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Tomato plants need care to make great tomatoes. On their own, if you choose a strong tomato variety, they may do well. But there are things you can do to ensure that your tomatoes are the best that they can be.
Show Them the Color Red
Tomato plants have a unique property—they can sense the color red. If a plant senses the color red, it feels as if it is crowded and must step up its game to compete with the plants around it for light and nutrients. Products like high yield red Tomato Mulch and the red Tomato Automator artificially supply the red color and promote enormous growth without the use of any supplemental fertilizers. The Tomato Mulch is a plastic sheet mulch that reflects red light back up to the plant. The Tomato Automator serves two purposes: delivering water and plant food directly to the roots and creating that red color that drives the tomatoes wild. If you use one of these products in conjunction with your normal fertilization regimen, the results will be enormous.
Put Them In a Cage
Many varieties, especially the beefsteaks and cherries, produce lots of heavy fruit. Letting the plants run along the ground creates way too much extra harvesting labor for you, and your fruit is more likely to rot before you get to it. Help yourself and your plants by staking or caging them. The trusty tomato stake is a reliable tool, but modern tomato cages that provide three-dimensional support allow tomato plants to achieve their real potential. The great part is that these cages are reusable and usually inexpensive. Even the nicer ones average around only $10.00. Staking or caging is a simple process that makes a significant difference in the amount of fruit produced and the convenience of managing your plants.
Feed Them
As with any plant, proper feeding can give your tomatoes a boost. Tomato fertilizer can be a good investment that is a little more versatile than its name implies. Many purveyors of all-purpose fertilizers have a blend especially for tomatoes. These blends often contain a little extra potassium to promote flower and fruit growth. However, even if the packaging says "tomato fertilizer," this fertilizer will also do wonders for many of the other flowering plants in your garden.
Tomato growers are often like rose growers in that they come up with some of the strangest concoctions and ideas to have a successful growing season. The great thing is that some of these ideas, like the color red, actually work. Usually, regular watering and feeding, plus adding a little extra support, like a stake or cage, is enough to ensure a plentiful harvest. But if you are looking for a really impressive tomato haul, keep watching the catalogs and the gardening shows—you never know what great idea will come next. |
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