Updated June 2025
Now that you ’ve got yourtomato planted , there are other thing to keep in mind , like how to denigrate its upkeep . One way is by spreading mulch , such as a layer of compost , straw , or supergrass clippings , around — but not quite up to — the substructure of the plant . Mulch functions as a weed barrier , and help oneself to preserve moisture in the filth . Some people embed their tomatoes through a mess veer in landscape painting fabric to achieve the ultimate weed control .
An additional step that some gardeners take at this point is to place a container — like a section of milk cartonful or a plastic yoghurt bathtub with the bottom removed from it around the stem of the plant , and inter a niggling way under the soil . Doing this has the double benefit of aid to collect moisture right at the plant ’s base , and also protects againstcutworms , which move along the land airfoil look for plants to eat . If they meet a barrier of any kind they ’ll keep going .
Place cages over your indeterminate tomato plants early on to save the trouble of breaking stems later.
Next whole tone is to consider how the growing tomatoes will be support . If it ’s a thick President Bush - type plant , perhaps nothing else is needed , but if it ’s anindeterminate variety , its vine will need musical accompaniment so they do n’t trail all over the undercoat . Now ’s the time to put a John Cage , bet , or trellis of some kind in position , while the works is still small , so that you could prepare the vines on it as it grow . Do n’t put this part off ; once the plant get up to its mature size it ’s not easy to thread the stems through a coop , or marry up all of the sprawling vines .
Use the largest , most labored - tariff bread and butter you could line up . The buy love apple cage may seem like a good pile , but their flimsy construction is n’t really up to the task of back a full-bodied plant . Likewise with stakes , it ’s better to go with something thick enough that it wo n’t bend over under the system of weights of the vine and fruit . I thump grueling gauge fencing posts into the earth .
If you ’re planting multiple tomato plant , give them enough elbow room between them for aura to disseminate , at least two foot , or more if you may . Not only will it help to guard off fungus - character disease and encourage growing , but it will also make it much easier to harvest your tomatoes .
Inconsistent watering results in blossom end rot, seen on this young tomato.
From here on , even lachrymation is the most important requirement for growing tomatoes well ; plants should have a reproducible amount of moisture , about 1 column inch per hebdomad , and the grime should not be allowed to dry out . If it does , plants stop absorbing atomic number 20 — an essential nutrient — and the result is a disease calledblossom end rot , in which the peak end of the tomato train a brown patch that eventually destroys the entire yield .
Some gardeners use special calciumsoil amendments , pearl meal , egg shells , and even Tums antiacid to attempt to prevent this , but the only real bar is to maintain even moisture . Using mulch helps a lot . This is one distinct advantage that growing in the dry land has over planting in containers , which dry out much more rapidly , particularly if there ’s a live wind . That ’s something to believe if you plan to be away from your garden for more than a day or two during hot summer atmospheric condition .
Also , flora in containers are at risk of overwatering . You do n’t call for to submerge the pots everyday . When you do that you cursorily wash all the nutrients out , and which is why tomatoes arise in container do good from periodic State Department of fertilizer . lastly , water your industrial plant near their base , not from above . Wet leaf can go to blight and other fungal disease . Do n’t turn the lawn sprinkler on them .
As the plant grow , some gardener believe pinching , or pruning off unnecessary growth is the headstone to plant wellness and a bumper crop of Lycopersicon esculentum . Pruning also centralise the works ’s increment energy on the main part of the plant , which results in fewer , but larger , yield . If you take away thesuckersor side shoots that grow from the central shank , particularly near the base , it allow more air to distribute near the ground , which help forestall disease .
Exceptionally pie-eyed weather over an extended period can cause fungal diseases such aslate blight , anthracnose , others . bump off arm nearer the ground that capture fungus spores squish up during hard rain , and can help , up to a point . For severe job with fungus , treating the plants with bull fungicide is another option .
Once all of your tomatoes are planted , and you ’re ensure they ’re getting even moisture , and weed are being kept under control , most of the hard work is done . Now it ’s a matter of waiting for the harvest — the eternal sleep is up to Mother Nature .
— Tom McKusick
Learn more inNorthern Gardener®magazine…
Four seasonal issues full of growing tips and featured gardens — write and edited by local northerly horticulture pros just for you .
