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Tomato Plants
by The Old Farmer's Almanac
VIDEO: Farmer Tracie's Tomato Plant Tips
Tips for growing tomatoes: A good tomato crop calls for sturdy stakes or cages; the best gardeners make their own cages from wire mesh, available at hardware- and builders'-supply stores. It's sturdy, and six-foot lengths of it can simply be formed into cylinders that support the plants without restricting their growth. Concrete reinforcing wire is one good choice; the six-inch mesh is large enough to allow your hand to reach through for picking. The experts agree that cone-shaped wire tomato cages sold at garden shops often don't do the job; they're small and flimsy.
When starting tomato seeds, don't fill the seed pots full of potting mix, but fill them only halfway. When the seedlings are three inches tall, then fill the pots to the top. New roots will develop along the newly buried stem, and you will have young plants with stronger root systems.
Don't plant tomatoes too close together. Set plants six to eight feet apart; that way, grasshoppers and other pests can't jump from one plant to the next.
Rotating the crop -- planting it in a different part of the garden each year -- will lessen the threat of soilborne diseases. As an extra precaution in areas that have heavy rains and high humidity, mulch well all around the tomatoes once the plants mature, to keep the soil from splashing up onto the leaves during a downpour.
To help tomatoes through periods of drought, find a flat rock (about the size of a sheet of notebook paper) and place it next to each tomato plant. The rock pulls up water from under the ground and keeps it from evaporating into the atmosphere.
If cool weather and high humidity have spelled disaster for your tomato crop in the past, consider cherry tomatoes. Foolproof in any climate, they bear abundant fruit in high or low temperatures and in rain or drought. Varieties for top flavor include 'Matt's Wild Cherry', 'Dr. Carolyn', and 'Gardener's Delight'.
Reader Comments
Comment from Cynthia Cicale on March 24, 2010
This article was very informative. I wish I would have had this information a little earlier. I planted tomato seeds, but unfortunately I didn't do it that way. I filled my seeds pots full. The information you gave makes alot of sense. The next time I start seeds I will try it this way.
Comment from Cathy Madison on August 11, 2010
The video is great. I do wish that the suckering footage wasn\'t in closer in for me to really get a good look. Maybe it cannot be done because that seems to be a weak spot in most tomato growing videos.
Comment from Patricia Rand on January 19, 2011
What information that was givin was usefull in starting seeds and growing tomatoes.We grow about 12 plants which we start from seed and I like Heirloom varities so we try and keep it to 2 plants per variety that way we can try new ones and not overdue ourselves.
Comment from Ebba Frost on July 15, 2011
Any advise on growing in really big pots, mine are all inthese pots and I have a lot of fruit now but they are sure slow at getting red. I planted them in May and used all your methods as well as plastic covers whenever the weather turned a bit cold, they have 6 to 7 hours of sun and I live in the middle of the state of Connecticut not to far from the river.
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