Do you plant tomatoes and hope for the best? Plenty of gardeners do. Tomatoes have a reputation as an easy crop, but a few habits separate a heavy harvest from a big, leafy plant with hardly any fruit.
Here are ten rules to follow, from choosing the plant to picking off hornworms. Each one is backed by university extension sources, and where those sources give different numbers, you’ll see the range.
1. Choose the Right Tomato for Your Space
Tomatoes come in two growth habits, and the choice shapes how you’ll care for them. Bush-type (determinate) plants stay compact and ripen their fruit over a short window, generally four to six weeks. That makes them a good fit for canning or small spaces. A determinate variety is a good pick if you’re limited on space, though it will produce a single crop.
Vining (indeterminate) plants keep growing, flowering and setting fruit until the first fall cold. Their harvest often stretches over two to three months and yields are generally higher than determinate types. They also need a plan: vining plants need support such as a tomato cage, stakes or a trellis, and you’ll need to keep removing their suckers (see rule 7).
Bush types are a little more forgiving. They don’t need pruning, staking or trellising, though most tomatoes benefit from staking or trellising to keep the fruit off the ground.
2. Harden Off Your Seedlings Before Planting
Don’t move indoor-grown seedlings straight into the garden. Begin hardening transplants one to two weeks before setting them out. Start in a shaded, protected spot on warm days and bring them in at night, then give them more sunlight each day. Keep them indoors on windy days or when temperatures are below 45 degrees F.
You can also water a little less often to slow growth, but don’t let the plants wilt.
3. Give Each Plant Room to Grow
Small seedlings look lonely, so it’s tempting to plant them close together. Resist. Spacing advice runs from 18 to 32 inches between supported plants to 18 to 36 inches, and vining plants can take two to three feet in all directions. Bush types can go closer together.
Crowding also cuts airflow. Staking or trellising and spacing plants adequately apart both increase airflow against early blight. Stake or cage plants at the time of planting; staking also keeps the fruit off the ground.
4. Plant Tomatoes Where They Get Enough Sun
Tomatoes are sun lovers, and the numbers vary a bit by source. UF/IFAS‘s Florida Vegetable Gardening Guide asks for at least six hours of direct sun for a vegetable garden while its other pages give four to six hours for tomatoes, and Maryland Extension says at least six hours, with eight to ten preferred. Aim for six or more, and give tomatoes the sunniest spot you have.
Learn more: Caring For Tomato Plants
5. Give Them Well-Drained Soil and Even Water
Vegetables cannot tolerate standing water, so pick a well-drained site. A raised garden bed is one way to get there. Work in organic matter such as composted manure before planting. Ideal soil pH figures vary: 6.2 to 6.5 for tomatoes, 5.8 to 6.3 for vegetable gardens on sandy soil, or a broader 5.5 to 7, so get a soil test through your local Extension office.
Water deeply and evenly
Plan on about one to two inches of water per week (one inch of rainfall or irrigation is the low-end ideal), with a heavy soaking once a week preferred over several light sprinklings. Try deep watering your tomatoes rather than a quick daily spritz.
Water at the base of each plant with drip irrigation, a soaker hose or careful hand watering. Keeping the leaves dry helps hold tomato blight in check. A layer of mulch helps too: staking and mulching are beneficial for tomatoes, and mulch conserves and maintains uniform soil moisture.
Watch for blossom end rot
Blossom end rot shows up as a dark, sunken, leathery patch on the bottom of the fruit. It’s a localized calcium deficiency in the developing fruit. Calcium is typically adequate in Florida soils, so other factors, including too little or too much soil moisture, are often the cause. It’s most often the result of erratic watering, and adding calcium to the soil is generally ineffective. Calcium sprays on the leaves don’t reduce it either.
Your best defense is steady moisture from even watering and mulch. Also pick and discard affected fruit so the plant can put its resources into healthy fruit. Answered: Why Do Tomatoes Crack When Growing?
Wondering about Epsom salt for blossom end rot? See our guide to Epsom salt for tomatoes.
6. Feed Your Tomatoes, But Don’t Overdo the Nitrogen
Nutrients matter, but more is not better. Too much nitrogen fertilization leads to plants that are bushy, leafy and slow to bear fruit. Blossom drop is usually due to too high or too low temperatures and/or excessive nitrogen fertilization, and excess nitrogen may contribute to blossom end rot.
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7. Prune Vining Tomatoes Regularly
Pruning helps plants direct more energy to flowering and fruiting, and it lets in more light and air, which reduces disease issues. The main job is removing suckers, the small stems that grow between the main stem and a leaf. For indeterminate tomatoes, keep removing suckers as they form all along the main stem. Another approach is to remove the first few side branches as they appear and leave two to three main stems.
Snap suckers off while they’re small, less than a few inches long. For determinate tomatoes, Iowa State says to remove suckers only up to the first cluster of flowers (Minnesota Extension, by contrast, says bush types don’t need pruning). Clean your hands or tools between plants, or every few plants, to avoid spreading disease. Our step-by-step guide shows how to prune tomatoes.
8. Spot and Treat Early Blight Promptly
Early blight is a fungal disease. It starts as small dark spots on older foliage near the ground, and the round brown spots can grow up to half an inch across with target-like rings. Lower leaves become infected when they touch contaminated soil or when raindrops splash soil onto them.
Cultural steps come first. Mulch the soil under the plants, water at the base, keep airflow good, and prune the bottom leaves so spores can’t splash up. Remove leaves with spots, and wash and sanitize pruning tools after touching infected plants. It’s okay to remove up to one-third of the leaves if you catch it early, but not more than that.
Fungicide is not always the answer. Most home gardeners don’t need to treat tomatoes with a fungicide, because tomato plants can tolerate a lot of early blight without producing fewer tomatoes. If you do spray, apply it according to the label.
Then rotate. The early blight pathogens overwinter in infected plant debris and soil, so don’t plant tomatoes back in the same spot. Advice varies from letting two years pass to choosing a spot where tomatoes, potatoes, peppers, eggplants and tomatillos haven’t grown for the past three or four years.
9. Control Tomato Hornworms
Big green caterpillars with a horn on the rear can strip a plant. Tomato hornworms can eventually cause complete defoliation if they are not removed, and they have also been known to feed on green, developing fruit. Check plants at least twice a week in summer. Learn more about green tomato worms.
Hand-picking is the first move. It’s the most effective means of managing them; drop the caterpillars into soapy water. If you see white, rice-like cocoons on a hornworm, those are parasitic wasp cocoons. Leave that hornworm in the garden so the adult wasps can emerge and go after more.
If hand-picking isn’t practical, Bt (Bacillus thuringiensis) is a biological option. Caterpillars must eat it for it to work, and it can wash off in rain or irrigation, so repeat applications may be needed. Bt is specific to caterpillars and does not affect other insects, including bees, and it works best on very young caterpillars. Always follow the label. Natural enemies like lady beetles, green lacewings and paper wasps also help, so protect your other beneficial insects, and till the soil after harvest to destroy pupae.
10. Plant a Mix of Varieties So Fruit Ripens at Different Times
Planting a mix spreads out the harvest so you’re not buried in tomatoes all at once. Early-season tomatoes need 65 or fewer days from transplanting to harvest, mid-season tomatoes 70 to 79 days, and late-season tomatoes more than 80 days.
Shape and size help you match the tomato to the job. There are standard (slicing or globe) tomatoes, large beefsteaks that can top a pound, bite-sized salad tomatoes like cherry and grape types, and paste (Roma or plum) tomatoes with thick flesh that make good sauces and paste. ‘Cherokee Purple’ is one colorful indeterminate heirloom to try.
Good Care Yields Good Tomatoes
Tomatoes are fairly easy to grow when you get the basics right: enough sun, room to grow, even water, careful feeding, pruning for vines, and a close eye out for blight and hornworms. Keep these ten rules handy as you plan, plant and harvest your tomato patch.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are the most important tips for growing tomatoes?
Give them your sunniest spot (sources range from four to six hours up to at least six hours of direct sun), well-drained soil, and even watering of about one to two inches a week. Support vining types, don’t overdo nitrogen, and keep leaves dry to hold early blight down. Those habits cover most of the ground, and the ten rules above show how each one works.
How much sun do tomatoes need?
Aim for at least six hours of direct sun. Guidance ranges from four to six hours for tomatoes to at least six for a vegetable garden, with eight to ten preferred. Give tomatoes your sunniest spot.
Do tomato plants need pruning?
Vining (indeterminate) tomatoes do, and bush (determinate) types need little or none. Keep removing suckers along the main stem of indeterminate plants and only up to the first flower cluster on determinate ones; advice differs on bush types, which may not need pruning at all. Pinch suckers while they’re small. Here’s how to prune tomatoes.
How much and how often should I water tomatoes?
Plan on about one to two inches of water a week, given as a heavy soaking rather than several light sprinklings. One inch of rainfall or irrigation per week is also called ideal. Water at the base of the plant, not over the leaves, and mulch to keep moisture steady. See deep watering tomatoes.
What causes blossom end rot on tomatoes?
A calcium shortage in the developing fruit, most often tied to uneven watering. Calcium is typically adequate in Florida soils, so too little or too much soil moisture is often the cause, and calcium sprays on the leaves don’t help. Keep moisture steady with even watering and mulch, and pick off affected fruit.