Tomato Growing Tips
Growing tomatoes in your own backyard is one of the small pleasures of home ownership. A few plants can provide a tasty crop and a summer garden project for the whole family.
As with any garden plant, knowing the proper way to care for it from the start will ensure the best result. We’ve got all the info you need, from start to finish beginning with the soil. Here, in order is what you’ll need to know about growing tomatoes:
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* Climate and Soil
* Heirlooms and Hybrids
* Seeds and Seedlings
* Planting and Fertilizing
* Watering and Mulching
* Determinate, Indeterminate, Semi-determinate
* To Pinch out Suckers or Not
* Commom Problems & Solutions
* Prevent Diseases From Starting
* Havesting
* How to Ripen Green Tomato Tricks
* Popular Tomato Varieties
Climate and Soil
Tomatoes like a nice warm area in full sun, and need at least 8 hours of sunlight a day, or they get spindly and produce little mature fruit.
You want soil that will hold water as evenly as possible because uneven uptake of water can cause all kinds of problems with tomatoes including: flower drop, fruit splitting and blossom-end rot.
Heirlooms and Hybrids
Heirlooms, loosely defined, are open-pollinated cultivars that were introduced many generations ago, and were of such merit, that they have been saved, maintained and handed down. It is generally agreed that no genetically modified plants can be considered heirloom cultivars.
Heirlooms are often not as productive as hybrids, but they typically taste better, and you can save their seeds from one season to the next, eventually breeding a variety that is perfectly suited to your conditions. Most heirlooms are “indeterminate” types, meaning they grow long, sprawling vines and produce tomatoes continuously through the season.
Hybrids, on the other hand, are tomatoes whose breeding has been controlled, and organized for specific reasons. For example, they often have disease-resistance bred into them that heirlooms lack.
In fact hybrid tomato varieties have many advantages compared to open-pollinated varieties. Hybrids usually produce higher yields, they generally mature earlier and more uniformly, and many hybrids have better fruit quality.
It’s really up to you which you want to plant. If you want to avoid hybrids and plant heirlooms only, look at that tag, there will usually be a “F1″ demarcation for hybrids. If you need or want the disease resistant tomatoes, you will have to buy hybrids.
Seeds and Seedlings
Seeds
In long-season areas, tomatoes can be direct-seeded into the garden, but most people start their seeds indoors 5-6 weeks before the last spring frost, and then plant their seedlings out into the garden.
Seedlings
If you’re going to buy your seedlings from the garden center or elsewhere, then look for clean, dark green foliage and a sturdy habit. If the bottom leaves are yellow or brown, or if there are any flowers already showing, the plant is stressed.
Look at the leaves and the underside of the leaves closely for any pests. If you see any chew marks, or aphids, don’t buy it. Try to buy the healthiest, pest-free, plants available because they will be the most productive plants overall.
Planting and Fertilizing
Generally you don’t want to fertilize tomatoes too much until the plant is well established, and in full flower, because too much nitrogen will give you lots of foliage and not a lot of fruit. I have found, however, putting down a small amount of balanced fertilizer gets the plants off to a good, healthy start.
Then next time you’ll want to fertilize again is when the plants start to flower. Also, spraying your plants with a kelp solution two or three times a season boosts vigor, which helps the vines fend off diseases.
Always plant tomatoes deep, and on their sides.
Dig out a shallow trench. Remove the lower stems and branches off the tomatoes, leaving only the upper most top leaves.
Lay the entire plant down a trench on its side and cover with soil. Leave only the top leaves showing. Don’t worry if the foliage is pointing to the side, it will right itself and grow upright in a few days.
Watering and Mulching
When watering, always keep the water towards the base of the plant, and try and keep the leaves dry. Tomatoes can become infected when airborne spores land on wet plants, so never use an overhead sprinkler. Obviously if it rains you can’t do anything about it, but try not to unnecessarily get the plants wet.
Water regularly but allow the soil to dry a bit between waterings. You want tomatoes to have a regular available water source without keeping them soggy.
In areas with high heat, you may need to mulch around the base of the plants to keep the roots from drying out, and help with moisture retention.
When tomatoes get too wet or too dry that’s when problems start. So try to keep the soil moisture even, without being soggy.
Determinate, Indeterminate, Semi-determinate
Determinate tomatoes means they will stop growing, are bushy, and get about 3 feet (.91 m) tall. Examples of this type include Pik-Red, Early Girl, and Super Bush
Indeterminate tomatoes don’t stop growing, and produce a lot of suckers from the main stem of the plant. If conditions are good, those suckers can flower and set fruit. Examples of this type of growth habit include ‘Big Beef’ (most of the beefsteak types), ‘Supersonic’, and ‘ig Boy’.
Semideterminate plants have habits of both. Examples would be ‘Celebrity’ and ‘Mountain Pride’.
OK – so which do you choose to grow?
It all depends upon the variety of tomato you want to grow. One isn’t better than another, they simply have a different growth habit. The tag on the seedlings or seed packet will tell you what you have.
Determinate tomatoes don’t need to be caged or put on a trellis, but then again, neither do indeterminate varieties.
Whether you use cages or not is really your choice and how much space you have in your garden.
To Pinch out Suckers or Not
Some gardeners prune tomatoes by pinching out suckers or the leafy shoots that grow from leaf axils. The leaf axil is the “V” between the central trunk (stem) and lateral branches.
Here is how you determine whether to remove suckers or not.
If left on the plant, suckers will keep growing and usually produce fruit. It can be helpful sometimes to prune suckers out so the overall plant doesn’t get top-heavy, or produce more fruit than the plant can mature in time for fall. Just keep in mind, if you prune them, you will get fewer, but larger fruit.
You can let some of the suckers stay on if you want, suckers don’t hurt anything. It’s up to you how you want your tomatoes to grow.
Common Problems & Solutions
# Cat-facing
This is when irregular shapes and lines, especially at the top of the tomato, are caused by temperature shifts and incomplete pollination in cold weather at flowering time. There is nothing you can do about it. The tomato will still taste great. Next time, don’t plant too early, or select varieties that resist catfacing.
# Blossom-end rot
This is caused by poor calcium uptake due to inconsistent moisture. If you currently have this problem, remove any rotted or diseased tomatoes, provide consistent moisture, and keep a layer of mulch on the soil. If you live in a super hot area, you need to mulch around your tomatoes to keep them from drying out. They like nice even moisture.
# Sunscald
This can happen any time there is a real spike in the heat. If the fruit is far from ripe, chances are that the entire fruit will rot. Remove damaged tomatoes.
# Split skin or cracking
This can happen any time the plants experience accelerated growth, which can be brought on by a sudden increase in moisture after being too dry, like summer rains after dry periods. To fix, provide consistent moisture, or look for varieties that are resistant to cracking. Another reason you may see splitting or cracking is that the fruit is overripe. There is nothing wrong with these tomatoes, they are great to eat, just keep them picked.
In addition to this, many cherry tomatoes crack with the slightest shift in weather, and after heavy rains, and there’s not much you can do about it. If you can, try and pick all the ripe ones before it rains.
# Flowers form, but few or no fruit develops
Tomato flowers fall off prematurely when there is a sudden change in the weather because it is too cool, or too hot, or the soil is too dry.
Improve the growing conditions. Mulch to keep the soil moisture even.
Use Blossom Set, which is a product that is all-natural, and environmentally friendly. It’s a natural plant hormone that helps blossoms set fruit in spite of poor weather conditions, and produces larger, meatier tomatoes with fewer seeds.
Use early in the season and get tomatoes up to three weeks earlier. When tomato flowers are fully open, spray regularly for bigger yields all season. It can also be used to increase fruit set on cucumbers, melons, eggplants, strawberries, and peppers.
# Green shoulders
Some tomatoes are unimproved old-time varieties and end up with “green shoulders.” That’s just the way they grow, and there’s not much you can do about it.
Prevent Diseases From Starting
Rotate Your Crops
To avoid soil-borne diseases, place your tomatoes on a three year rotation schedule, and rotate with unrelated crops such as corn, beans or lettuce, or grow a cover crop. This will give you a chance to solarize your soil and break the disease cycle. Make sure you don’t plant your tomatoes in the same place that other members of the tomato family (peppers, eggplants, and potatoes) have grown in the past two years in order to keep them healthy. If that is not possible, grow disease-resistant cultivars if you think your soil has diseases like Fusarium or Verticillium wilt.
Get Rid of Diseased Plants
Never compost plants with diseases because you risk spreading the disease to the rest of your garden. Instead, throw them away or burn diseased plants and any garden debris, like mulch or weeds, that came in contact with them.
Plant Disease Resistant Cultivars
‘Celebrity’ – Has tolerance to alternaria stem canker, fusarium 1 and 2, nematodes, gray leafspot, tomato mosaic virus, and verticillium wilt
‘Italian Gold’ – Has more tolerance against blossom-end rot
‘La Rossa’ – Has verticillium and fusarium 1 and 2 tolerance
‘Neptune’ – Great heat tolerance and resistance to bacteria wilt. This cultivar is also resistant to fusarium wilt race 1 and 2, verticillium wilt race 1, and gray leafspot
Harvesting
Pick fruit when it is a solid color (red, yellow, etc.) from top to bottom, but still firm. Also, pick often. In fact, you may need to harvest daily or every other day. Keep an eye on how the fruit is developing.
Also, cold can degrade tomato flavor, so store tomatoes on your kitchen counter, where the temperatures are above 50° F (10° C), instead of in your refrigerator’s crisper.
How to Ripen Green Tomato Tricks
If when the fall months come there are still several green or partially ripe tomatoes on your vines, but not enough warmth and sun to mature them properly, don’t give up on them! There are two ways to ripen green tomatoes properly.
Always ripen tomatoes indoors! Tomatoes ripen from the bottom to the top and from the inside out. So never put them on a windowsill. That will only turn them red, not ripe. What you want to do is put them in a warm, dark spot and cover them with a single sheet of newspaper. These conditions are the ones tomatoes need most to continue their ripening process, which is internal. Light at this point is not necessary any longer.
Popular Tomato Varieties
Several tomatoes have been rated for flavor. Here are a few varieties that are consistently voted winners:
Heirlooms
* ‘Brandywine’ – Red
* ‘Brandywine OTV’ – Big, red, and juicy
* ‘Caspian Pink’ – Beefsteak-type tomato with pinkish red fruit
* ‘Constoluto Genovese’ – Red ribbed fruit
* ‘Hillbilly’ – Yellow and red streaked fruit
* ‘Radiator Charlie’s Mortgage Lifter’ – Pinkish red fruit
Red Tomatoes
* ‘Arkansas Traveler’ – Good for hot-weather
* ‘Carmello’ – FVNT hybrid
* ‘Celebrity’ – VFFTNA hybrid
* ‘Early Girl’ – VFF, early and dependable
* ‘Stupice’ – Good for the Northwest, where fruit set is a problem
Colored Tomatoes
* ‘Cherokee Purple’ – Large pink-purple fruit
* ‘Garden Peach’ – Small yellow fruit, slightly fuzzy skin
* ‘Jaune Flamee’ – Small deep orange fruit
* ‘Lemon Boy’ – VFN hybrid with mild yellow fruit
* ‘Paul Robeson’ – Midsize dusky dark red fruit
Plum Tomatoes
* ‘Amish Paste’ – Medium-large red
* ‘Margherita’ – VF hybrid
* ‘Speckled Roman’ – Meaty, striped yellow and orange fruit
Cherry and Grape Tomatoes
* ‘Sungold’ – FT hybrid with yellow fruit
* ‘Isis Candy’ – Marbled red-orange fruit
* ‘Matt’s Wild Cherry’ – Early red cherry / grape
* ‘Super Sweet 100′ – VF hybrid
* ‘Cupid’ – Fast hybrid red grape
So, was this too much infromation? Are you overwhelmed by what at first seemed a simple backyard activity? Don’t be. The first few steps are all you need. Pick a plant, choose a sunny spot and prepare your soil. You’re good to go!
Now, if you felt this was only a beginning and you would like more details about planting and maintaining tomatoes, please visit weekendgardener.net.
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