Avoid Tomato Plant Mistakes in the Garden

Growing Tomato Plants

There are several reasons for planting tomato plants the right way in the garden. To avoid tomato plant mistakes growing them in seed trays instead of individual pots is a major priority. We recommend transplanting tomatoes because it allows us to get a jumpstart on the growing season that are ready to go in the ground as soon as the weather conditions are just right and grow stronger tomato plants. The soil conditions that tomato plants prefer to grow in is well-drained soils that provide plenty of sunlight. Since tomatoes are part of the nightshade family they are susceptible to blossom end rot. To avoid this problem applying a Pelletized Gypsum Soil Conditioner at the base of the tomato plant at bloom set will help with this end rot issue. The gypsum is a natural mineral that applies calcium and sulfur which are two important plant nutrients. We recommend when planting the tomatoes in the garden using either our heavy-duty tomato cages, the Florida Weave technique with Gro-Tie Garden Twine, or the new Hortonova trellis netting to ensure the plants have support to grow off the ground and reduce the possibility of disease. We carry both hybrid and heirloom varieties of tomatoes. Some productive hybrid varieties that we offer that has high disease resistance traits such as Bella Rosa, Sun Gold, Brickyard, and Mountain Glory. Some flavorful heirloom tomato varieties are Brandywine, Amish Paste, and Mortgage Lifter. All of these tomato varieties have 70 days till they reach maturity and are ready for harvest.

Avoid Tomato Plant Mistakes

On this week's episode, Travis explains some mistakes that you should avoid with tomato plants. Travis has prepared the vegetable garden with drip tape and good compost for the planting of tomatoes. There are a couple of key reasons why you should avoid tomato plant mistakes like bigger is not always better when growing tomato plants. The first reason for not creating larger tomato plants is to avoid transplant shock. For instance, when you have a little plant the smaller root ball will have an easier time adapting to the soil conditions and allow the plants to grow faster. Whereas the larger tomato plants that contain a larger root ball will struggle to adjust in the garden soil conditions and take longer to grow. The second key reason is depending on whether you are growing in the garden or a greenhouse we are all limited to some amount of space. With the seed starting trays we can grow 162 tomato transplants that leave us with plenty of plants to continue growing in the garden. When growing tomato plants in big pots you lose space due to the number of large pots you will need for the garden. Also, with individual large pots, you will use a lot more potting soil than the seed starting trays. The third reason is due to the ease of transporting the plants to the garden area. With the seed trays, you can simply carry the tray with all the plants out to the garden and place them along the row. However, with the larger pots, they would be a hassle to get all the individual pots into the garden area. Another reason is when adding the transplants to the soil they simply pull out of the trays, while the plants in pots will take a tool to remove them and get rid of excess soil from the pots. Overall to avoid tomato plant mistakes grow your own tomato plants in the seed starting trays to save time, energy, and money in the vegetable garden.