People grow tomatoes as a mainstay in their home veggie plot because they are tasty and can be used in many ways. On the other hand, even the most skilled gardeners may find it hard to get lots of tomatoes.
Basic things like healthy dirt, keeping pests away, and giving plants regular watering all have big effects on how much fruit they produce. In fact, these are all important things to think about when you first start a vegetable garden.
But if you want to grow even better crops, our tried-and-true tomato-growing tips will help you do it. Many of these tips will help tomato plants grow faster as well as increase their yields.
No matter how experienced you are as a farmer, these tips will help you get the most out of your tomato plants so you can enjoy a summer full of tasty homegrown tomatoes.
1. Choose Top-Performing Varieties
Choose tomato types that are known for producing a lot of fruit. High-yielding tomatoes are bred to produce a lot of fruit, which makes them perfect for getting the most out of your home harvest.
2. Use Smarter Supports
Supporting tomato plants with stakes or a trellis is the best way to get more tomatoes and make the most of your room. Keeping the plants straight and off the ground helps them get more light, which helps them grow.
It also improves air flow around the plant, which lowers the risk of fungal diseases like blight and powdery mildew. It’s also easy to train plants and cut back on too much growth.
3. Try Trench Planting
When you trench plant tomatoes, you put the seedlings down horizontally instead of upright. Even though it sounds strange, it can greatly increase output by making plants and roots stronger.
When you lay the baby flat on its back, you bury more of the stem, which lets it grow roots all the way along its length. This makes the roots stronger and wider, so they can take in more water and nutrients from the dirt.
The roots also help the plant stay put, so it’s less likely to be pulled out of the ground by wind or big fruit. This method not only increases yields, but it also often makes plants produce for longer, which means that each plant produces more fruit altogether.
Pick seeds with strong roots if you want to trench plant tomatoes. Make a hole that is only 4-6 inches (10–15 cm) deep and long enough to fit the seedling’s stem. Cut off the seedling’s bottom leaves and lay it flat in the trench so that the top group of leaves is above the soil.
Cover the stem with dirt, making sure to leave the top group of leaves showing. Give the newly planted sprout lots of water to help it grow.
4. Tap To Pollinate
Tomatoes are self-pollinating, which means that their flowers have both male and female parts. The wind and animals that spread pollen move the pollen from the stamens to the carpel.
Hand-pollinating tomatoes is the best way to get more crops from areas with little air flow and few insects.
Some ways to move pollen around are by hand using a cotton swab, by shaking plants to spread the pollen, or even by moving vines with electric toothbrushes. However, tapping plants is a quick and safe way to do it.
As soon as the flowers start to grow, start tapping them. Do it once or twice a day. Do not hit the plant too hard. Start tapping at the bottom and work your way up.
When it’s warm, sunny, and not too muggy, noon is the best time to pollinate.You can get a bigger, better harvest by tapping your tomatoes every day. It only takes a few minute
5. Prune Out Excess Growth
Pruning and pinching out tomato suckers are important methods that can greatly increase crop yields by putting the plant’s energy into making fruit instead of too much foliage.
By cutting back leaves that aren’t needed, more sunshine can reach the leaves and fruits that are left, which helps photosynthesis and makes the plant grow better. Tomatoes can get bigger and the plant can make a bigger crop total if it puts more energy into the fruit that is already there.
Pruning also makes it easier for fruits to ripen properly and increases air flow, which lowers the risk of fungal diseases.
As the plants grow, cut off the lower leaves that are close to the ground to keep diseases from spreading to the plants from the dirt.
Every so often, pinch off the suckers that grow between the main stem and the leaf buds. When the suckers are about 2 to 4 inches (5 to 10 cm) long, pull them off with your fingers.
Cut off the plant’s top near the end of the growing season to stop it from going up. This makes the plant focus on making the fruit it already has ripe.
Regular pruning and pinching is best for indeterminate types because they keep making new growth and fruit. By pruning them, you can control their size and make sure they produce fruit regularly.
Determinate types usually have set times for when they grow and bear fruit. Few cuts should be made to these plants; only the lower leaves and any buds below the first flower cluster should be removed to keep the structure healthy.
6. Companion Plant With Good Neighbors
Growing tomatoes next to other plants is one of the best ways to make them grow faster and get more food.
The method includes placing tomatoes so that they grow next to plants that are good for you. This could mean keeping pests away, bringing in pollinators, making the food taste better, adding nutrition to the soil, or helping plants keep their water.
7. Fertilize With The Right Nutrients
Tomatoes need to be fertilized regularly with the right mix of nutrients so that they can produce a big crop.There are a lot of great tomato fertilizers on the market, but you can make your own that works just as well and is 100% natural.
All plants need three main nutrients: nitrogen for leafy, green growth; phosphorus for good root growth; and potassium for fruiting. But tomatoes also need calcium for good fruit, magnesium and iron for making chlorophyll, and other small amounts of elements.
But it’s possible to have too much of a good thing. For instance, giving too much nitrogen can make the plants only green and not fruit, giving too much phosphorus can stop their growth, and giving too much potassium can make the tomatoes taste sour.
Also See: 6 Golden Rules For Harvesting Vegetables – Pick Perfect Produce Every Time