Many of today's tomatoes are hybrids and won't breed true if seeds are saved and planted the following season. If growing plants with the intention of saving seed, choose heirloom varieties for offspring that reproduce true to their mother plant. Mixing some lime into the soil adds calcium that will help balance soil minerals, helping prevent some types of fruit deformities as well as blossom end rot.
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Tomato growing secrets submitted from the ThriftyFun community. The number 1 secret for growing great tomatoes is water control.
If you live in an apartment with only a small balcony, have super-rocky soil, or are just down-right lazy like me, you can grow tomatoes, flowers and other plants in the same bag the potting soil comes in!
I stirred in a slow release organic veggie fertilizer, crushed egg shells (and/or oyster shells), along with peat moss, vermiculite, compost, and a bit of potting soil. The shells will slowly release calcium which prevents blossom end rot.
Instead of spending $12 on a roll of red plastic to put around our tomato plants (to speed up growth) we purchased 2 red plastic tablecloths from a Dollar Store. They worked great!
Locals in my area recommend planting tomatoes on their sides rather than vertically for better developed roots systems and healthier, stronger plants. I dug individual trenches for each plant, added fertilizer, compost and a few tablespoons of sugar.
If you like big ripe tomatoes, stick your tomato or tie it to a garden fence to keep it off the ground. Then when it gets growing good, take all the small branches off, leaving the 4 biggest branches.
Powdered milk can also be a fertilizer for your tomato plants. When you're ready to put your tomato plants in the ground, put a handful of powdered milk in the bottom of each hole first.
Place about 2 tablespoons of Epsom salt around your tomato plants! Your plants will be full of tomatoes.
Cover your tomato plants with newspaper in the fall and they will survive the frosty nights. You will be able to pick tomatoes until December!
If your tomatoes grow up and over the tomato cage, sometimes the stem can get so heavy that it cuts the vine where it hits the top of the cage. A good solution to that is to cut lengths of pipe insulation to go around it.
When planting tomatoes add some dry milk into the planting hole to add calcium and prevent blossom end rot.
Tomatoes are touchy about getting too much rain or water overhead. First of all, plant the tomatoes as deeply as you can but not with the leaves touching the ground.
Before transplanting your tomato plant seedlings outside, make your planting hole a bit deeper than usual, and drop 2 teaspoons of epsom salts in each planting hole. Sprinkle some dirt in the hole, and then add your seedling.
Here are the questions asked by community members. Read on to see the answers provided by the ThriftyFun community.
My tomato plants are not flowering much. What am I doing wrong? I usually have no problem. I planted Big Boy using Osmocote and water as needed plenty of sun. Help?
Make sure you fertilize each week. You may have to hand pollinate if you don't have a lot of bees
Tips for planting and growing tomatoes. Post your ideas.
When planting tomatoes, save rainwater in a bucket until time to plant them. Before you plant them, pour the rainwater in the hole. This way, the plants get the water they need without the chlorine of tap water which often dries the tomato plant out. Do not start watering the plants with tap water the rain will be enough, because if you start watering a tomato plant you have to do it every day.
By Michelle
I think this tip may work in areas with lots of rain, but in the arid west, if you don't water your tomatoes, they will die.
Tomatoes only need to be watered once or twice a week, regardless of how you water them. If they are watered too much, you'll get lots of leaves and not many tomatoes.
I've never found that tap water dries out my plants. I'm not sure of your basis for suggesting that it does.
i have my tomatos on my porch in a planter. i need to water it most every day because it dries out. i have never heard of not watering and not using tap water just sounds not usable for most folks.
To make your tomatoes grow better, dig a hole about a foot or so deep, fill with wet, crumpled up newspaper. Then pour water on top of that, then put dirt over it and plant your tomatoes. Then put the dirt around them. This helps them to grow their roots deeper by going to the water, which is in the newspaper. This has worked great for me.
By Dede Payne
I'm sorry I didn't say that better. I still water, tap or rain water, but the paper helps to keep them from drying out so fast. I wasn't suggesting that I don't have to still water, this just helps me to have healthier plants. Sorry for the confusion on that.
on some of my tomatoes I have a large black mark at the base of some of the fruit, I would appreciate any help you could give me on this matter.
thanking you in anticipation
R W Tredgett
If your tomatos have black spots on the ends, it's called "Blossom End Rot" and is apparently caused by low calcium levels. Either you need to amend your soil with some calcium source OR you're watering is too inconsistent so that the amount of calcium that your plant takes up (it can only get it when it's drawing water from the soil) varies too much, with it dipping low. Apparently the plant robs the necessary calcium from the tomato.
I'm sure I'm not explaining this properly, so just do a search on "Blossom End Rot"
I am just wondering who had good luck with certain kinds of tomato plants? I tried a few new varieties last year, but was not impressed.
I did best with Early Girl and Celebrity. I also like the Husky Cherry reds.How do I harvest Sweet 100 tomatoes? Do I cut the whole bunch of tomatoes off the vine or do I pick them individually?
Hardiness Zone: 7a
By grifft from Levittown, NY
My tomatoes in containers are 4 1/2 ft tall and quite spindly. What have I done wrong? They were planted from 2 inch shoots about 4 weeks ago.
Hardiness Zone: 9a
By JoieBK from Palm Coast, FL
Are you fertilizing them regularly? When you plant in pots (or buckets) the plants do not have access to the nutrients that they would normally receive from the ground. You must fertilize them regularly ( once a week usually) with something like Miracle Grow. Just read the directions. Good luck!
Miracle Grow has a tomato fertilizer also that is formulated just for tomatoes. I also use it on clematis as they need the same nutrients. But about your tomatoes, personally, I would not buy anything from that company. They do not have a good reputation. If you go to Dave's garden, they have a page that people give positive and negative reviews of how the company's customer service is and none of the companies want to be on the negative list. I think that one usually is on the negative list. Check it out.
I live in Thailand and the nights are a little cooler than the days. I am told that Tomato will not do well in this climate because they need cool nights.
Also, what type of Tomato would you recommend? We are in the same latitude as Miami, FL.Plant any kind you want. I live in the deep south, Alabama to be exact. I can tell you now, we have no cool nights in Alabama during the summer and we grow the best tomatoes any where!
OK thanks for the encourgement
A tomato plant, with many nice sized tomatoes sprang up spontaneouslly from a crack in the pavement on our property. While I know that tomato seeds spread and this is not uncommon, my question is about how safe are the tomotoes to eat? The reason I ask, is that it grew out of concrete, not soil, and more concerning, it is located about 50 cm-1 meter above the underground sewage pipe.
Considering that this all happend in a period, when there was no rain, do we assume that it fed on (ugh) sewage? Or do these plants not need much water and it is not strange that it came out of concrete? The tomatoes are more robust than any plant I ever cultivated, they are almost the size of tangerines!On the tomato tag in the pot when you buy the plant, it has the tomato type and a maturity time. When does the maturity time start?
When the seed is planted? When you put the plant in the ground? When? Thanks.I purchased a tomato plant, about a foot tall, put it in potting soil and even added ground eggshells. This happens every year. Something just eats away at the leaves (like a moth eats at fabric). I put Sevin dust one year, that just killed the plant. This year I put marigolds around it. I did see two caterpillars, dark brown with white stripes, on the ground a few mornings ago.
I brought it into the patio (screened in) yesterday. What seems to be the problem? Since I don't have bees/insects to pollinate it will it produce tomatoes? The leaves do have a brown black outer color. I use rainwater and Miracle Gro. It gets at least 5 hours of sun. Help for the 5th year in a row.By monroe95 from Kissimmee, FL
I have large green tomatoes on the vine, planted from pots. How can I tell when they are ripe or will they turn red? I am a beginning gardener.
By Frank W from Anaheim, CA
Something is wrong with my newly planted tomato plant. I planted them in Miracle Gro potting mix. The edges of the leaves are turning brown and the leaves are curling up. The center of leaves are still green. I need help fast. What is wrong and how to fix?
By Bonnie from Eastpoint, FL
