How to Successfully Grow Tomato Plants

Healthy tomato plants start with strong seedlings.

There's nothing quite like the taste and scent of a homegrown tomato. Even people who don't have the time, space or inclination to grow a vegetable garden manage to squeeze in a couple of tomato plants into their surroundings. Growing larger, healthier looking and more abundant tomatoes at home is possible if you follow a few well-accepted guidelines..

Difficulty:

Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need

• Tomato seeds or plants
• Compost
• Fertilizer
• Floating row cover
• Tomato cage or stakes

1. Purchase small, healthy tomato seedlings at your local gardening center. Stay away from mature plants that have flowers on them already. If you prefer to grow tomatoes from seed, start the seeds indoors about six weeks before the last frost of spring. Provide them with a strong light source so they can develop into hardy seedlings.

2. Prepare the garden bed in the spring after the last frost date. Mix compost into the soil and test the pH. The pH of the soil should be between 6.0 and 7.0. Correct the pH in the soil before planting if necessary. Blend any amendments into the top eight inches of the soil.

3. Cover the planting bed with black plastic to warm up the soil. Tomatoes are warm-weather plants that don't like cold weather. Leave the plastic in place and cut holes where you plan to plant the tomato plants.

4. Harden off the tomato seedlings after the last frost. Move them outdoors in a protected area for a couple of hours a day, gradually increasing the time the seedlings are outside. When ready to plant, dig a hole and set the tomato plant into the soil as deep as possible, leaving only the top four inches of the plant above the soil line. Remove the leaves below the soil line. Then fill in the soil around the plant and water it well every day for the first week.
   Space the tomato plants 15 to 20 inches apart.

5. Place a protective collar around the bottom of each tomato plant as you are planting it in the ground. The collar should extend an inch or two below the soil line and above ground to stop cutworms from chewing the plant off at the base. Make a collar from a plastic cup with the bottom cut out.

6. Install a floating row cover to keep the plants warmer than the outside air and keep pests away. Leave the floating row cover in place day and night while the plants are developing. Remove it when the plants begin to blossom, as bees need access to the plants to pollinate them.

7. Support the growing plants with tomato cages or stakes.

8. Check on the tomato plants once or twice each week. Water them at ground level as needed. Fertilize the tomato plants every week or two. Watch for insects and disease.

9. Watch for signs of fungus -- those black or brown spots that appear on the plants. Dispose of leaves with fungus so it doesn't spread to the rest of the plants. Apply an organic fungicide or sulfur if you frequently get this problem.

10. Watch for black or green droppings or munched leaves, as this is the classic sign of tomato hornworms. The 2-inch long tomato hornworms blend in nicely with the tomato leaves but they can be found if you look hard enough. Dispose of all tomato hornworms that you can find except for those that carry white parasitic wasp eggs on their backs. The parasitic wasps are beneficial and eventually kill the host.

11. Water the tomato plants consistently, but not constantly. Too much water causes ripening tomatoes to develop cracks.

References

• NC State University: Growing Tomatoes for Home Use
• University of Massachusetts Extension: