A GOOD TOMATO CROP calls for sturdy stakes or cages; the best gardeners make their own cages from wire mesh, available at hardware- and builders'-supply stores. It's sturdy, and six-foot lengths of it can simply be formed into cylinders that support the plants without restricting their growth.
Concrete reinforcing wire is one good choice; the six-inch mesh is large enough to allow your hand to reach through for picking. The experts agree that cone-shaped wire tomato cages sold at garden shops often don't do the job; they're small and flimsy.
When starting tomato seeds, don't fill the seed pots full of potting mix, but fill them only halfway. When the seedlings are three inches tall, then fill the pots to the top. New roots will develop along the newly buried stem, and you will have young plants with stronger root systems.
Don't plant tomatoes too close together. Set plants six to eight feet apart; that way, grasshoppers and other pests can't jump from one plant to the next.
Rotating the crop -- planting it in a different part of the garden each year -- will lessen the threat of soil borne diseases. As an extra precaution in areas that have heavy rains and high humidity, mulch well all around the tomatoes once the plants mature, to keep the soil from splashing up onto the leaves during a downpour- grass clippings work well.
To help tomatoes through periods of drought, find a flat rock (about the size of a sheet of notebook paper) and place it next to each tomato plant. The rock pulls up water from under the ground and keeps it from evaporating into the atmosphere.
If cool weather and high humidity have spelled disaster for your tomato crop in the past, consider cherry tomatoes. Foolproof in any climate, they bear abundant fruit in high orlow temperatures and in rain or drought.
Fertilizers
Sources: compost, manure, fish fertilizer, bone meal (steamed), banana peels, fish, seaweed extract, egg shells, Be careful with manures, since they can burn your plants if not well composted
Four most important nutrients:
(N) nitrogen, (P) phosphorus, (K) potassium and calcium
Nitrogen: leaf and stem growth (not too much, big beautiful leaves not many fruits)
Sources: fish emulsion, blood meal, compost, manure (well rotted)
Symptoms: stunted growth and yellowing leaves
Phosphorous: strong roots, formation of flowers and fruits, and disease resistance
Sources: bone meal, chicken manure (well rotted)
Symptoms: stunted growth , thin stems and a purplish cast in underside of leaves
Potassium: plant growth, disease resistance, health and vigor
Sources: granite meal, greens, wood ashes
Symptoms: stunted growth, poor yields, yellow splotched foliage
Calcium: leaf and cell wall growth. Plants need adequate moisture to utilize calcium
Sources: bone meal, wood aches, ground limestone, crushed eggshells
Symptoms: blossom end rot
Problems
Although tomatoes are easy to grow, you can still run into problems.
VFNTASt are letters that you like to see in the tomatoes description.
They refer to the diseases that they are resistant to.
Verticulum wilt
Fusarium wilt
Nematodes
Tobacco Mosaic
Alternaria Stem Canker
Stemphylium Gray Leaf Spot
Verticulum and fusarium wilt, leaves, curl up, turn yellow and drop off
Nematodes: tiny wormlike creatures that attack a plant’s root system, stunting growth and lowering disease resistance
Tobacco Mosaic, curling stunted leaves don’t smoke or touch plants without washing hands
Early Blight: very common, lower leaves affect first, brown spot surrounded by yellowing, mulch to prevent splashing of spores from ground
Too hot, blossoms fall off or die (extended temps over 90)
Blossom End Rot, black, scabby looking bottom, caused by inconsistent watering and a lack of calcium
Cat Facing, gnarled, abnormal formation of fruit, caused by cold temps, still edible, just ugly
Damping off, a fungal disease that causes the stems to rot at the soil line. Use sterile soil and pots, a dusting of sphagnum moss or vermiculite on the surface, good light and circulation
Pests aphids and hornworms
It is important that you don’t put the infected plants in the compost pile.
Bag them and toss into garbage.
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