A GUIDE TO TRANSPLANTING AND CARING FOR
YOUR TOMATO PLANT
Preparing for Transplanting Outdoors: Weathering
Once the weather has warmed up sufficiently and the danger of night frost has just about
passed, it is time to “weather” your plant in preparation for outdoor transplanting.
Weathering means to get it used to the climate outdoors where it will be exposed to the
elements. It needs to gradually get used to the outdoor air, wind, and the sun hitting it
directly instead of through a window. If planted directly outdoors without weathering first,
your plant will be in for a shock and may not make it. So, bring it outside to a safe spot for a
few hours a day, gradually increasing over the next week to all day outside and bringing it
inside at night for protection.
On lightly windy days you can support the pot to keep the plant
upright and from falling over. Water-filled 2-litre bottles are
helpful for this.
When the day has come to transplant your plant outside for
good, you can either plant it in a large pot, a grow bag or
directly into the ground. Just make sure the area you plant it
in, or place the pot in, is an area that receives full sun all day.
Part sun will result in poor tomato yield and a spindly plant,
although it can still be done. Extreme temperatures either way
can also cause problems, such as bloom dropping or wilting.
Ideal temperatures are between 21-29 C.
You can buy special tomato fertilizers (plant feed) that will help your plant to get the
nutrients it needs to grow well (Read the bottle for instructions).
Transplanting your tomato plant to the outdoors
To further prepare for planting, your plant might need a good
pruning. A general rule when planting tomato plants is to plant
them deep into the ground, and there’s an important reason why:
Have you noticed the little hairs, or white fuzz along the main
stem? These little hairs will grow into roots when covered by dirt,
and allow for a good, strong root system to support the plant.
Isn’t that amazing!? And since you’ll dig it down deep, lower
branches will need to be removed. Take a look at your plant, and
plan to dig down 2/3 of the stem, allowing only the top 1/3 to
remain above ground. That means you’ll want to snip away all branches below the top third.
At this stage you can still typically get away with snipping them off using only your finger
nails. The plant is looking pretty bare right now, but once planted, it will quickly take off and
grow large.
Remove pots & don’t forget the strings from past stakings! The stem will grow thick and
sturdy after a while, and a forgotten string can cause considerable damage and strangle the
plant.
If the roots are growing in circles inside the pot, loosen them, or
even cut through some of them to encourage outward growth
instead of continuing in a circle. Then into the hole it goes. If you
are planting your plant into a pot, make sure that it is at least
30cm in diameter (the larger the better).Just don’t forget to
water it shortly after planting!! You can even water into the hole
when halfway filled, then again when finished planting.
Leave about a metre between your tomato plant and any other
large plants that you might be growing in your garden.
Staking and Pruning
Once in the ground, you should use stakes to help support your tomato plant and keep it
upright. Potted plants are easier to control as they won’t grow as large, but they don’t
produce as much fruit, either.
Pruning your plant will produce larger fruit if pruned, in addition to giving better air flow to
prevent bugs and diseases.
Once your plant has grown to
about 3ft tall, snip off lower
branches that are close to the
ground, as soil can otherwise
splatter up on the leaves and
spread disease such as early
blight. In addition, remove
suckers.
Suckers are the little leaves
that grow out in the V between
the main stem and true branches. You should remove all suckers located below the first set
of blooms.
Mulching is helpful as a soil splatter protection, weed control, and also helps keep moisture
more even, which will greatly benefit your tomatoes. Mulching options include grass clippings,
bark, peat moss, straw, shredded newspapers, and leaves. Black plastic is another alternative.
Watering
Tomato plants do need a lot of water, daily if the weather is hot, but not in large quantities
at a time. It is important to water evenly; if moisture fluctuates a lot, you can end up with
various problems such as cracked tomatoes or blossom end rot. That doesn’t mean they can
never ever go dry, but the more evenly the better. I especially try to avoid periods of
drought followed by heavy watering. If you notice that your plant is excessively dry, you
should try to water just a little bit then wait a while before adding more. You want to
encourage it to absorb the water slowly to prevent cracking.
Fruiting
It is always fun to see the first blooms! Tomatoes are on their way!!
If the plant seems too young or spindly to be able to support tomatoes, it likely is, so snip
the flowers off until the plant has had a chance to grow stronger. Also snip them off if the
weather is extreme, causing the plant distress. Removal of flowers will ensure more energy
to the plant itself. In addition, you may want to remove blooms 4 weeks before expected
frost in your area, to encourage the plant to focus its energy on ripening existing fruit. Once
frost hits, your plant is a goner unless you cover it up during frost.
After each yellow little flower is done blooming, it will wither, and in the center there will be
a tiny beginning of a tomato.
They will keep on growing until they reach the correct size for that plant, whether that’s
small as a grape or large as a softball.
Growing tomatoes is fun and very rewarding. Caring
for them until they are ready to be transplanted
outdoors is a fairly simple deal once you understand
the needs of these plants, and watching them grow
large and with ripening fruit is an amazing process!
That such a tiny seed can become such an enormous
plant! Biting into that first tomato of the season,
after having watched and waited patiently (or not so
patiently!) makes the work and the wait so worth it.
There really is nothing like a garden tomato that was allowed to ripen on the plant, receiving
warmth, sunshine, and a healthy dose of TLC. Though flavour depends on the variety, there is
no comparison to supermarket tomatoes. Garden tomatoes are rich and red throughout, and
very flavourful.
Read More http://thecountrybasket.com/growing-tomatoes-part-2-transplanting-outdoorscare/
Growing Tomatoes: Common Problems and How to Handle Them
Growing your own food can be fun, educational, and very rewarding. Unfortunately, tomato
plants can develop a myriad of different diseases and problems! Even though a lot of things
can go wrong in a home garden, there is also a lot you can do, and naturally so, to prevent or
handle diseases, bugs, and disorders.
Below are some pictures of problems that might affect your plant. Follow this weblink to
find out more about how you can treat the problem.
http://thecountrybasket.com/growing-tomatoes-part-3-common-problems-fixes/
Early Blight
Blossom End Rot, BER
To avoid early blight water your plants carefully – aim for the soil around the base of the
plant try not to splash the leaves as this can spread fungus from the soil onto your plant.