Growing Tomatoes (2024)

FAQs

What is the secret to growing tomatoes? ›

Like many vegetables, tomatoes prefer a goldilocks soil that is moisture retentive yet well drained and, of course, rich in nutrients. The very best way to achieve that is simply to add plenty of well-rotted organic matter to the surface of your soil in the weeks or months before planting.

Tomatoes are warm-season plants that do not tolerate frost or chilly temperatures. We normally recommend planting early to mid-May when the danger of frost has past and soil has had a chance to warm. Be sure to save the sunniest spots for your tomatoes, this will give you optimum fruit production.

Remove flowers until plants are 12 to 18 inches tall, so plants can direct more energy to the roots. Remove all leafy suckers beneath the first fruit cluster so they won't slow the development of the fruit.

Fact! Adding Epsom salts to your plant either through foliar spray or direct watering is a great way of boosting micronutrient absorption. This helps your tomato plant produce large, juicy, and very sweet fruits. Remember that a little bit goes a long way and too much can cause more problem than it fixes.

Epsom salt spray can be used late in the growing season to increase tomato and pepper yield and keep plants green and bushy. Early in the season, you can add Epsom salt to the soil to aid germination, early root and cell development, photosynthesis, and plant growth, and prevent blossom-end rot.

Too much bright direct sunlight on plants can raise temperatures too high for ripening and lead to cracking and sunscald. It can also create problems caused by high humidity or dry soil. Do tomatoes prefer morning or afternoon sun? Tomatoes need both morning and afternoon sun and at least six hours of sun a day.

Plant Tomatoes Deep, Deep, Deep. Each Bonnie tomato label urges you to plant tomatoes deep, so that a full 2/3 of the plant is underground. That means that if you buy a 10-inch tall plant, all but the top three to four inches is buried.

Tomatoes take 60 days to more than 100 days to harvest, depending on the variety (see more about varieties below). Due to their relatively long growing season requirements (and late planting date), most gardeners plant small “starter plants” or transplants instead of seeds after the weather has warmed up in spring.

Used coffee grounds make some of the best fertilizer around. Containing nutrients that support healthy plants, acids and nitrogen, the soil will become the perfect habitat for this lovely red fruit. It will also repel insects and slugs, which are usually very attracted to the promise of a juicy tomato to burrow into.

Nutrients should be well mixed with the soil before the tomato containers are filled. We fill each pot with 6 in. to 8 in. of potting soil and set a transplant at the bottom of the pot. As the tomatoes grow, we trim the leaves from the stem and add more of the enriched soil mix until the pot is filled.

Should I remove lower leaves on tomato plants? ›

The advantage in removing the lower leaves is that the plants energies go into producing fruit rather than a lot of foliage. Also the lower leaves tend to get powdery mildew so it is good to remove them to stop disease spreading.

Now that you know how to pinch them out and also stop them, you can ensure most of the energy will go towards producing the trusses that in turn produce the fruit. Not doing this will mean you have a fantastically aromatic yet bushy plant that only produces tiny green unripe tomatoes by the end of the season.

Coffee grounds contain around 2% nitrogen as well as varying amounts of phosphorus and potassium which are all very important for the growth of tomato plants. By mixing some coffee grounds into the soil below your tomato plants you're introducing these nutrients that the plants need to thrive.

Compost and composted manure are great additions to the soil for tomatoes and lots of other plants. Compost adds basic nutrients and improves soil structure. Composted manure provides nutrients all season long. Composted manure: This provides a slow release of nutrients over the growing season.