Tomato Plant Care

Tomato plants are popularly grown in house gardens. Many people love to grow this plant in their gardens mainly because they get fresh tomatoes to eat. Others prefer to grow for decoration purpose. The bright red colored tomatoes hanging from the plant can enhance the beauty of any landscape. This is a short-lived perennial plant and is found in hundreds of varieties. Each species of the plants have its own characteristics in terms of shape, size and color of tomatoes that they produce. It is so easy to grow tomato plants that even amateur gardeners can grow them.

Tips for Tomato Plant Care

You will get young tomato plants that have been propagated from seeds in your local nursery. Then you have to prepare the soil and plant them in the garden in suitable weather condition. The main steps of caring for tomato plants are as follows:

Soil Preparation: The soil should be rich in nutrients and the pH value in the range of 5.5 to 6.2. It is also very important that the soil is loose and well-drained. A few weeks before planting the seedling, you have to prepare the soil. Remove any debris such as rocks, roots and weeds from it. Then add a large amount of compost or peat moss. You have to mix some fertilizer as well to enrich the soil further.

Weather Condition: Tomato plant prefer full sun. So, plant it in one such location in the garden where it receives the midday sun. Temperature during the day should be in between 70 and 75 degrees Fahrenheit and the night temperature above 60 degrees. If the night temperature goes below it, then the plant would bear less number of fruits.

Planting: The ideal time for planting tomato seedling is middle of May after the expected date of last frost is over. Dig a deep hole in the well-prepared soil and place the young plant into it. While planting, take care that the first leaves of the stem of the seedling come on the same level as that of the soil. Now, refill the soil into the hole and pat the soil around it. Keep a gap of 12 to 15 inches in between the seedlings. Water the plant immediately along with a diluted liquid fertilizer

Mulching: Regular mulching of tomato plants helps the soil to retain moisture and keep its temperature more or less uniform. Moreover, It will prevent growth of weeds. Initially, you can use black plastic material for mulching purpose. As the soil warms up, use organic mulch that consists of dried leaves, grass clippings, hay, etc. Always spread generous amount of mulch, so that it covers up the soil properly.

Watering: As tomatoes receive full sun throughout the day, the soil tend dry up fast. Therefore, frequent watering is a must. You cannot afford to let the soil dry out completely. For the first two weeks, water it daily. Later on, you can reduce the frequency to twice a week. Soak the soil thoroughly up to 6 to 8 inches at least twice in a week. However, once the plant starts bearing the fruit, make sure you do not soak the fruit in water because then the tomato may lose its sweetness

Fertilizing: Tomato plants require a lot of nutrients. It requires fertilizer at regular intervals of time. To improve plant health condition and blossoming, use a 5-3-4 fertilizer for to meet the requirement of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium. When it starts blossoming, fertilizer rich in phosphorus is added to the soil. During this time, avoid nitrogen rich fertilizer as it does not help in fruit growth. From June to end of August, give a liquid fertilizer which has high potash content, twice in a month. This is beneficial for the plant if it starts to wilt. Slow-release granular fertilizer can also be given to ensure continuous supply of nutrients to the plant.

Support: As the size of the plant increases, you have to provide adequate support to its stalk. Basically, this is done to prevent any direct contact of the tomatoes with the soil. Thus, the fruits will remain clean and will not get affected by any soil borne worms or insects. You can put hoop baskets on the ground surrounding the plant at a very early stage. This will support to the plant throughout and the fruit will be produced straight up. Another method of staking tomato plants involves tying the main stem to stakes or fence posts with a twine.

Pruning: Pruning tomato plants encourage growth of fruits and flowers and bring about improvement in the size and quality of the fruit. The extent to which the plant should be pruned depends on a number of factors. If it produces heavy foliage, then the plant requires heavier pruning as compared to a sparse foliage variety. In case, there are a number of plants close to each other, then you have to prune them more frequently. Check your plants regularly and prune the suckers or secondary shoots of the stem as and when required.

Hope these tips help you to get a bumper crop of fresh home-grown tomatoes! During the winters, lift the tomato plants from the garden and plant them in containers inside the house. This is because low temperature, snow and frost is harmful for these plants. Once the spring sets in, replant them back in the garden.