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Growing Tomatoes
Planting, Growing, and Harvesting Tomatoes
Planting, Growing, and Harvesting Tomatoes
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Enjoy our tomato-growing page covering planting through harvesting—and even tomato recipes!
America’s favorite vegetable is fairly easy to grow and will produce a bumper crop with proper care. Its uses are numerous, however, tomato plants are susceptible to pests and diseases so proper plant care is important.
Are tomatoes a fruit or a vegetable?
Though we technically eat the fruit of the tomato plant, the tomato is typically treated as a vegetable in eating and cooking and, thus, commonly categorized as such.
Enjoy our post, “Tomatoes: Fruit or Vegetable?”
Planting
When to Plant Tomatoes
- If you’re starting tomatoes from seed (versus transplants), you’ll want to start your seeds indoors 6 to 8 weeks before the average last spring frost date. See our Planting Calendar for seed-starting dates specific to your area and our article on “Tomatoes From Seed the Easy Way” for more tips.
- Transplant seedlings after the last spring frost when the soil has warmed. See our Planting Calendar for suggested transplanting dates.
Selecting and Preparing a Planting Site
- Select a site with full sun and well-drained soil. For northern regions, it is VERY important that your site receives at least 6 hours of daily sunlight. For southern regions, light afternoon shade will help tomatoes survive and thrive.
- Two weeks before transplanting tomato plants outdoors, dig soil to about 1 foot deep and mix in aged manure or compost. Learn more about preparing soil for planting.
- Some sort of support system is recommended, but sprawling plants can also produce fine crops if you have the space and if the weather cooperates.
How to Plant Tomatoes
- Harden off seedlings or transplants for a week before planting in the garden. Set young plants outdoors in the shade for a couple of hours the first day, gradually increasing the amount of time the plants are outside each day to include some direct sunlight. Learn more about hardening off seedlings.
- Plant transplants about 2 feet apart.
- Place tomato stakes or cages in the soil at the time of planting to avoid damaging roots later on. Staking keeps developing tomato fruit off the ground, while caging lets the plant hold itself upright. Learn how to build stakes and other tomato supports.
- Pinch off a few of the lower branches on transplants, and plant the root ball deep enough so that the remaining lowest leaves are just above the surface of the soil.
- If your transplants are leggy, you can remedy this by burying up to ⅔ of the plant, including the lower sets of leaves. Tomato stems have the ability to grow roots from the buried stems.
- Water well to reduce shock to the roots.
Growing Tomatoes in Containers
- Use a large pot or container with drainage holes in the bottom.
- Use loose, well-draining soil. We recommend a good potting mix with added organic matter.
- Plant one tomato plant per pot. Choose from bush or dwarf varieties; many cherry tomatoes grow well in pots.
- Taller varieties may need to be staked.
- Place the pot in a sunny spot with 6 to 8 hours of full sun a day.
- Keep soil moist. Containers will dry out more quickly than the garden soil, so check daily and provide extra water during a heat wave.
Care
Tomato Plant Care
- Water generously the first few days.
- Water well throughout the growing season, about 2 inches per week during the summer. Water deeply for a strong root system.
- Water in the early morning. This gives plant the moisture it needs to make it through a hot day. Avoid watering late afternoon or evening.
- Mulch five weeks after transplanting to retain moisture and to control weeds. Mulch also keeps soil from splashing the lower tomato leaves.
- To help tomatoes through periods of drought, find some flat rocks and place one next to each plant. The rocks prevent water from evaporating from the soil.
- Side dress plants with fertilizer or compost every two weeks starting when the tomato fruits are about 1 inch in diameter.
- If using stakes, prune plants by pinching off suckers (side stems) so that only a couple of branches are growing from each plant. The suckers grow between the branch and the main stem.
- Tie growing stems to stakes with twine or soft string.
- As the plants grow, trim all the lower leaves off the bottom 12 inches of the stem. This helps to keep diseases from spreading from the soil to foliage.
- Practice crop rotation from year to year to prevent diseases that may have overwintered.
- Check out this post for even more tomato tips.
Pests/Diseases
Tomatoes are susceptible to insect pests, especially tomato hornworms and whiteflies. Link to our pest & problem pages below.
- Aphids
- Flea Beetles
- Tomato Hornworm
- Whiteflies
- Blossom-End Rot
- Late Blight is a fungal disease that can strike during any part of the growing season. It will cause grey, moldy spots on leaves and fruit which later turn brown. The disease is spread and supported by persistent damp weather. This disease will overwinter, so all infected plants should be destroyed. See our blog on “Avoid Blight With the Right Tomato.”
- Mosaic Virus creates distorted leaves and causes young growth to be narrow and twisted, and the leaves become mottled with yellow. Unfortunately, infected plants should be destroyed (but don’t put them in your compost pile).
- Cracking: When fruit growth is too rapid, the skin will crack. This usually occurs due to uneven watering or uneven moisture from weather conditions (very rainy periods mixed with dry periods). Keep moisture levels constant with consistent watering and mulching.
See our post about tomato diseases and disorders.
Also, watch our video on troubleshooting tomato problems.
Harvest/Storage
How to Harvest and Store Tomatoes
- Leave your tomatoes on the vine as long as possible. If any fall off before they appear ripe, place them in a paper bag with the stem up and store them in a cool, dark place.
- Never place tomatoes on a sunny windowsill to ripen; they may rot before they are ripe!
- The perfect tomato for picking will be firm and very red in color, regardless of size, with perhaps some yellow remaining around the stem. If you grow orange, yellow or any other color tomato, wait for the tomato to turn the correct color.
- If your tomato plant still has fruit when the first hard frost threatens, pull up the entire plant and hang it upside down in the basement or garage. Pick tomatoes as they ripen.
- If temperatures start to drop and your tomatoes aren’t ripening, watch this video for tips.
- Never refrigerate fresh tomatoes. Doing so spoils the flavor and texture that make up that garden tomato taste.
- To freeze, core fresh unblemished tomatoes and place them whole in freezer bags or containers. Seal, label, and freeze. The skins will slip off when they defrost.
- You can harvest seeds from some tomato varieties. Learn how here.
See more on properly storing tomatoes and other vegetables.
Recommended Varieties
Tomatoes grow in all sizes, from tiny “currant” to “cherry” to large “beefsteak.” There are thousands of tomato varieties to suit different climates and tastes. Here are a few of our favorites:
Early Varieties (60 or fewer days to harvest)
- ‘Early Cascade’: trailing plant, large fruit clusters
- ‘Early Girl’: one of the earliest tomatoes, produces through the summer
Mid-season Varieties (70 to 80 days to harvest)
- ‘Floramerica’: firm, deep red flesh, strong plant
- ‘Fantastic’: meaty rich flavor, heavy yields, crack resistant
Late-season Varieties (80 days or more to harvest)
- ‘Amish Paste’: Large paste tomatoes, good slicers, heavy yields
- ‘Brandywine’: A beefsteak with perfect acid-sweet combination, many variants are available
Cherry Tomatoes
- ‘Matt’s Wild Cherry’: bright red tomatoes, foolproof in any climate, bears abundant fruit in high or low temps and in rain or drought
- ‘Sun Gold’: golden orange tomatoes, very sweet yet tart flavor, huge clusters
For more about tomato varieties, see our post on “Tomato Trials: from blue to grafted; what grew this summer“ and this video on choosing tomato varieties.
Wit & Wisdom
- In 1522, Spanish explorers returned home from the New World with tomatoes. Wealthy people believed that the fruits were poisonous. Only the peasants were brave (and hungry) enough to eat them.
- In the 19th century, the tomato was called “The Apple of Paradise” in Germany and “The Apple of Love” in France.
- Ease a headache by drinking tomato juice blended with fresh basil.
- People have argued for quite a long time about whether tomatoes are fruits or vegetables!
Recipes
Cooking Notes
Capture the garden-fresh taste of tomatoes all year long! See this helpful post on how to can tomatoes.
Many people also love dried tomatoes, so learn how to dry your own tomatoes here.
See our Best Tomato Recipes Ever!
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Reader Comments
Leave a Comment
New to Gardening
What a wealth of information, guides and how-to’s. Thank you!!
appreciation
i just want to give a word of thanks because the site was so useful to me and it has helped me in my research
Best tomato seed
Hi.
I looking for the best tomato seed for my farm. I loking for Comodoro tomato seed.whats your opinion about my selection?
We have cool spring and hot , dry summer.
Thanks.
tiny brown things that pop up from tomato on window sill
We have noticed these tiny brown things that kinda pop out of tomato as it sits on window sill. Does anyone know what they are? They are not bugs. Definitely not alive. Thanks
tomato spots
It is possible, if these are not entrance holes for insects, that they are symptoms of a disease. There are several that can cause spotting on the fruit, but one that comes to mind in particular is bacterial speck, which can appear as small raised spots on the fruit (sometimes with a yellow halo around them), which can sort of look like freckles. In the early stages, this disease only affects the skin, so you can peel it off before eating. More advanced stages will travel deeper into the tomato, so you might want to cut any discolored parts out, although a tomato affected with bacterial speck is still safe to eat. This disease likes moisture to grow, so make sure to store you fruit in a dry location. Bacterial spot and bacterial canker may be similar on fruit, but the halo is white rather than yellow (bacterial spot halos disappear in later stages). Green fruit are most susceptible to the introduction of these diseases (which also affect the leaves). Hope this helps!
Keeping plants.
This is a true beginner's question, but is it possible to cut a plant down to the stemm and regrow it again next year? I have a cherry tomato plant in a container by my window, and it has a pretty good root system going. However it's slowly dying as it gets less and less sun, so I was wondering if I could cut it to the stem (like a raspberry plant) and have it grow back, or do I have to plant new seeds come spring?
Tomatoes as Perennials
Don’t worry, it’s a good question! In their native tropical habitat, tomatoes are perennial plants, meaning that they live and produce for more than one season. In North America, tomatoes are treated as annuals because it’s hard to keep them alive through the cold part of the year (unless you have a greenhouse). If you were to cut the plant back to the roots, it’s unlikely that the roots would survive to spring, as tomatoes aren’t designed to go into that kind of dormancy.
If you have your heart set on keeping this plant, you could try bringing it inside your home, though you’ll need to keep it above 65°F at all times (the warmer, the better) and it will need as much light as you can give it. A strong grow light will most likely be needed to keep it from withering away if you can’t give it full sun.
Harvesting Tomato in Green Color
Is it possible to ripen the tomato when it is harvested in green color?
about tomatoes
you have written very well I appreciate your blog about a tomato. Its very helpful.
damaged tomato plants
I have removed the hornworms from my plants but they have munched away. Just wondered if I should trim the branches off? Or will the plants recover.
Damaged by Hornworms
Leave the branches; they could still put out flowers and fruit.
Broken Tomato Plants
I was given a tomato plant when school closed. It was about 5ft tall with a few leaves at the top, in the middle and at the bottom of the stem.
I broke it into 3 pieces, making breaks at joints. I was told, that because I broke the plant, it will grow but not produce tomatoes.
Is this true? There are plenty of blooms...
Thank you for your thoughts on this!
Gail
Tomato Plants
Why is my tomato plant not producing blossoms?
no tomato blossoms
If no flowers form at all, then it could be that the plant received too much nitrogen, which encourages leafy growth at the expense of flowering. Also check whether the plants are getting enough sun; they should receive about 8 to 10 hours of direct sunlight. Be sure that the plant is getting enough water–too little can deter flowering. If flowers form but soon drop off, that could be due to high daytime temperatures. Hope this helps!
Harvesting tomatoes
Hi,
I read your article but still have no idea how to harvest the tomatoes. Maybe a novice question, but should I cut the stem/individual vine with the tomatoes on it or should I pull each tomato off the vine? When I buy tomatoes from the store, the package sometimes has the vine and the tomatoes still attached; other times the tomatoes are just loose. Any advice on how I should remove the tomatoes from my plant?
Thanks,
Andy
Harvesting Tomatoes
When tomatoes are fully matured and ready to be harvested, they will fall right off the vine without much effort at all. Simply give them a little tug and twist and they’ll let go if they’re ready.
If they’re not quite ripe, but you’d still like to harvest (because of impending bad weather, pests, etc.), then you should leave a bit of the stem on the fruit in order to encourage them to finish ripening. The tomatoes on the vine that you see at the store are likely harvested before they’re fully ripe so that they don’t go bad in transit.
Growing tomatoes
Hi, you mention water well and water for a few days. No one really explains the correct way to plant. The tomatoes or other vegetable plants should be watered well by watering the hole before the plant is put in and covered up. Once the plant is covered and watered most of the water runs off. If you fill the hole with water and cover the plant will establish well and not need any for at least two weeks.
Watering tomatoes
Your article says water tomatoes with 2 inches of water consistantly. How often should I water, once a week, 2x a week, more? What do you mean by 2 inches of water? I am trying to grow one plant in a pot in Northern California. It gets plenty of sun, but doesn't rain in the summer, so am concerned about the amount of water it gets.
watering tomatoes
Hi there! When we say 2 inches of water per week, that is the total amount that the ground receives during that time. An easy way to measure this, and monitor how much you are giving your plants, is to place an empty (clean) tuna can near your plants. The water from rain, hose, watering can, or irrigation system will collect there, and you can take a ruler and measure the depth of the water over time (taking into consideration evaporation on a hot day). Especially while tomatoes establish, water deeply about three times per week unless it rains. Fluctuations in water can lead to blossom end-rot and cracks in fruit. On the other hand, cutting back on water a little when the fruit is close to ripe can enhance flavor. Self-watering containers help keep moisture consistent, as does mulch.
For more information, you might like the following article:
https://www.almanac.com/content/when-water-your-vegetable-garden-watering-chart
watering tomatos
Any fool that says tomatos or any other plant takes water into their system at a certain time of day is a total moron! Has anyone ever seen it rain exactly at a particular time of day and repeat it over and over? The answer is no ,, it rains when it rains and all plants take water as they get it ,, which has been going on for millions of years ,,, watering any time of day or night is correct and keep it up when there is no rain for extended periods of time. Let your plants tell you if they need water ,,, they will not look right when dehydrated even a little! Never use city water since it has clorine in it ,, this is very bad for lawns and gardens.
Planting directional
This might seem like a dumb question but does it matter if plants are planted north to south or east to west?
Tomato Directions
There are no dumb questions when it comes to gardening! Generally, it’s best to plant in rows that go north-south. This way, the plants won’t block each other from getting morning, afternoon, and evening sun.
It’s also recommended to plant your shortest plant varieties in the southern part of the row and the tallest in the north, so the tall plants won’t shade out the short ones. However, if you’re growing all of one variety, it doesn’t matter, as they should all reach roughly the same height.
Diseases
How do I fight certain infections that attack tomatoes
tomatoes/peppers
I've been told that you shouldn't plant tomatoes and peppers close to each other. Is that true? Also, I've been told not to plant hot peppers next to sweet peppers as they can cross-pollinate causing the sweet peppers to become hot. Is there truth to this?
What kind of spray should I buy for tomatoes.
My husband said they get cut worms etc. which will kill them.
All that you have told are
All that you have told are true but they can be avoided just follow the correct procedures.
Started too soon!
I started germinating my tomatoes too early and we've had a run of cool weather (I'm in SE NY). So I'm looking at seedlings that are too big for their containers but can't put them out for a week to 10 days and they are showing some signs of stress (some wilting). Is it a bad idea to repot given that they are going out in 10 days or less? I use grow lights....is there another way to relieve that stress instead of repotting?
Thanks
repotting tomato plants
Many people repot tomato plants several times before transplanting outside to help build stong roots. You would be fine to replant them into bigger pots.
blossom rot on my tomatoes
I have a Roma plant which producing a lot of fruit but some of the fruit has developed blossom rot . I remove the affected fruit every day and wonder if the unaffected fruit is safe to eat, I would hate to throw the good fruit away it is a firm,nice shape and red,please tell me it is safe to eat.
blossom rot remains...
We would cut off the blossom rot and use the tomato in whatever way you would, sure.
While you’re enjoying that succulent tomato, plan now to avoid blossom rot again. Read here: https://www.almanac.com/pest/blossom-end-rot
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