Tomato (Biochar-Blend simplified) Container Soil Mix

Solanum lycopersicum

Simplified tomato mix using Organic Mechanics Biochar Blend (or similar all-in-one) in place of separate biochar + compost + zeolite + minerals + meal amendments.

Container:
10-15 gal indeterminate / 5-7 gal determinate
pH:
6–6.8
EC:
2–3 mS/cm
Sun:
6–8 hr

Components

Percentages by volume. Quantities scaled for a 10-gallon container (US units).

Component % Amount
Quality potting mix
Base structure, initial nutrients
35% 14 qt
Coco coir (low-EC, buffered)
CEC, moisture buffering
25% 10 qt
Perlite
Drainage, aeration
Alternates: Pumice
20% 8 qt
Vermicompost / Worm castings
Nutrients, microbes, growth hormones
10% 4 qt
Organic Mechanics Biochar Blend
All-in-one biochar + compost + castings + minerals + meal
10% 4 qt

Per-container amendments

Scaled linearly to your container size. Apply at transplant or as side-dress per the notes on each line.

Growing notes

- Keep the separate 10% vermicompost — the blend's 10% addition only includes a fraction as worm castings. - No pre-charging needed; the blend is ready to use.

Want to scale this to a different container size, save it to a plot plant, or track applied dates? Open it in the interactive calculator.

References

  1. Peat moss and 1:2 cocopeat:peat moss top tomato biomass; vermicompost+cocopeat matched peat moss — Aslan & Bayrak (2025) . J Soil Sci Plant Nutr
  2. Cocopeat produced longest plant height vs perlite alone (tomato) — Mavrona et al. (2001)