Tomatoes are one of the most popular and must to grow plants in our garden as we consume on a daily basis
Tomato plants prefer slightly acidic soil with a pH between 6.2 and 6.8.
Choose the best variety, healthy grown fruit from your kitchen, wash the seeds, mix with turmeric powder and sow the seeds in all early seasons.
Tomato seedlings/plants need direct sunlight for minimum 5 hrs as they must need sunlight to grow well and produce fruits.
Tomato seedlings always need to repot when they reach to minimum of 4 inch. While repoting make sure to remove with soil so that the roots will not be exposed. Plant your tomato plants deeper, all the way up to the 2 inch above the root system, lay the plant sideways. It will quickly straighten itself up and grow toward the sun
Tomato plants are heavy feeders and require a steady source of nutrients. Apply fertilizer for every two weeks during the growing season, starting with planting time.
Water tomato plants deeply and regularly especially while the fruits are developing, and supplemental drink weekly once. Avoid splashing water on the leaves, which can lead to disease.
Avoid over watering/ irregular watering to plants, so that the plants continually wilt and become stressed, and they will drop their blossoms and possibly their fruit. Irregular watering can also lead to blossom end rot (a calcium deficiency) and cracking and splitting.
Tomato plants loves the mulching and can avoid soil borne diseases.
Provide support while they are growing
Always remove the bottom leaves as these are the oldest leaves, and they’re usually the first to develop fungus problems. Also keep removing dry and infested leaves as they take more energy in the process of getting recovered
Remove suckers as soon they start developing and pinch the tip as soon as stems reach 1½ feet to encourage more healthy stems and to plant become bushy
The best fertilizers for tomato plants are coffee decoction, tea decoction, alum Rock, cow manure, goat manure (avoid in summer), kitchen and vermi compost tea. At the stage of fruiting use epsom salt
To avoid any pest problems, place the plants where it gets sunlight from all the sides.
The Most Common Tomato Diseases & Disordes:
Blossom end rot: feed lime paste / chock piece powder / egg shell powder.
Mealybugs: 1 tsp soap nuts powder + 1 tsp Aloe Vera paste + dilute with lt water water and pressure spray on the plant.
Leaves curls: Have to check and eradicate at the initial stage itself. Take 2 tsp Aloe Vera paste + ½ tsp baking soda + dilute with lt water and drench the plant.
Brown and white spots on leaves: Infection usually occurs on the lower leaves near the ground. Gradually it spreads upwards and weakens the whole plant. The only remedy is to remove leaves from the bottom and never allow any leaf to touch the soil.
Leaf mold: It occurs when the plant doesn’t get air properly. The initial symptoms are pale green or yellowish spots on the upper leaf surface, which enlarge and turn yellow gradually. Remove damaged leaves, feed liquid fertilizers and place the plant where it gets proper air and sunlight from all directions.