The keys to growing a better tomato
As prime tomato-transplanting time arrives this month up north, you may be in search of seedlings.
Or maybe you started your tomatoes from seed, or have young plants already in the ground or in a big pot on your balcony.
Whatever stage of the tomato timeline you’re at, you may be wondering: What needs to happen next, in the weeks before that first ripe tomato?
I asked Tom Stearns, who founded High Mowing Organic Seeds in 1996 and has grown a lot of tomatoes.
“The first seed I ever saved was a tomato’s,” said Stearns, who in the decades since has trialed heirlooms and hybrids at his Vermont farm, helping breeders from Cornell University, the University of New Hampshire, Oregon State University and elsewhere fine-tune the development of new organic varieties.
Stearns’ company, which has the largest selection of certified organic seed varieties in North America, has seen a 300% increase in home-garden sales since mid-March. With other seed sellers reporting similar upticks, that probably means a lot of people are trying their first vegetable gardens — and their first tomato plants.
He shared his advice.
Shop closer to the source
Big-box stores typically have limited choices.
“Farm stands and farmers markets will have much more diversity — more options, and more interesting options,”
Stearns said. Many independent garden centers also buy from local farmers if there is no stand nearby.
“Plus, the farmer knows the varieties,” Stearns said. “Not just their flavors, but how they grow in your area.
Ask about disease resistance and how big each variety gets — whether it’s a determinate or bush type, with less of a vining habit than rangy indeterminates that can grow as high as 10 feet.
Heat things up
Tomatoes want a fullsun spot, period. Warming the soil, especially in northern areas, provides these tender perennials of South American ancestry with additional comfort. A mulch of black plastic is an easy solution.
“There are not too many cases where I think the use of a fossil-fuel product is worth it on the homegarden scale,” Stearns said. “But tomatoes are one case where that has merit.”
Landscape fabric is a more resource-conscious alternative, he said: “A 20-foot strip can mulch a row of 10 plants for 10 years.”
Southern growers get a pass on this.
“If you’re in a warm place, where heat is not your limiting factor, go with straw,” Stearns advised.
Prevent soil splashing up
All mulches suppress weeds and conserve moisture, fostering what Stearns calls “tomato-hygiene management,” which is critical because tomatoes are susceptible to fungal, bacterial, viral and other diseases.
A clean mulch layer between the soil surface and the lowest leaves — the bottom rung on the ladder on which disease spores can splash up and start to climb the plant — is a key defense.
Plant deep — really deep
Tomatoes have the ability to produce roots off their stems, known as adventitious roots. Capitalize on this.
“A lot of tomato seedlings can come to you leggy and weak,” Stearns said. “So planting the seedling deep, halfway up the stalk, is good.”
Deeper rooting also helps with drought resistance later on.
Feed the soil, but don’t overfeed the plant
Although tomatoes are always classified as heavy feeders, this can be misleading. In well-prepared, fertile soil, a tomato plant is resourceful.
“Tomato root systems are enormous, and most varieties are pretty good at foraging for nutrients 3 or 4 feet away from the main stem,” Stearns said. At his farm, fish emulsion is added to the irrigation water, providing beneficial micronutrients.
The heavy-feeder reputation can prompt unnecessary fertilization.
“There is a risk that concentrated nitrogen fertilizer can promote green growth at the expense of fruit,” he said, “and even make plants vulnerable to disease.”
Fungal diseases like nothing better than a humid jungle. So make sure plants in a row are 18 inches apart, and leave at least 4 feet between rows with pruned plants that you have staked or trellised (or more with unpruned caged plants).
And don’t hesitate to prune because increased airflow and light help plants stay vigorous.
Offer the plants proper support
Cages, stakes and trellises can get tomatoes up off the ground. If you are not going to keep up with pruning, use a large cage.
But Stearns recommends trellising: “It promotes good yields; it’s easy to see what’s going on with your plants; and fruit is easy to harvest without damaging anything.”
There are various trellis techniques, including the Florida weave, where twine is woven, figureeight style, in and out of a series of posts set a foot deep in the tomato row (get the how-to on the High Mowing blog). As plants grow, more weaving is added every 8 inches or so up the posts.
“Again, think air circulation,” Stearns said. “Never do a tomato tepee, with several plants tied up to one support. Inside, it will be like 100% humidity — dew will never dry off in there.
“All the plants need is 24 hours at 100% humidity and disease is happening, disease you can help prevent.”
Mulch helps, but in the extreme situation of a fastdraining sandy soil in hot weather, your plants may require twice-weekly watering. Stick a finger into the soil to feel whether it is slightly moist — which it should be at all times.
Watch for trouble signs
“Tomato problems can kind of sneak up on you,” Stearns said. “You can walk out one day and the plants look fine, and a week later they’ve melted.”
One thing to look for and remove at once: yellowing leaves. Dispose of affected foliage at a distance from the garden. The Missouri Botanical Garden’s fact sheet includes photos of common foliage diseases.
What if you have flowers but no fruit (or neither)?
While tomatoes are technically self-pollinators, with male and female flower parts in each blossom, wind movement or a bumblebee helps pollen move from anther to stigma (the receptive female part).
Sometimes temperature extremes, or even high humidity that makes the pollen too sticky, can interfere, and flowers don’t get pollinated thoroughly, or even drop off.