Tips for growing bigger tomatoes
TOMATOES are not only my favourite backyard crop, they’re also the most popular among American home gardeners.
And it’s no wonder: Have you ever compared a supermarket tomato to a backyard one? The homegrown scent alone will transport you straight to summer.
Another benefit of growing your own tomatoes is variety. Seeds for yellow, black, pear-shaped and even giant tomatoes – which you won’t typically find in the produce aisle – are readily available in catalogues and many garden centres.
Although tomato plants can be a little fussy, they aren’t difficult to grow. Give them consistent watering (deep and infrequent trumps a daily sprinkle), well-draining soil (incorporate generous helpings of compost into beds or containers at planting time), plenty of heat and light (direct, unobstructed sunshine for a minimum of six hours daily is best) and a slow-release, balanced fertiliser formulated for tomatoes.
Keeping beds well weeded will remove breeding grounds for pests and diseases while eliminating competition for nutrients and water.
Tomatoes thrive best in soil with a ph level between 6.0 and 6.8. Test kits are worth their cost and will last for many years. If the ph reading is lower than 6.0, incorporate about two cups of dolomitic lime into the soil for each plant, working it about 8-12 inches (2030cm) deep.
So, you want to grow a whopper? Follow these seven expert tips for success:
1. Select large, indeterminate varieties, which are all genetically programmed to produce large fruit.
2. Start seeds early indoors and transplant seedlings into larger containers several times before moving them outdoors. Plant them deeply each time, removing leaves from the bottom one-third of plants and burying stems up to the next set of leaves. This will produce stronger plants.
3. Remove new flowers that develop at the top of the plant when older fruits near the bottom begin to grow. This will force the plant’s energy into producing fewer but larger tomatoes.
4. Be vigilant! Monitor plants daily for pests and diseases – and react to problems quickly to keep plants from becoming stressed.
5. Remove suckers – the small shoots that grow at the junction where the plant’s stems and branches meet – to prevent them from sapping the plant’s energy and shading developing fruit beneath them.
6. Prune plants to retain only one main branch instead of allowing them to develop into shrubby forms.
7. Be diligent: Water, fertilise and weed regularly. – AP