Pensacola News Journal

For: Saturday, April 28, 2001

By: Daniel E. Mullins

Extension Horticultural Agent

Santa Rosa County

Home Grown Tomato Tips

I am looking forward to picking that first vine ripe tomato from the garden. There is nothing quite like growing your own and being able to pick the fruit at its peak stage of maturity.

Tomato growing in Gulf Coast gardens can be challenging, but it can be done with great success. There are several important cultural practices that, if provided properly, can make the difference between a mediocre crop and a bountiful harvest.

Most vegetable gardeners should have established tomato transplants in the garden by mid-April. Assuming that yours are well rooted and beginning to grow, it is time to follow through with good maintenance. Following are some tips:

· Irrigation – If sprinklers are used, water during the early morning hours only. Better yet, provide irrigation without wetting the foliage by using micro irrigation techniques. Trickle, drip and bubbler type low pressure watering systems work well in the tomato garden.

Remember to step up the volume and frequency of supplemental irrigation as plants load up with fruit. There is a sudden demand for more water as fruit enlargement occurs and if the extra soil moisture requirement is not met, then blossom end rot of the fruit can ruin the crop.

· Fertilization – On sandy soils light, supplemental fertilizer applications are needed for the first few weeks of the season. This is to help encourage the development of strong plants that can support heavy yields. Soils that have been heavily amended with organic materials can sometimes provide enough nutrients without supplemental fertilization.

Knowing the right time to fertilize and when to cut back is one of the keys to heavy production. Tomatoes have two growth stages – vegetative and reproductive. The goal should be to quickly grow a relatively large, healthy plant and then back off on the fertilizer as it reaches the reproductive, or fruiting stage. Much tomato production is missed because some gardeners continue to provide excessive fertilizer too late in the season. This practice often leads to a big bush or vine and low yields.

· Blight and Rot Control – Most major tomato diseases are caused by fungi, while a couple are caused by bacteria. Because these organisms are microscopic and early infection is not seen with the naked eye, control measures should begin before visual symptoms are present.

Chemical control includes regular applications of tomato fungicides. Recommended products for the most common diseases include maneb, mancozeb and chlorathalonil. Control bacterial spot with basic copper sulfate plus maneb or mancozeb. Thorough spray coverage of both leaf surfaces, stems and fruit is required. Follow label directions carefully.

There are several other cultural practices that help to control diseases whether a spray program is followed or not. Avoid handling or even walking through the tomato patch when the foliage is wet. Mulch plants so that disease laden soil is not splashed onto plants during rains or when irrigating. Stake plants to increase air flow around them and to keep fruit from contacting the ground.

Note: There are several wilt diseases that cause the death of many tomato plants each year. These are all soil borne diseases that enter through the root system and plug up or destroy the vascular tissue within the stems. Most frustrating is the fact that infected plants don’t begin to die until mid-season.

There are no sprays that will control the tomato wilt diseases. When dealing with them we must rely on resistant varieties if available, and rotating our planting sites from one area of the garden to another. There are several varieties that are resistant to Fusarium, our most common fungal wilt. Bacterial wilt is another story. This is the disease that causes sudden, rapid wilting of mature, bearing plants and it happens so fast that they retain their green color.

Two varieties, Neptune and Capitan, are showing resistance to bacterial wilt. Though not readily available, several local gardeners have found a few sources of seed.