Growing Great Tomatoes

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Tomatoes do best when planted in full sun all day, although they will usually produce some crop with less sun. If your plants have had symptoms of disease in previous years, it is important to plant in soil that has not grown tomatoes or their relatives, such as peppers or eggplants, for three or more years.

Soil Preparation

Depending on your soil, tomatoes often do best with only a generous application of compost, well mixed into the planting area, since much of our Santa Clara Valley floor is quite fertile. Excess nitrogen can result in getting more foliage at the expense of fruit. Just planting into plain soil can produce plants that are 7 to 8 inches tall and 3 to 4 feet wide for some of the larger, more robust indeterminate types.

Planting

After purchasing seedlings in 4-inch pots, you can either transplant directly into the ground or into a larger container, such as a one-gallon pot, and let them grow in a warm, protected, sunny location for 2 to 3 more weeks.

Harden plants off by gradually acclimating plants to outdoor conditions for 4 to 7 days before transplanting into the ground in late April to early May.
Remove lower leaves and plant deeper than the plant was in the original container. It works well to lay the tomato horizontally in the planting hole, so the stem is 2 to 4 inches beneath the soil with just the growing tip above ground. Roots will form at leaf nodes, where leaves have been or are growing.

Supporting the Plants

Provide sturdy support for indeterminate (tall) types of tomato plants. Example: make a 5 to 6-foot-tall cage out of concrete reinforcing wire. Be sure the mesh is large enough, 6 inches square, so you can reach in and harvest the ripe fruit. By making cylinders with varying diameters, such as 18, 20, and 22 inches, the cylinder cages can be nested one inside the other for neater storage. These cages will need to be further supported with a stake, such as rebar or a 2-inch-by-2-inch wood stake at least 4 feet tall, pounded in next to the cage and wired to it. Put the cage on soon after planting so it is easy to get over the plant.

Bush or determinate types may need no support or just the lightweight 3-foot-tall cages widely available.
Semi-determinate types, which usually reach about 4 feet tall, will do fine in the medium-weight 4-foot-tall tomato cages.
Another great, easy way to support tomatoes is by pounding in 7-foot metal T-stakes about 6 feet apart and stretching the concrete reinforcing wire flat like a fence between the stakes. As the tomatoes grow, you weave the tomato foliage into the fence.

Growing Your Tomatoes

Irrigate about twice a week during the early part of the season, reducing water by as much as 50% as fruit begins to ripen to reduce cracking and subsequent rot and to intensify flavor.

Pinch off small side shoots in leaf axils before they are 6 inches long when necessary to reduce overcrowding in the cage.
Pinch all growth that goes more than a foot above the cage so it doesn’t flop over and shade out the rest of the plant.

Most Common Tomato Problems

The most common and still least recognized is the tomato russet mite, which causes plants to get dead leaves starting at the bottom and moving upward. Stem takes on a bronzy appearance. It is easy to control with an application of a wettable sulfur mixed in a pump-up sprayer with a spreader sticker, and applied to the entire plant, including the undersides of leaves and deep into the interior of the plant. Sulfur should not be applied if the temperature is expected to be above 90°F.

For other common tomato problems, see Tomato cultural tips, pests, and diseases

And Finally

Since it can be hard to find the tomato label as the plant grows, it’s helpful to attach it to the cage at eye level. Use a paper punch to make a hole and attach it to the cage with a twist tie or nursery tape.

Based on an article by Nancy Garrison, March 2006