Tips for Growing Tomato Plants

As a gardener, there are few things more satisfying than seeing an abundance of big, beautiful tomatoes growing right before your eyes.  Anyone can do it with a little help. I’m going to give you a few tips to get you headed in the right direction.  If you incorporate these simple tips for growing tomato plants into your growing plan you will be very satisfied with your next harvest.

An easy way to get a jump start on the tomato growing season is to heat up the soil before you even plant the tomato plants.  Tomato plants love the warmth.  If you are in the northern climates, after the snow has melted and a few weeks before planting, cover your garden with black plastic. This will use the sunlight to heat up the ground underneath and will help to trap the heat in. This simple tip will get your plants growing much faster than they would otherwise.

The next tip for planting your tomato plants involves planting them deeper than they tend to grow naturally.  What I mean by this is that if you buy starters from a nursery or even if you start your own from seeds, the tendency is to simply plant them to the top of the dirt they were started in.  You’ll want to plant your seedling after it has developed about 5 or 6 leaves.  Plant your seedling deeper into the soil so that you cover up the bottom 1 or 2 leaves and leave the top 3 or 4 leaves exposed. Tomato plants have the ability to grow roots all along the stem so by doing this, the plant will develop a stronger root system and grow more vigorously. Take extra care when it is time to stake or cage your tomato plants that you don’t puncture the roots.

Now that we have the tomato plants in the ground, we need to switch to maintenance tips. These tips will help to keep the tomato plant growing stronger and stronger throughout the growing season. The first is a pretty well known tip which is removing the suckers.  Suckers develop in the joint of two branches. They don’t bear any fruit and they basically just “suck” the energy away from the rest of the plant and the tomatoes themselves. You will also want to prune some additional branches and leaves so that the sun is able to get through to the center of the plant and the fruit.  Be careful not to remove too many leaves though as these leaves handle the photosynthesis process and produces sugar for the tomatoes.

Obviously watering the tomato plants is a crucial component to developing strong, healthy tomatoes.  Care should be taken to water the plants regularly when no rain is present. The soil around the tomato plants needs to be kept moist.  If the soil becomes dry, the plant will become stressed and will begin to wilt. If you try to make up for this later by watering the plant too much it could lead to rot and cracking.  Another lesser known secret is that once the tomatoes begin to ripen, begin to lessen the amount of water you give the plant by about thirty to forty percent.  This will force the plant to concentrate its sugar production.

If you incorporate these tips into your tomato growing plan, you will begin to enjoy the enhanced flavor of the tomatoes and the higher yield that it will produce as many of the experts have been doing for years.