Gardening with Wally Richards: Secrets to growing tomatoes

Tomatoes are the second most popular plant for gardeners to grow after Roses.

The key to very successful tomato growing is to give them full sun, good protection from wind, UV and chills, they do best with even warm temperatures, ample moisture and the right foods.

These conditions are best found in a glasshouse in the early and late time of a season.

Or outside in the garden, during a warm to hot summer.

Heat traps, where, because of walls and fences, facing north and protected from chilling winds, are the ideal spots to grow tomatoes in the early and late season times outdoors.

Dark brick or concrete type walls or fences absorb heat during the day and release this heat at night till they cool. Corrugated galvanized steel fences also do this but cool down faster.

Some gardeners worry about growing in the same place their tomatoes, year after year.

I know of gardeners that have grown in same place every year for 20 plus years, no problem other than seasonal aspects. If worried use Wallys Terracin soil disease suppressor.

I grow my early tomato plants in pots in the glasshouse. (Concrete floor is a good reason)

Starting off with small pots and gradually repotting into larger.

The largest size that I use is a 45 litre container which is ample for producing a good sized plant, with a good crop.

A point to note is that with the large fruiting Beefsteak type tomatoes, you will always get the biggest fruit off Beefsteaks, if grown in open soil rather than in pots.

The best producing pot grown tomatoes for good sized fruit are the dwarf types (Determinate) such as Scoresby Dwarf, Roma and Russian Red.

No staking is needed as with tall growing Indeterminate types but some support maybe needed for heavy fruit.

Food is very important and to obtain great tomatoes with the best flavor use Wallys Secret Tomato Food with Neem Granules.

Unlike many other tomato food Wallys Tomato Food has extra potassium and that is the real secret to success.

The smaller cherry type or bite size tomatoes, are the fastest to grow and ripen. These do well in a container but need staking because of their height. Nice for using the fruit whole in salads etc but I prefer the bigger fruit producing plants.

When transplanting seedlings always plant them deeper up to about the first leaves of the plant. The reason for this is that the plant will produce roots right up the trunk making for a much bigger root system and hence better results.

Tomatoes and potatoes both have this aspect (same family)

Perkfection gives great internal protection against blights and botrytis. Magic Botanic Liquid (MBL) and Mycorrcin provide minerals and food for beneficial bacteria as well as the plant.

It is a good practice to keep a monthly spray programme of the three products going till the plant is finishing for the season.

If you maintain a good constant source of food you are likely to get several more weeks of cropping and a longer season..

When a tomato grows, it produces laterals or side shoots. When these are left on the plant they become branches which will produce flower trusses and more side shoots.

You can control the way the plant grows by removing some or all the laterals.

In the case of dwarf tomatoes, which are low growing and naturally bushy, you leave all the laterals on.

On tall growing types, (Indeterminate) if you leave all or most of the laterals on you need a number of support stakes.

I sometimes do this and have one strong centre stake and then place a roll of strong open netting around the plant about 3 foot in diameter.

The laterals grow out through the netting giving a reasonable amount of support. Some extra stakes maybe needed when the fruit becomes heavy.

A lot of energy is used by the plant in producing both foliage growth and fruiting growth.

This results on the larger beefsteak tomatoes are smaller fruit when compared to the plant that has its laterals removed, leaving only a few fruiting trusses.

The energy then is directed into the fruit rather than the foliage. You choose what way to go or have a combination of both methods.

There is a great danger of disease entering the plant when you remove laterals. This is often botrytis which causes a collar rot somewhere on the main trunk of the plant.

When the disease starts the rot on the trunk, you will notice that the top foliage goes droopy during the day to recover later in the day.

Then you notice that the tops do not recover and progressively the plant wilts till it’s dead.

A darker area on the trunk will be seen where the rot is happening, blocking the flow of moisture and nutrients from the roots.

The little bumps of aerial roots will often appear just above the rot area.

If there is foliage below the rot part, with laterals, then the top can be cut off and the good part allowed to grow.

If you don’t remove any laterals you will likely avoid this disease unless the plant is damaged by rubbing on a stake or similar.

To help prevent the problem you should only remove laterals when they are very small (which means checking every day or two). Only remove on warm days when there is low humidity.

Spray immediately the area where the lateral is removed with Wally’s Liquid Copper.

(You can make up a solution in a 250ml trigger spray bottle and it will keep well for sometime, just shake before spraying).

Removing older leaves can also allow the disease to enter the plant. Only do in low humidity conditions and spray to protect.

Humidity levels will often be much higher in a glasshouse and so special care must be taken by opening up the house, to remove the air moisture, before taking off laterals and lower leaves.

The removal of the older bottom leaves can be an advantage as insect pests are attacking the early leaves as the plant is growing so later on removing these leaves may mean you are removing lots of baby insects feeding on the plants.

Destroy these leaves.

Tomato plants tend to come fairly true from seed, even hybrid and special types, some which can be fairly expensive to buy in either seed form or plant form.

The logics of this is if you have a tomato that you really like whether you brought the tomato in a produce shop or grown the plant yourself, you should keep a few seeds for next season.

Just scoop a few seeds out of the tomato and place on a paper towel. Allow the seeds and pulp to dry and then store in a sealed glass jar in the fridge, with the information to identify them.

I have kept tomato seeds this way for over 20 years and found that they still have over a 20% germination rate.

Another way of obtaining extra tomato plants is to take laterals that are about 2-3 inches long and strike them as cuttings.

On some of the expensive special tomato plants this is a way to have a number of plants for the price of the first one.

Seeds gathered from the crop can then be saved so you don’t have to buy again next season.

If you have problems with the psyllid insects affecting your ability to grow tomatoes then use Wallys Cell Strengthening Kit.

This comprises of a soil drench used only twice when starting off followed by the important 2 weekly sprays.

What it does is makes the cells of the foliage so tough that the baby psyllids cant feed after they hatch out so you break the cycle. Works a treat.

Hanging little gauze bags with Wallys Cat Repellent in them in a glasshouse will help prevent whitefly problems.

Hang Wallys Yellow sticky whitefly traps as an extra precaution.

Image credit: Dani California

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