Released March 23, 2009
URBANA, Ill. - The tomato is one of the most popular vegetables grown by homeowners because they can grow different varieties that are not available at the grocery stores and farmers' markets particularly heirloom varieties, said a University of Illinois Extension horticulture educator.
"Tomatoes can be grown in containers and in a home garden," said Maurice Ogutu. "Tomatoes grown in a home garden prefer a site with six to eight hours of direct sunlight, well-drained fertile soil, and free from competition with roots of trees and shrubs.
"To help in controlling soilborne diseases, avoid sites where peppers, eggplant, and potatoes were grown during the last two years."
Test the soil on the site where you want to grow tomatoes.
"You can get a list of soil testing laboratories from your local Extension office, and the laboratories will send you sampling kits with directions on how take soil samples," he said.
"Soil test results will indicate the pH of the soil, the concentrations of major nutrients, and recommend the appropriate soil amendments. In the absence of a soil test, add 1 to 1½ pounds of complete fertilizers such as 10-10-10 per 100 square feet or a two inch layer of well-rotted manure or compost that should be incorporated into the soil before planting. "
Select the varieties of tomatoes that you would like to grow.
"There are several hundred varieties of tomatoes," he said. "Your selection is based on personal tastes and experience and how the plants are going to be taken care of.
"You can select varieties from the web sites of seed companies or through seed catalogues. Seed catalogues have more information about the listed varieties such as days to maturity from time of transplanting. The catalogues can be used as a guide for choosing early, mid, and late season varieties."
Tomato varieties are also classified as determinate and indeterminate. The determinate varieties produce short branches with flower heads, and growth stops at this stage so they tend to be short and bushy. They have a short harvest season and are seldom grown in the home garden except where early harvest is desired.
Ogutu noted the indeterminate varieties continue to grow after flowering and produce fruits over a long period. They may grow over six feet long and can produce fruits until frost.
"They are most preferred by home gardeners as a few plants are enough to meet family needs," he said.
Tomato cultivar names may also be followed by several letters which indicate if a particular variety is resistant to certain diseases. The letter V indicates that the variety is resistant to Verticillium Wilt, letter F indicates that a variety is resistant to Fusarium Wilt. It is important to select varieties resistant to the above two diseases that are very common in home gardens.
The other letters are N for varieties resistant to nematodes, and T for varieties that are resistant to Tobacco Mosaic Virus. Some of the recommended varieties are:
- Early season (Early Girl, Quick Pick);
- Mid-season (Champion, Mountain Spring);
- Main season (Celebrity, Fantastic, Mountain Delight);
- Beef Steak types (SuperSteak, BeefMaster);
- Colored types (Yellow/Orange — Jubilee, Golden Boy, Mountain Gold; Pink — Pink Girl, Brandywine);
- Paste types (Roma, Viva Italia); and
- Salad types (Mountain Belle, Yellow Pear, and Large Red Cherry).
You can refer to this web site: http://urbanext.illinois.edu/veggies/tomato1.html for more information about other varieties that can be grown in Illinois.
Tomatoes can be grown from seeds or transplants. Transplants can be either purchased from garden centers, or home gardeners can start their own transplants indoors.
"When buying transplants from garden centers, look for plants with dark green leaves, short and sturdy," he said. "Avoid leggy, yellow plants but if they are the only ones available, plant them deeper by burying part of the stem underground.
"You need to remove flowers from transplants before planting them in the garden."
Planting
Gardeners can start tomato seeds in sterile media indoors six to eight weeks before the expected date they plan to transplant them outdoors. Plant seedlings outside on the average frost-free date but you must be ready to protect the plants from frost with row covers, plastic containers, or other methods.
Place tomato rows three to four feet apart, and tomatoes grown in cages or on stakes need to be spaced 1½ to two feet apart within the rows.
"Tomato plants grown outdoors need at least one inch of water per week either from rainfall or watering," said Ogutu. "Tomatoes need to be watered in the morning so that leaves dry during the daytime, and they need to be watered slowly and deeply so that plants can develop deep roots.
"Weeds can be controlled by shallow cultivation, putting three-to-four-inch thick organic mulches such as straw around the base of the plants or making beds, then covering with black plastic mulch films and cutting holes on plastic where tomato seedlings are planted."
Tomatoes can be grown in wire cages purchased from garden centers or built at home.
"The wire mesh needs to allow for access to picking ripe fruits," he said. "The cages need to be put around the plants and anchored with stakes driven into the ground around the base.
"Plants will grow inside the mesh, and any shoots growing outside the mesh can be pushed back into the mesh."
Staking tomatoes is another method of providing support to tomato plants. The stakes need to be six feet long, with a thickness of 1½ square inches, and set eight to 10 inches into the soil.
"Limit the tomatoes to one or two vigorous stems per pruning," he said. "The sucker shoots that grow from the area between leaf stem and the main stem can be removed by snapping them off before they reach three inches long.
"Plants can be tied on stakes using strings in the shape of a figure 8 which allows the plant to grow without damage. Ensure the plants are well watered and had plenty of leaves to protect fruits from sunscald."
Homeowners need to be aware of common tomato disorders and pests. The pests can be controlled by following recommendations in Illinois Home, Yard, and Garden Pest Guide.
"You can refer to the Common Vegetable Problems (http://urbanext.illinois.edu/vegproblems/) web site for more information on tomato insect pests and diseases," Ogutu said. "The tomato disorders caused by environmental stress such as blossom end rot which is caused by lack of calcium in the fruit due to fluctuating soil moisture conditions.
"This can be prevented by keeping soil uniformly moist and putting mulches around the base of plants."
Sunscald is another problem that can be prevented by not removing mature leaves from the plant. The other common problem is misshapen fruit at the blossom end (catfacing) which is more common in some varieties than others and may be due to poor pollination during cold weather. It can be avoided by planting varieties that tend not to have the problem or planting tomatoes after the weather warms.
Tomato fruit cracking occurs as either concentric rings or radial cracks from the stem scar. Cracking usually occurs after a heavy rainfall following dry conditions and can be controlled by keeping soil evenly moist and avoiding fluctuating soil moisture conditions.
"Sometimes tomato plants may have a lot of foliage and no fruit. This can result from applying too much nitrogen fertilizer, heavy rainfall, or air temperatures higher than 90 degrees F or less than 55 degrees F," Ogutu said. "These conditions can cause flower abortion and are beyond the control of gardeners except in the case of excess nitrogen, which can be avoided by using manure or fertilizer with high nitrogen content."
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http://www.aces.uiuc.edu/news/stories/news4712.html
ContactS: Maurice Ogutu, (708) 352-0109
Bob Sampson, (217) 244-0225, rsampson@uiuc.edu
