Growing a Tomato Plant: Tips for a Bountiful Harvest

Nurturing tomato plants in your garden is very rewarding for the delicious harvest they can bring. There's nothing quite like the flavor of a vine-ripened tomato. 

I’m sharing all of my tips for growing a tomato plant that yields the biggest, sweetest tomatoes. In this article, you’ll learn how you can grow the best tomatoes in your home garden: from seed selection to spacing, fertilizing, pruning, staking, and care. 

Why I Use These Methods for Growing Tomato Plants

Growing a tomato plant doesn’t have to be difficult. Did you know that you can train your garden to practically grow itself? 

Instead of slaving away year after year, you can have an Autopilot Garden by breaking down traditional thinking and implementing systems that save time, hassle, weeding, water, and space.

And, with these resources to identify tomato blight, protect your tomatoes from blossom end rot, and prevent powdery mildew, you can grow your healthiest tomato plants yet.

Tomato Plant Seed Selection

When it comes to tomato plant varieties, the options are endless. But with so many types of tomatoes out there, what should you choose? 

What you need to know is that there are three main categories of tomatoes based on how the plant grows and fruits. All varieties and types of tomatoes, including heirloom tomatoes, fall into one of these three categories:

• Determinate Tomatoes - These have a determined height and a determined fruit yield. Typically, they grow as bushy plants. They have a set amount of fruit that will ripen simultaneously, making them great for canning or container gardening. Varieties of determinate tomatoes include the  Roma Tomato, the  Tiny Tim Tomato, and the New Yorker Tomato.

• Semi-determinate Tomatoes - These tomato plants are similar to determinate tomato plants in that the height of the plant is still pre-determined, usually bushy and compact, and it will yield a fixed amount of fruit. Where they differ is that the fruit will ripen at different times. San Marzano Tomato,  Rutgers Tomatoes, and  Ace 55 Tomatoes are semi-determinate varieties.

• Indeterminate Tomatoes - These are tomato plants that will continue to grow and fruit all season long, with the fruit ripening at different times. Examples of indeterminate tomato varieties include the Yellow Plum Tomato, the  Trip-L-Crop slicing Tomato, and the  Supernova Grape Tomato.

When selecting tomato seeds, it helps to decide whether determinate, semi-determinate, or indeterminate tomato plants will work best for you. Then, choose what tomato varieties of that type you want to grow.   

When to Plant Tomatoes

Knowing your area's first and last frost dates is key to successfully time planting. Start your seeds indoors 6-8 weeks before the last frost. Check out my Seed Starting Guide to help you give your tomato seedlings a strong start.

Start hardening off seedlings 7-10 days before you want the plants to go out into the garden. It is time to transplant tomato seedlings into your garden when there is no longer a chance of frost and, ideally, the soil temperature has reached at least 65°F.

How to Plant Tomato Seedlings

It's important to note that as long as you follow the right steps for planting a tomato plant, it doesn't matter how pretty it looks to begin with. With the right balance of pH, moisture, fertilizer, spacing, and plenty of sunlight, any plant can grow healthy. 

1. Check Soil pH Levels - Tomatoes love acidic soil! Before planting, perform a soil test. The perfect acidity for tomatoes is approximately 5.5. If you need to increase the acidity of your soil, try mixing 1 cup of coffee or apple cider vinegar into 1 gallon of water and water into the soil. Easy does it, you don’t want drastic changes in soil pH, gradual is best (ideally not increasing or decreasing acidity by more than 1 per year).

2. Provide Adequate Sunlight - Tomatoes need lots of sunlight. Choosing a planting location that gets 8-9 hours of full sun is optimal. If you cannot provide that much, give them at least 5-6 hours of direct sunlight.

3. Plant Spacing - Plant tomato plants two feet apart. This may seem like a lot at first, but wide spacing allows for much-needed airflow and decreases the chances of blight spores eating away at your plant. 

4. Planting Depth - Bury them deep to create a stronger root system that will be more disease-resistant and drought-tolerant! Each hair on the stem of a tomato plant is a potential root fiber. Dig a hole about ⅔ the height of the plant. Remove the leaves and stems on the lower ⅔ of the plant and bury the seedling, leaving the top ⅓ above ground. Then, backfill around your plant.

5. Consistent Moisture - Even soil moisture promotes healthy calcium uptake. You may want to add a bed of leaf compost to your hole after digging and before placing the plant inside to increase moisture retention in the soil. Water your tomato plants on a regular schedule after planting. Most tomato varieties require 1 to 2 inches of water per week under normal conditions.

Fertilizing Tomatoes

Fertilizing tomato plants is important to establishing a strong root system and plant structure. Well-fed plants stay healthy and produce all season long.

I use a high-intensity gardening method, meaning there are more plants in a small amount of soil, so the soil needs to be fertile. My favorite one-stop solution for the garden is Trifecta+. 

Any all-purpose fertilizer could be used, but I have the best results when using Trifecta+. I use it on everything, but especially love it for tomatoes because it feeds the soil all season long with these vital nutrients:

• Nitrogen - Particularly in the early stages, nitrogen helps the plant become established and is essential for growth.

• Phosphorus - Trifecta+ contains slow-release phosphorus that is crucial for flower and fruit production.

• Potassium - Potassium helps the fruit set and ensures top-quality fruit.

• Calcium - Calcium prevents blossom end rot and strengthens the plant’s cell structure.

The best way to fertilize your tomatoes is heavily in the beginning (at the time you plant). Then, later in the season, when you begin to see flowers and fruit, give a second top dressing of 2-3 Tablespoons.

Pruning Tomatoes

Properly pruning tomato plants will help keep your tomato plant disease-free all season long. My favorite tomato pruning method is single stemming. As the name suggests, you keep the plant growth to a single main stem by removing all the lateral side growth. 

The lateral side growth, also called suckers, are secondary stems that are essentially each their own plant. Suckers restrict airflow and divide up the plant’s energy. 

The suckers usually grow outwards at a 45° angle from the armpit of the tomato. The armpit is the area between the main stem and where a leaf or branch grows.

To identify what to prune off and what to keep, follow the main growing stem straight up the plant and remove all the growth in the armpits of the tomato. 

Then, prune off the lower foliage up to the first flower, usually about 1 ½ feet up the main stem. This ensures that soil can’t splash up on the leaves during watering (which protects the plant from soil-born fungi like blight) and provides excellent airflow around the base of the plant.

Pro-Tip: The suckers you prune off can be used to produce new plants. Place the suckers directly into a vase of water when pruning. Then remove the bottom couple of leaves and plant the suckers in soil like you would a tomato seedling. It should take 5 to 7 days for them to root, and you will have another tomato plant.

The Best Way to Stake Tomato Plants

Almost all tomato plants need some form of support. However, determinates and semi-determinates typically only need around 3-4 feet of support, whereas indeterminates should be staked at least 7-8 feet tall in most cases.

It might seem crazy to stick an 8-foot pole in the ground next to a 2-foot plant, but remember, this tomato plant won’t be 2 feet tall forever. 

Tomato cages or trellises can work, but I prefer using furring stakes as a very inexpensive option to provide a firm foundation with plenty of height to support tomato plants. And I reuse the same furring stakes for three or four years.

T-posts are another option that will last longer, but they will be more expensive. I’ve used both with great success.

Supplies Needed to Stake Tomatoes

• 8-foot Furring Stakes - Furring stakes are 1 inch by 2 inches and can usually be purchased from a local hardware store.

• Original Fantastic Elastic Tomato String - I absolutely love this stuff. It is, by far, the best method for securing the plant to the stake. It is strong enough to hold the plant up but stretchy enough to move with the wind and not cut into the stem. You’ll thank me later.

•  Scissors - You’ll need something to cut the elastic string with.

Instructions for Staking Tomato Plants

1. Find the best location for the stake. The stake should go behind the plant, not on the outside of a row or bed, about 4 to 6 inches away from the base of your tomato plant so that you don’t risk damaging the roots.

2. Simply push or hammer the furring stake into the soil 8 to 12 inches deep. I don’t do anything to the stake before it goes into the ground.

3. Cut off a 10-inch piece of  Original Fantastic Elastic Tomato String .

4. Using the elastic string, tie a double knot to secure the plant to the stake about 1 foot above the ground.

5. Continue cutting 10-inch pieces of elastic tomato string and securing the plant to the stake at 1-foot intervals up the plant's height. 

I promise your harvest will be far better if you follow these steps. Not only that, but your tomatoes will actually taste better! Tomatoes generate sugars from the sun. By having tomatoes that can touch the sun, instead of being blocked by bushy foliage, you will get sweeter, more flavorful tomatoes.

Harvesting Tomatoes

The joy of growing a tomato plant culminates in the harvest. Picking tomatoes at the right time ensures they have peak flavor.

Harvesting tomatoes is intuitive. Most tomatoes are ready to be picked when they are a rich, consistent color and have a slight give when gently squeezed. 

For more gardening tips, check out our book,  The Auto Pilot Garden. It’s a guide to hands-free gardening, including every method and bit of knowledge that I use to grow big! 

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