Starting From Seed
When growing for your home garden, start seeds 8 weeks prior to the last frost date. Here in Spokane, that generally means May 15th. Always use a sterile seed starting mix and sterile pots. You can buy them new every year or sterilize used pots with a 10% bleach solution. Sometimes I run mine through the dishwasher on the top rack and toss a little bleach in before I start the wash cycle (damping off can be a real problem if you don’t.)
After seeding, place in a warm place. Mine go under ordinary fluorescent lights, about an inch away from the flats, in the dining room. The heat from the lights keep it warm. (You can use bottom heat such as a heating mat or the top of refrigerator if you like.) Bottom water as needed, don’t let them dry out. In about a week you should start to see germination. Grow them under the lights until you see the first true leaves, a pair of serrated leaves. Transplant into larger pots.
I use 3.5 inch pots, filling them with the following mix: 2 cubic feet of potting soil, 1 cup osmocote (time release fertilizer) 1 cup steamed bone meal, and 1/4 cup of polymer (I use Soil Moist.) Holding the leaves, not the stem, gently tease them loose (I use a wooden chopstick), make a hole in one of the soil filled cells and place the seedling down as far as it will go. Tamp the soil around it. The stem will develop roots all along the length of it. Water well with lukewarm water. I water or spray a seaweed extract solution on my plants abouot a week after transplanting. Seaweed provides micronutrients and trace elements that help promote health and vigor. It’s even been shown to increase their tolerance to cold temperatures. Another thing I am doing now is to use mycorrhizae, a soil mircoorganism that helps the roots do a more efficient job. I place a small amount in each hole before I transplant into the pot. You will find a whole host of opinions on whether it really works, all I know is that my plants seem to be much healthier since I started using it. There are many references on the internet if you are interested looking it up.
Grow them in a greenhouse or put them where they receive good light. My greenhouse is kept very cool, using heat at night only when it’s forecast to be below 40 degrees. This helps them to put their energies into strong root development. Creating a disturbance with a fan (wind) that ruffles the plants encourages them to develop strong stems. You can also use your hands to brush their tops twice a day.
Planting In The Garden
Despite what the large home improvement stores would have you believe, you shouldn’t be planting tomato plants in April. Our weather (Spokane, WA, zone 5) is too iffy. If you are willing to watch the weather forecasts religiously then you could try mid-May. I usually put mine out around the first of June. For cold protection, use wall o’ waters, cover them with plastic or Remay, or create a mini greenhouse by surrounding your cages with plastic sheeting and pvc pipe. Conventional wisdom says that before planting, you should harden them off for a week to 10 days, putting them out during the day and bringing them in at night. Since I grow them cool, I have never needed to harden mine off and have never had any problems.
Always rotate your tomato beds. This helps prevent diseases and keeps from depleting the soil since tomatoes are heavy feeders. (That also includes potatoes and eggplants, which are in the same family) Site your tomato bed where they will get at least 8 hours of sun a day.
Most tomatoes benefit from some kind of staking. Even determinate varieties. You can use wooden stakes, tomato cages, commercial or homemade or any kind of fencing that you train them up. Use soft ties that won’t bind such as old pantyhose or garden twine. Plant 3 feet apart when staking and caging. If you let them sprawl, set them 18” apart. Research shows that the plants will produce a heavier yield if you let them sprawl, however, they are more prone to slugs, bugs, rot and diseases so you’ll actually harvest less. Bury them as deep as you can or lay them on their sides in a trench.
Instead of planting all your tomatoes in one bed, try spacing them throughout the garden. This will give them more room, more air flow and if they come down with a fungus or disease, it won't spread as easily to the others.
Culture
Consistent watering is crucial, tomatoes need at least an inch of water a week. Keep area weeded and use mulch to help conserve moisture and prevent disease. Fertilize plants, once when setting out and when they start to bloom/set fruit. I don’t pinch suckers; the extra leaf coverage protects them from sunscald and provides more leaf/fruit ratio for photosynthesis.
Containers
Advantages, the soil is warmer, they are portable if you need to move them around to sunny spots, great for deck or patio plantings, or if you have terrible soil
Containers can be anything, from barrels, pots, old bathtubs, or tires just as long as they are large enough. Tomato plants have shallow roots but do need to spread. For most, a 5 gallon pot will work. There are varieties that have been bred for smaller pots. Interplant with flowers, lettuce or herbs, making sure that they have the same cultural and light requirements.
This is where polymer (Soil Moist) comes in handy, it holds moisture keeping the container from drying out so fast. Water everyday, sometimes twice depending on how hot it is.
Fertilizers
Sources: compost, manure, fish fertilizer, bone meal (steamed), banana peels, fish, seaweed extract, egg shells, Be careful with manures, since they can burn your plants if not well composted
I use a combination of these things but for the most part, I don't fertilize much after they are planted unless I see signs of a problem. too much nitrogen gives you big beautiful leaves and plants but not much fruit. (Think body builders and steroids.) I believe that if you feed the the soil, it will take care of the plant, so most of my fertilizing is taken care of the soil prep work.
BTW: Just a note, it is hard to diagnose some problems since everything seems to have yellowing leaves as a symptom, either cultural, nutritionally or disease wise.
Four most important nutrients: (N) nitrogen, (P) phosphorus, (K) potassium
nitrogen: leaf and stem growth (not too much, big beautiful leaves not many fruits)
sources: fish emulsion, blood meal, compost, manure (well rotted)
Symptoms: stunted growth and yellowing leaves
phosphorous: strong roots, formation of flowers and fruits, and disease resistance
sources: bone meal, chicken manure (well rotted)
Symptoms: stunted growth, thin stems and a purplish cast in underside of leaves
potassium: plant growth, disease resistance, health and vigor
sources: granite meal, greens, wood ashes
Symptoms: stunted growth, poor yields, yellow splotched foliage
calcium: leaf and cell wall growth. Plants need adequate moisture to utilize calcium
sources: bone meal, wood aches, ground limestone, crushed eggshells
Symptoms: blossom end rot
Problems
Although tomatoes are easy to grow, you can still run into problems.
VFNTASt are letters that you like to see in the tomatoes description. They refer to the diseases that they are resistant to.
Verticulum wilt
Fusarium wilt
Nematodes
Tobacco Mosaic
Alternaria Stem Canker
Stemphylium Gray Leaf Spot
Verticulum and Fusarium Wilt, leaves, curl up, turn yellow and drop off
Nematodes: tiny wormlike creatures that attack a plant’s root system, stunting growth and lowering disease resistance
Tobacco Mosaic, curling stunted leaves don’t smoke or touch plants without washing hands
Early Blight: very common, lower leaves affect first, brown spot surrounded by yellowing, mulch to prevent splashing of spores from ground
Too Hot, blossoms fall off or die (extended temps over 90)
Blossom End Rot, black, scabby looking bottom, caused by inconsistent watering and a lack of calcium
Another common question is about the ugly brown spot on the end of tomatoes, particularly paste tomatoes. That is Blossom End Rot (see above for the "why") Keep your watering consistent. When it happens, use crushed eggshells, it worked for me within a week of application. Didn't cure the already damaged ones but it prevented it from the new ones. Another options is to put a handful of crushed eggshells in the planitng hole. I will try that one this year and let you know.
Cat Facing, gnarled, abnormal formation of fruit, caused by cold temps, still edible, just ugly, some heirlooms are naturally that way
Damping off, a fungal disease that causes the stems to rot at the soil line. Use sterile soil and pots, a dusting of sphagnum moss or vermiculite on the surface, good light and circulation
Pests aphids and hornworms: Hand pick or use BT. You can also try to spray the plants free of aphids with a hose
It is important that you don’t put the infected plants in the compost pile. Bag them and toss into garbage.
Fungus problems: This year I am going to try something different. Once they have started to grow, prune the first couple of lower branches to keep them from touching the ground. This should help keep little beasties from coming on board through the leaves and help keep water droplets from bouncing up so much and infecting the plants with some nasty fungus. I will let you know if this works.
Slugs: Boy did I have them last year, little baby ones. I'd be keeping an eye on a large, luscious Virginia Sweet and just when I went to pick it, I'd turn it over and half of it would be gone. I was not a happy camper. This year, I am going to try using copper strips or wire around the base of my plant, think dracula and garlic. Other things to try are diatomacious earth or eggshells.
End Of Season
Here are several ways to motivate your tomatoes to ripen their fruit. Remember that the plants main purpose in life is to procreate and it panics when you do one or all of the following: reduce watering, shovel prune (dig around the outside of the plant about a foot away to sever some of the roots), and/or remove immature fruits and other blossoms. This stresses the plant.
Sources
Totally Tomatoes: 800-345-56977 www.totallytomato.com
NW Seed and Pet (local)
Tomato Growers Supply: 888-478-7333 www.tomatogrowers.com
Stokes: 800-263-7233 www.stokeseeds.com
Burpee: 800-888-1447 www.burpee.com