Tomato

Sds/g: 300-400                    Feed Requirements: Moderate                         Usual Seed Life: 4-6 years

Cultural Notes:

• In cooler areas start seedlings indoors 5 – 6 weeks before your last frost and plant out in week 8 to be on the safe side. Plant deeper than the roots as the stem will form extra feeding roots. Do not start seedlings too early as root bound, leggy plants are bound to disappoint and be poor croppers.
• Determinate tomatoes form bushes that do not need to be pruned and produce fruit earlier but over a shorter period than indeterminates. Indeterminate tomatoes need to be trellised, trained up a string or staked. Given the room indeterminate varieties are prolific growers and will easily outgrow your average tomato stake.
• For best results plant against a high north-facing fence.
• Plant into soil with good organic matter and do not provide high nitrogen fertiliser, otherwise you will end up with excess leaf growth and late flowering. It is possible to force flowering by stressing the plant a bit with infrequent watering, however, once flowers have started ensure the plant gets regular water. Plant indeterminate seedlings with 80-120 cm centres and determinate seedlings with at least 50-90 cm centres.

Problems:

• The best way to avoid problems with tomatoes is by supplying sufficient moisture applied at soil level and adequate calcium. As tomatoes respond very well to foliar feeds a good preventative is a seaweed foliar spray every 2 weeks.

Harvest:

• Your homegrown tomatoes will taste better than any from the supermarket.
• Cherry tomato varieties ripen earliest. Unripened tomatoes should be harvested before the first frost. Either pull the plant and hang in a shed with good ventilation to avoid moulds or harvest tomatoes and ripen them in the house.