HOW TO GROW TOMATOES - Tutorial

[rainbowgardener]

Probably so. Tomato seeds should germinate in a few days to a week. I don't bury seeds at all, just lightly press on them to be sure they are in contact with the soil and then drop a thin layer of potting soil loosely on top of them. Did you give them any heat? A bit of bottom heat really aids germination. Tomatoes like soil temps 70 -75 degrees F for germination. The risk with not providing the heat is that while they are sitting around in cool moist soil not germinating, the seeds can rot. Then never let the soil dry out (while the seeds are germinating) but don't let it get wet or soggy either (water should never ooze out if you press on it!).

[Brant]

thanks rainbow! I replanted them couple days ago, barely covering them with dirt, and the majority of them are up now! finally! It's so late in the season here. Oh well, at least they're early girls.

[ohgardener]

Is there a difference in pinching off suckers of determinate vs. indeterminate varieties? I read some where (can't recall off the top of my head) that you didn't suckers determinates (like Roma's) because it decreases yield.

[TZ -OH6]

Determinants bloom off of the tips of the stems while indeterminants keep on growing past the bloom truss, so if you pinch off a sucker on a determinant plant you will decrease your yield significantly. As an example, you could have five fruit trusses on one indeterminant stem during the season, but for a determinant you would need five branches/stems/suckers to produce that much fruit.

[bird dog]

here's a little something that works for me. For a couple early producing plants I start them from seed the first week of February, this year I tried Early Pick as I find Early Girl tasteless,. In mid March I prepare my bed with compost and bonemeal then I plant just as I would later in the season. After planting mulch around the plant with black plastic to warm the soil. Now I take a couple 3' cages made out of concrete reinforcing wire and wrap them with clear plastic leaving enough on top to open and close depending on the weather. I seal the seam up the sides with duct tape and they are ready. Keep a close eye on your plants while waiting for safe weather to remove the plastic as air flow ( or lack off ) can cause problems. The last average frost in my area is late April and I have seen it as late as mid May but this will protect your plants. This I picked my first fruit on June 21 and most plants in this area have yet to begin because of a cool wet spring in the NW.

[farmall man]

HI:All I have a person who lives a few miles from me but haven't had a chance to talk with him, but he grows tomatoes every year and has a very sturdy fence he grows them on, his tomatoes are as tall as sweetcorn about 5 ft. now and he gets loads of fruit every year.
Is there a special variety that gets that tall ?
mine never get much taller than 3 ft. what's your views on this?
thanks
Louie

[rainbowgardener]

HI:All I have a person who lives a few miles from me but haven't had a chance to talk with him, but he grows tomatoes every year and has a very sturdy fence he grows them on, his tomatoes are as tall as sweetcorn about 5 ft. now and he gets loads of fruit every year.
Is there a special variety that gets that tall ?
mine never get much taller than 3 ft. what's your views on this?
thanks
Louie

Unless you are growing a special dwarf variety, your tomatoes aren't getting something they need. 5 feet is very average for tomato plants. Mine are about 6 feet now and that's after I trimmed them back some to keep them from getting too huge. Some people write in here about getting a ladder to harvest their tomatoes.

[FruitAddict]

I was curious if anyone has advice on how to propogate Tomato plants by clippings - I have one seedling of a variety I really wanted more of and no more seed. Is there already a thread concerning this? If yes I missed it. can you share the link with me?

[Daffodil3263]

I planted my tomatoes today and found out it will be getting in the high 30's nect week will that hurt my plants? I did cover them will leaf litter hoping it would keep out weeds and keep water in.

[rainbowgardener]

I planted my tomatoes today and found out it will be getting in the high 30's next week will that hurt my plants? I did cover them will leaf litter hoping it would keep out weeds and keep water in.

High 30's should not kill them IF they have been well hardened off and are used to chilly. It will slow them down.

Ordinarily we cover the soil with leaf litter and other mulches, to suppress weeds and conserve moisture, not the plants. You want to keep your mulch away from your plant stems, because it can promote rotting and provide an easy bridge to your plants for insects.

Covering your tomato plants in cold weather like you mentioned is a good thing, but it would be better to cover them with glass or plastic - milk jugs or soda bottles with the bottoms cut off work fine, or whatever you have around.

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[michelle83]

This is really helpful. I will try to apply this when I start growing tomatoes. Thank You very much!

[Meme]

Thank you opabinia51. This is so interesting to learn how to save the seeds. I will certainly be doing that, and learn from all else that has been written.

[jal_ut]

More fussing than I want. Here is my recipe for tomatoes. Go buy a flat of started plants from the nursery. Plant them in the garden, a little deeper than they were in the pots, and water them. Stand back. Keep the weeds out and water once a week. Let them sprawl as they will. No pruning nor pinching. Enjoy the bushels of fruit!

[Peppery1]

Determinants bloom off of the tips of the stems while indeterminants keep on growing past the bloom truss, so if you pinch off a sucker on a determinant plant you will decrease your yield significantly. As an example, you could have five fruit trusses on one indeterminant stem during the season, but for a determinant you would need five branches/stems/suckers to produce that much fruit.

Wow. I'm pretty new to tomato growing, so I've been reading everything I can find. I have to say that is the first time I have come across that information! Glad I found out before starting mine this year. This thread seems to be the thread that keeps on giving (2015 and some of us still learning from it). Thanks for the heads up on that, as I am planning on doing a combination of both det and ind this year.

[Peppery1]

here's a little something that works for me. For a couple early producing plants I start them from seed the first week of February, this year I tried Early Pick as I find Early Girl tasteless,. In mid March I prepare my bed with compost and bonemeal then I plant just as I would later in the season. After planting mulch around the plant with black plastic to warm the soil. Now I take a couple 3' cages made out of concrete reinforcing wire and wrap them with clear plastic leaving enough on top to open and close depending on the weather. I seal the seam up the sides with duct tape and they are ready. Keep a close eye on your plants while waiting for safe weather to remove the plastic as air flow ( or lack off ) can cause problems. The last average frost in my area is late April and I have seen it as late as mid May but this will protect your plants. This I picked my first fruit on June 21 and most plants in this area have yet to begin because of a cool wet spring in the NW.

Hmm. Have had trouble starting toms because we always seem to get one or two cold snaps just when you think it is going to be fine. I may try that next year--or even this year if I decide to do some outside 'maters. Bet I could rig this for a few containers...

[JeffNev]

This is really, really helpful, a great post!

Thanks

Jeff

[BajaMitch]

Determinants bloom off of the tips of the stems while indeterminants keep on growing past the bloom truss, so if you pinch off a sucker on a determinant plant you will decrease your yield significantly. As an example, you could have five fruit trusses on one indeterminant stem during the season, but for a determinant you would need five branches/stems/suckers to produce that much fruit.

Just looked at my Better Bush determinates and what I see doesn't agree with the above quote. Many of the stems that have trusses and tomatoes have additional trusses on the same stem. I have two Better Bush plants and both individual plants have stems with multiple trusses.

[imafan26]

What's the difference between "indeterminate" and "determinate" tomatoes?
Determinate tomatoes, or "bush" tomatoes, are varieties that grow to a compact height (generally 3 - 4'). Determinates stop growing when fruit sets on the top bud. All the tomatoes from the plant ripen at approximately the same time (usually over period of 1- 2 weeks). They require a limited amount of staking for support and are perfectly suited for container planting.
Indeterminate tomatoes will grow and produce fruit until killed by frost. They can reach heights of up to 12 feet although 6 feet is normal. Indeterminates will bloom, set new fruit and ripen fruit all at the same time throughout the season. They require substantial staking for support.

Determinates stop growing when the terminal buds set fruit, and all the fruit more or less ripens at the same time. I noticed that a lot of the determinates I have grown besides being shorter tend to have stockier main stems. After the top sets fruit, no new flowers come out.

Indeterminate tomatoes can be up to 12 ft if left unpruned. Fruit ripen more sporadically and continue to set more fruit.

There are also semi determinates which are shorter than indeterminates, and produce a main crop more or less all at once, but can continue to produce additional smaller sets until frost.

[TomatoNut95]

Tomatoes are my favorite thing to grow!

[imafan26]

I guess that is why your moniker is Tomatonut! I grow some tomatoes. Usually I only grow three plants because of the space. I have not found the perfect tomato yet. Well, I have but it is too hard to grow brandywine in my climate without a lot of spraying to control disease. While I love the taste of brandywine. It is not a productive tomato for the size of the plant and it is soft so it does not keep well. I guess I am looking for a second best that is heat and disease resistant and tastes good. That one is elusive. The red current tomato is sweet and disease resistant, but it is tiny. The size of a pea. Mostly there has been a tradeoff between disease and heat resistance and taste. Creole was pretty good, but it is not TYLCV resistant. Most of the ones that are are red and round market varieties that are only so so for taste.

I have a problem because I do grow them in containers and even tomatoes that are supposed to have good flavor are bland. I think it is because I water them everyday so the flavor is diluted by the high water content. I tried to cut the water a bit to every other day, but BER becomes more of a problem when I do that. Keeping the plants drier risks them wilting more and that shortens the life. My indeterminate tomatoes are easily 8-10 ft long and live about 10 months. Even the determinates, surprisingly easily lived 6 months, although they stopped producing for about a month then started flowering again for a couple of months more. Usually, by then disease and age catch up to them.

I use tomato cages because for me it does not require as much pruning as you would if you train on a wire or use a Florida weave. I have not done a Florida weave but I have trained tomatoes on a wire.

For the most part bigger tomatoes will yield less total number of fruit. The birds here will attack the blushing ones first, but if they like them, they will start to attack the green ones as well unless they are under bird netting or the fruit is bagged. If the tomatoes are not good, the birds don't want it even when it is ripe, and neither do I.

I plant my tomatoes and other large plants in 18 gallon pots. I usually use 2 cups of a complete fertilizer with micros (6-4-6). I do not add lime or calcium. My water is high in calcium. I found that I don't need to add fertilizer with high numbers and it is better to have numbers close to 10 (9-12-12) is a tomato fertilizer I could use but it only comes in small quantities and I use 6-4-6 for everything in pots. I have recently started adding additional potassium for root crops and it does help. I side dress with nitrogen (sulfate of ammonia) when the first true leaves appear, then again when the flowers come out. After 50 days, plants that will stay in the pots longer will get a side dressing of about a tablespoon of 6-4-6 once a month or for plants that cycle, they get their side dressing when the new leaves flush. Which can be anywhere from 6 weeks to three months.

I have grown Early Girl, it is a good tomato. The other early tomato was Fourth of July. Most of my tomatoes are mid or late varieties that take about 80 days. I don't have a short growing season so I don't need to worry about it. In fact, I usually avoid the faster varieties because they are bred for colder conditions and usually don't do well in the heat. I tried some of Applestar's varieties and found out the hard way that they can't take the heat.