In Today’s episode, let’s look into 10
really smart and scientific tips and tricks to successfully grow healthy tomato plants
to yield tons of tomatoes. Plus one very useful scientifically proven
bonus tomato hack in the end which can make all that difference. Coming up! Tomatoes are usually the first veggie many
newbie gardeners grow from seeds. To Improve your success and achieve a healthy
harvest, let’s learn these 10 tips on growing tomatoes starting from the seedling tips till
the harvesting stage. These tips apply to any variety of tomato
you grow, whether determinate or indeterminate types. Also I have included the Timestamps or chapters
in the description below for various topics covered in this episode. 1. SEED PLANTING TIPS: You can easily grow tomatoes
from seeds or tomatoes from tomatoes. You can plants seeds in small containers or
seed trays. We will not go into these details in this
episode. We will only tell you the tricks to be applied
at this stage. Once they germinate and grow into little ones,
you can choose the best ones and transplant them to small 4 to 6 inch pots and discard
the weaker seedlings – that’s called thinning of seedlings. The first Trick to apply at this stage, that
is the early growth stage, during or after the first transplant. The main idea is to strengthen the root system
of this young plant. A strong root system will make the plant healthier,
disease resistant and is responsible for the quality and quantity of harvest. At this stage, you must add a source of phosphorous
to help the plant produce stronger roots – the best one is the organic rock phosphate – about
half a teaspoon per seedling. If you do not have this, you can also add
steamed bone meal powder. 2. The Final Transplant: Here again you need
to apply two tricks. When the plant reaches to about 8 to 10 inches
tall you can transplant this into the final spot whether growing in ground or in containers. On ground, maintain atleast 1 to 2 feet spacing
between plants. If you are transplanting to containers, choose
large containers, like at least 15 inches in size. The larger, the better. Well, the two tricks to apply here: One is
you add 1 to 2 tablespoons of Organic rock phosphate into the hole and place the roots
in direct contact with this. You can also use finely powdered steamed bone
meal. This source of phosphorous is sufficient for
the entire growth cycle of the plant. The second trick to apply is: Planting as
Deep as possible. You can see the tomato stem has hundreds of
tiny hair and these when come in contact with soil forms stronger roots. So, you plant it as deep as possible by removing
the bottom leaves. These two tricks will form a robust root system
which in turn will produce a high yielding, disease resistant tomato plant. 3. STAKING: Staking or supporting the tomato
plants is a very crucial step to get a healthier plant and a good harvest. There are many ways to stake tomatoes – like
using good quality tomato cages. This type of cage or trellis is not recommended,
as its not durable. I will show you two easiest methods to support
tomato plants. One is making your own trellis using some
wooden sticks or even bamboo sticks. Just firmly tie three sticks on top and insert
the base into the soil. The second method is using a string support. One string per plant. But you have to anchor the string to the soil
by using some method, like a thick iron wire or these type of rods and loops which are
easily available online. Insert this to the soil and tie a string,
one end at the bottom and the other end to another support, something like this overhead
crossbar. Do not twist the string tightly onto the stem. For this you can use these cheap plastic plant
clips – which are completely safe and useful to hold the plant to the string without compressing
the stem. Lastly, the least you can do is just insert
wooden sticks around the plant to support the growing plant. This is because the tomato stem is tender
and if not supported can break easily or it can take awkward bends and the whole system
may look awkward. 4. PRUNING & SUCKERS: This is another important
trick to perform for great results and to prevent disease. Tomato suckers or side shoots are the growths
that appear in the junction between the stem and a branch of a tomato plant. Removing these suckers is recommended, simply
to divert the nutrients for the growth of main stem and its main branches. Your plant may have more fruit if you let
the suckers grow, but the tomatoes will be smaller in size. Then, generally, pruning of the lower branches
is also recommended, especially for the indeterminate variety of tomato plants. But I recommend this even for determinate
varieties. The main reason is to maintain good air circulation
which can prevents many diseases. Another tip here is: As the plant grows taller,
keep removing the older leaves or older branches from the bottom zones. 5. SUNLIGHT: Tomatoes love to be in full direct
sunlight for at least 6-8 hours of continuous sun. So, whether you are growing on ground or containers,
you have to choose a location which receives maximum amount of sunlight. 6. WATERING: Tomatoes love to be in moist soil
right from the seedling stage. As a general rule, You may have to water them
daily and depending on the temperature you may have to water them even twice. Installing drip irrigation system helps a
lot. You can also mulch the top soil with dried
leaves, dried grass clippings, straw or even mulching sheets. This not only prevents water evaporation but
also prevents weed growth. Well, When you water once daily, water thoroughly
and deeply so that the deeper roots are well hydrated. Inadequate watering can result in poor absorption
or uptake and supply of nutrients to different parts of the plant. Blossom End Rot problem seen in tomatoes is
due to calcium deficiency mainly due to this transportation issue and may not be due to
soil deficient of calcium. So proper watering is very important to prevent
the blossom end rot issue which is an irreversible process. 7. SOIL AND FERTILIZERS: You can use your usual
well draining loose potting soil for container gardening with at least 30 percent compost
in it and 30 percent garden soil and another 30 percent cocopeat plus some 10 percent other
stuff like bonemeal, neem powder, perlite, vermiculite and so on. We have discussed this in one of our old video
titled universal potting mix. You can check that from description below. Well, we have already discussed about the
role of Organic Rock Phosphate and how important it is for a healthy root system and fruiting. You can add a handful of compost like decomposed
cowdung or vermicompost to the top soil once in a week or 15 days. Then optionally you can also add seaweed zyme
granules once in a while or foliar feed with liquid seaweed extract. You can also foliar spray Epsom salt like
1 teaspoon per litre of water, once in 15 days. And If you think, your soil is calcium deficient
and you want to make yourself 100% sure of preventing Blossom End Rot disease, then you
can add an additional source of calcium into the soil. You can check my video on the Various sources
of calcium and how to make free soluble calcium to treat acute calcium deficiency. 8. POLLINATORS: Encourage beneficial insects
and pollinators like butterflies and honey bees to encourage pollination and fruit formation. Do not use chemical pesticides, they can drive
away or even kill these useful pollinator insects. But, you may have to protect your fruits from
birds pecking on the fruits after the fruit formation. 9. PESTICIDES: Common tomato pests include Aphids,
whiteflies, caterpillars, slugs and snails, tomato hornworms, cut worms and so on. Tomato yellow leaf curl virus needs a special
mention. As I said earlier, a strong disease resistant
plant will never have this type of disease. This virus curl has no treatment like any
other virus in the world. Just discard and dispose off the plant so
that it doesn’t affect the other plants close by. The last bonus tip is actually an immunity
booster to tomato plant. Will discuss it shortly. Prevention is better than cure. To avoid any pest attack, weekly once spraying
of our broad spectrum Neem Oil is the best solution. Say No to Chemicals and Insecticides. For seedling stage, spray 5ml neem oil per
litre of water and for mature plants 10 ml of Neem oil per litre of water. You can optionally add half a teaspoon of
baking soda into this spray. Always do a patch test on a leaf to check
the potency of you preparation, before spraying on the entire plant. 10. COMPANION PLANTING: Planting some companions
close to tomatoes will help prevent pests. You can plant basil, parsley, cilantro, garlic,
marigolds and many others. 11. BONUS TIP: Many researches have shown that
Tomatoes use a hormone similar to salicylic acid to trigger a response called 'systemic
acquired resistance' or SAR. This response helps a tomato plant fight off
bacteria, fungi and other diseases. Aspirin is acetyl salicylic acid. Spraying aspiring from the seedling stage
onwards makes your tomato plant immune to many diseases. You can drop half a tablet of Aspirin 350
mg dispersible tablet into 1 litre of water and spray on the plant, once in a while like
once in 15 days or so. Please Like, Share and Comment below with
your feedback and queries. Happy Gardening!
