Growing Tomatoes

TOMATOES IN THE GARDEN

Tomatoes rank among the easiest and richest food.  Pot or tub grown patio and cherry tomatoes provide fresh salad making.  A half dozen plants in the garden will do for a small family.  Using plastic cover sheets, the bearing season can be extended 6-weeks in the open garden to early November.

BEST LOCATION - All day sun, good air circulation and soil drainage are a must; use a fast warming sandy loam soil if possible.  All soils are suitable when enriched with organic matter.  To help offset disease, plant in different part of the garden each year and destroy plants when finished.  Do not use these in compost or allow to remain on the ground to decay.  For pot use only fresh soil mix.

SPACING - Allow 18 to 36 inches between plants in the row, with rows from 3 to 5 feet apart.  If plants are to be trained to stakes, set stakes first; these must be firm in soil and stand 6 feet.  Gardeners with limited space can use tomato towers.  Least work is by allowing plants to bush or sprawl out at will.

PLANTING TIME - Planting can usually begin by mid-May, after the last frost.  If plants get too tall or leggy from early started seedlings, lay on side in a shallow trench and cover all but the top 3 or 4 inches with soil.  Roots form readily all along the stem.  Water with a starter solution such as “upstart” by Ortho.  Shade plants for a few days.  Plastic covers are not usually needed after June first.

SUMMER CARE - Avoid high nitrogen fertilizers which cause excessive foliage growth.  Tomatoes need some pruning anyway, whether staked or not.  Usually the first 2 or 3 branches from the base are retained, all others nipped off as they appear (except for determinate types).  In stake training, it may be best to keep only one stem; tie to stake at ten-in.  Intervals using 2-inch wide strips of cloth.  When first blossoms appear, fertilizers and mulches can be applied.  Tomato plant food is used at intervals to September 1st; mulches of black plastic can be laid, or 8 to 10 inches of clean straw to blanket walks.  Mulches help conserve and level off moisture supply and control weeds.  Under no circumstances cultivate no more than an inch deep as roots sprawl just below surface.  For larger, cleaner fruit, support your tomato plants.

PESTS AND PROBLEMS: 

CUTWORMS - At time of planting, place a collar around plant to fend off cutworms which feed at night (common on sandy soils).  Half a milk carton, pushed firmly into soil, works well;  don’t allow leaves to touch the ground outside, as worms climb.

WEED KILLERS - Such as used on lawns in the neighborhood; drift causes abnormal distorted foliage and stunting.

HORN WORMS - With warmer weather, green worms to 4 inches long feed  on leaves and fruit, one or two only per plant.  Pick off and destroy; if it is out of sight, shade bush and listen for ticking.  If by chance you find a worm covered with tiny cocoons (white), leave it; these are helpful parasites at work and your worm is dying!  Or use organic pesticide.

FRUIT WORMS - Large hole in fruit, many worms inside.  Pick fruit and burn, or bury.  Apply spray or dust with Sevin or Tomato vegetable dust by Ortho.

BLOSSOM END ROT - Black bottoms, enlarging.  Often on first fruit only; some varieties more susceptible.  Not a disease.  Thought to be caused by irregular moisture conditions, lack of lime.  Maintain even soil moisture.  

SUNBURN - Fruit top or shoulders yellowed or hardened.  Very light foliage cover needed, constant moisture.  Most notable on staked and rigidly pruned plants lacking sufficient foliage.  

BLOSSOM DROP - and no developing fruit:  night temperatures below 55°F, too much rain, prolonged humid conditions.

GROWTH - Indeterminate means that the blossoms and fruit develop progressively and the harvest lasts several months.  Determinate means that the blossoms and fruit develop on the vine at the same time.

VARIETIES AND CHARACTERISTICS

BEEFMASTER VFNASt  80 days, fruit is tolerant of cracking

WHOPPER VFFNT  70 days, outstanding

SUPERSTEAK VFN  80 days, indeterminate, beefsteak type

BIG BOY VF  78 days, 12-16 oz. fruits, indeterminate, vigorous plant

BETTER BOY VFN  72 days, smooth, high yields, indeterminate

CHAMPION VFNT  10 oz. fruit, resistant, excellent, 62 days, 

indeterminate

CELEBRITY VFNTASt determinate, 72 days, large, glossy fruits

EARLY GIRL 65 days, indeterminate, earliest, good for slicing

PATIO VASt, 70 days, determinate, good for containers, 

3-4 oz. fruits

SWEET 100 VF  65 days, 1” cherry fruits

LEMON BOY VFNASt, indeterminate, 7 oz. fruits, lemon yellow

LA ROMA VF1 & 2N, 70 days, determinate, plum shaped fruits

RUTGERS VFASt, 7-9 oz. fruits, indeterminate

HEARTLAND 68 days; dwarf compact plants; good for limited spaces

SUPERSONIC 80 days; mid season; hearty yield, crack resistant

indeterminate

GERMAN JOHNSON 80 days; indeterminate, low acid, slicing

For a complete listing, see our 2011vegetable list.

***Letters preceding plant names indicate they are resistant to the following diseases: 

VF-Verticillium and Fusarium Wilt

N - Nematodes

T - Tobacco Mosaic

A - Alternaria Alternate

ST- Stemphylum

Days given indicate time from setting out plants to first fruit harvest.