​Tending Tomatoes

There is advice aplenty for planting, tending and harvesting for this most popular garden vegetable, the tomato. 
 
Tomatoes originated in South America and early Spanish explorers brought the seeds to Europe where these plants were grown as ornamentals for a couple of centuries.  Europeans thought the tomato was poisonous.  They were partially correct in that everything but the fruit is poison to humans.  In the late 1700’s tomatoes were finally found to be tasty first by the Italians and then by the French during their revolution.  

​In 1893 the U.S. Supreme Court declared tomatoes as vegetables because they were used in that way rather than as a fruit which the justices determined were only used for dessert.  The case was brought before the court by an importer trying to avoid a 10% tax on vegetables.  I can’t agree with the Court because botanically tomatoes are a fruit, more specifically a berry. 
 
Now let’s get onto tending our precious tomato plants.  A few years ago I started to get some leaf diseases and early blight.  That caused me to research tomato plants with the intention to avoid these problems.  I came across a lot of Web testimonials that swore by a host of pruning techniques and interesting soil additives to avoid diseases. 
 
We’re past the planting season, but the best advice was to plant disease-resistant cultivars.  I look for ones with these resistance codes on the tags:

• V=Verticillium Wilt. 
• F=Fusavium Wilt
• N=Nematodes
• LB=Late Blight

 
Other good practices:  Crop rotations, fall vegetable garden clean-up, support for the vines, and consistent watering at least an inch a week.  In addition to a trellis or cage I put mulch around my tomato plants to prevent the soil from splashing up on the leaves and maintain moisture levels. 
 
I prune my plants by taking off the suckers between the main stem and any branch. I also prune branches that might be hitting the ground to avoid soil borne pathogens.  I’ve seen recommendations to prune all branches below the first sets of blossoms; there are others who advise against this practice because tomatoes are heavy feeders and need these branches for photosynthesis.  Come early September, I pinch off the main stem and any blossoms to allow the plant to put its energy into those tomatoes that have a chance of ripening before the first frost. 
 
As for additives, tomatoes are heavy feeders.  An application of compost or a specialized balanced fertilizer blended for tomatoes should be all you need.  Avoid high nitrogen fertilizers that would result in a lot of leafy growth and fewer fruits.  I’ve read advice to avoid fertilizer after blossoms are set so the plant puts its energy into the fruit production and not into more leafy branches. 
 
Just do a bit of research and there is plenty of advice on other additives for tomatoes:  Epson Salt (magnesium), dolomitic limestone, calcium and many others.  There is only a tiny bit of scientific evidence to support these practices but folks that use them swear by the results.  Some of these are bizarre such as adding a fish head to each planting hole, adding coffee grounds to repel slugs, and putting egg shells around the stem to add calcium to prevent blossom end rot.  That last one does have some evidence supporting it but there is no research that I could find on how many egg shells would be needed. 
 
Here’s the bottom line on some of these practices: 

• Epsom Salts – unless a soil test indicates a magnesium deficiency there is no evidence behind applying Epsom salts in home gardens.
• Limestone – again a soil test should indicate whether lime is needed, lime will raise the pH (make it more alkaline) and tomatoes appreciate a more acid soil.
• Calcium – blossom end rot is caused by the tomato plant not being able to take up calcium.  This is most likely caused by inconsistent watering but less likely it can be a deficiency of calcium.  Adding crushed egg shells every few weeks around the plant or some other calcium supplement would be preventative. Container plants may be a good candidate for this treatment.

 
My tomatoes just began blossoming.  A YouTube video suggests I shake my blossoms to help with pollination.  So I did that this morning.  I wonder how many days until I can start harvesting for my BLT sandwiches.