TOMATO TIPS
----First, let me thank all of my wonderful friends at the OGL list for teaching me (patiently) over the years and then also for contributing tips and critiquing my tips. You folks are THE BEST EVER !
And now the tips (these are a work in progress. Please come back in two days for the final revision and added tips!)
You'll want the soil for your tomatoes to be well drained and warm and located in a sunny location. For tips on HOW to get well drained soil, see "SOIL BUILDING" in the menu at the right.
Work compost into the planting hole as you plant your tomato seedling and give it a drink of diluted kelp meal to help it get off to a good start. Hopefully you are starting out in good soil. If you aren't, again, you might want to read my soil building page and hugelkultur page (links at right).
I have't decided if planting tomatoes deeper than the seedling has been growing is a good idea or not. We typically plant a little deeper unless the stem has developed root nodules. If it has, I bury the plant deeper. You might want to experiment as I am guessing different soils offer different answers. Instead of deeper, some of my friends plant the tomatoes in a trench and sitting a bit sideways. Again, for me it all depends on each plant.
If cutworms are a problem in your garden, you can make a cardboard collar to put around your baby plants to keep cutworms from killing the plants.
I have found that if you transplant right now, you should do it around 4 pm or later so that the plants have a chance to get settled before the sun hits them. We're also putting old sheer drapes over them for a day to help them along. When I run out of sheer drapes, I put a little hay or grass clippings over the plants to shade them a little.
Leaving a space about 3 inches from the stem open, mulch the tomatoes heavily with grass clippings, leaves, dried out pulled weeds, etc. I leave that space while the plants are young and tasty to snails and slugs but when the plants are older and sturdier, the space isn't important.
Plant the tomatoes and then water with just a little milk mixed in with the water. ( 10 parts water, 1 part milk or less). The milk helps the tomato fight off disease.
Lots of mulch helps keep the tomato roots moist and cool. You'll find you get more tomatoes if you mulch heavily (6 inches is good but 10 inches deep of mulch is better.) You'll have to water less this way and the mulch also feeds the tomatoes. You're a winner coming and going with mulch. Speaking of winners, Charles Wilbur, a world record holding tomato grower, heavily mulches his tomatoes in a five foot diameter. Click "BOOKS PAGE" in the menu at the right for more information on his book, "How to Grow World Record Tomatoes."
Mulch also heads off Blossom End Rot (BER). BER can be caused by lack of calcium but can also be caused by a lack of moisture in the soil. Mulch helps keep soil moisture levels even. If after mulching and watching soil moisture, you still have BER, try gypsum or even a bit of milk around your plant.
Spent coffee grounds is a great fertilizer for tomatoes (and roses). You might want to even see if you can get used coffee grounds from neighbors and/or coffee houses. Coffee grounds also help keep slugs and snails at bay.
Slugs like to eat baby tomatoes but they won't if you put pinecones around the stems. Eggshells help a little too.
If the tomatoes start to get diseased, try spraying them with that water and milk solution. Its as effective as fungicides and much much cheaper! Baking soda and water helps for powdery mildew but if you want to do both, do milk, wait a week and then do baking soda. Don't mix the two together.
I've seen compost tea revive many a plant and also help many a plant thrive and grow well. Please google "compost tea" to find out how to make and use it.
A cheap and effective fertilizer is rabbit food (alfalfa meal). You can also feed the tomato plant a bit of kelp meal, greensand, and rock phosphate. Compost, of course, is the best meal a tomato can get!
I tie up my tomatoes with old strips of nylon stockings. The strips are gentle and give a little while the tomato is growing.
Keep an eye out for tomato hornworms and crush them right away if you see them. BUT if you see a hornworm with white oval egg sacks on its back, leave it alone. Those egg sacks contain parasitic wasps and that hornworm is already doomed. When the wasps hatch out, they will go on to lay eggs on another hornmworm's body. Its a very effective, natural control and these wasps are itty bitty creatures. You wouldn't notice them unless you looked very hard. They do not present a stinging problem.
I keep lots of flowering plants in the garden around my tomatoes. I cut off the tops of carrots and replant these tops so that next year I can have carrot flowers. I let my parsely flower. I have a lot of yarrow. All of these flowers encourage parasitic wasps to my garden.
My only other creature problem is with blister beetles. I take a cup of alcohol out to the garden and knock the beetles into the cup to kill them. Doing this a few times usually takes care of any problems
Hugelkultur:
We also gather weeds to make hugelkultur beds. Hugelkultur beds have been THE answer to our soil problems here. To find out what they are go to: http://home.att.net/~ekyorigins/Hugelkulture.html
Brand new baby tomato.
More Links:
Mother Earth News I appreciate it when a company has integrity and I think making back issues of Mother Earth News available online is super! You will find many answers to questions at their website. I very much look forward to their magazine.
NewFarm.Org is another favorite haunts of mine. Terrific information. I do wish more farms would register with them so that when I travel I can make it a point to buy from farms!
----First, let me thank all of my wonderful friends at the OGL list for teaching me (patiently) over the years and then also for contributing tips and critiquing my tips. You folks are THE BEST EVER !
And now the tips (these are a work in progress. Please come back in two days for the final revision and added tips!)
You'll want the soil for your tomatoes to be well drained and warm and located in a sunny location. For tips on HOW to get well drained soil, see "SOIL BUILDING" in the menu at the right.
Work compost into the planting hole as you plant your tomato seedling and give it a drink of diluted kelp meal to help it get off to a good start. Hopefully you are starting out in good soil. If you aren't, again, you might want to read my soil building page and hugelkultur page (links at right).
I have't decided if planting tomatoes deeper than the seedling has been growing is a good idea or not. We typically plant a little deeper unless the stem has developed root nodules. If it has, I bury the plant deeper. You might want to experiment as I am guessing different soils offer different answers. Instead of deeper, some of my friends plant the tomatoes in a trench and sitting a bit sideways. Again, for me it all depends on each plant.
If cutworms are a problem in your garden, you can make a cardboard collar to put around your baby plants to keep cutworms from killing the plants.
I have found that if you transplant right now, you should do it around 4 pm or later so that the plants have a chance to get settled before the sun hits them. We're also putting old sheer drapes over them for a day to help them along. When I run out of sheer drapes, I put a little hay or grass clippings over the plants to shade them a little.
Leaving a space about 3 inches from the stem open, mulch the tomatoes heavily with grass clippings, leaves, dried out pulled weeds, etc. I leave that space while the plants are young and tasty to snails and slugs but when the plants are older and sturdier, the space isn't important.
Plant the tomatoes and then water with just a little milk mixed in with the water. ( 10 parts water, 1 part milk or less). The milk helps the tomato fight off disease.
Lots of mulch helps keep the tomato roots moist and cool. You'll find you get more tomatoes if you mulch heavily (6 inches is good but 10 inches deep of mulch is better.) You'll have to water less this way and the mulch also feeds the tomatoes. You're a winner coming and going with mulch. Speaking of winners, Charles Wilbur, a world record holding tomato grower, heavily mulches his tomatoes in a five foot diameter. Click "BOOKS PAGE" in the menu at the right for more information on his book, "How to Grow World Record Tomatoes."
Mulch also heads off Blossom End Rot (BER). BER can be caused by lack of calcium but can also be caused by a lack of moisture in the soil. Mulch helps keep soil moisture levels even. If after mulching and watching soil moisture, you still have BER, try gypsum or even a bit of milk around your plant.
Spent coffee grounds is a great fertilizer for tomatoes (and roses). You might want to even see if you can get used coffee grounds from neighbors and/or coffee houses. Coffee grounds also help keep slugs and snails at bay.
Slugs like to eat baby tomatoes but they won't if you put pinecones around the stems. Eggshells help a little too.
If the tomatoes start to get diseased, try spraying them with that water and milk solution. Its as effective as fungicides and much much cheaper! Baking soda and water helps for powdery mildew but if you want to do both, do milk, wait a week and then do baking soda. Don't mix the two together.
I've seen compost tea revive many a plant and also help many a plant thrive and grow well. Please google "compost tea" to find out how to make and use it.
A cheap and effective fertilizer is rabbit food (alfalfa meal). You can also feed the tomato plant a bit of kelp meal, greensand, and rock phosphate. Compost, of course, is the best meal a tomato can get!
I tie up my tomatoes with old strips of nylon stockings. The strips are gentle and give a little while the tomato is growing.
Keep an eye out for tomato hornworms and crush them right away if you see them. BUT if you see a hornworm with white oval egg sacks on its back, leave it alone. Those egg sacks contain parasitic wasps and that hornworm is already doomed. When the wasps hatch out, they will go on to lay eggs on another hornmworm's body. Its a very effective, natural control and these wasps are itty bitty creatures. You wouldn't notice them unless you looked very hard. They do not present a stinging problem.
I keep lots of flowering plants in the garden around my tomatoes. I cut off the tops of carrots and replant these tops so that next year I can have carrot flowers. I let my parsely flower. I have a lot of yarrow. All of these flowers encourage parasitic wasps to my garden.
My only other creature problem is with blister beetles. I take a cup of alcohol out to the garden and knock the beetles into the cup to kill them. Doing this a few times usually takes care of any problems
Hugelkultur:
We also gather weeds to make hugelkultur beds. Hugelkultur beds have been THE answer to our soil problems here. To find out what they are go to: http://home.att.net/~ekyorigins/Hugelkulture.html
Brand new baby tomato.
More Links:
Mother Earth News I appreciate it when a company has integrity and I think making back issues of Mother Earth News available online is super! You will find many answers to questions at their website. I very much look forward to their magazine.
NewFarm.Org is another favorite haunts of mine. Terrific information. I do wish more farms would register with them so that when I travel I can make it a point to buy from farms!
Close up of that tomato hornworm. Sorry, but they DO give me shivers!
LINKS
Back to Laura's Organic Garden Main Page
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Soil Building
Hugelkultur
Books Page -These books have been especially helpful to me
You can email me at:
laurabrownmckenzie -at symbol- att.net
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Soil Page
Seeds of Change
Fedco Seeds
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Seeds of Change
Fedco Seeds
Peaceful Valley
A watchful eye will help you find and pick
off hornworms. Keep an eye out for them! They are greedy
creatures.