Tomato Care

Checklist by Joe Lamp'l

The Key Steps Every Gardener Should Take to

Sidestep or Minimize Common Tomato Issues
 Table of Contents

INTRODUCTION 1

Step 1: Mulch 2

Step 2: Support 4

Step 3: Prune 6

Step 4: Water 8

Step 5: Feed 10

Step 6: Monitor 12

Step 6: Act 14

CONCLUSION 16

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 Introduction

I LOVE GROWING TOMATOES DESPITE THE FACT THAT THEY ARE

NOTORIOUS FOR BEING A LOT OF WORK IN THE GARDEN.

In the early days of summer when everything is growing strong, looking

great and setting fruit, it’s easy to start feeling overconfident. Yet, those
of us with a few seasons under our belt know that this is the calm before
the storm. No doubt about it, tomatoes are high maintenance.
Fortunately, they are worth it, and there are some solid steps you can
take for your best tomato plants ever.

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 Step 1
Mulch
Mulch is the unsung hero in the garden.

Mulch is sometimes viewed as an aesthetic element, and it’s

very true that a layer of mulch can make your landscape beds
look sharp. However, beauty is really just an added bonus. The
benefits of mulch run much deeper than appearance. It's
especially helpful when growing tomatoes due to its ability to
prevent soil-borne diseases.
Mulch tends to be an unsung hero in the garden. Yet, mulch is one of the most
powerful tools that an organic gardener has at his or her disposal. I can’t imagine any
garden of mine without it.

A good 1-2” layer of mulch under your tomato plants will provide many benefits.

Protect the soil and feeder roots from drying out (so you use less water)
Prevent soil erosion
Prevent weeds (since the weed seeds are blocked from the light they need to
germinate)
Prevent disease

When it comes to tomatoes, that last benefit is the most critical, since tomatoes are
highly susceptible to soil-borne disease. Disease is often transmitted to tomato foliage
by splashing up from the soil. When mulch is in place, the disease remains trapped
underneath and is less likely to affect your plant. So, don’t forget this important step
in your garden.

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 Step 2
Support
Most tomato varieties require some form of support.

Indeterminate varieties are the prime example. Since they are

actually vines, they will continue to grow and put on fruit until
they are killed by a heavy frost.

Determinate varieties will remain smaller – only about 3’ tall and

3’ wide, but they set all their fruit in a short period. That fruit
weight can put a lot of stress on the plant’s branches. Even a
dwarf variety – which has the fruiting properties of an
indeterminate plant but with half the vertical growth rate – will
require support just to help the plant bear the fruit weight
without damage.
Supporting tomato plant growth also keeps foliage elevated and at lesser risk of
disease. As with mulch, support will prevent soil contact and really cut down on
issues. When foliage is elevated, it’s also protected from slugs, rabbits, and other
garden invaders. Lastly, a supported tomato uses less garden real estate. Since the
plant growth is kept in a contained vertical space, we as gardeners can make the most
efficient use of the area available for growing other plants.

So, what is the best method for support? Well, that depends somewhat on which type
of plant you are growing. Flimsy, store-bought cones aren't worth their weight in
compost when it comes to supporting heirloom indeterminates, although they can be
a reasonable option for determinate and dwarf varieties. Trellising and staking don't
always get the job done either.

Fortunately, I finally developed my ultimate tomato cage using livestock panels.

My cages are strong, tall, attractive, easy to store in off-season, and they will last me
for years. They’re an easy and inexpensive DIY project for any gardener, so I invite you
to check out the How-to video.

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 Step 3
Pruning
Pruning tomatoes is all about personal
preference and experimentation.

If you are new to gardening you may not realize that there are
many different methods and schools of thought for growing a
tomato. It’s commonly believed that removing the suckers from
tomato plants throughout the season will allow the plant to
focus its energy on fruit production, but that’s a garden myth.
Removing suckers is primarily about managing growth. There
are benefits and drawbacks to sucker removal.
What is a sucker?
Suckers grow from the area where each stem of leaves joins the main stem. The
sucker develops into a new fruiting plant stem. If left unchecked – a new fruiting stem
will develop from the location of every stem of leaves.

Since a sucker will become another stem, a single sucker will double a plant’s fruit
production. As suckers continue to develop and are left on the plant, fruiting potential
multiplies exponentially. So more stems can be a good thing. However this unchecked
growth will also take up much more room and can inhibit light and air from reaching
the inner area of the plant.

How are suckers removed?

While they are young – up to about 6” long – you can simply snap the suckers off
where they meet the main stem. You can use suckers to produce new plants by
placing the sucker in a glass of water to root. You can also place the sucker directly
into a pot of soil for transplanting later (my preferred method), or plant directly into
the soil. Either way, keep the area moist and shaded for about 10 days. After a couple
of weeks, it will have rooted and will grow and fruit just like the parent plant.

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 Step 4
Water
Proper watering can make or break your tomato season.

When you consider a juicy tomato is actually full of water, it

stands to reason that the amount of water available during
plant growth would be critical. Tomato plants are very water
sensitive. They perform best with consistent watering, so
whenever possible, a great option is to install a soaker hose or
drip irrigation with an automatic timer.
How you water matters as much as how much you water.

Soaker hoses are easy to find and are placed along the base of your plants. They
slowly ooze water from their porous surface. Drip irrigation systems also provide a
low, slow supply of water. The materials you need are readily available and can be
inexpensive and easy to install – depending somewhat on the size of your garden.
Both these methods will provide a consistent rate of moisture that will keep your
tomatoes happy.

If drip irrigation isn’t an option for you, just take measures to water appropriately on a
regular basis and to be mindful of when weather turns hotter and drier. Soil around
your tomato plants should remain moist (not dry or soggy) like a sponge that has
been wrung out.

Keep water at the base of tomato plants and off of plant foliage. There are many
diseases which are airborne and adhere to damp foliage. If you must water with an
overhead sprinkler, be sure to do that during the dew period of early morning hours.
That way, the foliage of your tomato plant will have more time to dry off throughout
the day.

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 Step 5
Feed
What do you need to feed your tomatoes?

Tomato plants are heavy feeders – meaning they extract from

your soil through their roots a high quantity of nutrients. These
plants are often growing faster than others in your garden,
while also producing flowers, and then expending more energy
to turn those flowers into fruit; so it’s easy to understand why
they might need a bit more nutrition.
All that work takes energy. So while I typically feed my soil to feed my plants, I do
provide my tomatoes with a supplemental feeding of organic nutrients (like fish
emulsion) a couple of times during the season.

How often you feed your tomato plant depends on where they are being grown. If
water is draining from the soil around your tomato, there’s a good chance it’s also
leaching out some of the nutrients available in that soil (especially water-soluble /
liquid fertilizers). So, plants grown in containers will require more regular feedings –
once a week is a good practice.
On the other hand, assuming good soil fertility, tomatoes grown in a raised bed or in
the ground will less frequent feedings during the season since water and nutrients
tend to stay around longer.While liquid concentrate or soluble fertilizers deliver
nutrients quicker, they're more prone to leaching no matter where you apply them.
For a long-lasting, slow release supply of nutrients, I recommend adding dry organic
fertilizers to your soil as needed.
What about the common practices of adding to the planting hole materials like
Epsom salts, eggshells, or other items that are anecdotally believed to provide
calcium that tomatoes need?

Although these methods are commonly shared by gardeners as a means to prevent

blossom end rot, this is a popular garden myth. The key to preventing blossom end
rot is consistent soil moisture. It's that simple.
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 Step 6
Monitor
Proactively monitor your garden to head off trouble.

Tomatoes are more prone to disease than most other edibles in

your garden. So, take time in your garden regularly to look over
your plants and their fruit for early warning signs. Early
proactive measures can make all the difference in your season.

The lower leaves on your plant are often where you'll see the
first signs of a problem. Watch for yellowing, leaf curl, stippling,
brown spots or other discoloration.
The most common tomato diseases include:

Surface soil-borne fungi – Septoria Leaf spot and early blight

Fungi present in the soil which are taken up by plant roots – Fusarium wilt and
Verticillium wilt
Microscopic worms – Nematodes
Viruses spread through exposed plants and insects – Tobacco mosaic and
cucumber mosaic

The susceptibility of an heirloom tomato plant to diseases varies widely by variety.

Brandywine, for example, is particularly vulnerable to Fusarium Wilt. While heirloom
plants have varying degrees of natural resistance to disease, some hybrid plants are
bred to be tolerant or resistant to specific diseases.

When you buy a hybrid plant that has been bred for certain disease resistance, you
should see a letter or series of letters to indicate which diseases that variety is
resistant to. For example, the Bush Early Girl Tomato will be marked with V,F,N,T –
meaning it has been bred to be resistant to Verticillium (V) and Fusarium (F) wilts,
Tobacco mosaic (T), and Nematodes (N).

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 Step 7
Act
When action is needed.

Sometimes you need to take action by simply pruning out a

diseased stem or picking off pests by hand. Removing the
problem area or visible pests may not stop the problem, but it
will certainly slow the progression of it. Your garden will never
be a pristine environment, so expect some foliage damage. Just
remain observant to prevent the situation from getting out of
hand.

There will be situations when it’s best to remove the plant

altogether – just cut your losses. If your plant develops
Fusarium wilt or a late blight, remove the plant before it
spreads that disease to its plant neighbors.
Never add diseased plant material to your compost pile – dispose of it and get it off
of your property.

Physical removal and disposal is always the safest option. In addition, when making
cuts to remove diseased leaves and stems, keep physical contact to a minimum, avoid
working when foliage is wet, and spray cutting blades with alcohol before moving on
to another plant to reduce the chance of spreading disease spores.

Action might also be needed to help fruit production along. It can be so frustrating
when you observe lots of flower clusters on your plants that just turn brown and fail
to produce fruit. Tomato flowers can be surprisingly sensitive to less-than-ideal
conditions for pollination. If the weather is particularly hot or humid, that condition
may cause pollination to fail.

You may just need to have patience. As the season goes on, new flowers which
develop may be flowering at a time that better promotes fruit development. So, what
to do if the problem persists? When you observe flowers beginning to open (before
they turn bright yellow), gently tap the flower stem to help promote pollen transfer to
improve the likelihood of pollination and greater fruit set.

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 Conclusion

WHO KNEW GROWING TOMATOES COULD BE SO COMPLEX?

Actually, it’s this complexity that keeps us on our toes in the garden and
which keep things interesting. So – keep experimenting. If something
isn’t doing well for you in spite of your diligent efforts, don’t chalk it up
to failure. Instead, document your experience and try another variety
and/or method the following season. You will find what works best for
you. Just keep trying.

For a much deeper dive into tomato care and culture, check out our
course in the Online Gardening Academy: Growing Epic Tomatoes.

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