Your vegetable garden is incomplete without tomatoes. Every gardener dreams that their garden has perfect red, juicy, and firm tomatoes. But this is not simple; you have to put effort into your dreamy tomatoes. Therefore, you should know some secrets for growing healthy tomatoes. Here in this article, we are sharing some 11 top secrets of gardeners to grow healthy tomatoes.
Scroll down to read more.
Table of Contents
Top secrets for growing healthy tomatoes
1:Seed selection
What you sow, you shall reap. So you should select seeds according to these criteria.
Climate
For cool climates ‘’Early Girl” seeds are the best choices.
Heatmaster and Arkansas Traveler are well-suited varieties for warmer climates.
The second best tip for growing healthy tomatoes is to choose disease-resistant seeds. Here is a little secret.
Specific disease resistance tomato’s names start with a capital letter. If your garden quickly caught diseases, then you must choose disease-resistant seed varieties.
Your desired tomatoes
You can also select tomatoes seeds according to your desired tomatoes.
Romas and Plum are the best tomatoes for cooking purposes, so they sow their seeds as they have enough flesh and make a thick paste for foods.
Beefsteaks are chunky and juicy, so they are great in salads and on burgers. Cherry tomatoes have the sweetest taste and are excellent as snacks and for children.
2:Thin seedling is better
After seed, selection sows your seeds in a small try or small pot up to ½ inch deep. Furthur, give them enough space to grow. One seedling per pot is better. A thin seedling is better than a thick one.
Because thin seedling has stronger immune to fight diseases, when the plant has grown to the second set of leaves, these are called ‘’true leaves.”At this point, you should transplant them into the bigger pot. Because now roots will have more space to grow.
3:Provide them warm soil
Tomato’s healthy growth depends upon the warmth of the soil. Prepare the ground before transplanting the seedlings. The ideal soil temperature for growing tomatoes is 60 to 65 degrees Fahrenheit. Here is a little tip to warm soil.
Cover the soil with a black or red plastic sheet a few days before planting. These plastic sheets will absorb sunlight. Hence this light energy will warm the soil. Then take off the sheets before transplanting seedlings.
4:Give them sunlight
They love sunlight. Approximate 6 hours of sunlight is needed to grow tomatoes. So find a sunny spot in your garden to transplant your seedlings.
Moreover, plant them at a distance from each other so they can get plenty of sunlight. If they are less crowded then they will absorb more sunlight.
It is the ideal distance to plant seedlings 30 to 48 inches apart, with rows spaced 48 inches apart.
5:Feed them with good nutrients
Growing healthy tomatoes requires good soil nutrients. So add fertilizers like phosphorus as phosphorous helps to grow strong roots. Other than phosphorous, you must add compost.
It is the best secret to grow healthy tomatoes—a good quality compost help to retain the required moisture. Dig 1 foot of soil and put compost in the holes two weeks before planting.
When your plant starts to grow flowers, give them fertilizer after every two weeks until frost.
If your tomato plants are growing more leaves and fewer flowers, you should decrease fertilizer. On the other hand, if you observe more yellow leaves on your tomato plant, increase the fertilizer dose.
6:Plant them in deep soil
Plant your seedlings deeper than they were in pots. Roots develop along with stems this way. It will help to grow stronger roots. Hence strong roots mean stronger plants.
Additionally, give a gap of two feet between plants as it will help to grow roots easily.
7: Add mulch
This is the best technique to conserve the moisture of the plant. Moreover, it controls weeds as well soil-borne diseases like leaf spots and blight. Add mulch after five weeks of transplanting seedlings.
Most commonly used mulches are straw, unclipped grass, and unshredded leaves. The layer should be 2 to 4 inches thick, and apply it evenly.
8:Give them proper support
Tomatoes are heavy so give them proper support. Otherwise, tomato weight will break down its branches.
You can use a bamboo stick to support the tomato plant. Insert the bamboo stick near the main stem of the tomato plant. Then use a string to tie the stem and stick.
9:Clean waste parts of tomato plant
Once the plant reaches a height of 3 meters, start removing its bottom leaves. These leaves easily catch fungus diseases and spread them further to the whole plant. Moreover, they receive the least sunlight and airflow, so they are more prone to infections.
Suckers grow at the leaf axil. They will extract plant energy and make it weak. Hence, the plant will not bear fruit. So pinch out suckers for better plant growth.
10:Water plants regularly
Deep watering will save your tomato plant from waterborne pathogens. Morning is the best time to water the tomato plants. As at this time, they absorb maximum moisture.
Provide at least 1-inch water per week during the growing period. If you do not provide the required amount of water plant’s leaves will dropdown.
11:Check out caterpillars
Caterpillars are enemies of tomato plants. They can destroy whole crops of tomatoes. If you find caterpillars in your garden. Remove them as soon as possible.
Conclusion
We have shared our 11 top secrets of growing healthy tomatoes. With these secrets, you can grow perfect and healthy tomatoes in your garden. We hope you will find them useful.
Do you have any additional secrets for growing perfect tomatoes? Please share these secrets in the comment section.
More to read:11 essential gardening tools every gardener needs