[Arid_gardener] Question from Home-Hort WWW page

[rayt1957 at hotmail.com]

85719
rayt1957 at hotmail.com

I have been trying to grow tomato plants in 5 gallon plastic buckets for the past year, with absolutely know success(have lost about 10 plants). I drilled plenty of drain holes in the bottom of the buckets and used Miracle-Gro Moisture Control Potting Mix. However, I think I might be overwatering them and it appears that my tomato plants might be dying from pythium root rot, pith necrosis or some other disease, because of this. The upper leaves start dying and move downwards and the stems become hollow inside. In this respect, I think the Moisture Control Potting Mix might be causing me more problems, because it retains so much moisture that the roots aren't able to get enough oxygen to them. Everything I've read on the internet says that you must water plants in containers more often, at least several times per week, than those planted in the ground. I didn't water my tomato plants for 3 weeks and that's living in Tucson, Arizona, where the temperature has reached approximately 80 degrees or more, during that period. After watering(til water trickles out the bottom), within a couple of days, my tomato plants starting wilting from the top, down and all but one of my plants, died. I haven't watered the lone surviving plant since then(almost 3 weeks ago) and it seems to be growing back, just fine. How can I possibly know how much and how often, to water my tomato plants? Is the Miracle-Gro Moisture Control Potting Mix the best choice for container gardening? I would appreciate any advice you can give me on this matter. Thanks