Tomatoes are the ultimate backyard crop, and growing them is easier than you might think. These tomato growing tips should help you to take care of your most delicious plants.
Why You Should Grow Tomatoes
Here’s a secret. I’d grow a garden just to grow my own tomatoes. Who can blame me? Is there anything better than a fully ripe tomato eaten while it’s still warm from the garden?
Tomatoes annually rank as North America’s #1 home garden crop. No vegetable (technically a fruit) has received more attention from plant breeders and seed savers, which gives us lots of varieties to choose from.
However, you need to read these tips on growing tomatoes to start your plants off right and avoid problems before they happen.
10 Tips for Growing Tomatoes
1. Choose the Right Tomato for Your Climate
There are many varieties of tomatoes. Consider these four main factors:
- Climate and the length of your growing season. If you live in a northern climate, your tomatoes may not even have time to turn red. Look for varieties that are for cool climate/short season such as “Early Girl” (matures only 50 days after planting); most other short-season varieties will be cherry tomatoes. There are also tomato varieties that are heat-tolerant and best for hot Southern gardens such as “Heatmaster” and “Arkansas Traveler.’ See Bonnie Plants’ Tomato Chooser to find the variety with the traits that fit what you’re looking for.
- Type of tomato: Do you want tomatoes for pasta and sauce? Or, a great slicer? Or bite-sized? Romas, plum, or ‘paste’ tomatoes are excellent for cooking because they contain plenty of flesh for sauces. Beefsteaks are chunky and juicy so great in salads and on burger. Cherry tomatoes have the sweetest taste and wonderful for snacks and children. See our post on growing cherry tomatoes!
- Growing habits: Tomatoes are either determinate or indeterminate. Learn the difference and remember that indetermines must be staked early to avoid disease.
- Determinate or “bush” varietes stop growing at about 3 feet tall. These compact plants fruit all at once, and tend to be good for making sauce or canning (when you’d want a lot of tomatoes all at once). Most bush tomataoes like a cage and some are well suited to pots.
- Indeterminate varieties will keep on producing fruit throughout the season until the plant is killed by frost. These plants get quite large and will need definitely some kind of tall supports (at least 5 feet) so stake, or cage plants early. If fruit sprawls across the ground, they will be prone to disease. Indeterminates are great for salads and sandwiches.
- Disease-resistance: Tomato names are usually followed by capital letters that stand for resistance to certain diseases. Pay attention to these letters, especially if you have had one of these diseases in your climate before. If you live in temperate climate with lots of moisture, consider blight-resistant tomatoes. Hybrid examples are ‘Iron Lady,’ ‘Defiant’, ‘Mountain Magic,’ ‘Mountain Merit’ and ‘Jasper.’ Heirloom examples are ‘Lemon Drop’, ‘Matt’s Wild Cherry’, and ‘Mr. Stripey’ (also called Tigerella). ‘Jasper’, a tasty red cherry. See our article on avoiding blight with the right tomato.
Read more about choosing the right tomato variety.
2. Give Tomatoes Enough Light!
Tomates LOVE the Sun. Many beginner gardeners start their tomatoes from small plants purchased through an online catalog or at a garden center.
If you are planting from seeds
If you are seeding yourself, it is critical to provide strong, direct light. (Note: If it’s after your frost date, it’s too late to sow tomatoes from seed.)
For seeding and young seedlings, northern gardeners should use grow lights 14 to 18 hours a day to provide an early boost and promote upright growth. Without enough light, your plants will be spindley and not have a good start to life. Learn how to start tomatoes from seed.
Planting seedlings or transplants in the ground
If your seedlings were grown indoors or in a greenhouse, do not just go outside and set them in the cool ground. Outdoor tomatoes will first need acclimatizing to outside conditions to avoid cold shock.
If the plants have been inside a greenhouse, harden them off over a period of two weeks. Begin by leaving plants outside for just a couple of hours a day then gradually increase the length of time they spend outside, avoiding windy days. Bring plants under cover if temperatures threaten to drop below 40 degrees Fahrenheit. Plant outside only after all danger of frost has passed.
When planting in the ground, choose your sunniest spot with at least 7 hours of direct sunshine a day. For tomatoes, sunshine is like water and they’ll soak it up and produce more fruit! Also, make sure your tomatoes aren’t too crowded so the sunshine can reach their lower leaves. Plant seedlings (small plant) 30 to 48 inches apart, with rows set 48 inches apart.
3. Preheat Garden Soil and Beef It Up!
Be careful not to plant tomatoes in the ground too soon. They are heat-lovers. Your soil temperature must be consistently over 60 to 65 degrees Fahrenheit. Warm the soil with plastic a couple of weeks before you intend to plant. If it’s still iffy, protect seedlings from the cold with sheets or row covers.
Tomatoes thrive in rich, well-draining, slightly acidic soil with a pH of 6.5 to 6.8. Two weeks before planting your tomato plants outdoors, beef up that soil! Dig into soil about 1 foot deep and mix in aged manure or compost.
4. Plant Tomatoes Deeply
When you do plant tomatoes, plant a little deeper than they come in the pot, all the way up to the top few leaves! Tomatoes root along their stems so this trip helps them develop stronger roots.
With leggy transplants, dig a trench and lay the stem sideways, bending gently upward. Snip or pinch off the lower branches and cover with soil up to the first set of leaves. This extra root growth will produce a stronger, more robust plant.
See more on planting tomatoes.
5. Mulching Tomato Plants
Don’t forget to add a blanket of mulch! It helps to conserve moisture (tomatoes love their water!) and keeps soil-borne disease spores from being splashed up onto the plants. There are many good mulches to choose from—shredded pine bark, straw, shredded leaves, grass clippings, composted leaves, or even a thick layer of newspaper. Oddly enough, red plastic has been found to increase fruiting by 12 to 20%. Read our Mulching Guide for more information.
6. Remove Bottom Leaves
After your tomato plants reach about 3 feet tall, remove the oldest leaves from the bottom foot of the stem. This reduces fungus problems because the leaves are usually shaded by the rest of the plant and near the soil. Spraying weekly with compost tea also seems to help prevent fungal disease. Learn more about compost tea.
7. Pruning Tomato Plants
To pinch or not to pinch, that is the question. Most gardeners pinch and remove some of the suckers that form between the main stalk and the side branches during the early growth of their plants (the crotch joint). They won’t bear fruit and will take energy away from the rest of the plant.
Note: You definitely do not want to prune determinate varieties or you will have only a few fruit clusters. Since determinates bear fruit only on the ends of their branches, never clip them off, or you won’t get any fruit at all!
But just how much should you prune them, if at all? Pruned plants bear earlier and have larger tomatoes, but they also have fewer tomatoes. Overpruning can cause sunscald—a yellow sunburned patch that eventually blisters. Unpruned plants yield about twice as much fruit as pruned ones do, but it will take longer for the fruit to ripen. Pruning also affects flavor. The more foliage a plant has, the more photosynthesis is taking place, which produces more sugars in the fruit. The excess foliage shades the fruit and insulates it from summer heat, making it ripen more slowly and improving the taste.
Of course, if the foliage on your plants is so thick that no fresh air can reach the center of the plant, then by all means, pinch off a few suckers. If your indeterminates are reaching for the stars, you can top them above the highest blossoms to keep them in bounds and encourage green fruit to ripen.
8. Watering Tomato Plants: How Much is Enough?
Juicy tomato plants need 1 to 2 inches of water per week.
Water deeply. A soaker hose is an efficient solution; just position the hose in the garden and pile mulch up and over the hose.
And don’t forget to water consistently. Uneven watering can set the stage for blossom-end rot and may also cause fruits to crack open. Stressed plants remove calcium from the fruit and send it to the shoots to keep the plant growing. Along with uneven moisture, excessive nitrogen and high soil acidity contribute to blossom-end rot.
9. Feeding Tomato Plants
Most gardeners have a secret or two up their sleeves. One man I know treats his plants to crushed eggshells in the planting hole, another uses a handful of bonemeal, and someone else swears by a pinch of Epsom salts. If you must fertilize, side-dress the plants with compost or a dose of liquid seaweed or fish emulsion.
Stay away from high nitrogen fertilizers unless your plants have yellow leaves. Too much nitrogen will cause lush foliage growth but give you little or no fruit. If the leaves on your plant are purple, they are calling for more phosphorus. This is the most important nutrient for fruit production.
Some gardeners like to feed their tomatoes compost tea to keep heavy-feeding tomato plants happy. Soak one part organic compost in one part water, let sit for 24 hours, filter the “tea,” and use to nourish plants.
10. Try Companion Planting
Here at the Almanac, we practically invented modern companion planting, following in the footsteps of Native American growing techniques.
We’ve always found that tomatoes seem to thrive when planted with basil, just as they do in the kitchen! Basil and marigolds act as a natural insect repellent when planted amongst tomatoes, helping to ward off whitefly.
Borage attracts bees and tiny pest-eating wasps, making it a great companion for tomatoes.
See our full Companion Planting Guide as well as a chart of popular companion crops including tomato.
We believe these 10 tips cover the best advice for starting tomatoes. If all this advice seems daunting, take heart: Tomatoes are really one of the easiest vegetables to grow, and even the worst home-grown tomato tastes better than a store-bought one.
As you grow your tomatoes, you may run into some problems. Tomatoes will attract pest and disease but if you keep your eye out for them, you can avoid many problems. Learn more about tomato diseases and disorders. And also see how to think ahead and troubleshoot tomato problems.
Here is the Almanac’s complete Tomato Growing Guide for everything you need to known about planting, growing, and harvesting tomatoes!
Reader Comments
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tomatoes
I have tomatoes galore but they are green and not rippening am i inpatient or is there something i am doing wrong
It can seem like an eternity
It can seem like an eternity waiting for those luscious tomatoes to turn red but it will be worth the wait. You are not doing anything wrong!
Blanching Tomatoes
Frank, when I blanch my tomatoes I find the entire tomato gets warm. To be safe, I would recommend saving seeds from tomatoes that you aren't going to blanch. A single tomato has a good amount of seeds so unless you're lucky enough to have a huge tomato garden, I'd think a few un-blanched tomatoes would be all you need.
I agree with Cheryl. Each
I agree with Cheryl. Each tomato contains a lot of seeds. For more information look at the Almanac video about saving tomato seeds.
Blanching tomatoes
We are in the process of picking our tomatoes and was wondering if blanching them to remove the skins has any effect on the seeds? Most of our tomatoes are heirloom and we need to save the seeds.
Mulch for plants
My husband came home with several bags of Cedar mulch. Have never used it before on my vegetable plants. Is it ok, or should just be used around trees???
mulching vegetables
Well, it’s ok from a safey perspective. However, wood mulches such as cedar aren’t used much in annual vegetable gardens because they take too long to decompose and bring nutrients back into the soil. Cedar chippings tend to be especially heavy versus cedar shavings. But you could use around perennial vegetables such as asparagus or rhubarb. Cedar’s benefit is that lasts long without decomposing which is a benefit for established trees and shrubs, as well as in perennial gardens. So, your call!
Banana peels
Are banana peels made into a slurry good for tomato plants or any plants?
I have heard of people
I have heard of people burying banana peels in the hole when they plant a rose to add potassium to the soil. In researching your question I found that along with potassium banana peels also contain calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, manganese and sodium - all elements that are necessary for good plant growth and fruiting. The peels break down fast but to speed things along they can be chopped up or made into a slurry in the blender with water and poured around your plants or incorporated into the soil at planting time. They also be made into a fertilizing tea by can be steeping them in water for a week. Strain the tea and use it as a liquid fertilizer. I learn something new every day!
tomato horned worms
How can I prevent getting tomato horned worms? Or is there no avoiding these nasty bugs
tomato pests
Please see our page on Tomato Hornworms and good luck!
Tomato horned worms
Marigolds are the answer. Inground beds I plant marigolds in each corner and along the sides. I also snap off the tops of the marigolds and toss them in between the plants. I will even sometimes crumble the flowers to keep those horned worms away.
Patio tomatoes container gardening I planted marigolds in the pot on the sides. Once again snapping off the tops once the flowers are spent and sprinkling it just on top of the soil. I have never had a Problem with those little tomato hornworms because of marigolds. I like all colors and change him up from time to time.
pine needles
I have a pine tree over my garden and the pine needles fall in the garden what will they do to the garden and what should I put in the garden to solve the problem.
Too much nitrogen
So what can be done to help promote tomatoe blossoms when the soil has too much nitrogen?
Too much nitrogen is a tough
Too much nitrogen is a tough situation to remedy quickly. Look for fertilizers high in potassium and phosphorus but with no extra nitrogen. Mulch with pine bark or sawdust to increase soil acidity and encourage micro-organisms that use up nitrogen as they decompose the wood fiber. Most importantly, get a soil test so you will know how to proceed next year.
bugs
i have these bugs that i can only describe as looking like transformers...they are a geometric shape with long legs, they fly and they are stinging my tomatoes. some tomatoes are totally ruined. i don't use pesticides....can you help me get rid of these horrid bugs?
Stink Bugs
It sounds like you may be dealing with stink bugs, which are a common and very damaging fruit and vegetable pest. Try introducing beneficial insects that prey upon stink bugs or stink bug eggs into your garden. Common beneficial insects include ladybugs, praying mantises, and assassin bugs. Ladybugs and praying mantis eggs can be bought at some gardening centers and online.
Tomatoes
Why is my tomatoes Leave curling up what is wrong with them ???
Many things can cause this
Many things can cause this but most often temperature and moisture are the culprits. Conditions that are either too cool and moist or too hot and dry can cause leaves to curl upward. Hot drying winds can desiccate them and uneven watering can also make them curl. Pay attention to soil moisture and try to keep it even, about an inch or two a week. If the leaves are curled and yellow, a virus is at work. Those plants should be removed to avoid its spread.
Growth of tomato
I have a big beef tomato plant. It's not much bigger than when I bought it. What is their growth rate?
Tomato infested?
My tomato plant is growing! Unfortunately it looks like the upper leaves are developing white spots on the underside and top side. Can I correct this before it kills the plant? There are no visible bugs and it is a potted plant on a south facing balcony.
Tomatoes are subject to a
Tomatoes are subject to a large number of fungal diseases so without seeing the plant it is hard to guess. It could be insect damage or sunburn. If the spots are fuzzy, powdery mildew could be the culprit. If the spots have brown edges it might be sequoia leaf spot. Send a picture to your local cooperative extension office and they could better diagnose it since they know what diseases are lurking in your area.
Brown "tails" on my tomatoes
This is my first year with a decent crop of tomatoes, YAY! I am worried because there are brown extensions from the bottom of the fruit. It is easily detached like its not part of the tomatoes. Could this be a pest? Does it harm my tomatoes? If so, what is the procedure to get rid of it?
Thank you kindly
If the tails are small and
If the tails are small and dry I think they might just be be a leftover piece of the blossom that hasn’t fallen off. If they can be brushed off without damaging the fruit, do it. Otherwise, if there is no rot associated with it, I’d just leave them on and let nature take its course. They should eventually fall off on their own.
Tomato plant
My tomato plants have a vine formation on there leaves but are blooming and have fruits looks nice and green
dying tomato plants
Why would my tomato plant leaves suddenly turn silver and the plant start dying?
Could it be powdery mildew?
Could it be powdery mildew?
When is it too cold?
Hi, this is my first time growing tomatoes. I have 4 plants and I have a lot of fruit on them, all sizes, but it's getting ready to get colder and they are still green and i don't know when I should pick them. Tomorrow night it will be in the 40's. What is consider too cold?
You need to cover your plants
You need to cover your plants if the temps. dip down into the low 30s. When you have several cold nights in a row you may want to pull the plants up with the attached tomatoes and hang the plants upside down in the garage or a shed. The tomatoes will continue to mature on the plants. If you don’t pull the plants you can pick the green tomatoes and put them in a brown paper bag with an apple to ripen.
Late season green tomatoes
I have read, and it seems to work, that you should pinch off all growing tips about a month from your first frost, and also pinch out any that form afterwards. The plant responds to this by diverting all resources to the ripening tomatoes, which then ripen faster.
I have beautiful tomato
I have beautiful tomato plants about 5ft tall with a few green tomatoes but absolutely no blossoms. I see by the other questions/comments on this site that I have experienced "tomato blossom drop". Will the plants produce additional blossoms or do I need to start over with new plants?
Poor fruit set is often
Poor fruit set is often caused by a plant putting too much energy into growing lush foliage. High nitrogen fertilizer encourages this type of growth instead of promoting flowering. Environmental factors such as high or low temperatures, not enough sun, and dry conditions also set the stage for blossom drop. You can try to correct these conditions by watering deeply, mulching, and using a fertilizer that is high in phosphorus and potassium - the P & K on the label. Your plants should continue to produce blossoms that will hopefully set some more fruit for you so don't give up on them. If you have room it might not hurt to plant a few more as backups!
Someone please help me this
Someone please help me this is my first time trying my hand at gardening. Some of my tomato plants are doing great others are wilting and the leaves are rolling up like a tube shape. Thank you.
Hi Ripcord, Some tomato
Hi Ripcord,
Some tomato plants have what is called a wilty gene that causes them to curl but not usually into a tube shape. Have you looked inside the tubes to see if there are any insects in there? Sometimes aphids will cause severe leaf roll.
How exactly do you top an
How exactly do you top an indeterminate tomato plant. I've got some that are going on six foot. I've got stakes but an wondering if it would be more efficient to start doing this? Also, some of my flowers are starting to turn spotty black. Will they still fruit or is this a blood/bone meal issue too? Thanks for your help and great article.
Hi Shannon, I let my plants
Hi Shannon,
I let my plants grow much taller than 6 feet high before I even think about topping them. I usually only do that near the end of the season if there are lots of green tomatoes and I want the plant to concentrate on ripening them instead of making more fruit.
The black spots on your blossoms could be caused by septoria but it usually affects the leaves also. It can be seed borne or carried by other nightshades. It can winter over in plant debris too which is why it is important to clean your garden well each fall.
what is bone meal and blood
what is bone meal and blood meal?
Hi Tambo, Blood meal is dried
Hi Tambo,
Blood meal is dried cow blood collected from slaughterhouses. It is very high in nitrogen. Bone meal is ground up bones, also a slaughterhouse by-product. It is a good source of phosphorus. If the thoughts of spreading them in your garden makes you queasy you can substitute alfalfa meal or soybean meal for the blood and rock phosphate or manure for the bone meal.
Is there any advice you can
Is there any advice you can give me regarding the tomato leaf miner (tuta absoluta)? It absolutely decimated my greenhouse crops. They should be producing until winter, but now I'm gonna have to get rid of the dead plants and make a second crop and I really want to try and prevent the moth from doing as much damage. Aside from pheromones, which I'll be getting soon, what other measures can I take?
Renata; I know very little
Renata; I know very little about greenhouses but the one thing I have done that has had the best results with keeping my tomatoes safe from those moths is to do away with all lights anywhere near the plants. There is a light about 60 feet away. A 30 to 40 dollar bug zapper would help but put it away from your plants but in view of them. Good luck.
Leaf Miner on Tomatoes
Hi... Back in '72 while renting in San Diego, I had a tomato plant that I learned had leaf miner. The article I read said to terminate the plant. I resisted, and began removing any leaf that showed signs of leaf miner. That plant went on to produce more tomatoes than I could eat, give away or count. I moved away in September leaving the plant flourishing! [If any of this helps!]
I grow mostly heirloom
I grow mostly heirloom indeterminate plants. I prune them at the bottom so they have no leaves below 8 or 9 inches which I believe helps reduce fungus. I don't prune at the top unless they get to about 5 feet tall. I have the plants in sturdy cages with a 6 foot rebar to stabilize it against strong winds. I usually get a good crop, barring disasters, but I do a lot of work. When I was a beginning gardener I planted the tomatoes and left them alone in a sunny field. They grew as much as Mother Nature allowed, spread all over the ground when they got too heavy and I got a good crop then too. Go figure.
Question: The past couple of
Question:
The past couple of years my tomatoes will start to turn black around the top of the tomatoes where it meets the vine before the whole tomato is ripe... What's happening and how can I stop it? Should I just pick the fruit while green and store till ripened? It doesn't seem to get the black or rotten spots if picked early.
Thank you in advance ~ Renee
Are you watering from the
Are you watering from the top? If so, it could be collecting there, causing the rot.
Do you mulch your tomato
Do you mulch your tomato plants? It may be uneven moisture issue that mulching can correct.
Hi Renee, I have never seen
Hi Renee,
I have never seen what you are describing! It could be late blight, especially if it affects the stems themselves. There are any number of bacterial rots or fungal diseases that could be causing your problem. Could you take a picture of it and send it to your County Extension Service? They may be able to identify the problem and help with a cure.
I have a 7foot tomato plant
I have a 7foot tomato plant that have at last count 58 tomatoes it has potato type leaves I got the seed from parks and it was labeled hybrid early girl.everyone keeps telling me it's can't be a early girl they don't have that type leaves .The one I saw in the picture the farmers almanac appeared to have potato leaves ,what's your thoughts ?
I have Early Girl Tomatoes
I have Early Girl Tomatoes and Jet star Tomatoes. Both are indeterminant varieties, meaning that they will continue to grow until weather, or something else, kills them. My tomatoes are about 5-7 feet tall each also. The sole reason Early Girl tomatoes are called "early girls" is because they set fruit earlier than most plants.(hence the word "early") In addition, Potatoes, eggplant, and tomatoes share similar features within their growing patterns, so it does make sense that you may see "potato leaves" on a tomato plant.
Hi Gail, Early Girl is a
Hi Gail,
Early Girl is a hybrid plant and most potato leaved plants are open-pollinated. I think you have something that was either mislabelled or is a mutant of some kind. Whatever it is it sounds very prolific!
Please I need help?! My
Please I need help?! My tomato plants are about 5-6 ft high and there blooms are falling off I do have green ones but I thought I would have a lot more blooming what's wrong? Again please help!!
Have you applied Bone Meal
Have you applied Bone Meal and Blood Meal? If not do so ASAP. There are other things but that is the first that comes to mind. Good luck.
Hi Julie, Blossom drop often
Hi Julie,
Blossom drop often occurs if they are not getting pollinated. It also happens if the temperatures are too high - over 90 or too low - under 55. Nutrient deficiencies can be a factor as can water - too much or too little - and other environmental stresses.
We are first time tomato
We are first time tomato growers, after years of our parents doing it. We have several german johnson and several purple cherokee plants. But that's all we have...plants! Lush and green with a few blooms, but no fruit! What, if anything, can we do? Thanks!
Hi Jennifer, It sounds like
Hi Jennifer,
It sounds like too much nitrogen. It will cause you to have a beautiful plant but not much fruit.
Good tips--it never even
Good tips--it never even occurred to me to prune my tomatoes!