Tomatoe Plants

[April1988]

Hi

Iam a complete newbie at growing veg and will probably be asking a lot of stupid questions but here goes:

Wheres the best place to plant out tomatoe plants? Any other advice regarding growing tomatoes will be a great help.

I have about 5 plants in pots at the moment and will be planting them out in the ground. We have a flat area and a slope where we have dug ridges into so we have more room.

Thanks

[Husker]

Hi April. Tomatoes need plenty of sun, all day if you can. When you plant them make the hole deep enough to cover part of the stem as toms will send out roots from the stem. I usually put out plants that are 8-10" tall and leave about 1-2" of stem below the lowest set of leaves out of the ground. Try to mulch around the plants. I use grass clippings but straw or newspaper will work too, that keeps the ground from splashing up on the plant when it rains and also keeps the ground from drying out too fast. If you can, use a soaker hose to water or at least when you do water, do it at the base of the plant. This keeps soil off of the plant and really helps minimize the chances that the different tomatoe blights that are in the soil won't hurt your plants. Oh, if you do use grass clippings to mulch, make sure the grass wasn't sprayed with any sort of weed killer as that can hurt the tom plants. Toms need to be staked or have some sort of support cage to hold them up. If you use a tom cage get the sturdiest one you can afford. I've found the cheap ones are great for peppers and eggplant but are too flimsy for toms. Try not to fertilize until your plans start to bloom and then use a general purpose veg fertilizer or one specially for toms. I use a general purpose one and get along fine. Fertilize every 2-3 weeks if you can. I water my plants once a week and give them a good soaking, of course if it rains you may be able to skip a watering here and there. Try to stay ahead of the weeds so they can't compete with your toms for food and water, mulch helps with that too. I put several pics of my last years garden in other threads if you want to care to see my plants from then. I'm sure I've forgotten something but there are other folks who can fill in the gaps. If you have any "?" please ask. Good luck with your garden.

[malcolmx]

main rules are plant in sunny spot but not untill mid may
plant well spaced apart blight is air born and wll thrive if plants are close together and humid
feed with every watering water at base not on leaves stake with strong cane
plant in bottomless pot on well dug ground plant as deep as the pot will all w if seed leaves still on plant plant to that depth
take out top after 5 trusses and remove all side shoots

[GMB27]

Originally Posted by malcolmx

main rules are plant in sunny spot but not untill mid may
plant well spaced apart blight is air born and wll thrive if plants are close together and humid
feed with every watering water at base not on leaves stake with strong cane
plant in bottomless pot on well dug ground plant as deep as the pot will all w if seed leaves still on plant plant to that depth
take out top after 5 trusses and remove all side shoots

Great concise rules here. Also if you allow them to grow tall, you'll find the toms to be smaller and more of them. Keep them under 2 foot and they'll grow larger. You'll have an idea how many youll get once they start to flower.

[April1988]

Great advice guys. Thanks

[GMB27]

Also not forgetting to support the stems using cane or trelice if they get tall, it'll be suprisingly heavy when the tomatoes begin to grow