Tips for Growing Super Healthy Tomatoes

Tomatoes are the most wonderful vegetable to grow. But they can be temperamental, especially if you don’t have just the right growing conditions. So, how do you figure out why your lackluster tomatoes aren’t happy? Here are a few things to think about when planning your bed and growing tomatoes.

And as a special bonus, I’ve added a free download here and again at the bottom of this article which goes into even more detail about how to keep your tomatoes really happy both at the time of planting and throughout the season!

In the following article I will discuss the following topics about growing tomatoes:

Tomato Growing Site – where you plant
Soil
Tomato Planting Hole – what amendments to use
Water
Tomato Caging
Ongoing Maintenance and Fertilization
Free Downloadable Tomato Grow Guide!

Growing tomatoes in raised beds increases soil productivity

Tomato Growing Site

Tomatoes need a lot of sun. Tomato plants need at least 8 hours of sunlight in order to produce fruit. If they don’t get enough sun, they will not fruit – at least not as well as they could. When you are planning your garden, try to put your tomato beds in the location on your property which has the most sun. This shouldn’t be in the shadow of the house, if you can help it. Your best bet is to put your vegetable garden on the south side of your house.

If, on the south side of your house, there are trees or other large buildings adding shadows, you may be better off putting the tomatoes on the east or west side of your house, if unobstructed. But ideally, aim for at least 8 hours of sun per day.

Once you have decided on a garden plot, or if you already have one established, observe the sun and shadows at various times of the day. Your tomatoes should be in the sunniest spot in the plot. Most other vegetables can stand a little shade, but the tomatoes (and peppers) really need the sun.

Soil

Tomatoes thrive in loose rich soil. I am a proponent of growing tomatoes – and all vegetables – in raised beds. This is because it allows me to very closely control every aspect of the soil – including pest management. For more on raised beds, see my post on Building Your Own Raised Beds.

When amending your garden soil, remove as much of the existing soil as you can, and at least 50% if in raised beds. Then, amend the entire area with well-rotted compost. Some people suggest amending native clay with sand or sawdust, but we prefer adding more nutrient – rich amendments back into the soil. Tomatoes are heavy feeders and will do best in richer soil. You’re better off adding compost or enriched commercial planting soil. (Also you probably want to stay away from cheap fir-bark garden soils, which are great for cactuses but not so much for your tomatoes)

The Tomato Planting Hole

Tomatoes have very specific nutritional requirements. If they do not have the appropriate minerals, not only will they grow slowly and struggle to produce fruit, but they will also be more susceptible to disease and pests, like blossom end rot and aphids.

Tomatoes are well known to be heavy feeders. They need nitrogen, calcium, phosphorus, macronutrients, salicylic acid, and more, at different levels during the different stages in their lifecycle.

Check out my post on What to put into your Tomato planting Hole for the best possible results. I discuss not only what to put into the planting hole, but also why and in what order. At the minimum, make sure to include high nitrogen at the beginning and lots of calcium.

Water

Everyone thinks that when growing tomatoes you need a lot of water. Well, that’s only partially true. Water needs are always contingent upon your local conditions; soil, sun, heat and evaporation. And even then, tomatoes need more water in their formative stages, when they are growing roots. After they are larger and have started fruiting, you could cut back a bit on the water.

However, even more important is that tomato soil needs to stay evenly moist throughout the growing season. This is one of the most critical aspects to your watering regimen. If you let your tomatoes dry out or if they sit in soggy wet soil, you run the risk of – at best – blossom end rot. At worst you could slowly kill your plant if either too wet or too dry.

Drip Irrigation

A fantastic option is to install an automatic drip system for your tomatoes. There are several diseases which could result from inconsistent or uneven watering. A drip system will water the plants the same amount at the same time each day. It will be consistent regardless if you are working, traveling, or just plain forgetful.

In addition to the sun and evaporation rate, there are a few other variables to consider when determining how much water a plant needs. Consider whether your tomatoes are in containers, in the ground or in a raised bed. Also, it’s a good thing to make sure there is plenty of humus/compost in the soil.

Always add water to the bottom of your planting hole prior to adding your amendments. This will create the wicking mechanism from your surface watering system down through to the root zone. And if you can, use root protectors such as this Water Halo. They will prevent evaporation of water from the root zone. This in turn significantly decreases chances of drying out which leads to blossom end rot. Another benefit of halos – they prevent animals from digging your plants up, which they absolutely will do. If you don’t use a water halo, you should mulch your plant really well.

Tomato Caging

If you follow this tomato planting hole recipe, your indeterminate tomatoes will be taller than you are. Stakes just wont cut it. You are going to need strong, tall cages which can be tied to support posts for stability.

Your best bet for both structure and affordability is to make your own cages using 6-foot tall welded wire fencing. Welded wire holds its shape well. You might need to cut a few gaps in the cage for your hand to fit through. An alternative is to use graduated orchard (field) fencing, which is woven rather than welded. It is not quite as sturdy as the welded wire. But, the benefit of the graduated fencing is the size of the openings. They are already large enough for your hand to fit through. You won’t need to cut openings and create potentially sharp edges.

Ongoing Management

Ok, so you’ve got the baby tomato sproutlets in the ground. You’ve got your fertilizer and your automatic watering system setup. You can walk away and forget them until harvest right? Well, not really.

For the first few weeks, unless you are hand watering, you should be checking the soil moistness. You are confirming that the sprinklers are working properly and are releasing the right amount of water. Remember – the plants should never go totally dry and they should also never sit in soggy soil either. You may want to reduce the water once the plants are about three feet tall or so.

You should also be inspecting the plants for bugs and diseases. Make sure there are no aphids on your tender blossoms. Also check for blight as the plants get bigger. If high winds are expected, make sure your cages are secured so that they don’t blow over. If this happens, they could take your tomatoes with them and damage the stalks.

For growing extra huge tomatoes, you will want to add an organic, high phosphorus fertilizer, aka “SuperBloom”. (Non-organic fertilizers will add extra salt to the soil which accumulates over time). Add this once a month from May through September. The phosphorus aids in both blossoming and fruit production. We apply the fertilizer on the first of each month to make sure we don’t forget.

If your tomatoes have lots of blossoms but still are not setting fruit, heat is the likely cause. Pollination slows significantly in super hot weather. You can easily encourage fruit by just shaking the plant a bit. This will release the pollen from the flowers and get your plants setting fruit.

To Prune or Not to Prune?

There is a lot of discussion on whether or not pruning is actually better for your tomatoes. In some cases, there are benefits to prevent disease spread and increase airflow. However be careful not to over prune, because you could end up stunting the plant’s growth. Also, the tomato uses the leaves as protection from harsh weather. Harsh sun can scald fruit, and overly wet weather can crack it. The leaves serve to protect the fruit from a number of different conditions.

When growing tomatoes, you want to direct the energy of the plant. Early on, you want growth to go into the root production. About mid-season you want it to go to the fruit production.

Pruning suckers = bigger fruit, but fewer overall tomatoes

No Pruning = The plant continues to grow larger and keep setting fruit

However that’s not the end of it. You can prune lightly on the bottom of the plant to prevent disease from spreading to the soil. This low branch pruning will not stop the plant from growing late season fruit.

Additionally, you want to keep in mind that your planting zone will affect your decision. If you live in a northern area with short summers, you will probably want to prune more heavily. Late season tomatoes won’t have sufficient time to fully mature and ripen before frost hits. So nipping those suckers improves the overall vigor of the plant.

If you live in an area with longer summers, like here in California, you may not want to prune suckers. Allowing the indeterminate tomatoes to continue to put out new suckers means you will have new flowers and fruit though the fall. I usually continue to harvest tomatoes through December, which is when we generally get our first cold weather. So if you want to keep growing tomatoes in the late season, don’t prune suckers very heavily.

If you Decide to Prune, When to do it

Initially, you can focus on lower branches and suckers for pruning. This is because disease often spreads from the soil. And also, you want to preserve the overhead leaves as protection. I usually start checking to see if the plant needs pruning when it is about 4 feet tall.

Pruning is also really helpful toward the end of the season. It is when the air starts cooling off that you need to increase heat to the tomatoes. Pruning late in the season increases the amount of light penetrating the dense foliage. But be careful – just as the leaves protect from sunscald, same is true with cold. If you are in a cold area, and there is the threat of a nighttime light frost, your leafy tomatoes will be better able to withstand the cold whereas a ‘bald’ tomato will not.

You should never prune determinate type tomatoes, as they do not continue to flower or fruit after the first set. They grow to a set size, flower, produce fruit and die off. You only have this one go at getting fruit from a determinate tomato. The suckers are an important source of fruit production on the determinate type tomatoes.