Tomato Tips - Keeping Plants Healthy

Tomato plants grow at an amazing speed under the right conditions and it is keeping them happy that will ensure a successful crop.


Here are a few tips on how to manage them - especially how to avoid those conditions that are a threat to their health.

• Wet leaves for prolonged periods will result in fungal disease and kill them!
• Soil that is soddon through heavy rain will be air-less and the plants will struggle.
• Cold temperatures combined with wet leaves will result in tomato blight.
• Even when growing outdoors, try to shelter them from rain.

I guess the biggest threat to the health of tomato plants is rain. It lowers their immune system and they will be vulnerable to every disease in the garden.

Of course a drop of rain on a warm day won't do them any harm, but wet leaves overnight when temperatures drop is a problem - especially if they are stood in soaking wet soil.

Tomato Club

Join the Tomato Club and get lots of tips and advice about growing tomatoes - it doesn't cost anything!

There is also a sow-a-long where you can follow the progress of five Tumbling Tom seeds that were sown on the 4th March and have just been potted into bigger pots.

There's a tomato growing newsletter which is published online every Friday with lots of advice and the opportunity to add your own tips and suggestions.

If you have a lot of tomato seeds left over this season, do a swop with someone who has too many seeds of a variety you would like.

Ask questions about growing tomatoes and get a reply within 24 hours - and that doesn't cost anything either!

Visit:  Tomato Growing  and get started now!

When To Sow Tomato Seeds

Knowing the best time to sow tomato seeds in your area is one of the crucial ingredients for success when it come to growing your own tomatoes.

Sow too early and the plants suffer from conditions that are too cold with days are too short and light levels too low. Sow late and there may not be enough time for the tomatoes to mature and ripen before the autumn weather turns too cold to grow tomatoes.

For growing outside, the best time to sow is about eight to ten weeks before planting out. Decide when your last frost may be, then give it another week or two just in case. 

My last frost date is around the middle of May so I aim to plant out the end of May or beginning of June.

For those with a short season, choose early varieties like Stupice, Siberian, Latah and Red Alert.

These tomato plants can cope with short summers and will do well even if the weather is poor.

More about when to sow tomato seeds can be found at this link.

Looking Back at the Season's Results

Every season has its ups and downs - its successful results and disappointments, and this season was no exception.

I've noticed that for the past three summers (maybe four) we have had very good early summer periods of dry warm weather followed by mid to late summers of poor weather and lots of rain! We then get a few weeks of dry warm weather in the Autumn.

Another change is that the last frost date has been getting earlier each season which is good news as it extends the tomato growing season, however, although frost isn't a problem after mid May in most of the UK, damp wet weather will cause fungal diseases and lower plants resistance, making them vulnerable to other diseases and slow growth.

If there is one takeaway from all this, it is that plants that are often exposed to rain, or regular condensation in the greenhouse, won't do well.

My results this season were the best I've ever had from the early maturing varieties - especially the cherry tomato varieties, but the larger tomato plants that take longer to produce mature fruit, suffered from the poor summer.

The fruit of the larger varieties was particularly late to mature and I had many gardeners send me emails asking why their tomatoes had not turned red and how they might get them to mature more quickly.

It is warmth that encourages tomatoes to mature, so cool temperatures in late summer prevented fruit growing outdoors from ripening - or at least slowed the process down.

Best Tomato Varieties - Early to Mature

With hundreds of varieties from which to choose, the best varieties are those that will grow well in your area. It is no good choosing the variety with the best taste if you can't get it to ripen before the end of the growing season in your area.

Furthermore, those tomatoes that are packed full of taste often require a good amount of sun, something that is a bit hit-and-miss, especially if you live in a short season area.

However, there is one constant in tomato growing and that is that usually, cherry varieties will grow more quickly and mature earlier than larger varieties.

It is for these reasons that I always grow cherry varieties each season and if you choose a cherry variety that is not too small, Maskotka for example, you'll have a tomato that can be used as a cherry and medium size, and be eating your own tomatoes at the earliest possible time of the season.

 

 

Tomato Problems

At this time of the season there are just two or three tomato growing problems that most gardener's are affected by:

1. Blossom End Rot 
2. Blossom Drop

Blossom End Rot  "BER" shows itself as a brown/black patch on the blossom end (underside) of the fruit.
This is caused by a calcium deficiency and the tomato is unable to complete it's growing process.
The best and quickest way to avoid this problem is to foliar spray with Chempak Calcium.

Blossom Drop happens when the flowers that have failed to pollinate are aborted by the plant.
In order to aid pollination, spray/mist flowers with water and tap plants gently

Other problems are usually about leaves but it is quite normal to have a few poorly looking leaves at the bottom of a plant because nutrients are sent to the growing tip - that's where all the action is - and the lowest part of the plant gets ignored. 

Tomatoes are not "Easy to Grow".

I would love to be able to say (like some who write on the subject of tomato growing) that "tomatoes are easy to grow".

If this were true, why do I receive so many emails of "help" from people who have been growing tomatoes for years?

The truth is, growing tomatoes can be easy to grow if ...

We have an ideal summer for tomato growing ... or,

The person growing the tomatoes has had years of experience and grows tomatoes in a greenhouse.

You can see that this limits the idea of "easy" to a limited few.

Of course, if you are a professional tomato grower you will know that science plays a big role in success. This success being the outcome of the controlled climate of a greenhouse.

However, what about the home gardener who is spending the little spare time he or she has, casting their seeds upon the flimsy soil and advice of the "tomatoes are easy to grow" personalities who do a good job of promoting vegetable gardening in general, but a poor job of really helping people solve the many difficulties that may arise when growing tomatoes in a short season summer, such as the UK.

Are tomatoes easy to grow? Not in my experience!

www.tomatogrowing.co.uk

PS   If you need advice about growing tomatoes, I'll do my best to answer your questions at the website above.