Growing Tomatoes


HOW TO GROW TOMATOES STEP BY STEP

CARE DURING THE SEASON

 Mulch the tomatoes for highest yields. Place a two to three inch layer of organic material such as compost, leaves, or hay around the growing plants. Mulching helps stop weed growth and water loss from the soil.  Tomatoes can be grown on the ground or supported by staking or caging. When staking tomatoes, put the stake in shortly after transplanting to lessen root damage. A six-foot stake set ten inches deep in the soil will work well. As the plant grows taller, tie it loosely to the stake every 12 inches with pieces of rag or twine (Figure 3).  Prune the staked tomatoes to produce a more orderly vine. Remove the small shoots that grow out of the point where each leaf joins the main stem. Remove the shoots by bending them sideways until they snap (see Figure 4). For two main vines, remove all but the shoot immediately below the first flower clust. It will develop into a second branch.  Caging is another way to train tomato plants. A good cage can be made with a piece of concrete reinforcement wire. Indeterminate (vining) varieties such as Jet Star and Better Boy need a cage five feet tall. Determinate (bush) varieties such as Sunny and Bigset can be grown in cages two and a half feet tall. The cage should be 15 to 18 inches in diameter. Pieces of wire 48 inches long can be used to form a cage about 15 inches in diameter. Put cages over the young plants. Push the cages down into the soil to keep them from blowing over. This way, the vine has support without being tied. Tomatoes growing in cages do not need to be pruned.

FERTILIZING

Fertilizer applied at planting time will not supply adequate nutrients for the entire season. Excess nitrogen in the beginning will create heavy vegetative growth and poor fruit set.  Sidedress the first time when the first fruits are one-third grown. One pound of ammonium nitrate (33-0-0) or equivalent fertilizer per 100-foot row or one level tablespoon per plant can be used. 10-20-10 fertilizer can also be used for sidedressing. Apply three pounds per 100-foot row or about two tablespoons per plant. Mix the fertilizer into the soil then water, being careful not to get the fertilizer on the foliage.

A second application should be made two weeks after the firstripe fruit and a third application one month later. Water the plants thoroughly after fertilizing. 

CULTIVATING AND CONTROLING VEEDS

Weeds compete for soil moisture and nutrients and may serve as places for harmful insects to reside.  Use mulches to reduce hand weeding and hoeing. Mulches also reduce moisture loss from the soil. Hay, straw, grass clippings, black polyethylene sheeting, or newspapers may be used. Apply organic materials (hay, straw, grass clippings) three to four inches thick to prevent weeds from developing.  Weeds may also be controlled with herbicides. However, chemical weed control in the home garden is difficult because of the diversity of the crops grown in the garden. It is hard to find a herbicide that is selective enough to remove a specific weed without the potential or probability that it will also kill or damage some of the crops being grown in the garden. With several types of plants located close together in a small area, some may be seriously damaged by any herbicide that you might select. The best weed control in the home garden is a sharp hoe and good mulch.  If you cultivate or hoe around the plants, work the soil only deep enough to kill the weeds. Do not damage the plant roots. 

WATERING

Tomatoes require at least one inch of water per week during May and June and at least two inches per week during July, August, and September.  The soil should be watered thoroughly once or twice per week. Apply enough water to penetrate to a depth of 12 to 18 inches.  Simple, inexpensive equipment for drip irrigation of gardens is available. By this technique plants receive water more efficient. None of the water comes in contact with the foliage, thereby reducing leaf and fruit disease problems.  The total amount of water applied by the drip irrigation method might be less than half the amount applied in the more conventional way. 

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