Tomatoes: A Complete Planting Guide

The How Do Gardener ^ | 04/11/2012 | Rick Bickling

[orsonwb]

Complete planting guide for Tomatoes including state specific varieties, planting dates, nutrition facts, planting, watering, fertilizing, insect and disease control information...

[orsonwb]

Thought this may be helpful.

[freebird5850]

bflr

[Lil Flower]

BTTT

[WayneM]

Thanks!

[dirtboy]

marking for later

[nascarnation]

Thanks very much!

[Silentgypsy]

Ping

[cweese]

An old Italian lived alone in New Jersey . He wanted to plant his annual tomato garden, but it was very difficult work, as the ground was hard.

His only son, Vincent, who used to help him, was in prison. The old man wrote a letter to his son and described his predicament:

Dear Vincent,

I am feeling pretty sad, because it looks like I won’t be able to plant my tomato garden this year. I’m just getting too old to be digging up a garden plot. I know if you were here my troubles would be over.. I know you would be happy to dig the plot for me, like in the old days.

Love, Papa

A few days later he received a letter from his son:

Dear Pop,

Don’t dig up that garden. That’s where the bodies are buried.

Love, Vinnie

At 4 a.m. the next morning, FBI agents and local police arrived and dug up the entire area without finding any bodies. They apologized to the old man and left.That same day the old man received another letter from his son:

Dear Pop,

Go ahead and plant the tomatoes now. That’s the best I could do under the circumstances.

Love you, Vinnie

[Silentgypsy]

Thank you! I’ve pinged JustaDumbBlonde to request notification of the Weekly Gardening Thread keeper. If you haven’t seen it already, I bet you’d enjoy it.

[Peter from Rutland]

Great resource, thanks for sharing!

[Dudoight]

My tomato plants are in bloom!

[Gabz]

That is hilarious!

[colinhester]

Bflr

[Maverick68]

This year we’re going with cherry and grape tomatoes: easier to grow!

[Jane Long]

bfl....thanks :)

[csmusaret]

Lime added to the soil at planting time will help prevent blossom end rot.

[knarf]

I can't believe I did not take a good picture of my most amazing invention for easy harvesting of tomatoes.

Alas

By overbuying from my son's high school, a ton of Roma's, I realized I had a problem with so many.

I reached into my memory bank of tricks and pulled out an idea I'd thought of for years, but never did.

Simply;

I planted all my 6" - 12" plants a handwidth apart, right/left - back and for-wards .. about a 2 ft. by 12 ft swath of garden space. (Like I said .. over bought)

I drove bamboo stakes (left over from another idea from the year before) every 16" or so around the perimeter of that swath, and down the middle also.

Got it?

a bunch o'mater's 2ftX12ft, bamboo rods (3/8"-1/2" wide about 3ft high) all through this "patch"

I then took left over deer fence, vinyl clad, 2"X3" mesh, 2'X12' and put it down over these bamboo rods and fastened them with garden tie wire about 16" from the ground.

I did another "bed" another 16" or 18" above THAT.

As the mater's grew, I trained them through the mesh and forgot about 'em.

As they continued to grow, I trained some of the branches through the second mesh "bed"

I harvested my mater's standing up, easily picked from fruit just layin' on a mesh bed whisperin' "I'm done, pick ME", so I did.

There was no problem from lack of light or anything and the ground, after the intitial one or two weedings pretty much stayed weed free.

I'm going to try this this year with my cukes on a larger, more substantial scale.

[massgopguy]

My grandfather used to put a Smelt under each tomato plant.

[Normandy]

Cool thread. Anyone tried these? Hanging tomato plants:
http://www.topsygardening.com/

[Kirkwood]

High density planting is not recommended because of the risk of disease rapidly wiping out your entire crop. If you want to risk it, it is your garden. Some of the newer hybrids are more disease tolerant.

[Argus]

Thanks

[rightly_dividing]

We are getting some blooms now and some are needing to be staked. Ours were planted Mar 17. We are just north of Houston.

[patriot08]

We have a local weather man who is famous for his tomatoes.
Thought I’d through in his formula:

Dale Nelson’s tomato formula:

There are two Tomato formulas... One formula for sandy soil and one for clay soil. The first time you use the tomato formula use the “Original” formula no matter what type of soil you have.

Original Formula / Sandy Soil
1 cup 10-20-10 (1-2-1 ratio) fertilizer
1/4 cup super phosphate
1/2 cup gypsum
2 cups cow manure
Dig a hole and mix ingredients. Then, add regular dirt on top of formula before placing tomato plant in hole. Otherwise, formula will burn the roots of the plant. Don’t let formula touch the roots when they are first planted. Let the plant grow into the formula. Water regularly. Stand back and watch them grow! Best varieties are Sonny, Bingo, Carnival, Heatwave, Celebrity, Big Boy, Better Boy and President. Best cherry tomatoes to use are small Fry and Cherry Grande. Everything needed is available at any local nursery.

Caution: Please be aware that excessive use of phosphorus in our clay soil over a long period of time can be non beneficial to your plants.

Clay Soil*
1 Cup 21-0-0 (1-0-0 Ratio) Ammonium Sulphate
3/4 Cup Gypsum
2 Cups Cow Manure
Mix these ingredients together with existing garden soil and plant one tomato plant per hole mixture.

*Most clay soils in this area already have too much super phosphate, which tends to stay in the soil for a long period of time. The local nursery people tell me, the best way to correct this is by adding ammonium sulphate which is 21-0-0.

[YoungCurmudgeon]

I’m going to try that this year. It sounds like a terrific method.

[knarf]

True story;

I imagined this during some cloudy daze of the 60's or 70's (did I say cloudy daze?) and it was first, a ladder.

Over the years and decloudification, I added (in my mind) wire fence to the top of the ladder that was resting on 5 gal buckets at each end.

Last year was the first time I did it as described.

Thanx for the comment.

[trisham]

LOL!

[djf]

Yup.

Lime, bone meal, wood ash, almost anything with alot of calcium. Fast growing veggies need calcium, it’s one of the triggers that help cells divide.

Good for lettuce, cabbage, broccoli also.

In general, if you need calcium, you probably also need magnesium.
The lime I get is about 2-1 calcium-magnesium.

Plants need magnesium to make chlorophyll.

[ScottinVA]

Got a good mix of Bush Goliaths, Beefeaters, Better Boys and Lemon Boys planted this past weekend. Looking for another productive season.

[csmusaret]

Good sources of calcium are Damp Rid and sidewalk de-icer. A good source of magnesium is Epsom Salts.

[kalee]

Ping

[VTenigma]

bump

[JustaDumbBlonde]

Ping to the Weekly Gardening Thread Member List

Please let me know if you would like to be added to or removed from the ping list.

[Red Badger]

LOL!.......

[djf]

And if you eat a lot of clams or oysters, just smash up the shells and chuck em in your garden!
Egg shells also!

My compost pile had all that stuff in it...

[Vinnie]

Hanging tomato plants:

Yes, my wife tried them.

Save your money.

[djf]

What I can’t figure out is what I need to get good root veggies.
Tomatoes, lettuce, cabbage, peas, the squash and stuff do good here. Potatoes medium to good.

But I can’t grow a damn radish or carrot or beet to save my life!

Tops do great, and beet greens and carrot greens are fine and edible...

(and I’ve heard the “too much nitrogen” way, way too much!!)

Soil here is fairly acidic because of the pine trees. But I know it’s good - my dog lived back there for 16 years, it’s good and fertilized. Area gets about 7 hours of direct, overhead sun a day, so that should be enough...

:-(

[momtothree]

Hi Normandy! I tried something similar... a thick metal pole that hung the tomato plants upside down. Really bad idea... the tomatoes didn’t grow well at all (they just didn’t root the way they should) and a breeze knocked the thing over. Unfortunately, I was weeding underneath the thing when it toppled over. Saw stars and gave me a good gash on top of my head. We now laugh at the incident but for a minute there... I thought it would be “death by tomato plants”. Save your money and use pots or plain old (non lethal) dirt.

[Darth Reardon]

The tree rats have been devastating most of my tomatoes lately. Every day I find one in the yard half eaten (a tomato that is, not a squirrel, unfortunately). But I've got some growing where they can't get them. Here's a couple pics of a Better Boy that went in a couple months ago. Threads about food need pictures.

[Darth Reardon]

I haven't used those, but most of my tomatoes hang and it works quite well. I use a hydroponic system (slideshow of hanging tomatoes at link). I was advised to plant only half as many plants per pot when planting tomatoes because they need more room for the roots.

[bgill]

I figured out why three of mine died. Hubby parked next to them and the reflective heat burned them up. He also mowed down my garlic, grrr. The tree in the middle of the garden (hey, gotta work with what you’ve got) is leafing out so that’s going to cut out a lot of sunshine.

The broccoli and cauliflower never came up so guess I’ll try okra or cantaloupe. The okra seeds are old so those are doubtful. Did plant two potatoes from a potato that had sprouted in the kitchen so who knows. Just one of the peppers didn’t make it but still have plenty. A cucumber somehow popped up in the salad and greens area so need to try to move him. Everything else seems fine and we’ve been eating asparagus and lettuces.

[bgill]

Good one!

[Normandy]

Thanks for the link — I like the look of that system. Seems to make more sense to have the plant growing out of the top of a container than the bottom.

[DollyCali]

thanks . might try again one more year. Doing containers for about 10 years. Results less than good. CHEAP good produce at local roadside stands

[Normandy]

Thanks for the tip! Something to avoid :)

[Mr Fuji]

Yes, I’ve tried them and my answer is don’t do it! The roots get cooked and they don’t produce enough yields.

Don’t be afraid or intimidated to stake and grow tomatoes. It’s not that hard to do. If you are confined for space then by all means use containers e.g. 5 gallon buckets and bush variety tomatoes.

[painter]

The tree rats have been devastating most of my tomatoes lately.

I can help you with that. What I do is,I get the Hottest Hot sauce ( I use Dave's insanity sauce)and strain all the heavy stuff out. Then thin it with water and put it in a plastic spray bottle. Spray a coat of this hot sauce on the tomatoes. Keep it off the leaves it will burn them.

Squirrels will stay away from the tomatoes.

[poobear]

off ping list, thanks.

[Darth Reardon]

Thanks, I’ll give that a try. I read about using pepper spray in the garden to repel them by smell, but had no luck with that. Hadn’t thought about putting it on the fruit.

Actually, the tomatoes I don’t have a problem with are in pots covered with habaneros, which I planted after I caught squirrels crawling around in there.

[Sarajevo]

Yep. The roots get root-rot and also overheat, the soil settles and compacts around the roots. It may work in northern climate zones, but not in the south.

[Sarajevo]

It's a little late for my garden this year, but I'll save it for my second planting and next year's crops.

Thanks