The tomato stands high among those vegetables that furnish abundant food from limited space with small effort and little failure hazard.
A single plant may often yield as much as 20 pounds of fruit, glowing with color, tempting to the taste, and rich in vitamins.
Its uses make it a triple gift to the table, whether used fresh or cooked or as a condiment.
Few vegetables are more easily canned or offer more toothsome variety to the winter diet.
Tomatoes Need Good Culture To Thrive
While the tomato thrives under widely divergent conditions and seldom fails to reward the planter, it responds readily to good culture and languishes if the essentials are not provided.
Good Soil Conditions
Cosmopolitan in its adaptability to various soils, it must have conditions that will make for good vine growth.
It will not do well on shaded or poorly drained land.
Though relatively tolerant of acidity, there must be nitrogen enough to give good vine growth before a heavy set of fruit occurs.
If tip branches spindle out and begin to show a yellowish cast, it is time for a shot of life, giving “N” in the form of the following:
- Sodium nitrate
- Ammonium sulfate
The nitrate is better if the soil is still cool and wet, as it is immediately available to the plant.
Ammonium sulfate must be transformed to nitrate, and this goes on more readily in midseason when the soil is well-warmed.
A half-ounce per plant of the nitrate is a good application and about a third less of the sulfate.
Both may be dissolved in water and applied, but this is unnecessary.
It is easier to sprinkle the material over a circle of a 4’ foot diameter around the plant, or it may be sprinkled along the row.
A gentle rain, a light watering, or a shallow raking or hoeing will adequately work the soluble material into the soil.
Growing Tomatoes In Various Containers
Growing plants to set in the garden is fun and perfectly feasible, with a box in the kitchen window for the seedling stage and a bit of a cold frame in the back yard for further growth.
But most people do well to buy plants.
I’d rather have a dozen plants in 4″ inch pots, stocky and with well-developed tops, than twice the number that have been crowded and have grown a foot or more tall.
They should not be so hardened that they will not start quickly into growth when set in the garden.
It is well to avoid disturbing the roots, but commercial growers often transplant without keeping the traditional soil ball.
I like to make a hole, place the plant, add a cup or two of water, then pack the soil about the roots.
This water does double duty, irrigating if the soil is dry but, perhaps more important, making a closely puddled contact between soil and root so that the plant may readily absorb moisture and begin to grow at once.
Different Tomato Varieties
The many varieties of tomatoes offer a wide choice.
Chatham is an excellent first early for northern climates though the vine is small and the fruits are not very large – say 3 to 6 ounces.
Valiant is standby and comes in about with Victor, with its short-branching vines.
Stokesdale is a good main cropper for the North.
And where the season is longer, Rutgers yields heavily of deep, well-colored, and solid fruits.
Jubilee is an orange-yellow and not as tart in flavor as the standard.
Then for playthings, there are Tiny Tim for the window box, Cherry and Pear for a novel touch on the salad plate, and the Italian Plum with its high solid matter content.
New Hampshire 50 is a new one with very high vitamin C content. And these are only a few.
So “Pay your money and take your choice.”
Pruning and Training Tomatoes
To prune and train or not is a question that can be answered two ways—yes or no—and both are good.
A dozen trained plants may be grown on a fence or near a wall when space might be lacking to let them run on the ground.
Such plants may be set as close as 18” inches apart, and they are easy to care for and pick.
They keep the fruits off the soil and show less injury from the following:
- wireworms
- snails
- soil-borne decay
They may be more subject to blossom-end rot.
General Training Methods For Tomatoes
There are two general methods of training tomatoes.
The easiest and the one adopted by most market gardeners calls for the following tips:
- A stoutly anchored post or 2” inch pipe at the end of each row.
- Then a wire is strung at the top and another about 6” inches from the ground.
- A strong twine is tied top and bottom.
- The plant is twisted around it once or twice a week, snapping off side shoots simultaneously.
- The lower wire may be omitted, tying a loose loop or a bowline about the tomato stem near the ground.
Proper Pruning Techniques For Tomatoes
Pruning with a knife is not good as it may carry mosaic or virus from plant to plant.
Under the other method are the following tips:
- Put a stake for each plant, and tie it with soft twine or torn rags, taking care not to strangle the plants.
- Tie tightly around the stake first, and then tie loosely about the plant’s stem.
Under good conditions, a plant will carry 6 or even 8 clusters.
Use A Heavy Mulch For A Good Scheme
When tomatoes run on the ground, a good scheme is to give them a heavy mulch, spreading the material just before the plants start to run.
This keeps weeds down and keeps fruit clean.
Last summer, I used pine needles on a few plants and found no harm.
Proper Watering For Tomatoes
Blossom-end rot is often disturbing.
This seems to be due generally to a water deficit.
Also, when rain or watering follows a dry spell, there is likely to be a good deal of cracking of fruits, although the whole story is not yet well understood.
Faithful watering and a bit of nitrogen as needed will keep plants in bearing over a longer period than otherwise.
Ideal Temperatures For Tomatoes
Tomatoes do not set fruits well when night temperature goes below 60° degrees Fahrenheit.
In such weather, fruit-setting hormones have been found useful to ensure early tomatoes.
This treatment is not needed later in the season.