Growing Tomato Tips Archives - Page 2 of 3

14 More Tips For Happy Tomato Plants

Just dropping in for a few more fascinating facts and useful tomato tips.

Indeterminate tomato vines can grow up to 50 feet and live for years in the right climate. Northern Minnesota is not the right climate to support such growth.
Tomato plants absorb water and nutrients through their leaves, so give them a good (gentle) spritz once a week or so, in the early morning (never in the late afternoon or evening) until they are thoroughly soaked. Caution: If it has rained, don’t manually top water. Wet plants spread disease, so only top water if you really need to do so.
To encourage bees to visit your tomato garden, inter-plant yellow snapdragons and yellow marigolds. The bees are attracted to the snaps or marigolds and stop off at the tomato blossoms, too, thereby pollinating the tomatoes on their rounds of the garden. This results in greater yields for you. If you’re really worried about pollination, give your plants a gentle shake every day when flowers open up until they begin to set fruit. This helps with self-pollination, or at least my grandmother thought so.
Prune your tomato plants early in the season by using a clean, sharp bypass shears. Please don’t just pinch off the leaves with your fingernails unless you’ve just gotten a new French manicure. Cut off the bottom few leaves and remove suckers (small branches growing in the node of another branch). Don’t over-prune, and stop pruning once your plants are setting fruit.
Night temperatures are almost as important for setting blossoms (and increasing yields) as proper nitrogen fertilization. Keep your tomato babies warm at night by covering with clear plastic or mini-greenhouses (milk jugs with the tops cut off) until night temperatures warm up to a steady 50 degrees.
If you live in a cold area with well water, keep in mind that your water may be 40 degrees or less coming out of the well. Do you tomato babies a favor in the spring and water them with tepid water instead of straight from the hose.
Keep your tomatoes well watered until late August (or near the end of the growing season in your area). After that, water less because dryer conditions cause the fruit to ripen more quickly.
Don’t fertilize your plants after the first week of August because that encourages plant growth at the expense of fruit set. Overfertilization causes many problems, so just stop feeding your tomatoes too much.
Some green tomatoes will ripen after you pick them and some won’t. About two weeks after they are done growing, tomatoes start to lose their chlorophyl ripen into the tastier red color. If you store green ones in the hope they will ripen, choose lighter colored, larger green tomatoes. Use smaller, darker ones in recipes.
Store green or immature red tomatoes in a cool place (50-60 degrees), not the refrigerator. Pop them into a paper bag and keep them dry. They don’t need light to ripen.
Root prune your tomato plants at the end of the season before you dig them up to hasten ripening. Take a spade and make a six inch deep circle all around your plants about a foot away from the base. This cuts off the top roots and and jump starts ripening before you would normally dig up the plants for the season.
Always wash your gardening tools each time you are done using them. A thorough rinse with the hose is sufficient. At the end of the season, wash all tools, stakes, cages, trellises, etc. with bleach solution (10 percent bleach, 90 percent water), dry thoroughly, and store properly.
Mulch is your friend. Want to go cheap on the mulch? Use newspaper (no glossy pages please). Just lay it down around your plants and in between rows, and replace when the paper has composted beyond usefulness. Straw is cheap for some people; clean bark or wood chips cost a little more; or you can spend a million dollars on the latest top of the line mulch just by asking your friendly greenhouse associate.
The fourth Wednesday in August in Valencia, Spain is reserved for the annual La Tomatina festival, during which time more than 220,400 pounds of tomatoes are thrown by the crowds–at each other.

These tips will help you make the most of your tomato harvest!

Amazing Tomato Growing Tips

Featured Content, Growing Tomato Tips tomato plant, tomato plants

Tomatoes are of many different varieties and each have been bred to grow best in a particular region with a particular climate. Growing tomato plants is one of the most rewarding and satisfying hobbies because you are able to plan, plant and grow tomatoes all in a few short months. If you are interested in growing tomatoes then you should make sure that you have done all your homework in terms of research in the processes and gardener-tested tomato growing tips. There are some unique and amazing tomato growing tips that are available, which will help the person to have a great time growing these tomatoes.Here is some help with many of the basics of tomato growing that will help you in successfully producing your tomato crop.

Soil preparation:

This is the aspect of tomato growing that has to be completed even before you actually sow the seeds! You have to make sure that the soil in which the tomatoes are going to grow has a lot of natural organic material. Begin your composting early before the season. Add egg shells to your compost for added calcium that tomatoes require. Your soil mix should be a heavy, mulched, slightly acidic soil (pH = 5.5 – 6.5). As your tomatoes mature you will need to apply nutrients. Universal fertilizers (N-P-K) are available at your local nursery. Go easy on the the nitrogen and stronger on the phosphorous and and potassium, for good tomatoes.

Increase production:

Many professional gardeners will spray their plants with tea extract or seaweed. This should be sprayed at least four times when you are growing a tomato plant. The first two times should be immediately after you have replanted the plants with adequate space between them. This phase of spraying gives more strength for the plant to grow. The second time when you spray the substance should be when the flowers are seen on the tomato plant. The third and fourth times are when the tomatoes are growing on the plant. This helps to increase the flowering and the yield that you get from the tomato plants.

My Tips For Growing Tomatoes

Growing Tomato Tips tomato plant, tomato plants

Wondering how to nurture a healthy plant to produce succulent tomatoes? Here are a few but successfully tested tips to give you the healthiest harvest of tomatoes to give you that lip-smacking salad!!

Firstly, tomatoes love heat! So, preheat the soil in your garden by placing a black or red plastic cover over the area intended for sowing, for a couple of weeks. This provides extra degrees of warmth to the area where the tomatoes are to be grown. Secondly, make sure the tomato plant is sown deep in the soil.

Seedlings are typically planted after they have developed about six leaves. Plant the seedlings deep enough so that only the top four leaves are showing. This also helps the tomato plant to create a stronger root system. The seedlings can also be sown sideways within a shallow trench. Care should be taken while inserting a stake into the soil, for the tomato plant to lean on while growing, so that it does not pierce the root system. Following these steps will definitely yield a great harvest.

Maintaining the plant requires a lot of attention from the growers. Pruning the suckers that develop in the joint of two branches of the plant essential as they suck the energy from the plant since they do not bear fruit. Leaves should also be pruned, although not too many, to allow sunlight to reach the ripening fruit. It should be noted that the leaves are the “kitchens” of the plant where, by the process photosynthesis, food in the form of sugars are prepared to provide the plant’s much needed sustenance. The tomato plants need to be watered regularly and enough to allow water to seep deep into the soil. Missing a few days of watering and trying to make up for it later leads to the rotting and cracking of the blossoms. However once the fruit begins to ripen, less watering should be done to allow the sugars in the plant to become concentrated. Stress and wilting of the plant will result in drooping of the blossoms and fruits if too much water is withheld

Easy Tomato Growing Tips For the Novice Gardener

Growing Tomato Tips tomato growing tips, tomato plants

Do you have problems growing healthy tomatoes? Don’t know where to start to improve your crop? Follow these quick & easy tomato growing tips and you will have a stocked kitchen full of healthy, juicy tomatoes for the whole growing season.

Tip #1 – Make Sure You Have Enough Sunlight:

Sunlight is essential for healthy tomato plants and producing a large number of tomatoes. Your tomato plant produces sugar and fruit through photosynthesis. The more sunlight it receives the more fruit it will grow and your tomatoes will have a stronger, sweeter flavour.

Tip #2 – Get Your Soil Right:

Tomato plants grow best in slightly acidic soil with a PH between 6 and 7. You can test your soil with a simple kit from your garden center. Make sure you plant bed has deep soil and add plenty of compost before planting. All those rich organic nutrients will be turned into healthy leaves and tomatoes.

Tip #3 – Give Your Plants Space:

When you first plant your tiny seedlings outside they may look a little isolated being spaced at least 2 feet apart! Understand that they will grow up rapidly and produce a large number of leaves. Keeping them spaced apart increases the amount of sunlight the leaves receive and reduces the spread of diseases.

Mulch The Secret To Growing The Best Tomatoes

Featured Content, Growing Tomato Advice, Growing Tomato Tips, Growing Tomatoes Guide organic matter, Pea Straw, soil compaction, tomato garden

I often advocate the use of mulches for your tomato garden. A good mulch used correctly can be of great benefit. However there are both good and bad mulches and right and wrong ways to apply them. Knowing the differences are vital and getting mulching right will have a dramatic effect on your tomato garden.

The Benefits of Mulching

Best Tomato Growing Tips You Need!

Growing Tomato Tips tomato seeds

How to sow tomato seeds is challenging but also very rewarding. Hopefully the following tomato growing tips will help you to get started the right way. You may obtain your seeds from reputable stores. You may also opt to use heirloom tomato seeds, they are considered as a variety that has been passed down through generations because of its valued characteristics. Whatever variety you choose homegrown tomatoes usually produces succulent fruit crops.

Basically planting tomatoes seeds is done indoors for about 6 to 8 weeks prior to spring frost in your area. Transplanting tomato seedlings outdoors takes another 2 weeks after that.

Here are some tips on growing tomato seeds:

The Best Way To Plant Hanging Upside Down Tomatoes

Growing Tomato Tips tomato plant, tomato plants, tomatoes, upside down tomatoes

Have you ever thought about planting tomatoes hanging upside down? Well, do not be surprised, because this is becoming one of the most popular ways of growing tomatoes. The best part about this method is you do not have to worry about weeding and dealing with pests and diseases that are so common when you grow them in the ground. Do you want to know how to plant upside down tomatoes? Well, here is how you can easily do it.

If you are already a tomato grower, you already know most varieties of tomatoes require a large container. Get an empty 5 gallon bucket with a lid. You can save some bucks if you can find it lying around the house or just head over to the nearest hardware store and get one. Once you find your container, you need to clean the bucket thoroughly to remove any debris or harmful chemicals that may exist inside.

Now you need to drill a hole in the middle of the bucket’s bottom. Make sure that it is about 2-3 inches big. You will also need to drill smaller holes in the lid so you can water it easily when the plant is placed inside.

Tomato Growing Tips – Secrets in Raising Healthy Tomatoes

Featured Content, Growing Tomato Tips tomato growing tips 0 Comment

Many successful tomato gardeners have created their own tomato growing tips based on their experiences. If you are just a beginner in the field of gardening and you want to grow tomatoes in your garden, here are some of the very useful tomato growing tips that you might want to consider.

Choose the right variety to grow: If you still do not have any idea, there are many different tomato varieties around the world. Different varieties also have different needs. Weather conditions, soil properties, and climate affects the way tomatoes grow. To successfully grow healthy and juicy tomatoes, it is very important that you should be able to choose the variety or varieties that are suitable for your place.

Soil Preparation: Before planting the seed or tomato plant, be sure that you already have prepared the soil to be balanced and suitable for your tomato seeds or plants. If you are starting from planting tomato seeds, be sure that you give the seeds enough room or space to grow. Avoid overcrowding them in a single spot. When they grow up and are ready for transfer, be sure that you have already prepared the soil where they will be planted. Till the soil, put fertilizers, and be sure that it has a proper drainage.

Plant Deeply: When transplanting tomato plants, be sure to plant them deeply. The suggested measurement is up to a few leaves. Tomato has the ability to grow roots within their stems. That is the reason why other gardeners dig a tunnel and lay their tomato plants. You do not have to worry about this idea as the tomato plants tend to grow upwards toward the sun.

Factors to Consider in Growing Tomatoes On Your Own

Growing Tomato Tips homegrown tomatoes, tomato growing tips 0 Comment

Everyone appreciates fresh and homegrown tomatoes. Everyone wants to know how they can grow their own lovely batch of tomatoes. You can follow some tips in growing tomatoes to make sure that you can harvest good, healthy crops. The tomato growing tips listed below can help you achieve your desired goal.

Using Heat to Grow Tomatoes

The most important among tomato growing tips is that tomatoes love heat. The soil found in your outdoor garden should be preheated before you plant the tomato plants. The area should be covered with plastic, whether red or black, weeks prior to the date when you want to plant. The plastic will warm up your soil faster.

Growing Tomatoes From Seeds – The Truth

Growing Tomato Advice, Growing Tomato Tips tomatoes

Before you grow tomatoes, you have to decide how you will go about doing things. Will you use seeds, or will you be utilizing a harder method… growing tomatoes from tomatoes? The latter might seem more convenient, especially if you already have tomatoes in the refrigerator. However, if your tomatoes were grown from commercial farming procedures (over organic ones), they are probably hybridized. This means that their seeds are probably sterile. For this reason, if you want to start growing tomatoes from other tomatoes, consider starting things off the old-fashioned way… using seeds to jumpstart the process. Then once they start sprouting tomatoes, you will have the power to grow new sets of plants.

To grow tomatoes from seeds, you must first think about when you will start planting. You should do this 6 to 8 weeks before it starts getting cold in your area. If the temperatures go below the mid-50s, you might have trouble growing your plants. For the growing itself, there are many containers you can use. The cheapest are the plastic ones that you find at most garden shops. They are not fancy, but they are very easy to use for beginners. However, they are not miracle-workers, so if the soil within the container is not sterile, your plants may encounter disease. With that said, stick to “soilless” mediums as they do the same thing without exposing your plants to harmful organisms.

After you have prepared your trays, you are ready to plant your seeds. With a pencil, punch one hole into the soil. Drop 2 or 3 seeds into this hole. Only one seed is needed for germination, but the more you put down, the greater your chances of success. Just do not surpass 2 or 3 seeds, as the area may not be big enough to accommodate the growth. In any case, after you have laid your seeds, apply a thin layer of top soil then water the area. The soil should be moistened but not over-watered and soaked. Repeat this procedure with every cup in the tray. Now you need to put your seedlings into a warm area, somewhere around 70 degrees. If the area fits that requirement, place the seeds near a window sill. Make sure the window receives enough light, as sunlight is especially vital during the beginning stages of a tomato plant’s life. For watering, do as you did before… moisten the soil, but do not soak it. And only water when the soil appears dry.