Tomatoes for the Home Garden.pdf

Vegetables SP 291-K

Tomatoes for the Home Garden

David W. Sams, Professor Emeritus, Plant and Soil Science

Originally prepared by Alvin D. Rutledge, Professor Emeritus, Plant and Soil Science

Tomatoes are the most popular vegetable grown in

home gardens. They are more nutritious than many veg-

etables and provide signiﬁ cant amounts of both vitamins A

and C. Tomatoes are served fresh, are a major component

of many salads and are used in many cooked dishes.

Sweet Million is a very proliﬁ c cherry tomato that is

resistant to several diseases. It is extremely sweet and liked

by most who try it.

Floramerica and Celebrity are good-quality, determi-

nate varieties for those who want concentrated harvest. Ju-

bilee and Pink Girl fulﬁ ll the need for tomatoes of various

colors. Big Boy is a large “beef-steak” type for those who

want large, solid fruit.

Better Boy is a good-quality, hybrid tomato that is

widely available. It is the standard by which other home

garden tomatoes are compared.

Long Keeper is a tomato designed to be harvested in

the fall. It is below average in taste but will keep two or

three months or more at room temperature. It has orange

skin but red ﬂ esh.

Types

Tomatoes are either determinate or indeterminate.

Determinate tomatoes are referred to as self-topping or

low-growing types. They may grow to a height of 3 or 4

feet with proper cultural care. The terminal bud then forms

a ﬂ ower and the plant does not grow any taller. Numerous

fruit is set over a very few weeks and ripens over a short

harvest interval, usually four to ﬁ ve weeks.

Indeterminate varieties continue to grow taller through-

out the growing season unless they are killed by insects or

disease. They set and produce fruit throughout the summer

and fall. They require 5- or 6-foot stakes to provide good

support. Fruit of indeterminate tomatoes is usually softer

and has more gel and thinner walls than determinate types.

The tomato varieties listed below allow a gardener to

produce the type of tomato of his/her choice and to produce

fruit throughout the growing season.

Early Girl is an extremely early variety that will con-

tinue to bear throughout the season. Its fruit size is smaller

than most tomatoes, however.

Soil Preparation

Soil should be prepared as for any garden vegetable.

Turn it in time to allow undecayed plant material to decay

before planting. This may require four to six weeks. Apply

fertilizer and lime and work them into the soil before plant-

ing. Lime should be applied several weeks ahead of plant-

ing for maximum effectiveness. The soil pH should be 6.1

or above to help prevent blossom-end rot. The soil should

be worked 6 or more inches deep and until it has a ﬁ ne but

not powdery texture. A soil test is the only way to be sure

Varieties

Variety

Determinate (D)

Indeterminate (I)

Harvest

Days to First Size (oz.) Comments

Early Girl

Sweet Million

Floramerica

Celebrity

Jubilee

Betterboy

Pink Girl

Big Boy

Long Keeper

4-6

1 inch

8-10

10-16

earliest

cherry

orange

exactly how much lime and fertilizer are needed. If no soil

test has been done, two to three pounds of a common fertil-

izer such as 6-12-12 per 100 square feet of garden space

may be used.

harden tomato transplants by withholding water until the

plants just begin to wilt. This requires very close attention

and is difﬁ cult for most home gardeners.

When a tomato plant is properly hardened, the veins on

the underside of the leaves will have developed a tinge of

purple. If the entire underside of the leaf is purple, the plant

has been over-hardened and will be stunted.

Avoid purchasing tomato plants that have wilted exces-

sively, have spots on their leaves, are excessively yellow or

have purple lower leaves. If possible, purchase varieties that

have the letters VFN after their name. This indicates that

they have resistance to verticillium and fusarium wilt and

to nematodes.

Blossom-end Rot

Blossom-end rot is a leather-like decay of the blossom-

end of the fruit. There are several ways of reducing the

amount of blossom-end rot on your tomatoes. These are

based on maintaining proper calcium levels in the tomato

fruit. First, be sure to lime your garden according to the

soil test recommendation. Lime is calcium carbonate and

supplies calcium to the soil. It also raises the pH, making

it easier for the plant to take up calcium. Second, maintain

uniform soil moisture by using irrigation and mulches.

Calcium must dissolve in soil moisture to be taken up by

plants. Tomatoes will also have less blossom-end rot if they

are not pruned too heavily and if they are not fertilized too

heavily with ammonium nitrate.

Rotation

It is best not to plant tomatoes in the same location

in the garden two years in a row. If possible, rotate plants

around the garden so they are not planted in the same loca-

tion more than once every three or four years. This does

not eliminate but will help prevent disease and nematodes

from building up in the soil.

Plants

Good yields are possible only when a gardener begins

with high-quality plants. The plants should be short and

stocky with well-developed root systems. Plants that have

been grown in containers normally have better-developed

root systems and grow better than bare-root plants. Both

plants grown in containers and bare-root plants must be

kept moist or the roots will die and the plants will be

stunted. Stunted tomato plants usually grow but will pro-

duce smaller, later crops.

Stocky tomato transplants will be 7 or 8 weeks old.

They should be hardened before they are set into the garden

to prevent injury from hot sun, cold temperatures and dry-

ing winds. Tomatoes may be hardened by exposing them

to temperatures 10 degrees below normal for a week or

so before they are set into the garden. It is also possible to

Planting

When tomatoes are 6 to 8 inches tall, they should be

planted deep enough to completely cover the root ball.

Planting can be done after the last spring frost through June

25. If plants have been grown in ﬁ brous containers, the

top of the container must be completely covered with soil.

This prevents the container from serving as a wick, slowing

water loss. The distance between plants in the row depends

upon the type of tomatoes being grown and the severity

of pruning or intended suckering. Suckering consists of

removing growth in the leaf axis. Determinate varieties

do not grow as tall as indeterminate and can normally

be spaced closer in the row. If suckering is not intended,

plants will need to be spaced further apart. The in-row

spacing varies from 18 inches to 24 inches between plants.

Between-row spacings can vary from 4 feet to a width suit-

able for use with the cultivation equipment available. If tall,

leggy plants are to be planted, it is advisable to either lay a

portion of the plant horizontal or plant it 6 to 8 inches deep.

This allows the plant to develop a root system along all of

the buried stem.

support to keep plants off the ground. Usually, two plants

are set between stakes. Tomatoes are often suckered with

this system. When cages are used for support, the cage must

be of strong materials, such as concrete reinforcing wire.

Cages should be well anchored to support the weight of the

plants and fruit. The cage should have sufﬁ cient openings

to allow removal of ripe fruit. A 6-foot length of wire will

form a cage about 21 inches in diameter. Unsuckered toma-

toes are allowed to grow in the cage. Yields per plant are

usually higher in a cage than when supported by stakes.

Mulches

Organic mulches such as straw, leaves, grass clippings

or compost can be applied after plants are set. Mulches

applied 4 to 6 inches thick provide weed control, uniform

moisture levels, reduce certain disease problems and im-

prove fruit quality. Organic mulches should not be applied

until the soil is warm. Black plastic can be used to maintain

uniform moisture, control weeds, enhance and improve

fruit quality. If plastic is used, lay 4-foot wide strips in

the row area and seal the edges with about 6 inches of soil

about two weeks before the planned transplanting date.

Plant the tomatoes through slits cut in the plastic.

Nitrogen Sidedressing

Nitrogen sidedressing applied at the right time and

at the correct rate can greatly enhance the production of

tomatoes. Sidedressings are applications of fertilizer along

the plants at some stage of growth. They are started when

fruit on the ﬁ rst cluster is about the size of a half-dollar,

and repeated every four weeks through harvest. If they

are applied prior to this time, it is very likely that blooms

will drop and fruit set will be eliminated or reduced.

Ammonium nitrate is the most common nitrogen source.

Apply one tablespoon in a circle around the plant at each

sidedressing about 12 inches from the plant.

Providing Support

The best-quality tomatoes are grown on supports. It

requires less space to produce the same quantity of ed-

ible fruit with supports. Tomatoes are normally supported

with stakes or cages. If stakes are used, each stake should

be about 4 feet tall for determinate types or 6 feet for in-

determinate types. Stakes can be provided for each plant.

Tie plants loosely to the stakes at 8- to 10-inch intervals.

Stakes can also be placed between each two plants and

supports provided by the “Florida Weave” technique. In

this technique, string is tightly stretched horizontally along

both sides of the stakes at the same height, with plants held

between the string layers. String layers are repeated every 8

to 10 inches vertically as the plant grows. When stakes are

strong and well-anchored, this system provides sufﬁ cient

Watering

For best tomato growth, keep the soil in the root zone

moist enough to prevent wilting of tomatoes. This is best

done by applying 1/2 to 3/4 inch of water twice a week to

the root zone during periods of dry weather. If possible, use

trickle irrigation. Less foliage disease occurs with trickle

than sprinkler irrigation. If sprinkler irrigation is used, ap-

ply as late in the afternoon as possible, but early enough to

allow foliage to dry before nightfall.

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