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Growing Tomatoes
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Organic TomatoesThe tomato is a savory, typically red, edible fruit, as well as the plant which bears it. Originating in South America, the tomato was spread around the world following the Spanish colonization of the Americas, and its many varieties are now widely grown, often in greenhouses in cooler climates. The tomato fruit is consumed in diverse ways, including raw, as an ingredient in many dishes and sauces, and in drinks. While it is botanically a fruit, it is considered a vegetable for culinary purposes, which has caused some confusion. The fruit is rich in lycopene, which may have beneficial health effects. The tomato belongs to the nightshade family. The plants typically grow to 1–3 metres in height and have a weak stem that often sprawls over the ground and vines over other plants. Click Here to watch Growing Tomatoes Video Growing TomatoesIs it too early too be thinking about your organic tomatos? Not if you're the competitive tomato gardening type who wants the earliest and sweetest tomatoes on the block. Unfortunately, growing great organic tomatoes doesn't just happen. Sample some of the science experiments on sale at your grocer's this winter, if you don't believe it. Start early with some time tested tomato growing tips to insure your bragging rights this year. If you are starting tomatoes from seed, be sure to give the seedlings room to branch out. Close conditions inhibit their growth, so transplant them as soon as they get their first true leaves and move them into 4" pots about 2 weeks after that. Tomato seedlings will need either strong, direct sunlight or 14-18 hours under grow lights. Place the young plants only a couple of inches from florescent grow lights. Plant your tomatoes outside in the sunniest part of your vegetable plot. Bury tomato plants deeper than they come in the pot, all the way up to a few top leaves. Tomatoes are able to develop roots all along their stems. You can either dig a deeper hole or simply dig a shallow tunnel and lay the plant sideways. It will straighten up and grow toward the sun. Be careful not to drive your pole or cage into the stem. Growing Tomatoes can be a challenge at times. Tomatoes are actually vines. They cannot support themselves enough to grow upright, especially when laden down with fruits. You could allow your tomato plants to sprawl on the ground, but they will take up a good deal of space and will be prone to more insect and disease problems. Unless you are growing your tomatoes in hanging baskets, it’s a good idea to stake them. Don’t skimp on the stakes. Organic Tomatoes get tall and heavy. And stake at the same time you plant, to avoid stabbing the roots later. The most important maintenance for tomatoes is to make sure they get steady water throughout the growing season. Lack of water can cause blossom drop. Drench and drought will cause cracking. It’s hard to control water during a rainy season, but at least try to avoid drench and drought. Whether or not to prune your tomato plants is a matter for debate. Determinate tomatoes require no pruning, but indeterminate tomato plants send out suckers that take nutrients from the fruits. If you have only a few tomato plants, it is worth taking the time to thin out the suckers while they are small. It’s best to start your tomato plants in a rich soil, with plenty of compost. If your soil is on the poor side, you can also add some fertilizer at planting time. Don’t over do it or the roots may burn. Some supplemental fertilizing can be done mid-season. Side dressing with composted manure is sufficient, but you can use any plant food labeled for use on vegetables. There are some good, slow release organic fertilizers that can be worked into the soil at the beginning of the season. There are also fertilizers labeled specially for tomatoes, but any vegetable food is fine. Just make sure it’s not too high in nitrogen, or you’ll get a lot of leaves and few fruits. Click Here to watch Growing Tomatoes Video While blossom end rot is often blamed on a lack of calcium, don’t be too quick to add calcium or lime to your soil. New studies are showing that it’s not a calcium deficiency in the soil that is the problem. It’s a lack of water to carry the calcium throughout the plant. Always test your soil before adding lime. Mulch the tomatoes for highest yields. Place a 2-3 inch layer of organic material such as compost, leaves or hay around the growing plants. Mulching helps stop weed growth and water loss from the soil. You can let tomatoes grow on the ground, or support them by staking or caging. When staking tomatoes, put the stake in shortly after transplanting to lessen root damage. A 6-foot stake set 10 inches deep in the soil will work well. As the plant grows taller, tie it loosely to the stake every 12 inches with pieces of rag or twine. See figure 3. Prune the staked tomatoes to produce a more orderly vine. Remove the small shoots which grow out of the point where each leaf joins the main stem. Remove the shoots by bending them sideways until they snap. See figure 4. For two main vines, remove all but the lowest shoot. It will develop into a second branch.  Click Banner For This Information Caging is another way to train tomato plants. You can make a good cage with a piece of concrete reinforcement wire 5 feet tall and 6 feet wide. Put cages over the young plants. Push the cages down into the soil to keep them from blowing over. This way, the vine has support without being tied. See figure 5. Tomatoes growing in cages do not need to be pruned. When the first fruits are about 1 inch in size, scatter 1 level tablespoon of fertilizer around each plant. Scatter it about 6 inches from the stalks. Work it lightly into the soil. Water the plants after fertilizing. Fertilize them every 3-4 weeks with 1-2 level tablespoons of fertilizer. If you need to control weeds, then cultivate or hoe around the plants. Work the soil only deep enough to kill the weeds. Do not hurt the tomato plant roots. Click Here to watch Growing Tomatoes Video  Click to see more! Copyright 2011 OrganicTomatoes.biz |
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