Check out these tomato plants growing in coco coir. I had to move my cucumbers and treat them for bugs. I have started using a organic biopesticide to contro…
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Question by tariantide: Whats the best way to care for tomato plants and what do you use for compost?
This is the first year that I have grown tomatoes and am learning as I go. My plants are already 3 to 3 and 1/2 feet tall and have started to bear tomatoes. Do I need to cut leaves off? Where? and what is the best stuff to use for compost?
Best answer:
Answer by T-Strudel
Usually, to get my tomato plants a richer red color, I use a litle goat’s blood, mixed into the soil, I also fertilize 1/3 moss/dirt/human flesh.
They produce the freshest tomatoes around, I sell them at the farmers market on Sundays.
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I made a water box, which works really well with grow bags. Basically it is a box similar to a raised bed, but lined with plastic and with some capillary cloth at the bottom. I cover the box with AstroTurf, which slugs do not like. I don’t know how to link to a picture though. The quickie version is: use a kid’s wading pool. Very little water is needed with that kind of system. You can use old dish water too.
I get what you are saying.
I’m not using spouted seed and I either dry my own seeds or purchase from a good organic seed company. I also don’t use any manure, just coco coir that has been sterilized. Thanks for the warning though, I’ll be careful.
That E. coli outbreak in Europe happened in organic sprouts.Let that be warning to you – organic does not mean healthy.
Can you tell me how you water also! Thanks
Wow, this may just be the ticket for me, I have crappy soil and weeds galore. Can you use them again the next year with the same soil??? Thanks
Depending on how big the plant is.. In the beginning maybe every other day and then everyday, just until it comes out the bottom of the bag. I rotated between plain water and organic fertilizer. On thing about a tomato plant, they need to dry out on occation to avoid root rot and other diseases. Coco coir is very good at holding moisture, so even if you think it is dry it might not be, so lift the bag a little and you’ll be able to tell if it’s dry by the weight of the bag.
hi .. great work..
how frequently do you water them..
I’m using three gallon grow bags.
what size of grow bags for the tomato plants?
Do not hurt them by cutting leaves off. That is not necessary. To apply compost at this stage is a little late since it takes the plant to use the nutrients in the compost longer than commercial fertilizers do. You can use commercial fertilizers (complete 15-15-15) to enable your tomatoes bear bigger fruits. Application is a tbsp./gal. near the base of your plants applied every 15 days.
The best way to grow tomatoes is to just let the plants do their thing (don’t prune them or anything – just stake them or set up tomato cages around them). Miracle Gro makes a good tomato food.
This year, I threw out a few pots of old Miracle Gro potting soil onto the area I had planted tomatoes last year. A bunch of volunteer plants came up and the potting soil pretty much acts as a mulch. The plants themselves are now going berserk and putting out lots of tomatoes. And, where there were plants coming up that weren’t covered with the potting soil, they’re about half the size with very small fruit. So, you might just get a bag of Miracle Gro potting soil and use that as a mulch.
Yes, you should remove the “suckers”. These are the growth that appears in the crotch between the stem and a branch, and at this stage, you don’t need these: they are only taking up the nutrients that should help the tomatoes ripen.
Get Miracle Grow for vegetables and follow the directions for it’s use.
Don’t use Miracle Grow as a mulch. For reasons that I describe in my article:
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1999288/fertilizing_house_plants_a_primer.html?cat=24
That could permanently destroy the soil in your garden so that nothing ever grows there again.
Once you are finished growing for this season, thoroughly cultivate the soil and chop this year’s plant into it so that it can decompose for next year. My article also mentions other free materials for a safe compost and what they add to the soil.