Tomato Masters
Cynthia Sandberg
Love Apple Farms
LoveAppleFarms.com
Selecting Tomatoes for Your Garden
Every tomato variety has its time and place
● Culinary purpose
● Climate
● Sunlight limitations
● Disease resistance
Photo courtesy of Don Barnes
Culinary Purposes of Different Shapes
Beefsteak - Slicers,
salads, not great
canners
Oxheart - Double duty,
slicing and canning
Plum, Pear, Roma-type Use for canning and
salsa making
Ruffled - great for
stuffing (a bit hollow)
The role of color when selecting tomatoes
- Red tomatoes are not typically sweet - they are “bite you back,”
higher acidic flavor than other colors. Some people would call them
having “old fashioned” flavor.
- Pink tomatoes are sweet
- Orange tomatoes can be sweet or mild in flavor (think Sungold)
- Yellow tomatoes can also be on the sweeter side
- Black or purple tomatoes have less acid, but more of an umami
flavor, some say smokey or barbequey flavor
- White tomatoes can be some of the sweetest around, with hints of
guava and honey
- Green-when-ripe tomatoes can be complex in flavor, with excellent
balances of sweet and acid.
- Bi-color tomatoes will be the flavor of their coloring: if red and
yellow, there will be a nice acid/sweet balance
Selecting for Your Climate
● Coastal fog
● Central Valley heat
● Higher elevation - drastic
change in day/night temps
● Oxhearts
○ Droopy, wispy foliage
is normal.
○ Use 50% shade fabric
in hot climates
○ Or shady p.m.
Fruit Size and Minimum Sunlight Hours
Cherry
Minimum 3
Size: 1/2 oz
hours of sunlight
Small Fruit
Min 4 - 5 hours Size: 1-3 oz
of sunlight
Medium Fruit
Min 5 - 6 hours
of sunlight
Large & XL
Fruit
Min 7 - 8 hours Size: >9 oz
of sunlight
Size: 4-8 oz
Know The Characteristics of
the Tomatoes You Select
●Indeterminate or Determinate?
●Heirloom or Hybrid?
Indeterminate Growth Habit
● Undetermined as to
how tall it will get
● Requires proper staking
● Will shade other plants
● Harvest over longer
season
Determinate Growth Habit
● 3 feet tall or less
● Shorter harvest season
● Usually hybrids
● Place on south side of
indeterminate tomatoes
● Cut tall tomato cages in half
Heirloom vs. Hybrid
● Saved seed will sow true
● 1 genetic parent
● Diversity in color, shape,
taste
● Less prolific
● Green shoulders
● Mostly Indeterminate
● Cannot save seed
● 2+ genetic parents
● Disease-resistance & shelf
life
● More prolific
● Perfect-looking
● Mostly Determinate
When to Plant Your Tomato
Issues with planting too early:
● Low nighttime temperatures
● Cold rain
● Frost
● Cold soil
● Blossom Drop
● Stunting
● More susceptible to pests and
diseases
Issues with planting too late:
● Shorter season
● Getting fruit to ripen
Planting Date Guidelines
Mild and Coastal Areas (within two miles of
oceans or half mile of large lakes lower than 1000
feet sea level): April 1
Normal or Usual Conditions: April 15 (unless it’s
been unseasonally cold or rainy April)
Higher Elevations (above 1000 feet): May 1
If You Just
Gotta Plant
Earlier than
you Should
Inverted
Bucket, Bin or
Box
(on at night, off in
morning)
Or Warm Soil with Plastic
Keeping Your Plants Warmer in
Early Part of Season
DO NOT DO THIS WITH PLASTIC!
● Floating Row Cover
attached to structure
or cages
● Can leave on 24/7
first few weeks.
● Don't let it rest on
plants.
● Available on line or
at good nurseries
● Use lighter weight
FRC or scant light
will penetrate.
More Elegant
Example of FRC
Wrapping
Note this is NOT
plastic!
NO!
I killed all
of my
tomatoes
one year
using
plastic
cover
Choosing Your Site
● Reserve the sunniest spots for the larger fruiters
● In North/South oriented beds, place cherry sized
fruit in North side, small and medium sized in
middle, and large and XL sized fruit on South side
of bed
● Consider day length in Fall - Bay Area's peak
tomato season
● Coastal fog reduces
light
● Shade from trees is a
factor
Bed Amending Recipe
For a 50 square foot bed:
● 1 wheelbarrow homemade compost OR
1 bag Gardner & Bloome Harvest Supreme
● 2 quarts G&B 4-6-3 Tomato, Veg, & Herb Fertilizer
● 1 quart pure Worm Castings
(double up all if your soil is especially poor)
Bed Amending Step by Step
● Sprinkle all amendments evenly on
top
● Turn over soil as deep as you can
(two digs preferably)
○ Use a spade fork
● Rake smooth
Spacing
Optimal = 3 feet + apart
Minimum = 2 feet apart
● Crowding will give you
less fruit, not more
● More airflow reduces
foliar diseases &
increases blossom
production (because less
shading)
● Harvesting tomatoes is
easier
Planting Hole Recipe
Big Fish Head (or fish parts)
● Seafood restaurants, fishmongers, buy whole fish to eat and
freeze head and tail
● Requires 2 foot deep planting hole - so varmints don't dig up the
fish head
● Substitute: ½ cup Fish Meal or Fish Bone Meal - hole won't
need to be as deep
● Slow release Nitrogen and Calcium source
½ cup Bone Meal
● Organic phosphorus source
○ Essential for blossom
production
○ More blossoms, more
fruit
● Increases calcium
availability for the tomato,
which prevents Blossom
End Rot
½ cup G&B Tomato, Vegetable & Herb
Fertilizer 4-6-3
● Or other organic dry fertilizer
○ Down To Earth 4-6-2
○ Sustane 4-6-4
● Breaks down slowly
● Contains macronutrients (N,P,
K) and Calcium
⅓ cup 100% Pure Worm Castings
● Best fertilizer on
earth!
● Make sure it's pure
- no fillers
● Available at LAF
Tomato Plant Sale
● Start your own
worm bin!
2 Aspirin Tablets
● Helps the plant's
immune system
● Non-coated
● Generic, cheapest is
fine
Several Crushed Eggshells
● Supplies extra
calcium
● Chicken eggs
● Start saving in bag
under your sink
● Crush with your
hands and chuck in
the hole
Then add some soil
Add a bit of soil on top of all the amendments (use what you
took out to make the initial hole).
The amount you put in will depend on how tall the tomato
plant is.
If it’s a tall plant, you won’t be adding too much soil on top
of amendments (because you will be planting deep)
If it’s a short plant and you’ve dug a two foot deep hole, then
you’ll be adding more soil.
⅓ cup Mycorrhizae Fungi Sprinkled on
Root Ball
● Fungus that has a symbiotic relationship with plant - it
lives on plant roots, creating a larger root mass and in
exchange it helps the plant take up nutrients.
● It helps protects the plant from some diseases, such as
verticillium and fusarium wilts.
● Plant needs less water as well
● Mykos by Xtreme Gardening our favorite.
Deep Planting
● Tomato should be planted half way
up its stem (unless it's a grafted
plant).
● Deep planting too early in spring may
be detrimental.
● Remove lower leaves with clippers.
● Hairs on stem will root when they
contact soil.
Watering In Your Transplant
● Begin to back-fill hole with soil you originally took out.
● Never compact soil.
● Leave a depression, or well,
around plant.
● Water 3 times on first day.
● Tomato will not need water
again for at least a week,
maybe more, unless you have
very light, sandy soil.
Fruit Formation Issues
Blossom drop or no fruit?
● Low night time temperatures
● High day time temperatures
● High humidity (fog)
● Excessive smog or dust
● Excessive nitrogen fertilizer
● Too much shade
● Plants set out too early
Cat-Facing, Stitching, Concentric Cracking
● Environmental factors
(cold, fog)
● Changes in weather
● Usually still edible
When to Water - Not a Simple Answer!
● What kind of soil do you have?
○ Sandy soils drain faster
○ Clay soils retain more water
○ Loamy soils are best (combo of the two)
● Age of plant
○ Smaller plants need less water, but more often
○ Larger plants need more water, but less often
● Temperature and climate
○ Plants transpire more in warmer weather and in windier weather
○ Shadier gardens or beds need less water
● Mulched or not
○ Mulching retains moisture
Over-Watering Issues
● #1 cause of bad-tasting fruit
● Increased diseases - including leaf curl - can kill the plant
● We hate timers!
○ Not weather-dependent, not what the tomato needs
● Drip irrigation is best (upcoming class on May 29)
● Early morning watering is best
● Don't get leaves wet - no sprinklers
● Soaker hoses get clogged easily
Proper Staking is Key
● Ineffectual cages
○ We like to start with these cages, but they
need proper caging later
● What if you don't stake?
● Proper cages
● Staking and twining cages
● Pushing in branches
● Don't push in leaves
Concrete Reinforcing Wire
Available pre-cut at Central Home Supply in Scotts Valley or from
Loamstead (delivered)
Twine All Cages Together at 3 Levels
Mulching
● Tomatoes like it, especially alfalfa
● Don't use other hay - contains seeds
● Not too early (June 15 is good)
● Weed control
● Moisture retention
● Fertility additive
● Intense heat on top of soil
damages roots
● Plastic is technically a “mulch”
too. Add straw later in season
to keep top of soil cool.
Intense Heat
(over 90 degrees)
● Shade with shade cloth or floating row cover
○ Clip on to south and west side of tomato cages
● Sun scald
Fertilizing
● For health
● For yield
● For taste
● Folixar spray: Worm Casting Tea + aspirin
Worm Casting Tea Recipe
● Big handful of castings in a 5 gallon bucket of water
● Let sit for two days, stirring occasionally
● Strain through cheesecloth into sprayer
● Dilute up to 2X with additional water before using, if you
like.
● 1.5 aspirin per 2 gallons diluted tea
● Apply weekly to foliage in a.m.
Pruning
● Sucker growth after August 1
● For diseases/pests
● For taste
● Remove all leaves touching
ground
● Remove 50% interior leaves if
you’ve staked properly and
interior is dense
● End of season pruning
Diseases
● All members of the Nightshade family are very disease-prone
● Diseases can be spread by:
○ Pests
○ Soil
○ Air
○ Infected plant (natural and unnatural)
○ Seed
○ Human (TMV)
● Hard to diagnose - seek professional help
● Cure is almost impossible
● Prevention is key!!!
○ Mycorrhizae fungi
○ Aspirin
○ Worm Casting Tea
Use Disease Resistant Varieties or
Grafted Plants
● "A" Alternaria stem canker
● "F" Fusarium Wilt
● "FF" Fusarium, races 1 and 2
● "FFF" Fusarium, races 1, 2, and 3
● "N" Nematodes
● "T" Tobacco Mosaic Virus
● "St" Stemphylium gray leaf spot
● "V" Verticillium Wilt
Other Diseases
● Bacterial Speck
○ Cold and moist
○ Planting too soon
● Blossom End Rot (BER)
○ Calcium deficiency
Late Blight
Late Blight aka Phytophthora Infestans
● Prevalent in wet weather (or foggy weather) that is between
64 and 72 degrees
● Responsible for Irish Potato Famine
● Can kill tomatoes within a week
● In wetter weather, do a prophylactic spray of Serenade,
sulfur, or Copper based fungicide
● Once you have it, hard to control it
● Doesn't over-winter
● Late Blight Reporting Map: usablight.org
LAF Version here
Remedy for colder, foggy climates
Tomato Russet Mite (TRM)
● Microscopic - check weekly with 10x or 20x hand
lens
○ Look on foliage above dying leaves
● Preventative: Neem Oil, Wettable Sulfur
○ Organic smothering agents
○ Contact all surfaces of plant
○ Every 2 weeks
● Organic miticides: Azatrol, Agri-mek
○ Several applications
○ Early in morning
● Does not stay in soil
● Only overwinters on living tomato, eggplant,
pepper, or morning glory plants
Thrips
● Need hand lens to see
● Fast moving, long little
bugs
● Can impart tomato spotted
wilt virus
● Will damage leaves and
growing tips
● Control with Pyrethrin,
Neem Oil, Spinosad,
Azatrol on rotation basis
each week.
● These will RUIN your
tomatoes!
Hornworm and Fruitworm
● Hornworm: denudes branches
● Fruitworm: Eats tops of fruit
● Predatory insect: Trichogramma wasps
● www.beneficialinsects101.com
Growing in Pots
● Why grow in a container?
○ Disease issues
○ Sunlight issues
○ Gopher issues
○ Soil issues
○ Renters
● It is more difficult to grow in a pot
● Minimum size: 15 gallons
● Potting soil: Always new, G&B is good.
Sunland or Happy Frog also good
● Special container amendment recipe
● More water
● More fertilizer
● Shade dark colors of pots from intense sun or
use fabric pots (Geopots)
Shading Black Plastic Pots from Sun
Shade cloth doubled up, clipped to south and west side of tall cages
with small binder clips
Harvesting
● First ones low and inside
● How to tell when they're ripe
● Hang time
● Over ripe
● At end of season
○ Harvest green
○ Ripen inside
○ To avoid frost loss
Seed Saving
● Only heirlooms, no hybrids
● Only from healthy plants and best fruit
● Can develop strains that do very well in your microclimate
● Fruit must be ripe
● Cut fruit around “equator”
● Scoop and squeeze seeds into plastic cup
● Add an inch of water to cup
● Write var name on cup
● Leave on window sill for a week until mold forms
● Remove mold cap and strain misture with fine sieve
● Slap onto wax paper (not paper towel!)
● Dry for one week
Store in sealed container in cool, dry place away from
mice. We use film canisters
Upcoming Classes
Beginning Cheese Making - May 14
Container Vegetable Gardening - May 15
Propagating Perennial Borders - May 21
Succulents & Cactus - May 22
Making a Living from your Backyard - May 28
Simple Drip Irrigation - May 29
All About Berries - June 4
Compost, Vermiculture & Soil Fertility - June 5