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 Tomatoes
Tomatoes are the most popular vegetable in the home garden. They are available in a variety of sizes, shapes, and colors—including red, yellow, orange, and pink. Sizes vary from the bite-sized cherry tomatoes to the giant beefsteak varieties. Tomatoes may be round, oblate (fruit are flattened at the top and bottom), or pear-shaped. Tomatoes are low in calories and a good source of vitamin C and antioxidants.
Planting Guide
Tomatoes can be grown in many different soil types, but deep, loamy, well-drained soils are best. As with most garden vegetables, tomatoes prefer a slightly acid soil with a pH of 6.2 to 6.8. Tomatoes need at least 6 hours of direct sun daily for best yields.
Tomato plants can be started indoors or purchased at garden centers. Indoors, tomatoes should be started 5 to 6 weeks before the intended outdoor planting date. After germination, place the seedlings under artificial lighting or in a sunny window.
When purchasing tomato plants, select stocky, dark green plants that do not have fruits. Fruits stunt plant growth and reduce total yield. Harden or acclimate the plants to outdoor conditions before transplanting into the garden. Initially place the plants in a shady location out of the wind, then gradually expose them to longer periods of sunlight. After several days the tomatoes should be ready to be planted into the garden, but only after your last date for frost.
Set plants into the soil deeply, up to their first true leaves. Pinch off the bottom leaves of tall, spindly transplants and lay them sideways in a trench. Carefully bend the stem upward so that the upper few inches of stem are above the soil surface. Roots will develop all along the buried stem.
If plants have been started in peat pots, tear off the top edge or make sure the top edge is well below the soil surface once planted. If the top edge of the peat pot is exposed to the air, it will act like a wick and draw water away from the plant. If the tomatoes are in plastic pots or cell-paks, carefully tap out the plants. Use a sharp knife to cut around plants growing in small flats.
Fertilizer
If the soil in your backyard has not been tested, an application of 1 pound of an all-purpose garden fertilizer, such as 10-10-10, per 100 square feet is usually enough. Apply and work the fertilizer into the soil before planting. After transplanting, fertilize the tomato plants with Miracle-Gro water soluble tomato plant food 1/2 strenth for the first feeding. Make sure to use luke warm and water at the base of the plant.
Staking
Staking your indeterminate tomato plants to a single stem should bring an earlier crop. However, the tomatoes of staked plants are more likely to sunscald and blossom end rot as the removal of suckers reduces the tomato plants foliage. Total yield is reduced compared to other growing methods. If the lowest sucker is allowed to grow into a second stem, the extra foliage should reduce the occurrence of sunscald. Staking should not be used for the shorter growing, determinate tomato varieties because yields will be drastically reduced.
Within 3 weeks of planting, drive a single, 8-foot-long stake about 3 feet into the ground approximately 3 to 4 inches from each plant. The plants roots will be injured if the stakes are put in to late. Tie the plant to the stake with strips of old nylon hose or cloth about every 12 inches up the stem. Tie the material in a loose figure eight, with the stake in one loop and the stem in the other. When training the plant to grow as a single stem, pinch out the sideshoots or suckers that form in the axil of the leaf and stem.
Cage
The most popular method of training tomatoes that requires less attention is the wire cage. Tomatoes grown in wire cages don’t need to be tied to the cage or pruned. As the tomato plant grows, simply place stems back within the wire cage. The yield from caged tomatoes will be greater than with other growing methods. There also should be fewer fruit problems.
A tomato cage can be constructed from concrete reinforcing wire or similar material. Manufactured cages can be bought at your local garden centers. When constructing a wire cage, the mesh must be large enough to reach in and pick the fruit. An excellent size cage is 2 feet in diameter and 5 feet tall. For greater stability, drive 3 stakes into the ground with the hook attached to the bottom of the cage. | |
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| Determinate |
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Bush
Tomatoes are small, compact plants that grow to a certain height, then flower and set all their fruit within a short time. The harvest period for determinate tomatoes is generally short, making them good choices for canning. Determinate paste tomatoes are great for making bulk quanties of fresh home made salsa. |
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Cultivars
Roma, Rutgers, Small Fry, Reiner, Cherokee, Bush Champion, Ida Gold | |
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| Indeterminate |
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Vine
Tomatoes continue to grow, flower, and set fruit until killed by the first fall frost. Thus, the harvest from indeterminate varieties often extends over 2 or 3 months. Yields are generally heavier than determinate types, but are usually later to mature. Indeterminate tomatoes are tall, sprawling plants that often perform best when supported by stakes or a tall wire cage. |
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Cultivars
Better Boy, Super Beefsteak, Big Beef, Jubilee, Beefmaster, Wonder Boy, Big Boy, Sun Sugar, Shirley, Sweet 100, Valena Pink, Orange Jubilee | |
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Harvesting Tomatoes
The ultimate moment is when the first tomato of the season is ripe. Depending on the variety and when the plants were put into the garden or an outdoor container, this might be in early July. Although determinate tomato varieties are genetically programmed to grow and produce for only a certain period of time, indeterminate one continue producing fruit until frost. Tomato stems are tough, so harvest the tomatoes with garden scissors or pruners rather that just yanking them off the vine. For best flavor, pick ripe tomatoes just before you’re going to eat them. If you’re picking a few days’ worth of tomatoes, store them out of direct light at room temperature. Green (unripe) tomatoes will ripen on the kitchen counter.
Tomato Seedlings
Tomato seedlings need roughly 12 hours of light a day, so it is important to keep them in the sunniest, southernmost window in the house or provide fluorescent grow lights. I recommend using cool fluorescent shop lights in your basement of garage. Grow tomato seedlings in a window can be fatal place to grow your seedlings. Tomatoes when they’re young love humidity and placing them in a hot dry window can burn then up!
I grow my tomato seedling under fluorescent lamps. You can use as many lights as you want but one 48 inch shop light will do the trick. After your seedlings are repotted into 4 to 5 inch pots or cups you should be able to maintain 6 to 8 tomato plants per 48 inch shop light. After your seedlings are repotted try to keep the temperature around your tomato plants between 55F and 65F. Keeping them cool will promote root growth and slow the plant from getting spindly. If you grow your tomato plants in a room where temperatures are 70F and above your tomatoes will require more room due to the increase in size.
When your tomato seedlings are about 4 weeks old apply a half strength liquid fertilizer. You can also use compost. Remember not to apply too much nitrogen because it can harm tomato seedlings, making them tall and leggy.
Make sure to maintain the moisture in your medium, but never allow it to become soggy. Water carefully keeping water off the seedlings themselves or soak the container in a bucket of water until the planting medium is sufficiently moistened.
When your plants are 6 to 7 weeks old, and about 6 to 12 inches tall, they’re ready for transplanting outside. Hardening off is when you prepare your plants for the outdoors. The process gradually accustoms the plant to the outside conditions. Hardening off reduces injury to the tender tissue of the plant. Place the plant or seedling outdoors for increasing amounts of time each day for about 6 to 12 days prior to transplanting. Place your plants in a protected place, such as along the house or cardboard box to protect from the wind. After your plants are hardened off you can plant them when the danger of frost has passed. | |
