete opposite! Just this year I had another issue: I bought Bulgarian Old Sort from a seller on eBay and they turned out to be stuffer tomatoes instead. Where did you buy the seed? If you bought them from Amazon or eBay, chances are you'll get a flop. Hopefully you can make good on them, but hey, surprises are fun! And as a matter of fact, the stuffer tomato I got turned out to be a blessing in disguise! One of my family members discovered he had diverticulitis this year, and coincidentally, the seeds are VERY easy remove from stuffer tomatoes. So everything worked out alright! Maybe you'll find your surprise plants are better than you originally wanted.
But I agree you'll need to grow them in pots no smaller than a 5 gallon bucket. Indeterminate tomatoes need a lot of root room to be happy, otherwise they'll get leggy. (Learned that from experience. )

I grow my tomatoes in the reusable cloth grocery bags from Walmart (can use any cloth grocery bag, they're cheaper than actual grow bags). The plant will "root prune" and not become root bound. This also produces more roots that actually are the type that absorb food for the plant. The large circling roots from being root bound don't feed the plant. You should feed tomato plants. I use Miracle Grow tomato food. Here is an article I found quickly. https://kellogggarden.com/blog...

When i get my tomato plants, they go into a 16" pot with a drain tray for excess water. They usually atay on my deck unti fall when I move them inside. I have floo ro ceiling windows on south side of house (53') so they stay there, producing tomatoes usually through March. Then when it warms up, out they go to the deck. This year I had to keep everything inside because of heat. The river below my bluff is now a creek and coons, juveniles not adapt at finding food were turning them over, had to repot everything including a crown of thorns 5 times. I even put out a large galvanized tub of water for them. Have seen coons. possums, deer, even, coyote, grey wolves, Clyde our cougar drinking from it. My planta are safe inside except for lemongrass and catnip which the cats keep chewed down.

Hello everyone! A little update on the tomato plants. I could not move or transplant them without any damage, so I heightened the pots using plastic edging and filling in the pots with soil/compost. I also decided to leave them in the greenhouse as we have had a lot of heavy rain this summer (and massive flooding). The plants are now up to SIX FEET tall!
Not quite the dwarf variety they were supposed to be!

Lots and lots of tomatoes and still more flowers blossoming

Your plants look fantastic, Rebecca. Nice growing. Looks like you're lined up to have a big harvest in a week or two.

Creative solution. Good work!