Growing Knowledge – Tomato Tips and Tricks Part Two

 

 

 

Growing and Harvesting a Crop

  No matter how pretty those tomato flowers are, pinch them off when you transplant your tomatoes! I continue to pinch any new buds until my plants have gotten significantly bigger, so the plant can focus on root and foliage growth. This is one of the most useful tips I learned from the Master Gardener class!  — Nicole Smith, Class of 2023

Shear plant tips off above your larger green tomatoes in mid-September. This preserves energy for ripening them, rather than wasting it on smaller tomatoes that won’t have time to mature before the frost hits them.  – Jordan and the Two JRT’s

Keep tomatoes uniformly moist, but not wet.       

 

Mulch heavily with straw to keep the roots cool.

 

Tie up vines to avoid losing branches due to a heavy load.

 

Don’t prune off too many of the leaves.  They protect the fruit from getting sun scald.

 

Tomatoes are ripe when the “hinge” at the top of the stem breaks easily.  — Susan Koenig

My most important advice when planting tomatoes is to add calcium to the soil in the form of dolomite lime (calcium magnesium carbonate) to avoid blossom end rot. This would go in along with your bone meal and organic tomato fertilizer.  — Tom Capsey

At the very first sign of a calcium deficiency (brown/black spots at the bottom of the growing tomatoes) apply calcium as a foliar spray, rather than applying it to the roots.  The calcium will be available faster and more efficiently to the fruit through the leaf stomata. Blossom end rot can’t be cured or reversed; however, the incoming tomato fruits will have a better chance of maturing nicely!  — Emma H

Water well. It’s better to soak the roots thoroughly once every several days than it is to water lightly every day, as soaking will encourage deeper root growth. One good rule of thumb is to water when the top one inch of soil has dried. This often averages to about one gallon of water a week in the heat of summer.

Watering early in the day is considered a best practice. The water won’t evaporate too quickly, and any splash on the plants will have a chance to dry off as the day warms.

If your plants are looking slightly wilted late in the heat of the day, that’s not necessarily a sign that water is needed. Check the soil first.  On the other hand, if they are wilted in the morning and they don’t have any disease, they are in need of water.  — Advice Jane learned from the Practicum

 

 

 

 

“Growing Knowledge” logo designed by Diann Abbott.  Thank you Diann!

 Tomato photos courtesy of Susan Koenig