Ah, fresh homegrown tomatoes, how we all love them. How can you grow healthy tomato plants with plenty of fruit? Well there are certain things that expert tomato growers do to ensure a large, healthy tomato crop. If that is what you want, here are some tips you can follow to accomplish that.
To start off many people like to plant their seeds indoors. Plant them around six to eight weeks before you want to move them outdoors. Make a 1/4 inch furrow in your soil and place two to three seeds in. Cover the seeds and press lightly so the soil is firm and the seeds make good contact. The seeds will take five to ten days to germinate. You can use any small pot that has drain holes in the bottom. Try to plan this so they will be planted outside after the last frost of the season. Some people like to harden their plants before planting them outside. Hardening is getting the tomato plants used to changes in outside weather by putting them outside in the sun for a short time each day.
Tomato plants like lots of light so if you can't put them in a window, putting them a few inches from florescent grow lights is a good option. When you do plant them outside, plant them where they can get lots of sunlight.
Since tomatoes like heat, it is a good idea to heat the soil in your garden before you plant. One way to preheat the soil is by covering the area with black plastic for a week or two before you plant. If the plants are planted in soil that is a few degrees warmer, they will sprout a little sooner. After the seedlings have grown six or more leaves, it is time to transplant them. Because tomatoes grow roots along the plant stem, it is best to bury them up to the top four leaves so they have plenty of room for roots. After the ground warms up a bit you can put mulch down. Mulching will cut down on diseases and will also help the soil retain water. You don't want to do this to early because the mulch can cool the soil. Plastic mulch is available, and it will not cool the soil as much.
Once you have planted your tomatoes outside keep an eye on the weather. Frost can easily damage or kill your plants. If it looks as though you might get frost, make a tent to cover the plants using plastic sheeting.
During the growing season, there are a number of tips you can do to make sure you have healthy plants with lots of tomatoes. One of these is constant pruning. The suckers that grow between the joints between branches just take energy away from the plants so removing them is a good idea. If there are leaves blocking the sun from the tomatoes, some of these can be removed allowing the fruit to ripen faster. Removing the bottom leaves will help keep fungus off the plants. The sugars that sweeten the tomatoes are made from the leaves through photosynthesis. So don't remove too many leaves. Keep deep watering the plants on a regular basis to avoid cracking and blossom rot. After the fruit, starts to ripen you can water a little less. Giving less water after the tomatoes start to ripen will give you sweeter tomatoes. Just make sure you don't cut back so much that the plants become stressed, or they can start to wilt.
These are tips that are used by many experienced tomato growers both to increase the health of their plants and get a better crop.
