A simple guideline to growing your tomatoes 

May 25, 2022

Tomatoes are a very versatile plant and fruit to grow. In addition, tomatoes are a staple in most households, and that's why their demand in the market is high.

Choosing to grow tomatoes for yourself or the market is always a plus, but how do you grow tomatoes successfully in your garden or farm? We are here to help guide you through every step.

Having a successful harvest requires proper planning and execution: 

Growing your tomato seedlings in a nursery is highly recommended to achieve better success. 

If you don't have a set-up that can hold seedling nurseries, you have an option of purchasing tomato seedlings from reputable seedling raisers. 

Preparing your tomato seedling nursery 

Healthy soil or growing medium is required for seedlings to grow successfully. Sterilizing the soil to help eliminate microorganisms that include pests and diseases. 

To sterilize your seedling soil, you can use chemical or solar sterilization. 

Solar sterilization compared comes highly recommended because it is friendly to the environment. 

We have an article that details this process of the solar sterilization process. 

It is also essential to ensure that you till your soil. Fine soil will enable the tiny seeds to break through as they grow into seedlings.

seedling nutrition
seedling nutrition

 

Preparing your tomato seeds and planting them: 

When picking out your tomato seeds, we recommend that you pick out seeds that have a high resistance to pests and diseases, have a tolerance to the environment you are in, and have a high productivity rate. 

When planting your tomato seeds, don't bury them too deep in the soil as they will be unable to breakthrough. Instead, sow your seeds slightly close to the surface and lightly cover them with the soil.

Drill thinly in rows 10cm apart and cover the seeds with a thin layer of soil.

Cover the bed with dry grass lightly to help maintain soil moisture and keep the plants warm enough, creating an environment conducive to seedling growth. We call it mulching.

As you take care of your seedbed, make sure that your seedlings get enough sunlight and shade while also watering them as often as you can to ensure they grow well. 

You will start seeing growth in 5-7 days after sowing.

At Lion Farm, we offer a wide variety of tomato seeds to choose from open-pollinated seeds to hybrid seeds, and you have the option to choose the type of seeds that would fit in your environment:

https://tropika.co.ke/product-category/vegetable-seeds/tomato-seeds/

Tomatoes seedling maturity and transplanting process: 

The hardening process is the process of slowly introducing your seedlings to the outdoors. This process encourages the plants to adapt to the climatic conditions outside. In addition to this, hardening helps your tomato seedlings have more firm growth in their structure. 

You can start hardening your seedlings between the 1st and 2nd weeks.  

You can begin this process by placing your seedlings outside in a shaded area and bringing them back at night. 

Also, during this process, you can reduce the frequency in which you water your seedlings but not to a point where they wilt.

It is advisable not to have your seedlings out when it's extremely cold or hot, as this may damage your seedlings indefinitely. 

Transplanting of tomato seedlings happens after 2-3 weeks after sowing. Your seedlings at this time are strong enough to move.

In addition to this, it is also essential to ensure that your seedlings are:

  • Disease and pest free to avoid transference.
  • The roots are fully developed.
  • The seedling stalks should be tough and robust.

When transplanting your seedlings, make sure you're very careful to avoid harming them. 

Tomatoes are highly prone to diseases. So we advise farmers not to plant their tomatoes on the same piece of land year after year. So even as you transfer your tomatoes to the farm, make sure you haven't had tomatoes planted on it for a while.

When transplanting your seedlings, you must plant the seedlings deep. Planting tomatoes deep helps the roots absorb more nutrients and moisture. In addition, the other roots from the stems enable the seedling to absorb the nutrients required.

I know you're wondering how deep you need to replant your seedlings to achieve this is 15-20cms deep. 

Seedling care and nutrition
Seedling care and nutrition

You can learn more about this from Almanac, which has excellent insights on this process: https://www.almanac.com/plant/tomatoes

Setting up structures to help support your tomato plants.

Depending on the type of tomato you're planning to grow, make sure you've created a conducive environment to allow your tomatoes to thrive.

Tomatoes are either determinate or indeterminate in growth. Determinate tomatoes grow to a certain height and are often referred to as bush tomatoes.

Both of these growing variety types need supporting structures to help them grow well. 

The indeterminate tomatoes grow into vines; they continue growing throughout the season. Therefore, these vine tomatoes require staking support systems to support their continuous growth during that period.

Now I know you're wondering what staking entails. It is the process of propping to encourage the plant to grow upwards.

Besides holding up your tomato plants, there are other benefits to staking, which include:

  • Longer lasting healthy fruit- when tomatoes grow on the ground, they are more vulnerable to pests and diseases in the soil. So staking helps protect your tomatoes.
  • Larger tomato fruits- the space that staking provides for your tomato plants to spread out and get more sunlight, which supports growth. 

Determinate tomatoes, while small, still need support because they end up producing bulky tomato harvests. 

In this case, caging is usually best suited to help set up determinate tomatoes. Tomato cages are a little shorter than stakes. Compared to staking, cages require less work or effort to maintain than staking. 

Nutrients required for growing tomato plants

As we have learned from the transplantation process, tomatoes require a lot of nutrients; that's why we plant them deep in the ground to gather those extra nutrients. 

And because they're heavy feeders, you need to ensure that they get the nutrients they need to have a good harvest.

The three primary nutrients plants need for proper growth are Nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium. A lot of fertilizers contain these in their ingredients. 

Fertilizers can either be organic or inorganic, and they both provide nutrients at different stages of growth for your tomatoes. 

Whatever fertilizers you use for your tomatoes, make sure you use them on your plants as instructed. Don't use a lot as this will destroy your tomatoes, and don't use too little as this will not be of any help.

We also recommend using mulching on your tomato plants to help increase the nutrients in the soil.

Mulching uses plant materials like straws, leaves, and crop residuals or sawdust. The mulch cover helps protect the soil from erosion, nourishes the soil, and helps nourish soil by increasing organic matter that provides nutrients.

Tomato plant nutrition
Tomato plant nutrition

How to protect your tomato plants from pests and diseases

Pests and diseases can be a pain to every farmer's harvest. Keeping a close eye on your tomato plants as they grow is essential. Here are some of the pests and diseases you should look out for:

The pests and insects you should be in the look at are:

  • Leafminers
  • Whiteflies
  • Tomato bugs
  • Thrips
  • Fruitworms
  • Spider Mites 

Diseases you should be aware of:

  • Bacterial Canker, Speck, and Spot
  • Bacterial Wilt 
  • Fusarium Wilt
  • Early Blight
  • Late Blight
  • Powdery Mildew 
  • Root-knot Nematodes
  • Viral Diseases 
  • blossom -end Rot 

Tomato Care

Tomato farming isn't hard. But, if you do right, you will have a good harvest.

Here are some of the few things you should keep a close eye on:

Pruning is selectively removing some of the plant growth that is not needed. Some of these parts may include; young stems and leaves or removing any yellowing parts and disease-looking shoots or branches. 

This process helps your tomato plants preserve their energy and direct them where necessary, thus helping improve growth and improve productivity in the end. 

The best time to prune your tomato plants is early in the morning or when it's dry. The exposed areas will heal well and reduce their rate of being affected by any disease.

Watering your tomato plants is vital. Although tomatoes typically don't need a lot of water, it is good to ensure they maintain the moisture they require. Mulching, in this case, will help your tomato plant maintain that. 

And there you have it; a simple guide will help guide your plant tomatoes and take care of them. We have written a lot on tomatoes. Feel free to explore the other topics that we have.

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Tropika - Certified Vegetable Seeds for Africa,
Room 29, 2nd floor Lois Plaza for Business, Latema Rd, Nairobi, Kenya.
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