Tomatoes for Beginners
Being a southern boy, my love for tomatoes comes from generations of tradition. Growing these delicious beauties takes a bit of know-how but the extra effort will be well rewarded when it comes time to harvest your crop.
Picking Your Poison
There are two classifications for tomatoes – determinate and indeterminate. The class you choose can and will affect your overall yield, but the decision is one that you should base on the amount of time and effort you want to dedicate to your tomato plants.
- Determinate Tomatoes
A determinate tomato plant produces its entire crop at once. This can be both a blessing and a curse, depending on how prepared you are to deal with a sudden influx of ripe fruit. Still, determinate tomato plants can be good for first timers who don’t want to deal with a long growing season. - Indeterminate Tomatoes
Indeterminate tomato plants produce throughout the growing season, often right up to the first frost of fall. The yield is generally considerably higher, so preparation is necessary beforehand. In other words, you are going to have to have a plan for all the tomatoes.
Hybrids or Heirlooms
The field of tomato plants is separated into two basic types. These are two entirely different types of plant that are each valuable in their own right. Both hybrid and heirloom tomato varieties are popular and for all sorts of reasons.
- Hybrids
Hybrid tomato plants are those that have been modified to produce consistent fruit that meets varying sets of criteria. Tomato plants have been hybridized for size, color, flavor, consistency and yield as well as being tailor-made to grow in a wide array of climates and situations.Want to grow tomatoes in a hanging planter on your front porch in Texas? There’s a hybrid for you. - Heirlooms
Heirloom tomato plants are rich in history. Unlike hybrids, heirloom are not genetically modified in a lab and as a result the fruit can often be considered ‘ugly’, with odd shapes making them appear deformed. Rest assured that while these tomatoes may look odd to you, the flavor will more than make up for it.
Which do you choose?
When it comes down to an issue of sustainability the heirloom tomato is the only way to go. The seeds in hybrid tomatoes are largely sterile, making the seed-saving process a fruitless effort (pardon the pun). Even the seeds that have not been sterilized will rarely produce true from seed.
Heirloom tomato seeds on the other hand, are easily collected, stored and planted season after season with great results.
{ 9 comments… read them below or add one }
Hey Michael,
Thanks for commenting on urbangardenproject.com! I’ll be growing several upside down tomato plants this year on my porch and have NO idea what I’m doing! Thanks to this post I have a better idea…
Jared
the Urban Garden Project
Jared,
I’m growing two of my heirloom tomatoes upside down this year too, as well as a pepper plant (not sure which one yet) because my new place in Atlanta has a great space for it – the rafters of a second floor deck on the back of the house.
Look forward to seeing how your project progresses!
Hello Michael, I’m trying for the third time to grow tomatoes. Last 2 attempts were not to successful. My question is do I need to trim my plants back as they grow. I’m starting to get tomatoes but they are all underneath and not very visible to the sun.
Vicki,
It would be helpful to know what USDA Planting Zone you are in for starters but the short answer is yes and no. There are diehards on both sides of the fence about trimming tomato plants. Personally I am caught somewhere in between. I pinch off the lowest branches to the ground so that they don’t get splashed from underneath. Last year I had heirlooms that were growing so tall that I honestly topped them off so the wouldn’t be taller than 8 feet. I trimmed twice over the season and cut off a total of 5 feet from the plant. That means the plant would have grown 13 feet tall!
The tomatoes themselves don’t need to be in the direct sunlight per se. For starters, make sure you have at least 2-3 tomato plants in the same area. When you see the blooms begin to mature and become fully open, lightly tap them (the blooms) with your finger. This helps them pollinate and will result in more blooms becoming tomatoes.
Best of luck and if you have more questions please feel free to ask!
Michael
your artical was interesting but it did not cover the problem i have, all the lower leaves on my tomatos have curled up they are not dry and it has not affected my toms what have i done wrong. (each plant is in 10″ pots with good quality growbag filling and i feed with tomerite every 2 to 3 days
I recommend backing off on the water. You only need water your toms when the soil is actually dry. Additionally, back off on the Tomerite and use it no more than once per week.
Thanks for the tip about tapping the blooms – my lone Paul Robeson has had several blooms, but none have become tomatoes! Hope this helps.
Michael… what is your fave heirlooms? I think you may be a zone or two below me. I’m wanting to be able to save seeds, but also gotta take into account I’m a supreme beginner on starting plants from seed. This year I bought JetStar plants, and started Pink Brandwine (or master?) from seed. Couldn’t get a good feel for how either of those did tho… we had a suck-filled, tornadoey/hail spring and a mass attack from grasshoppers later in the summer. (yay gardening… lol!)
My absolute favorite is the Radiator Charlie’s Mortgage Lifter, though I’ve never met an heirloom I didn’t love.