How to Grow Tomatoes

How To Grow Tomatoes

Tomatoes produce heavy crops in small areas.

Tomato Varieties:

With dozens of varieties of tomatoes available to the home gardener, your choice will depend on what you want from your plants, as well as on which varieties grow best in your region. In localities with a relatively early fall frost and short growing season, pick tomatoes developed for early maturation. As well, there are tomato varieties available for slicing, special ones for canning and freezing, small tomatoes for patio and container planting, late maturing tomatoes, and yet others which make good ketchups and sauces. So if you have enough room, choose a selection of tomato varieties and then decide which is your favourite.



Tomato Planting & Culture:

The tomato is a warm-season plant which can require a fairly long growing season, depending on the variety selected. Plants may be bought from a greenhouse, or grown from seeds started indoors approx. 4 - 6 weeks before you plan to set them out into the garden. Tomatoes are very sensitive to frost, however, so they must not be put outside until the weather is reliably warm, or they are protected from sudden chills.

Germinating Tomato Seeds:

Tomato plants can be started in almost any type of container which has holes in the bottom of it for drainage. Fill the container with a mixture of two parts sterilized garden soil with one part pasteurized compost and one part vermiculite or perlite. Tomato seeds germinate best when soil temperatures are 24 - 32C (75 - 90F).

Space the seed evenly in holes 2 - 3 inches apart with three to four seeds to each hole, planted 1/2 inch deep. Keep warm and dark until the seedlings appear. The top of the refridgerator is a handy place to start your plants, as light isn't crucial until the seedlings have popped out of the soil. Expect to see sprouts in 6 - 14 days.

As soon as the tomato sprouts appear, move the plants to a bright, but cooler location, and grow your tomato seedlings at about 15C (60F) during the day, and no lower than 4C (40F) at night. This prevents the tomatoes from growing tall and straggley, and promotes strong root development. Watering your new plants from the bottom by placing the seed flat in a pan containing shallow water and allowing the flat to absorb the moisture it requires while at the same time keeping the surface of the soil on the dry side helps to prevent damping-off.

As your tomatoes continue to grow, transplant them to larger pots containing a richer soil when they have 1 or 2 true leaves - each time burying them a bit lower into the ground. Allow the surface of the soil to dry between waterings, but don't let the plants wilt. Every 10 days or so, add some organic balanced formula fertilizer, manure tea or fish emulsion to the water.

Begin hardening the plants off (getting them used to living outdoors) about two weeks before you plan to transplant them into the garden. By this time your tomato plants should have formed 2 or more sets of true leaves. Set the pots outside in the shade by day, and bring them back inside at night, gradually acclimatizing them to outdoor conditions. You need to harden all tomato plants before setting them outside in your garden - even those purchased from a nursery.




Growing Tomato Plants:

Tomato plants can be put into your garden as soon as the nighttime temperature is above 7C (45F) all the time. Remember, it only takes one frost to kill your plants.



Soil:
Because they are warm weather plants, tomatoes require an open, sunny, well-drained location in the garden. Avoid poorly drained spots where rainwater tends to form a pool. Many tomato diseases are associated with poor drainage.

The soil should be fairly light and porous, and contain a generous amount of humus. If the soil is heavy and contains a large percentage of clay, you can improve the soil's texture by adding peat moss or sand. For plant nutrients, turn under a green manure crop or fertilize well with compost.

Tomatoes should be mulched, if possible, once the soil has warmed. Mulches keep the soil most and help keep fruit off the ground, preventing rotting.


Transplanting Tomatoes:
Once your tomato plants have been hardened, or acclimated to outdoor conditions, and all chances of cold night-time temperatures have passed, it is time to set your plants out into your garden or patio containers. If paper or peat containers have been used, simply set the plants in place without removing the containers. Bury the stems up to the first true leaf. Also, make sure that all parts of the peat pot is completely submerged, since if any part of the pot is exposed, it will draw water away from the roots.

Space bush varieties 45 - 60 cm (18 - 24") apart, and vine varieties 50 - 75 cm (20 - 30") apart, working 1/4 - 1/2 cup of complete organic fertilizer into the soil where the transplant is to go. If the soil is acidic or there is a history of blossom end rot, work in a handful of bonemeal and dolomite lime for each plant.

Your tomato plants will overcome the shock of transplanting more quickly if supplied with a starter solution. Mix two parts water with one part sifted compost. Allow the mixture to settle. Apply this solution to the hole in which the plant is to be set and again after the plant has been firmed and settled in place. "Seaspray" or a high phosphate fertilizer may also be used.

Since eager gardeners sometimes set their plants out too soon in order to hurry their growth, it may be necessary to protect them against late frost damage. Cover them with some of the commercial products designed specifically for this purpose, or use inverted baskets, paper bags, or milk cartons.


Staking & Pruning Tomatoes:
Indeterminate vines continue to grow and produce fruit until killed by frost. They need to be staked or trellised for best production. Drive a 5' stake into the ground alongside each planting spot. Plant seedlings deeply so that they send out side roots from the stem. This will help to anchor the plant as well as to feed it. Tie the plant to the stake with soft yarn or strips of cotton cloth by placing the cloth underneath a leaf node (where the leaf joins the main stem) and securing it loosely to the stake. This also helps prevent injury to the tomato plant during rapid growing, where heavy fruit can break the stems.

If your tomatoes are the kind that require staking, be sure to pinch out the side shoots so that the plant produces only 2 main stems which are tied to the stake. Remove all suckers (stems growing from the leaf crotch) except the first one. This is allowed to develop into a second stem, which is tied to the stake like the first one. Other suckers should be allowed to grow 6 inches long before they are cut off with a sharp knife. To limit the height of the plant, pinch back the top when it reaches the desired height. By removing the suckers and keeping the foliage under control your tomatoes will set a later crop of larger fruit.



Determinate Bush Tomatoes varieties of tomatoes normally set fruit in a concentrated time period. These types do not need staking, but some kind of support (cages or netting) is useful to keep plants from sprawling on wet ground. The "suckers" are not normally removed, though some trimming helps air circulation. If you remove some of the flowers, you will get larger-sized fruit.



Watering your Tomatoes:
When watering tomato plants, avoid wetting the leaves. Try not to water towards the end of August so that the plants can be stressed enough to ripen the fruit faster. If it is a wet summer, use a plastic cover over the plants to keep them dry, help prevent fungus diseases, and hasten ripening.


Harvesting:
During the summer, tomato vines should provide a steady supply of fresh fruit for family use. Later, when the crop reaches its peak, you will probably want to preserve much of it for future use. Tomatoes and tomato juice can be frozen, canned, or preserved in recipes in a number of different ways.

After most of the tomatoes have been gathered, and before the first killing frost, you will find a large number of green tomatoes on the vines. This crop should be gathered and stored. Larger tomatoes may be wrapped individually in newspaper and placed about 3 layers deep in open boxes or crates and keeping them at a cool room temperature until they mature.



Tomato Plant Pests & Diseases:

Tomatoes have a built-in insect repellent called solanine that will repel many insect pests. The tomato hornworm is probably the most serious pest of tomatoes, although Japanese beetles, cutworms and other insects will also bother the plants. Many of these can be controlled by interplanting with flowers or other crops. Nematodes can be discouraged by planting marigolds, or even planting tomatoes where marigolds grew the year before. Virus-free nasturtiums will trap aphids.

The hornworm, a green worm with white stripes, is also attracted to dill, and is easier to spot on those plants than on the tomato. It can be hand-picked and dropped into a can of kerosene. Some easy-to-make sprays such as red pepper or onion and garlic also serve as insect repellents.

Cutworm damage can be prevented by placing a paper collar around the stem, about an inch above and below ground level.