There’s no fruit or vegetable in the summer garden that can bring as much joy or heartache as the humble tomato. How many gardeners have spent their time nurturing tomato plants only to have their efforts rewarded with small fruits or hardly any at all? Growing tomatoes in the home garden can be a lesson in patience and disappointed expectations. But all is not lost!
Even if your efforts to grow tomatoes have been upset by disease, drought, or just bad growing techniques, this is a new garden season! And to help you along with having a successful tomato harvest this summer, some of the local Lenoir County Master Gardeners have offered up their tips and suggestions for growing tomatoes at home from planting all the way to harvest.
Why grow tomatoes?
Tomatoes are a southern garden favorite in the late spring and summer. They are an essential component in the classic tomato sandwich (or BLT if you prefer), and nothing tastes like summer quite like a fresh, ripe tomato. Not only are they delicious, but tomatoes are also so, so good for you. One tomato will give you 20% of your daily requirement of vitamin A and 28% of your vitamin C as well as a good dose of potassium.
And the variety of tomatoes available for growing at home is mind boggling. Besides the shape and size differences, cherry, grape, jellybean, slicer, roma, etc., tomatoes come in a wide variety of colors and plant sizes (indeterminate and determinate). There’s literally a tomato type for every person. No matter what type of tomato you choose to grow, here are some helpful tips to give you a fantastic harvest.
Tips for planting
Giving tomato plants a good start is one of the first steps to a successful harvest. This means good soil with compost and a place that drains well and receives at least six hours of sun per day, if not more. Remember, tomatoes love the heat! Here are some specific planting tips from local master gardeners:
Nancy Rains: Tomatoes have adventitious roots that grow along the stems, so if you plant tomatoes at an angle with part of the stem underground, more roots are able to grow to support the plant.
Susan Myers: I would advise growing two varieties and planting them two separate places in case one gets a disease.
April Houston: Dig a trench large enough to lay tomato seedling down sideways while still giving the first stems enough room to stick out a few inches above the soil surface. By laying the plants sideways, you’ll help them develop better vertical roots. This is especially helpful if you have leggy seedlings. It’s also better to dig a vertical trench rather than a deeper horizontal hole to bury your tomato transplants. That’s because tomatoes are heat-loving plants. The deeper you bury the root ball and stem, the cooler the soil will be, which will slow its growth. A horizontal trench keeps the plant in the warmer, upper levels of the soil.
Kathleen Dean: Most folks don’t know about the benefits of adding calcium and magnesium along with their fertilizer to the hole when planting their tomato plant. I stir in a handful of powdered lime and a tablespoon of Epsom salt in the hole before I place the plant in the hole. I side dress a 10-10-10 fertilizer and water everything really well.
Care for growing tomato plants
Once you’ve planted your tomatoes well to take advantage of those adventitious roots, how should you care for your plant as it grows? Keeping plants staked and pruned will help to guarantee more fruit production as well as manageable plant size. But what should you prune and how often should you water? Here are some tips all about staking and pruning to maintain your tomato plants:
Keep tomato plants limited to one main trunk line. This means having one main stem that the other limbs grow from. To maintain this, prune away suckers that grow between the main stem and limbs. Also, if your plant is thick and bushy, prune back some of the limbs that don’t have any blooms. This will help increase air flow, which helps prevent disease and hiding places for pests.
Here are some tips from local master gardeners:
Bill Fox: Tomatoes like a significant amount of water. Water each hot day and every other day if not hot. Water at the soil level, NOT on the leaves of the tomato. Tomatoes would also like a generous watering once a week with a compost tea for maximum fruiting.
Nancy Rains: Stake or cage tomatoes very early, even at transplanting. The stems are flexible and can be easily tied to the stake and the roots will not be disrupted. It is easier to snap off suckers before plants are caged. The plants are then secure from early storms, too. It’s nice to have the plant growing through or along a stake/cage or avoid breaking off lateral shoots with heavy fruit by trying to cage too late! Getting the plant off the ground prevents rot and insects from crawling directly from the ground to the tomatoes.
Common pests and diseases
There are 101 ways to kill a tomato plant, and between pests and disease, keeping plants alive can be a struggle some years. Proper planting and consistent care of tomato plants are the best deterrent against pests and disease. Did you know that many pests prey on plants that are unhealthy? It’s true, so your best line of defense against pests and disease is proper plant care.
However, if your healthy plant begins to struggle, here are a few common tomato pests and solutions:
Birds/Squirrels: Make use of good wildlife netting over tomato plants to protect your tomatoes from birds and squirrels. They love a good tomato like the rest of us!
Blossom End Rot: If you’ve ever grown tomatoes then there’s a good chance you’ve had a few that have looked beautiful, except for a large round spot at the bottom of the fruit. Blossom end rot is commonly caused by a lack of calcium, and there are many reasons this could be happening. The best help for this is prevention. Have your soil tested before planting begins to make sure there are no excess levels of nitrogen and that your soil pH is normal. Also, be sure to water evenly. These will help to prevent this condition from developing on your hard won fruits.
Here are some tips from local master gardeners:
April Houston: Cutworms: When you transplant young seedlings, gently insert a stick (about the size of a toothpick or slightly larger) into the ground right next to the stem of your seedling. The cutworm larvae will feel around the stem of your plant, detect the stick, and be fooled into thinking that the plant’s stem is too tough to chew through. Then it will move on in search of another victim. I use the "stick trick" on all the spring/summer plants that we start indoors and transplant: melons, squash, cukes, tomatoes, eggplants, peppers, etc.
Bill Fox: Tomato Hornworms: Marigolds deter many general garden pests including the hornworm. Borage also deters the hornworm but also improves the growth and the flavor of the tomato.
Harvest time
Harvesting tomatoes is the culmination of all of your hard work! Tomatoes can be harvested whenever you feel the desired color and size has been reached. Obviously, green tomatoes can certainly be harvested and used, or leave them to keep growing and developing. Grape tomatoes and other smaller varieties will ripen much more quickly that the larger big boy varieties. The seed package or information stick that came with your plants will have valuable information about how many days to harvest, so be sure to check this.
Whatever tomatoes you choose to grow this summer, give your plants the best chance possible by planting them well, keeping them shaped up and staked, and watering them consistently. Hopefully your harvest will be plentiful and your tomato sandwiches abundant!
The Link LonkJuly 04, 2020 at 06:06PM
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Master gardeners offer tips for growing tomatoes - Jacksonville Daily News
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