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Twenty-One Tips for Growing Tomatoes Successfully

By now you should have started your tomato seeds indoors under lights. This is just if you want a head start of course, it is not necessary. You can also purchase tomato plants but be aware that the night temperatures are still cold for them to be out in the garden now. They prefer warmer weather. Waiting to plant tomatoes until the beginning of May or Mother’s Day will give you the best results. For tomato success, read these twenty tips for growing tomatoes in the Washington DC metro area.

First, know what you grow. Tomatoes have determinate or indeterminate growth habit. Determinate types produce fruit at the end of the branches so most of the crop ripens at one time and you will have one or two harvests per growing season. This is advantageous for canning. The determinate types are more compact and are better for containers than the indeterminate tomato plants; however, you may still have to stake the vines or add a trellis. Indeterminate plants produce fruit along the branches so you can pick tomatoes all season long. They can be large, vining plants; a support system such as hoops or stakes should be used.

Sun Dipper, from PanAmerican Seed Handpicked Vegetables.

2. Tomatoes come in many sizes, shapes, colors, and flavors. Grow what you like to eat or use in the kitchen. For example, determine if you prefer to use tomatoes for salad, snacking, pasta sauce, sandwiches, etc. There are more specialized varieties for specific uses such as the Sun Dipper pictured to the right which is elongated to make it easier to hold while dipping into a dip.

3. If you are limited to containers, grow the determinate type and use a container at least 5 gallons large with drainage holes or an Earthbox. Or look for varieties especially bred for containers such as window box types (usually these will be the small, cherry types).

4. Determine if growing an heirloom plant is particularly important to you. Heirlooms may be tastier, and seeds can be saved for next year, but these plants may be more susceptible to diseases. Hybrids are often bred to be disease resistant. However, if you save and sow the seed next year, the plants may not have the same traits as before. Seed catalogs and packages often have letters after the plant’s name to indicate disease resistance. For example, F is for fusarium, V for verticillium, LB for late blight, TMV for tobacco mosaic virus, and N for nematodes.

tomato

Early Girl gives you fruit earlier than most other tomato plants, photo courtesy of Ball Horticultural Company

5. Days to maturity is the number of days it will take on average for a transplant to produce a tomato (fruit) when planted in the beginning of the summer. It is not the number of days from seed. This varies quite a lot with tomatoes from plants with a lower number of days which will provide an early season harvest, to mid-season, to those with larger numbers, resulting in a late season harvest in late summer. If you have the space and want tomatoes throughout the growing season, you can plant early, mid, and late season plants.

6. If starting from seed, sow seeds about a month before average last frost date (Mother’s Day here). Start inside under lights. When the seedlings produce a set of true leaves, you can pot up the plant into a larger container and put outside for a few hours a day. Gradually introduce seedlings to more daylight and more time outside in order to harden off before putting in the ground. Hardening off is the process of acclimatizing seedlings to higher light levels, cooler (than your home) temperatures, and breezes so they can withstand being outside. Here is a link to tips for starting seeds indoors.

7. At first the nighttime temperatures may be too cold (forties and below) to leave these transplants outside so you may have to bring the pots inside for the night.

8. Seedlings and transplants in the spring may develop purple tinged leaves which means cool temperatures are preventing phosphorus absorption. In the summer, when it gets warmer, they will grow out of this so no need to do anything.

tomato

The purple coloring on Indigo sun tomato is intentional, it is a higher level of anthocyanins, which is healthy for you, photo courtesy of Ball Horticultural Company

9. Tomato plants need at least six hours of sun and like warm soil, which is why it is best to put the transplant in the ground after Mother’s Day. If you plant them in cold soil, they will sit, unhappy.

10. Tomatoes like fertile, well-composted soil, not clay. In this area, you may have to amend your garden bed with compost. In the spring, a raised bed and a container will have warmer soil than the ground.

11. When nighttime temperatures are in fifties and the transplant is hardened off, plant in ground. For the indeterminate types, insert staking or hoops immediately after planting. Make sure you have spaced your tomato plants so there is a minimum of 2 feet apart for air circulation (to decrease a pathogen’s ability to spread).

12. Tomato stems will develop roots if covered with soil. Some gardeners will bury as much stem as possible to encourage root production. The theory is that if there are more roots, the plant will be able to take up more water and nutrients. Some people lay the transplant down on the ground, horizontally, burying the stem, but leaving 1 to 2 set of leaves above ground. Some people plant vertically, but very deep, leaving 1 to 2 sets of leaves above ground. Before you submerge the stem, strip off the leaves and little branches that would be underground.

13. A lot of gardeners add calcium in the form of crushed eggshells to the soil or 1/4 cup of lime before planting to prevent blossom end rot. If you do not do this, then pick a fertilizer especially formulated for tomatoes because it should have the added calcium.

14. In the beginning of the summer, mulch with straw, leaves, or compost to prevent weeds and to keep a constant level of soil temperature and moisture. Try Maryland’s Leaf-Gro; do not use composted manure.

15. Tomatoes will need to be watered so make sure a hose or watering can is available. Water the soil, not the plant, and water in the morning to decrease possibility of fungal disease. It isn’t that tomato plants need a lot of water, it is that the soil moisture must be consistent, and not fluctuate often. Mulching helps with this.

tomato

Think of how much water, sun and fertilizer it will take to produce this large slicer, Beefmaster. Photo courtesy of Ball Horticultural Company.

16. In mid-summer, tomatoes will need to be fertilized, especially if grown in containers. Espoma has organic Tomato-Tone and Neptune’s Harvest has a Tomato and Vegetable Formula.

17. To obtain fruit, temperatures must be above 55 degrees at night but temperatures of 75 or higher will inhibit fruit set and may cause blossoms to drop. However, there are heat-tolerant varieties.

18. Tomatoes are wind pollinated. Some gardeners hand-pollinate with a paintbrush if they feel the plant is not setting fruit. All the more reason why there should be good air circulation. Harvest frequently to encourage plants to produce fruit.

19. Pruning is optional, but only indeterminate plants should be pruned. Pruning here refers to removing the side shoots or suckers. Some gardeners do this to increase or to have more uniform fruit size and to help tomatoes ripen faster. It will not increase the number of tomatoes. If prune, start when plants are about 2 feet tall and suckers are small. Do this when the plant is dry, not wet from rain.

20. If possible rotate crops to prevent soil-borne diseases. If your tomato plants are having problems, check out the Virginia Tech Extension site on growing tomatoes, tomato diseases, and tomato pests; and the University of Maryland Extension site on tomato diseases, pests, and nutritional issues, growing tomatoes, and tomato topics; or contact your local extension agent.

21. Pick the fruit when it begins to color and bring inside. Ripen at room temperature and do not put in the refrigerator. This also prevents animals from eating the fruit before you do.

Twenty Tips for Growing Tomatoes Successfully

By now you should have started your tomato seeds indoors under lights. This is just if you want a head start of course, it is not necessary. You can also purchase tomato plants but be aware that the night temperatures are still cold for them to be out in the garden now. They prefer warmer weather. Waiting to plant tomatoes until the beginning of May or Mother’s Day will give you the best results. For tomato success, read these twenty tips for growing tomatoes in the Washington DC metro area. Continue reading

Twenty Tomato Tips for the DC Metro Area

By now you should have started your tomato seeds indoors under lights. This is just if you want a head start of course, it is not necessary. You can also purchase tomato plants but be aware that the night temperatures are still too cold for them to be out in the garden now. They prefer warmer weather. Waiting to plant tomatoes until the beginning of May or Mother’s Day will give you the best results. For tomato success, read these twenty tips for growing tomatoes in the Washington DC metro area. Continue reading

Twenty Tomato Tips for the Washington DC Metro Area

Here are twenty tips for growing tomatoes successfully in the Washington DC metro area. Continue reading

Local Resource for Growing Tomatoes Successfully This Summer

year-of-the-tomato-logoThe University of Maryland Extension (UME) has a fantastic “Grow It Eat It” program. This year, they have declared 2016 as the Year of the Tomato. To celebrate this popular veggie, they created a site devoted to learning more about growing, harvesting, and preserving/canning tomatoes, http://extension.umd.edu/growit/2016-year-tomato. The site has a variety of resources: a list of local UME offices, contact information for Maryland’s gardening experts, and the list of the Master Gardener plant clinics for getting answers to tomato problems. It also has a link to their Youtube playlist of tomato information; recommended cultivars; winners of the 2015 tomato tasting events; and tomato-related articles on the Grow It Eat It blog. Although this is a UME resource, the information is applicable to those of us who live in the Mid-Atlantic area so Virginia and DC residents can enjoy the bounty. If you ever wanted to grow tomatoes successfully, now is the time!

In My Virginian Garden: A July Update

I have not posted in a while partly because the garden is in full swing, I am so busy harvesting, and partly because we have been making changes here at the homestead that necessitate me being outside instead of inside at the computer. We had a few trees thinned and one chopped down entirely which has increased the sunlight, putting a few plants in shock, but great for some other plants that needed extra sun. I am now able to extend my front garden where the old crab apple tree was, which will be a fall project. We also had the deck power washed which traumatized the container plants that had to be put out on the lawn for now, including the tomatoes in the earthboxes, and greatly moved the soil around many plants. So I have spent much time moving, tending, nursing, and healing the garden but in the end I will have more light (always needed for edibles) and more garden beds.

Black Beauty Eggplant Flower

Black Beauty Eggplant Flower

So far, I have had great success with melons, cucumbers, beans, tomatoes, peppers, and the herbs of course. The puzzler of the year are the eggplants, which I grew successfully last year in a different place but this year, no fruit. Lots of flowers, and everything else nearby is flowering and fruiting, but no eggplant. I read that they are self fertile and I should brush the flowers with a paintbrush, which I just started to do, but still nothing. These are Black Beauty eggplants so maybe next year I will try a different type. I have about six plants among basil, tomatoes, cucumbers, beans, and squash, with plenty of bees,  and they are the only plants that do not bear fruit.

On the bright side, I am enjoying the Burpee celery plant,’Peppermint Stick’. I would have never grown a celery plant unless Burpee sent it to me but it has turned out to be really easy to grow and very tasty, much more so than what you get in a store. The stalks are more pungent and the leaves are so big they could be used to garnish as well. I am sold, will grow celery from now on!

Burpee Peppermint Stick celery in ground

Burpee Peppermint Stick celery in ground

Burpee Peppermint Stick celery in bowl

Burpee Peppermint Stick celery in bowl

Another success is Renee’s Garden’s Gourmet Tuscan Melon plant. These I started from seed and grew in the large Smart Pots so they could get pampered with the richest soil and plenty of water. I have several melons so far. I have not eaten them yet but just having them is a success for me. We have been fortunate to have had quite a lot of rain in the early summer which I think is responsible for so many melons — it certainly has given me a bumper crop of cucumbers.

Renee's Garden's Gourmet Tuscan Melon

Renee’s Garden’s Gourmet Tuscan Melon

Another surprise was the Jericho lettuce, also from Renee’s Garden. It was partly shaded by a tree limb, which we cut down and since the sunlight has increased, these lettuce plants have been growing and doing well. Lettuce in July is a rare treat, will harvest these soon!

For fun, I planted Proven Winners’ Superbells calibrachoa ‘Holy Moly’, which is a flowering annual, in a large container with Burpee’s ‘Sweet Savour’ pepper. I really like the combination: Holy Moly lends itself to yellows, red and oranges but also plays off blue because it can been seen as an orange color (at first I could not decide if the container should be red, green, or blue). In early summer, the Sweet Savour peppers were yellow, but now at the end of July, the peppers have turned red and orange. They are small, perfect for a container, and although look like hot peppers are actually sweet.

Close Up of Proven Winners' Holy Moly

Close Up of Proven Winners’ Holy Moly

Burpee's Sweet Savour peppers in late July

Burpee’s Sweet Savour peppers in late July

Abundant Tomatoes!

Last year, all my tomatoes ripened at the same time, in August. But the seeds (Rutgers) and the plants (grafted Mighty ‘Matos®) were given to me so I couldn’t complain. I had three EarthBox® containers, each with a Mighty Mato and a Rutgers side by side for a total of six plants. Between the two types, I saw no difference. Both performed well, both grew to the same height, and both had the same yield. However, I think this is because they were grown in EarthBox® containers on the deck. I have been growing tomatoes in EarthBoxes® since we have lived in this house and have never had issues with tomatoes.

Abraham Lincoln as a young boy in May

Abraham Lincoln as a young boy in May

Abraham Lincoln as a young adult, end of June

Abraham Lincoln as a young adult, end of June

This year, I had planned to space out the harvest time so I bought a seed packet of an early season tomato, Stupice. Before I was able to buy more seed, I was given seed packets of Abraham Lincoln and Rutgers so what could I do but plant all of them. Growing tomato from seed is easy; you can even do it in egg cartons indoors. These particular tomatoes are called “slicers,” fruit large enough to slice for sandwiches. Tomato plants also are classified as determinate and indeterminate. Determinate plants stop growing after the flower buds set fruit so you harvest tomatoes for a few weeks tops. The plants are bush-like, 2 to 3 feet tall. Indeterminate plants are vine like; the plants will keep growing and producing new blossoms even after the fruit sets. You can harvest all summer long. Stupice, Rutgers and Abraham Lincoln are heirloom indeterminates so I will be picking for a while but this year, I may try saving seed to grow more tomato plants next year.

Candelabra-like clusters of flowers on Stupice

Candelabra-like clusters of flowers on Stupice

Tomato hornworm, plucked off tomato plant

Stupice spilling over EarthBox

So far, they are all doing well. I have two of each in each EarthBox for a total of six plants. There is so much lush green growth that I tie the vines to the wooden deck rails with torn up old shirts. As of mid-July, there must be a hundred little green tomatoes. Every day I look for that first blush of red. The Stupice is the best so far — great shape, does not flop over too much, and candelabra-like flower clusters that seem to hang in mid-air. Usually I have no diseases or pests but last week I spotted one tomato hornworm which I picked off and have not seen any more. Yesterday, tomato man peaked out from under the foliage but he’s a friendly.

Tomato hornworm, plucked off plant

Tomato hornworm, plucked off plant

We like to use the tomatoes in BLT sandwiches, salads, or just cut up raw with herbs. If I get too many I boil them for a few minutes, peel off the skin, and freeze in a bag. Later they go in the bean stew. For a special treat, we make bruschetta: top slices of French bread with a slice of tomato, a basil leaf, and a little cheese and broil for a few seconds. That’s summer!

Tomato Man

Tomato Man