Tomato Growing Tips

Since I love to make lots of tomato dishes, we’ve been growing a lot of tomato plants for a lot of years. This results in a lot of hard earned lessons!

• Planting:
• Seeds: If you want to grow tomatoes from seed, you will need to start early in-doors to have plants big enough to plant in your garden. An Aero-Garden can be a good way to start plants (I often use it to start my herbs).
• Timing: To get the most out of your tomatoes you want a long growing season, but they do not tolerate frost at all. So plant your tomatoes as soon as the risk of frost is past.
• Plant in a sunny area, tomatoes do not grow well in the shade.
• Rotate: it is often recommended to rotate where you plant your tomatoes in your garden to reduce the risk of diseases that can build up in the soil. In reality this only works if you have acres on which to move your plants around. Or, in my case, if I move the tomatoes to the other side of the garden the taller tomatoes will shade my other plants, so I try to take the other steps in this list to control diseases.
• Plant tomatoes deep. Those little hairs on the stem are roots and planting them deep will make them more stable and allow them to absorb more water and nutrients from the soil.
• Give them plenty of room. Overcrowding reduces airflow, which makes them more susceptible to fungal diseases, can reduce yield, and makes them much harder to pick. This is a lesson I have learned the hard way!
• Fertilization:
• I use Miracle grow at the base of young plants and as a foliar spray as they get larger. Some say this only encourages vegetative growth and not fruit growth (and I’d agree it certainly encourages vegetation) but I took enough college agronomy to know that more vegetative growth supports fruit production through more sunlight and oxygen absorption.
• Fish (?!): The Native Americans would use fish as fertilizer for their crops. Even today, you can buy fish emulsion as an organic fertilizer. I like to go fishing, and we usually have an excess of fish in the freezer. In the spring, I’ll take the oldest fish out of the freezer, let it thaw, and I’ll put a fish filet in each hole before planting to supply nitrogen and other nutrients to the plant.
• Lime (calcium carbonate) applied in the planting hole and around the base will reduce the risk of blossom end rot on the fruits.
• Epsom salts applied to soil around the base will provide magnesium for healthy green leaves and better fruit development.
• Copper can reduce foliar diseases and deter slugs and snails. You can wrap copper tape or wire around the stem, or poke a copper wire through the stem. Or, if you use Miracle-Grow, that will supply copper to the plant as well.
• Baking soda applied around the base of the plants will make for sweeter tomatoes. Baking soda is alkaline and neutralizes acids in the soil. Apply ¼ cup around the base when the plant starts to set fruit about 1” in diameter.
• Plant maintenance:
• Mulch around the base of the plants to keep moisture in the soil and to stabilize the soil temperature. I use grass clippings from the lawn.
• When the plant is about 3 foot tall, remove all of the lower leaves. They’ll be in the shade anyhow and this will increase airflow and reduce the risk of disease.
• Remove the sucker shoots that grow out of the crotch of the main stem and a side stems. They never producer fruit and they steal water & nutrients that could go into more fruit.
• Support your plants with stakes or cages; this reduces stem cracking and it makes the fruit easier to pick.
• Water regularly, especially in warm weather. Tomato plants require a lot of moisture to transport nutrients from the ground throughout the plant. The target is about 1” of rain or water per week.
• Water frequently, but not too much at one time. You want to keep the soil moist, not waterlogged. Overwatering increases the risk of split fruits and fungal diseases.
• Watering at the base of the plant will supply the water needed, but will reduce the risk of fungal diseases.
• Planting marigolds near the tomatoes will reduce pests that want to chew on your plants.
• Growing garlic or basil around the tomatoes will also reduce pests on your plants.