7 Important Tips for Growing Tomatoes

Pinch Early Flowers

It’s not just for tomatoes, but if you want your plants to be well-productive you need to let them grow up completely instead of flowering right away, especially if you are planting them from the seed. Remove the first few blooms of the plant so that the nutrients that it is absorbing are better utilized in its growth rather than in producing fruit or flower. Once the plant reaches proper growth, it will be able to bear flower and fruit in a bigger number than when it’s still young.

Give them Enough Nutrients

You do not have to spend your money on buying fertilizers. There are many things available, especially the food wastes from your kitchen and other things such as Epsom salts that will help nourish the soil for the growth of your tomatoes. Epsom salts encourage good growth, strong stalks and stop the leaves from turning yellow. They also help extend the growing seasons and their life. You can either add Epsom salts while planting your tomato plants or dissolve in water while watering them.

Another important nutrient, calcium, can be easily supplied to the plants with egg shells. When you cook instead of throwing away the egg shells save them, crush them and add to the soil before planting the tomatoes. When sprinkled above the ground around the plant they also help repel slugs from destroying your plants. 95% of the egg shell is calcium and they would help prevent blossom end rot of tomatoes. (You can also place copper tubes around the plants to stop slugs.)

Don’t Over Water or Under Water

Tomatoes require good watering to produce the perfect fruits. They develop cracks on the surface of the skin if they are under watered and suddenly over watered or the soil doesn’t hold water well because it’s too hot or the soil is too sandy and the plant tries to absorb water faster. Also, instead of watering from above if you water the soil at the bottom, you can prevent the soil from splashing onto the leaves bringing any soil borne diseases.

Mulch to Retain Moisture

Tomatoes are the kind of plants that grow well in warm and humid surroundings. Mulching around the plants will help retain moisture, decreasing the number of watering cycles, and keeps the soil warm enough to improve the root system health.

Prune and Pinch

When the plant grows around two feet tall, snip off the tiny branches and lower leaves, almost the lower half of the plant. The reason to do this is as they are below the upper leaves they won’t get enough sunlight and when snipped the nutrients will not be wasted on leaves that might not survive giving the upper branches a much better chance and giving you a better produce. Removing the lower leaves also decreases the chances of getting diseases and bugs as they are much closer to the ground.

Pinching suckers, tiny stems that start growing between a grown stem and the stalk, is another way to ensure good produce, as they will not give any fruit, and would cause overcrowding increasing shade.

Plant Them Deep Enough

Plant the plant deep enough so that more of the stem is in contact with soil which means it has more access to the nutrients it needs to grow well. Having a good deep root system ensures that it can absorb water much better too as well as helping it have physical stability at the base.

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