In this episode, it's all about that quintessential summer fruit - tomatoes. We discuss how to ripen green tomatoes, how to keep hornworms in check, and if you need to pinch the suckers off of your tomato plant. We’ll also discuss how to water your tomato plant and keep the soil healthy.
In this episode, it's all about that quintessential summer fruit - tomatoes. We discuss how to ripen green tomatoes, how to keep hornworms in check, and if you need to pinch the suckers off of your tomato plant. We’ll also discuss how to water your tomato plant and keep the soil healthy.
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Find episode transcript here: https://dig-it.simplecast.com/episodes/tomatoes-watering-pruning-and-preserving-your-plants
KELLY SMITH-TRIMBLE: Hi, this is Dig It. I'm Kelly Smith Trimble. I'm a master gardener and the author of Vegetable Gardening Wisdom. I'm also the Senior Editorial Director at hgtv.com. In this episode, it's all about that quintessential summer fruit, tomatoes. We're starting off with a question about how to ripen green tomatoes indoors. Here are my hacks.
We've also seen that a lot of people are looking for info on how to ripen green tomatoes indoors, and I have a few tips. The first is that if you pick a tomato when it is completely green, it will not ripen indoors. So you want to pick it when it has started getting a little bit of color on it, even just a touch of the ripening color, which is called the breaker stage.
So if you pick a tomato after the breaker stage, and bring it indoors, it will ripen eventually on a countertop or on a sunny windowsill. It will help if you put it in a paper bag, it will ripen more quickly that way. You just do not want to put it in the refrigerator.
Now I wanted to show you something that has happened to a couple of my tomatoes. Its sun scald, and it's really just a sunburn on the tomato fruit from too much direct hot sunlight. Peppers can get it too. So I've moved the leaves of the plant over the fruit a little bit to help give it some shade, and see if that will help, and I'm going to look out for any other issues.
Otherwise, I'm going to leave these tomatoes on the plant, and hopefully they'll ripen up. And when I harvest them, I'll just cut off those bad spots. There are honestly as many tips and tricks for planting tomatoes as there are gardens. I'm not kidding. One of my favorite tricks is making sure to plant deeply.
So when you plant deeply, you actually bury the stem and the lower leaves of the tomato plant. Those will turn into roots over time, so it'll help establish a stronger plant. Now if you didn't do this when you planted your tomatoes, it's OK, it's not a problem. It's just that planting deeply can help you get a stronger plant.
So Iris asks, how do you keep tomato hornworms off your tomato plants? So you'll want to pick off the little green worms as soon as you see them, but the best way to prevent them or to keep them in check is to attract their natural predator. And one of those is parasitic wasps. And those parasitic wasps love a lot of flowers and herbs that we love, so some of those are dill, cosmos, yarrow, zinnia, borage, fennel. So if you plant those alongside your peppers and tomatoes and eggplant, that'll keep the hornworms in check.
So Cheryl says, I have horrible luck growing roma tomatoes in containers. It looks like it's growing great, and then the bottoms turn brown, then black. I live in the Pacific Northwest so hot in the day and cool at night, and I try to consistently water. So what am I doing wrong?
So it sounds like what you're experiencing is blossom in rot, which is very common, everyone gets it. It's actually a calcium deficiency, but the mechanics of why it happens is about water fluctuation. So you'll see it a lot if you've had a really heavy rain, and then you have a day or two of drought.
So consistent watering, like you said, is key, but that can be harder in containers. So what you need is a container that won't dry out quickly, and that would be plastic or maybe glazed clay instead of plain terracotta.
Marybel says our tomato plants don't look well. They have lots of yellow leaves, and the leaves have holes. What should we do? So I'm not sure about the holes in your leaves without seeing them, but the yellowing could be caused by a nitrogen deficiency, which affects your plants overall health, and makes it more susceptible to pests.
So I recommend fertilizing with a nitrogen-rich organic fertilizer. I like to use fish fertilizer, which is a byproduct of the fish industry. You can also add some compost around your plants, and then water it in well. That will add nitrogen to your soil and help your plant. Now we have a tomato question from a friend and co-worker of mine Maryanne Canada. And she sent her question in by video.
MARYANNE: Hey, Kelly. I'm sitting outside my very first vegetable garden, which you have so patiently advised me on over the spring. But I have a question about my tomato plants. I keep reading that I'm supposed to remove the suckers, what is a sucker? How do I remove them? Help me obi-wan Kelly, you're my only hope.
KELLY SMITH-TRIMBLE: Suckers are side shoots of tomato plants. And Maryanne has identified them correctly. They grow between the main stem of the plant and a side branch in between. And some people swear by pinching them off. The ideas that you put more energy towards creating fruit instead of more leaves.
Personally, I will pinch suckers off if I'm thinking about it, but it's not really something I'm that focused on. If you're going to do it, pinch them off with your fingers when the suckers are less than an inch long. Next up is a question for my friend and co-worker Shannon.
SHANNON: I'm growing tomatoes this year and I'm having some trouble with blossom end rot. I've read that it can be caused by over or under watering, and I'm not sure which one of those I'm doing. So I was wondering what tips you have for watering tomatoes and for preventing blossom and rot in general.
KELLY SMITH-TRIMBLE: Thanks, Shannon. You're right. Blossom end rot can be caused by too much or too little water. So the key is really consistent watering. That helps the plant regulate its uptake of calcium from the soil. If you think you have a soil problem, like maybe it has too little calcium, you can try adding calcium nitrate. You can also use a liquid version of calcium nitrate directly on your fruit, especially after a heavy rain. For either of these, you want to make sure you follow the directions on the packaging.
Christie said my tomato blooms are falling off. Can you explain why? We do have some producing tomatoes, but never had blooms fall off and not produce like we are this year. A few things can cause tomato blossom drop, but the most common is really hot, humid weather.
So tomatoes like hot weather, but when it gets consistently in the high 80s and the 90s every day, they'll drop their blossoms without them ever even being pollinated. So your best bet is to just keep your plants watered and fertilized, keep them healthy, and when the weather cools down, they may start producing again.
A lot of you have questions about tomatoes splitting. Jill said, why do my heirloom tomatoes split? Jill, it's not just your heirlooms. All kinds of tomatoes split when they're inundated with water. It's just nature. There's really nothing you can do to prevent it. The only thing you could do is harvest your tomatoes if you know that a heavy rain is coming, harvest them beforehand. Otherwise, if your tomatoes have split, just go ahead and harvest them and use them as soon as possible.
Serena asked, how do you prune Tomatoes So pruning tomatoes isn't completely necessary, but it can increase your harvest. It should only be done on varieties that are indeterminate. Indeterminate tomatoes have a main stem that continues growing from the top like a vine.
When pruning tomatoes, the goal is to remove a third tier of stems called suckers that grow between the main stem and the side stems. These can take energy away from the plant. You can remove suckers with your fingers when they're small. If they're larger, you may need to use pruners. It's very important to use clean pruners when trimming tomatoes so you don't transfer any diseases from plant to plant.
Really conscientious gardeners will carry around a solution of water and bleach and sterilize their pruners between tomato plants. On hgtv.com, we get a ton of questions about how far apart you should plant your tomatoes. If you're like me, you're planting way more than one plant. Here's my advice.
Generally, tomatoes should be planted 18 to 24 inches apart. This gives them plenty of room to spread, and not get crowded, which can cause issues with diseases and pests. But there are many different varieties of tomatoes, and some can be planted more closely together.
If you're growing a variety labeled as compact, you can probably plant the tomatoes more like 12 to 18 inches apart. If you're growing in a container, it's best to plant one tomato per container. When you plant your tomatoes, be sure to add your steak or cage at planting time. You don't want to add those later because you could damage the plant roots.
Sandra asks, do aphids make the leaves curl on tomato plants? And what is the best way to get rid of them? A lot of problems can cause leaf curl on a tomato plants, and aphids are one of those things. Before you do anything, look to make sure that you actually have aphids. So look on the underside of the leaves of your tomato plant.
If you have them, you can spray them off with water from the hose and sprayer, you can also use insecticides soap or neem oil to get rid of the aphids. And you apply that according to the label instructions. Leaf curl can also be caused by a virus, by heat, and by drought.
Now I know a lot of you are looking for information on how to preserve your tomatoes. And I like to make a really simple tomato sauce and freeze it. And there's a tool I use that I think makes it a lot easier. It's called a food mill.
First, I cut out my tomatoes skins and all, and roast them with olive oil and whole cloves of garlic at 450 degrees for about 20 minutes. Then I run the roasted tomatoes through the food mill in batches. The mill lets the pulp and juice through, but keeps out the skins. I take those scraps and compost them, and then the tomato sauce, I freeze. It's really easy.
Shea asked is Epsom salt really good to use on plants like tomatoes and bell peppers? And if so, what are the benefits? My mother is going to be upset when she hears me say this, but there's little scientific evidence that Epsom salt benefits the home garden, including tomatoes and peppers.
It actually can cause more problems like blossom in rot by preventing calcium from getting to the plant. So I don't really recommend it for tomatoes and peppers. For more gardening info tips and hacks, check out hgtv.com/digit. I'm Kelly Smith-Trimble, happy gardening.