Soil for Tomatoes

Fortunately, tomatoes can grow in a wide range of soil PH (about 5.5 - 7.5) however, 6.0 - 7.0 is ideal.  If you're not sure what the PH of your soil is or if you've had some problems raising tomatoes, you should have it tested.  You can either buy a test kit or meter like the one you see here and do it yourself or you can take some samples of soil to your local County Extension Service.  For a small fee, they'll give you a full report on PH and fertilization plus make recommendations for amending your soil if necessary.

The soil should be loose with good drainage and plenty of organic material.  I always put all my grass clippings and leaves on the garden and then till everything in. Doing that provides a fertile soil with plenty of worms to keep it loose and well drained.

Because I give back to my soil, I haven't tested it for years.  When I plant my tomato plants, I fertilize once with Miracle Grow to help the roots get started and that's it for fertilizing.  If you fertilize your plants over the growing season, remember that tomato plants need more phosphorous than nitrogen.  Too much nitrogen can cause excessive foliage growth with few tomatoes.  You can purchase fertilizer specifically made for tomatoes but make sure you follow the directions.

The soil is the most IMPORTANT part when growing any plant.  Make sure you're sustaining your soil by giving back what you take every season.  You can do that by making sure you add plenty of green (grass clippings, disease free plant growth, etc.) and brown (straw, leaves, twigs, etc.) organic material and tilling it in.  After a couple of years you'll notice a big difference in your soil and the plants that you grow in it.

For more information, visit my website http://www.rmarketplaceonline.com/raisingtomatoes.html

Sharing my experiences to help you with yours!
Tomato Rog

2011 Tomato Crop

I had a great tomato crop in 2011.  I decided to keep count of all the ripe tomatoes that a picked from my six plants.  From the first two that I picked on August 4th on through October 16, I picked a total of 683 big, juicy tomatoes.  My tomato plants grew to a height of 7 1/2 feet and continually bloomed and produced right up to frost!

The growing conditions for tomato plants were terrible.  We had a long, cool, wet spring which included a frost on May 17, followed by a hot,dry summer.                                                                            

Cool,wet conditions are perfect for disease pathogens, such as early and late tomato blight, to grow and spread.  I started spraying my plants soon after planting, before any evidence of disease started to show up.  I started out spraying my usual copper based fungicide and when I say spraying them I mean after EVERY rain.  That meant some weeks I was spraying two or three times.  In fact, I ran out of my spray and had to get a different brand at a garden center which worked great. (See Caring for your tomato plants post)

Between sprayings, I could see some of the leaves starting to curl.  That is the most obvious sign of a disease problem and you need to address it immediately.  I could see some spotting start on some of the lower leaves but, as you can see in the above photo taken August 6th, I kept them pretty much disease free all season. 

The wet spring was immediatly followed by hot, dry weather all summer.  I mulched heavily around the base of each plant with grass clippings and kept them watered.  Some weeks when it was in the upper 90s I would water them twice a week.  Large, indeterminate tomato plants that are loaded with tomatoes need a lot of water.  When watering, it's important to water only at the base of the plant and not on the leaves.  I usually remove the spray nozzle and turn the water on to produce a low pressure stream.

Sharing my experiences to help you with yours! 
Tomato Rog

WELCOME!

Welcome!  While this is a new blog, I think that you will find it very informative.  I have over 40 years experience raising tomatoes and I am going to share that experience with anyone that is looking for helpful information. 

You will not only be able to read about raising tomatoes based on up to date, seasonal information but you will be able to see recent pictures of my, and hopefully others, tomato plants that will give you a better understanding about how tomatoes grow. 

I had a tremendous 2011 tomato crop even though the weather was far from ideal for raising tomatoes.  I'm going to show you pictures, explain the potential problems that I faced and how I avoided them.  So check out my next post "2011 tomato crop".

If I could offer only one piece of advice for a new tomato grower, it would be "Be aware."  Be aware of what tomato plants require to thrive, be aware at the first sign of problems and be aware of how to address the problem.

Tomatoes are truely a treasure of summer!  My hope is that this forum will bring together a diverse group of experienced tomato growers that will freely offer their experience and help!

For more detailed information on raising tomatoes, visit my website at http://www.rmarketplaceonline.com/raisingtomatoes.html

I'll be looking forward to reading about your successes or answering your questions.

Sharing my experiences to help you with yours!

Tomato Rog