Tomato Plants: What I’ve learned about planting tomatoes

Without a doubt, the most popular garden crop in America is tomatoes. Approximately 35 million families grow them. They’re growing varieties that bear tomatoes from the size of marbles to the size of grapefruits; pink ones, red ones, and even yellow ones. There are tomatoes which grow in the coolest, cloudiest, and shortest growing areas and there are those developed to withstand the heat of hot southern summers. No matter where you are, there’s a tomato variety for you.

Almost everybody grows tomatoes by setting out transplants. How you treat these young plants and transplant them has a lot to do with your harvest. For more and better tomatoes, here are my best planting tips:

Shop for the best plants

I’m amazed each spring when I stop at the greenhouses and nurseries and see people selecting tomato plants that are too tall and leggy! Perhaps they think that bigger means better; but with tomato transplants that’s not the case.

The best transplants are fairly young and small. Good ones are 6 to 7 weeks old, and about 8 inches tall. They should have plenty of dark green leaves and most importantly, a solid, thick stem. If you get some tall plants, don’t worry. My planting method takes advantage of the length of the stem and helps you get the most from every plant.

Inspect all plants closely. If you see signs of disease or insects (particularly the small whitefly), put them back.

Try several varieties

It’s good insurance to get two or three varieties. In the case of disease or drought, you may find that one variety fights off trouble better than another.

If you get early, mid-season, and late varieties, you should have a steady harvest. A good trio for many areas is the Pixie (which sets fruit in cool weather), Supersonic (a fine mid-season tomato), and Beefmaster (a hefty late variety which needs about 3 months of growing after you set it in the garden).

Harden off plants

Whether you buy plants or grow them at home, they need to be hardened off for a week or so. Start by setting them on the back porch. Then gradually shift them out to a sunny open spot where they can take the weather all day long and all night, too, if there’s no chance of a surprise frost.

Transplant on a cloudy day

I like to set out tomatoes in the late afternoon or evening. If it’s cloudy and mild, all the better. Plants don’t appreciate hot sun or a whipping wind for their first few days in the garden. The shock of transplanting is bad enough; they prefer to take on the elements a little at a time. Have your tools on hand before you take a single plant out of its flat. Water the plants to hold roots and soil together. When you lift out a dry plant, the dirt goes everywhere and the roots get shocked.

Two ways to put fertilizer under my plants

I plant tomatoes two ways and I have two ways of adding fertilizer. If I set the tomatoes in individual holes, I first dig a hole 5 or 6 inches deep. I add a handful or two of good compost or a tablespoon of 5-10-10, mix this with soil at the bottom of the hole, then cover it with an inch or two of soil.

I sometimes make a 6-inchdeep trench, the entire length of my row. I spread a thin band of 5-10-10 along the bottom of the trench. The fertilizer should be covered, so I drag a hoe along one side to spill 2 or 3 inches of dirt into the trench.

Don’t forget the cutworm collar

It’s a shame to lose a transplant to pesky cutworms. Even if I’m not really expecting a problem with them, I wrap a newspaper collar around the stem of each plant. The collar should be at least 2 inches wide, 1 inch below ground and 1 above.

Set the plants in a shallow trench

With this technique, most of the root system is only 2 or 3 inches away from the surface. This helps the plant gather plenty of heat and produce extra roots.

To transplant, I carefully take a plant from its flat or container and cup my hand securely around the roots. I don’t want soil to fall away from the roots.

I pinch off most of the lower leaves, leaving just the top cluster. The cutworm collar goes on, and then I lay the plant in the ground and cover the root ball and exposed stem with 2 or 3 inches of soil.

Most of the stem is buried. All along it, new roots will form. Like the main root system, these new roots will reach down for food and water as the plant grows. In a dry spell, these extra roots can be a lifesaver.

I position the plants so that each top cluster of leaves is 18 inches away from the next. They can be a little closer if you plan to stake your plants.

Planting tomatoes this way helps me grow an earlier crop. After all, the bulk of the root system is quite shallow at first, so it heats up early every day. Tomatoes love this, especially in springtime. If I planted them deep in a hole, the roots would sit and shiver for weeks.

Now’s the time to stake plants

After the soil is firmed around the plants, drive your stakes. Doing it later could damage some roots, especially if you set your plants in horizontally.

Keep wind direction in mind when you stake. I put my stakes on the east side of each plant because where I live the winds are mainly out of the west. When the wind is strong, the plant will be held up against the stake. If I did it the other way, a stiff wind could push the plant against my tie-ups and perhaps break the stem.

Don’t skimp on water

Tomato plants need lots of water for 3 or 4 days after transplanting. Soak them after planting and keep the ground moist for a few days after. Don’t skimp—pour it on. I’ve never seen anyone overwater a tomato plant.

Trap heat and block out the wind

Whatever you can do to gather extra heat for your plants or to shut out winds will help. Use old tires, plastic wrap-around cages, cardboard, or whatever else you have.

In one experiment, researchers used 1 foot-high strips of black roofing paper to circle their just- planted tomatoes. The paper blocked winds and brought in extra heat. Result? A 50 percent increase in yield.

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