Growing Tomatoes is something that a lot of people like to do. Whether you are in an apartment with a balcony or have a homestead with a large garden there are some things we all can do to get a better harvest.
The first thing is picking the variety of tomato that you want to grow. There are many different types and sizes. Large Slicer tomatoes that are sweet, flavorful and great for sandwiches. Roma or Plum Tomatoes which are somewhat egg shaped and sized which are good for salads or sauces. Cherry and Grape Tomatoes that are good for snacking or salads. There are also decorative or specialty tomatoes. Some that are different colors and others that have special cooking or raw eating characteristics.
Determinate or Indeterminate Tomatoes Which Is Best?
Of all of the thousands of various tomatoes you can pick from there are two basic categories.
Determinate Tomatoes which are normally a shorter bush type plant that doesn’t grow more than 4 feet high. They are great for gardens that have a limited amount of space. They also have a shorter growing period and at maturity all of the tomatoes on the plant will ripen and be ready for picking. This allows you to harvest and then can or preserve your tomatoes relatively easily. Of this type you will find Roma or Plum Tomatoes, BeefSteak and other popular Bush Variety Plants. Determinate varieties do not need large amounts of pruning to be healthy. You can allow them to grow and trim as necessary for management of your garden but they don’t require a lot of skill.
Indeterminate Tomatoes are a bit more wild and are a vine type tomato. They can grow up to 10 feet tall sometimes and are best trained on a hanging trellis of strings for support. They can grow on the ground but they don’t grow into a self supporting bush like determinate varieties. The good thing about Indeterminate tomatoes is if you are in a Southern area with a long growing season then tomatoes will continue to grown and ripen after the initial maturity of the plant. This means lots of tomatoes all summer and into the fall. The bad thing about indeterminate tomato plants is that you won’t have a huge single harvest so it is more difficult to come up with enough tomatoes to can. Unfortunately because this type of tomato grows aggressively you will need to do some pruning. Pruning early is often a factor in how well your plant will grow for the entire season. Not only will you need to take care of Sucker Branches but you will often need to trim back branches to divert more energy to a select few that will be used for flowering and tomato growing.
Dangers Of Cross Pollination And Tomato Plants
Now that you know the differences of Determinate and Indeterminate Types you can pick which variety you want to have in your garden. Normally you will pick one type or the other and not mix so you don’t have cross pollination.
Cross Pollination is when tomatoes of different types share their pollen. For instance I had this problem once when a large BeefSteak Tomato variety and a Small Cherry Tomato had cross pollination. The result was a medium sized tomato that was really not very interesting or flavorful.
Cross Pollination is great for farmers that want to develop a new type of tomato but it takes a lot of knowledge to make happen correctly. For the amateur gardener cross pollination can lead to tomatoes that lose all of the best qualities of the two parent plants. For this reason and best results you should separate different varieties of tomatoes as far as possible. Most people recommend at least 100 feet so maybe you can plant your cherry tomatoes in a planter in front of your home and have your large tomatoes in the garden.
One thing you can do to help your plants is to manually pollinate them by taking a flower off one of your plants and lightly brushing it on the flowers of another plant of the same variety. This might help reduce cross pollination but it is normally not necessary.
Germination Of Seeds Or Buying Starter Tomato Plants
If you have the time to grow your own starters then you are going to save a lot of money and its going to taste a lot better once you get your first tomato off your plant. I like to grow in peet moss coins which you can buy by the box and then you place them in a tray and soak them with water so they expand. You can also use any type of plastic starter trays or even small plastic disposable cups from the dollar store. I don’t suggest Styrofoam cups as they can degrade over time and it will take 3 to 4 weeks before your plants are ready for transplanting.
If you don’t have at least 3 to 4 weeks before you need to start your garden then you can buy nursery plants. Depending on the size of the plant you will pay more. I normally don’t like to spend money for very large nursery plants and I will get a 4 or 6 pack of plants that are about 5 inches tall.
Transplanting Tomato Plants For Strong Roots
Tomato plants are one of the few plants that you want to plant deep. Normally when you transplant your starter plants you want to plant them level with the soil so that you aren’t transplanting too high and the roots are exposed or too deep and the stem of the plant is choked off.
Tomatoes are a different type of plant. If you look closely at the stem you will see little hairs. Those little hairs will turn into roots if you transplant the stem deeper in the soil. On the bottom of the stem you will see two small leafs and normally you want to plant the stem at least as deep as those two leafs but you can go a little deeper.
Because the stem will grow roots it is important to wait until your starter plants are at least 10 inches tall before you transplant them. You can technically transplant them earlier and the plant will be healthy but if you wait a little bit longer and can plant the stem deeper then you are lowering the initial roots in the soil where more moisture will be and you will allow the plant to grow more roots which means a stronger plant that can feed your tomatoes with the water and food it needs to grow strong.
Watering Tomato Plants To Keep Them Healthy
Tomato plants often have a problem with blight and other diseases. Often this happens because the bacteria found in the soil is splashed up on to the leafs while watering. For this reason once the plant has grown to a couple feet tall you will want to support it off of the soil with stakes or tomato cages. You will also want to trim some of the lower branches to allow good air under the plant and allow you to water it with less splashing onto the plant. Additionally you don’t want to water the plant from the top covering it with water. This will attract bacteria and cause other problems and it might also attract thirsty bugs that will also eat your plants. Water around the base of the stem and water deeply. If your soil is dry try watering each plant a little bit to loosen up the soil and then come back and water some more. This will allow the water to soak in instead of running off. Mounding dirt around the base to make a dish shape can help too.
Water once a day or once every couple days depending on how much rain you are getting but once your tomatoes are ripening don’t over water or your tomatoes will inflate with water and you will get cracks. Cracks will invite bugs and bacteria to cause problems with your tomatoes so if you notice cracking then you are normally watering too much at once.
Final Note
Every gardener has their own tricks to get better tomatoes and it is good to experiment with your plants but you want to stay away from strange ideas. Use basic fertilizers and methods to care for your tomatoes. If someone suggests putting antacid tablets in your soil or asprin in your water think of whether a large tomato farm is doing that. They aren’t doing this. They are preparing their soil and caring for their plants in a general way. Testing Soil quality and adding chemicals and natural products, using plastic mulch is another thing they do but only if they install drip irrigation which is difficult for many home gardeners. And caring for the plant to keep it healthy.