GROWING HEALTH AND PRETTY TOMATO PLANTS

1. Now that you have got your seedlings up and hardened off. Its time to start thinking about planting them. Everybody has there own way of doing things, what works for one may not work for others. So tell you what, I will tell you what has work for me in the past, and the way I do things in the future may change if I find a better way. Once again you can always buy your young plants but I grow my own.
2. Picking a spot is not that hard to do. Tomatoes can handle full sun. I try to make sure my plants are shaded in the evening, so I can water them if needed. Now some people are all about soil testing I know of some spent money having it tested, others just bought a soil tester. Now me I have tested my soil, but I use my grandmothers method. To test acid just take some wet soil on a plate, and ad a little baking soda. If it makes a sizzling sound then there is a lot of acid in the soil. As far as pH level its most likely below 5.0. Tomatoes like acid pH balance of 6.0-6.8 slightly acidic. As for alkaline take a spoonful of dry soil on a plate and ad 2-4 drops of vinegar to it, if it make sizzling sound than there is a lot of alkaline in the soil. Above 7.5 on pH scale. If you don't like your results you can test or have it tested by an expert.
3. This is optional I cover the ground with black plastic, cut an x in the plastic about 18in-24in apart. The black plastic will warm the ground promoting growth. Not to mention saving a lot time and money on weeding and trying to keep grass out. Some say red plastic works better, I'll let you decide for your self
4. When you plant, put all of the tomato plant deep in the ground. Leave 4in-6in out of the ground. Remove leaves that will be below the ground. This will allow the tomato plant to have a stronger stalk. At this point before I fill the dirt in around the plant I ad a few things such as Epsom Salt, powered milk, egg shells, tea grounds, oat meal, and some weak fertilizer for tomatoes. One tablespoon of each will do. If you have doubts about this than try it on 1 or 2 plants. If the results are to your satisfaction than do it to all of them next year. I will post a list of home made fertilizers that I use every year later. This can be applied to all plants in the garden any time during the growing session.
5. Controlling insects in the garden is a full time job. In the past I have lost some plants to cutworms. My solution '4in pvc pipe' about 6-8in long, pushed in the ground 2-3in. Horn worms will eat all the leaves on the tomato plant, watch for black dropping under plants with missing leaves. Look closely and slowly they blend very well when you find them you destroy them. Or take it to your friend's garden and release it on there plants HA HA. Just kidding don't do that! You may want to look in to getting some pesticide and follow the directions carefully.
6. Fertilizing plants can be done with store bought or home made fertilizer. I use both, lets go over the recipe for home made fertilizer. First liquid fertilizer all of this in a 5 gallon bucket: 1cup of each, ammonia, Epsom salt, beer the cheep kind, soda any kind(not diet), some weak tomato fertilizer the kind that will dissolve in water even miracle grow can be used. Fill up to top with water. Use a pump hand sprayer to apply mixture to the base of the plants every 3-4 weeks or as needed. NOTE before plants start to blossom remove ammonia from mix, cause ammonia will kill flowers no flowers no tomatoes.
7. When it comes to a watering schedule be careful here. I wouldn't water every day plants may become dependent or start root rot. Remember liquid fertilizer has water in it too. Lately I've been seeing these trays that are a watering system, the plant grows through the middle and it holds water spikes release water in the ground. May try that this year,
8. Optional use row covers to keep disease and insects off your plants in the beginning. Remove them to water and on warm days. Remove them completely before the flowers come. After that you can use cages or stakes. Me I use bamboo or cane poles, take the pole and put it deep in the ground 2-3 feet away from the plant. Then bow it over and tie the plant to it with soft cloth-string. Make sure there is not to much tension on the pole or it will pull the plant up. Wait until plants start leaning over. Then tie them up.
9. Dry fertilizer can be added around the base of the plant inside the 4in pipe. You can use tea grounds, egg shells, and fertilizer that you want to use organic or commercial. If you want sweeter tomatoes use 1tablespoon of baking soda and 1 of sugar.
10. Those black and brown spots that appear on the leaves are fungus. Pick those off and get them out of the garden. Fungus will spread to the other plants if not caught quickly. Now I've been told that removing some of the leafs from a tomato plant will make for a better harvest. Also putting reflective material under plants helps with there production.

STARTING FROM SEEDS

To begin with gather all of your supplies together, so your not chasing your tail. Seeds, peat moss, potting soil, containers, fertilizer, starting trays, water, grow lights/ greenhouse. Now would be a good time to think about the

layout of your garden and what kind & how many plants you want to plant.

In the beginning

SEEDS not much to say except plant what you want to raise. Some are better started in the garden corn, peas, beans, etc... Lowe's, Home Depot, co-op. You can also order them online! Some seeds we buy every year, others we save from the year before. I will cover saving seeds later on in another post.

POTTING SOIL/PEAT MOSS You can use just peat moss. But to cut back on cost$ I mix mine 50/50. Peat moss has most everything in it, to give your plants a good start. Research (keyword) your seeds for special needs! Most brands has a Growth Inhabiter in it. This will keep your plants from growing to fast and will allow them to fill out. If you choose not to use peat moss you can always use this mix 2 tablespoons of baking soda to each gallon of water! Use this after your plants hardened off or before you plant them.

CONTAINERS & STARTING TRAYS you can plant your plants in just about anything that you want. You can use JIFFY STARTING TRAYS or the containers you bought other plants in, don't be afraid to recycle! Me most times I will take a big tub about 12in by 16-20in maybe 6-8in deep. Fill it half way up with my starting mixture, wet the soil good and spread my seeds. Than sprinkle a thin layer of soil on top fast and easy.

FERTILIZER choosing the right one will mean the difference between life & death! I will try to make this simple and some of you all ready know this but here goes. 4-4-4, 8-8-8, 13-13-13, etc... these numbers can be in almost any order. The first # is (n) nitrogen usually part nitrate part ammonia cal nitrogen. The second # is (p2o5) phosphate. The third # is (k20) soluble potash. I think I got that right? Triple 4 or 4-4-4 is to much for most young seedlings. Research (keyword) this to make sure you don't kill them before they get started good. Me I don;t use much store bought fertilizer. I use a simple mix of beer & Epsom Salt ¼ to ½ cup of each 2 gallons of water. You can also a little weak fertilizer in with this. If you have never made your own fertilizer try this! So you have doubts fine try it on 2 or 3 plants?

WATER well you know what to do with this. Alright I can't stand it you have to try it 1 cup of liquid ammonia the cheap kind, 1 cup Epsom Salt, 1 cup of beer the cheaper the better. Now the beer will allow the roots to open up and take in more food. Epsom Salt well read the back of the bag! It's there in black and white. The ammonia helps with growth and strength. Anyways mix 1cup of each with 5 gallons of water. Let me say this DO NOT use the ammonia on young seedling or any plant that is flowering! It will kill the flowers but not an adult plant. I KNOW first time I used this mix on my tomatoes it worked good. So a few weeks later I used it again on the tomatoes and they were flowering ya it killed the flowers but not the plants. I did some research (keyword) and I found out it was the ammonia. Leave that out when they are flowering. We'll cover more on this later.

If you go overboard think about this?

GROW LIGHTS / GREENHOUSE indoors setup in front of a window or use grow lights. Now to off set the cost of everything raise some extra plants to sell, don't go over board unless you really want to. Most of your supply's can be found at Lowe's, Home Depot, etc.. If you have a greenhouse for flowers save a little room and your good to go . 


 Disclosure: I don't own any company mentioned; positions can change at any time.
none of the pics are mine they were found on other sites thanks for the use.