How to Plant a Tomato and Prevent Transplant Shock

Treat your tomatoes right and they'll suffer little shock when you transplant them into your garden.

Although relatively easy to grow, tomatoes (Lycopersicon lycopersicum) can suffer transplant shock unless you coddle them a bit before and after transplanting them into the garden bed. Along with protecting them and ensuring they have adequate water while they adjust to their new homes, try not to disturb their roots too much when you plant them because this can also give the tiny plants a bit of a shock.

Things You'll Need

• Shovel
• Rake
• Trowel
• 15-30-15 water-soluble fertilizer
• Wax paper
• Shade cloth and metal hoops

Instructions

1. Harden off tomato transplants before setting them in the ground. Put them outdoors in the shade for a few hours the first day. Each day, leave them outdoors a little longer until they are outdoors all day and night, after about four days. Then move them into the sun for a few hours longer each day for another four days. After this, they have toughened up and adjusted to life outside of the greenhouse.

2. Loosen the soil in the garden bed by turning it over with a shovel. Rake the surface smooth when finished.

3. Dig a small hole with a garden trowel. Remove the tomato from the pot and place its roots into the hole. Set the plant slightly deeper than it was growing in the nursery, so its first set of leaves are only a few inches above the soil.

4. Apply 1 cup of fertilizer solution to the roots before backfilling the hole. Use water-soluble fertilizer labeled 15-30-15, mixed at the rate of 2 tbsp. for each gallon of water.

5. Place a wax paper collar around the stem of the plant to guard against cut worms. Make the collar out of wax paper folded so it is 3 inches high and long enough to encircle the plant about 2 inches away from its stem. Bury the collar 1 inch below ground and leave 2 inches above ground.

6. Protect the tomato transplants from the hot sun for a few days to allow them to become acclimated to their new home. Shade them with a shade cloth draped over metal hoops, ensuring that the cloth does not touch the plants.

Tips & Warnings

• Transplant tomatoes into the garden bed in early evening or on a cloudy day. This will help keep the heat from getting to them while they adjust.

References

• University of Missouri Extension; Growing Home Garden Tomatoes; David H. Trinklein; 2010