Tomatoes are vegetables that are really popular and easy to grow and they do yield a lot of produce. My tomatoes last year were an unmitigated success though they were a disaster the year before. Before I go into tips for growing tomatoes here is some information about them. I picked this up from Wikipedia just as a bit of information for anyone interested. Tomatoes are actually berries and are classified as fruit, not a vegetable although they are used in cooking and salads. They are vines growing to a height of 100 cms approximately and are normally annuals. In the Gulf regions, they grow between the months of October and April, after which they start dying out. However, the temperature has to be around 30 degrees centigrade and below for them to really flourish. Normally, we plant the seeds in late August and early September fr them to grow to their optimum height and fruit in January. However this year the temperatures have remained high so Tomatoes are not doing as well as usual. That being said, I have noticed that as the temperatures are going down the plants are beginning to really flourish. Even seeds planted later have started to catch up.
Tomato vines are typically pubescent, meaning covered with fine short hairs. These hairs facilitate the vining process, turning into roots wherever the plant is in contact with the ground and moisture, especially if the vine’s connection to its original root has been damaged or severed.
I am going to share with you two or three important things to look out for while growing tomatoes. One, they are very prone to leaf miners and though that usually does not make much difference to the fruit it does look unsightly and sometimes a really bad attack can make the plant weak. To manage this, please tie the yellow sticky traps close to the soil so that the flies which lay the larvae get caught on it. Pesticides do not make much difference and neem oil is ineffective.
Two, make sure you pinch off the runners otherwise the vines grow completely wild and you are not able to see and control pests. Try to train them with supports so that they do not flop around. Tomatoes need a good 6-8 hours of sunlight for abundant produce, so plant them in a sunny spot. Also, plant marigolds and basil along with the tomato vines for organic pest control and to attract pollinators.
Three, use the fruit ferment recipe I have shared on the blog and spray that on the plants at least once a week. The tomatoes will be large and juicy and have a sweet tangy flavor.
Also, I have tried planting both in the flats and in medium-sized pots. This year the flats did not work and the medium-sized pots had healthier plants that I could transplant. The higher temperatures meant that the seedlings in the flats did not do very well but the ones in the pots were better supported.
This year I have planted three different types in the tomato box and will update the blog once they fruit. Meanwhile here is a video of the tomatoes plants last year.
Enjoy growing your tomatoes. Just a heads up you can also get saplings during the November December time frame in most nurseries if you don’t want to start from seed.
Have fun!
Recent Comments