LOL okay I know the title seems a bit silly. Here is West Texas ants are a BIG problem. Not only do they bite, but well they are really annoying! They sneak into every crack in your house no matter how hard you try. With pets though you are very limited to the products you can safely use to kill ants. As time goes on more and more I am concerned about the products I keep in this house and the effect they have on not only me and my children, but my pets. When looking for ways to rid myself of these pests I found a simple, cheap, and effective means to do so. CORNMEAL! Yep it is very simple, for about $2 a bag I can treat weekly for an entire year! While it doesn't kill them all it has certainly brought down the population so that now it isn't even noticeable. All you do it sprinkle it on top of their mounds and watch the greedy little ants drag it all inside! When eaten it expands and POOF! ;O) You get the picture.
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Now for the lecture you deserve!
- First off, don't ever let a plant get root bound in a container, this will shorter your plants life and production. Your plant really does look weak. For it to be that tall and wide in a small container I'm afraid you may have weakened it already.
- Second, tomatoes CAN be grown in containers. If your soil is so bad in which I have no doubt it is, simply get a bigger container. The one you show up there, no where near deep enough.
You can still plant in the ground with poor soil though simple dig a good three by two hole, and pour in some new dirt. Remember things like coffee and broken eggs shells helps soil, toss them in there, mix it up then plant. Make your own soil treatment with leftovers form the kitchen, pour on once a week .
- Third you need to pinch off some stems. Any that don't' have flowers/fruits on it BUT be careful. You have high sun so you need to pinch of those branches that wont' leave your fruit wide open to elements. I suggest pinching off those at the bottom. The more stems your plant has the more nutrients is going out to all other stems- in turn NOT putting forth nutrients to the fruit itself. This makes smaller tomatoes with less taste and won't produce great seeds if you plan on harvesting.
I've rambled enough. Over and out ;-)
Did you ever test the soil?
If not, or if you did, there's simple ways to treat it with things around the house.
If it was root bound did you snip and trim then spread roots out?