
Tomato
- Botanical Name
- Lycopersicon esculentum
- Hardiness
- Tender annual
- Height
- 2 to 6 feet
- Width
- 2 to 6 feet
- Flowers
- Mid summer to frost: yellow
- Fruit
- Many different sizes, colors, tastes and textures
- Light
- Full sun
- Soil
- Moist, well-drained, organic, warm
- Planting & Care
- Tomatoes germinate best in soil temperatures of 75 F to 90 F
- Sow seeds indoors 6 to 8 weeks before transplanting outside. Plant seeds 1/8 inch deep in flats or containers
- Harden off before planting outdoors. Set outdoors only after all danger of frost has passed and the nighttime temperatures are consistently above 45 F.
- Space transplants 1 to 2 feet apart for determinate varieties
- Indeterminate varieties should be spaced 14 to 20 inches apart when staked and 2 to 3 feet apart when unstaked
- Tomatoes perform better when planted deep or trenched. Place in the ground so that the lowest set of leaves is just above the soil surface. Roots will form from along the buried stem.
- Place any plant supports at the time of planting to avoid damaging developing roots
- Mulch the soil around the plants to retain moisture and to suppress weeds
- Tomatoes require adequate, even moisture to flower and fruit properly. Ideally 1 inch of rain a week or supplemental watering may be required to provide consistent moisture.
- Extend the season and protect your tomatoes by using floating row covers before plants begin to bloom
- Pinch off suckers that emerge from crotches
- Problems
- Aphids, tomato hornworms, verticillium wilt, blossom-end wilt, fusarium wilt, septoria leafspot, whiteflies, Colorado potato beetle, cutworms, flea beetles, catface
- Varieties
- Super Sweet 100 - cherry type, resistant to verticillium and fusarium wilt
- Aunt Ruby's German Green - heirloom green tomato, green-pink flesh
- Lemon Boy - lemon yellow, indeterminate
- Green Zebra - heirloom, light green with dark green stripes
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