When to Plant TomatoesThe variety of tomatoes you choose to grow is as important as knowing when to plant tomatoes and how to care for them. You should think about issues such as shape, size, firmness, plant growing habits and flavor. Some tomatoes are "jointed", meaning the stalk stays attached when picked. Determinate tomatoes grow to three feet high and then produce a concentrated crop. Indeterminate varieties can grow to fifteen feet or more.  Tomato Planting Times When you have chosen your preferred tomato variety, you need to know about tomato planting times. If you are growing your tomatoes in the early spring, you should condition your plants for the spring weather. This means lowering the temperature of the plant throughout the day and giving it less water and fertilizer. If you do this a couple of weeks before planting, the tomato plants will be stronger. Leaving them out in the day and taking them in at night is a good idea. Do not plant your tomatoes until the danger of frost has passed. Knowing growing tips for tomato plants relies a little on guess work and also the instructions on the pack or stakes will tell you both when to plant tomatoes and how far apart to plant them. When your plants are between five and eight inches high, you should plant them, covering the root ball. Tomato planting times vary a little, depending on the variety, but if you follow these guidelines, your plants should be fine.
Growing Soil for Tomatoes You need to till the soil, apply a fertilizer and work it into the soil before planting your tomatoes. Use two or three pounds of fertilizer per hundred square feet. If the soil is poor, it is a good idea to use more fertilizer to enrich the soil and give your tomatoes a great chance. Watering Your Tomatoes The soil should be kept moist around the tomato root area to prevent the plants from wilting. Half an inch of water a week is usually enough. Make sure you give your tomatoes enough time before nightfall when you are watering them. Dealing with Diseases There are various diseases and pests which a tomato grower needs to be aware of. Inclement weather can affect tomatoes as well as diseases. Tomato diseases do not often kill the plants but you need to catch diseases early to treat them. Here are some of the most common tomato diseases and how to deal with them: Early blight, which shows as dark spots with concentric rings, can affect the stems, fruit and foliage of your plants. If your tomatoes have early blight, you need to remove affected leaves and clean the garden debris because blight is soil-borne.  Bacterial Speck is a bacterial infection. If your tomato plants have small, raised, dark, white-bordered spots you need to apply copper fungicide. Buckeye rot is common in wet periods in southern states. Rotten areas on your tomatoes will appear soaked but not dark. The spots enlarge and develop concentric rings. The spots are smooth. You need to remove the affected fruit and stop future fruit from touching the soil. A common tomato fungus is anthracnose. Round, sunken spots will appear on the fruit and grow in size. Wet weather spreads this disease faster. Copper sprays are helpful, as is removing the lower leaves so they do not touch the soil. Water the base of the plant only and not the leaves. Now you know how to plant tomatoes, when to plant tomatoes and what to do if your plants have a disease. Tomatoes are easy to grow as long as you keep an eye on them and keep the soil moist. |
