John from http://www.growingyourgreens.com/ goes on a field trip to the Larkspur Community Garden to share with you over a dozen ways on how gardeners are gr…
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Question by Amy G: How to get big, full, leafy tomato plants?
Everyone else’s plants are large, fully, and leafy. What am I doing wrong? Every year my tomato plants just seem weak. I get OK fruit yield, have no trouble with bugs, and suffer no real damaget to the plant, but I end up staking them, and restaking them to support the fruit. They don’t get quite as much sun as they should- could that be the problem?
Live in Michigan, lots of trees, no place in yard with more than 8 hours sun at a time.
Best answer:
Answer by Joey Bagadonuts
BINGO……….tomato plants need LOTS of sunshine and water but not TOO much water of the plant won’t get enough calcium.
Water the plant NOT the leaves and pinch off the suckers so that the energy goes into the “fruit’, not plant growth.
What are you feeding them? Miracle-Gro makes a great tomato plant fertilizer.
What about the soil? Add some lime to the soil to prevent blossom end rot.
Have fun and enjoy your tomatoes!
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PS…I’m in s.w. Fla. and my plants are in direct Sun 8 hrs a day…I just give them more water……yours ought to do just fine in Mich with 8 hrs….Just try to make it direct sun.
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Tomato plants
Image by suzy.glass
They’re not massive yet, but they’re a lot bigger than they were a couple of weeks ago… Scaffolding down = much more light = much happier plants.
If possible position your plants in your garden so that they get good morning sun but not late afternoon sun. Always water in the morning. Watering in the evening leaves all plants at risk for mildew and blight. Pluck the “sucker” stems at the base of branches next to the stalk. This allows optimal nutrition not to be wasted on not fruit bearing branches. Finally, tomatoes love amino acids. Try to find a fertilizer that includes trace minerals, to add to the nutritional value of the fruit, and amino acids or add an amino acid supplement when fertilizing.
sun is good for tomatoes, watch the water you can cause brown spots and root rot.
to keep them going strong add some miracle grow
All answers above have good information. I’m not a big fan of Miracle Grow because if used often and over time it can cause a buildup of salt in the soil and that’s not good. Sun, Sun, Sun is probably the answer but if you’re getting good yields I wouldn’t worry too much. That’s what a tomato plant is for after all. If you’re growing tomatoes in good soil I wouldn’t worry too much about amino acids either. If you think you need fertilizer, put down a balanced fertilizer, 10-10-10 or 13-13-13 down and work into the soil before you plant and let it work.
My tomatoes aren’t doing as well as I expected this year either. But I planted late, Mother’s Day. But they’re coming along fine. They do like sun.
I’ve always been amazed by people that say never to water in the evening. I guess it never rains at night where they live. I water in the evening so not so much water evaporates. But I also have dug “rings around my plants about 8” out from the stalk. That way when I water, I fill up the “pot” and that’s it. I also have straw mulch around them to retain as much moisture as possible.
You’re probably doing fine, but next yaer try some good fetilizer. Maybe even after this growing season so it has all winter to build up the soil.