Tumbledown Farm’s Tomato Page

Tomatoes: Introduction

     "'I like fresh, sweet corn, lima beans, and good ol'black-eyed peas, and fried green tomatoes...'
     Evelyn said, 'Did you know that a tomato is a fruit?'
     Mrs. Threadgoode, surprised, said, 'It is?'
     'It sure is.' 
     Mrs. Threadgoode sat there, bewildered, 'Oh no. Here all these years, throughout my whole life, I've been thinking they were a vegetable ... served them as a vegetable. A tomato is a fruit?' 
     'Yes.'
     'Are you sure?'
     'Oh yes. I remember that from home economics.'
     'Well, I just cain't think about it, so I'm gonna pretend I never even got that piece of information.'"

Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe (p. 323)


There is simply no disputing that tomatoes are, hands down, America's favorite vegetable (OK, fruit) to grow.  According to every national poll, tomatoes rank 30 percentage points ahead of their nearest vegetable rival.  Why?  If you have to ask, you've never tasted a tomato juicy, warm, and fresh from the garden.  My paternal grandmother ate them like one would an apple.  I've inherited the habit.  Of course, she ate large, sweet onions that way too--a habit I've never learned to appreciate.  So there you have it.  If you need polls, the National Gardening Association says that 85% of U.S. gardeners grow tomatoes.  Other polls have reported 90% or greater.  If you need commercial proof, just notice what vegetable (OK, fruit) Burpee most often chooses as "cover girl" for its glossy winter swimsuit edition (OK, gardening catalog).  There is no way to provide an exhaustive list here of all the varieties currently offered by the various seed companies--one whole seed catalog, Totally Tomatoes, is after all devoted to this family of veggies--so an effort will be made to list the most common types and the most popular cultivars.


[Photo: Tomatoes in July, Rutgers]

Lycopersicon esculentum Solanaceae

Tomatoes are in the Solanaceae family (Nightshade family) together with eggplant, peppers, and potatoes.  They are heavy feeders.  (The Purdue extension service recommends 1 lb Ammonium Nitrate [33-0-0] side dressing per 100 ft. row, three times over the course of the season: 2 weeks after the first fruit sets, 2 weeks after picking the first tomato, and 1 month later.  HO-32)  Whether you go for the additional non-organic fertilizer or not, tomatoes should be planted in a rotation that, for obvious reasons, includes nitrogen-fixing legumes.  (Rodale recommends preceding with a cereal grain or grass and following with legume.)  My rotation has now evolved into a four-year pattern:  winter wheat (or rye or oats or other grain/grass, sown in spring with red clover), tomatoes and other solanaceae, legumes, and lily/lettuce/cruciferae.  I have enjoyed the luxury for several years of space to plant more tomatoes.  I accept a much lower yield per plant rather than side dressing with a non-organic fertilizer.  That is a trade off I have so far been willing and able to accept.

Two Types of Tomatoes (by vine growth habit):

Determinate Tomatoes

Determinate tomatoes are compact, "bush types," and take up less garden space.  This makes some varieties potential patio, deck or balcony container plants.  Many can be planted in a pot or tub.  Sometimes they bear fruit that ripens earlier, but they may also stop bearing before a long season ends.

Indeterminate Tomatoes

Indeterminate tomatoes are the sprawling "vine types," that take up large amounts of garden space.  They must usually be tied to stakes or enclosed in wire cages.  (For specific caging and staking instructions, see the Purdue extension publication on tomatoes, HO-26.)  They may sometimes be slower to ripen, but they bear until first frost.

Two Types of Tomatoes (by genetics)

Hybrid Tomatoes

Hybrid tomatoes are the result of a purposeful, hand-pollinated cross of inbred lines of tomato plants.  This cross produces seed that grows into a plant with hybrid vigor. This hybrid vigor provides a significant increase in certain desirable characteristics and qualities in the tomato plant, such as better tasting fruit, early maturity (Early Girl), disease resistance (Celebrity, Big Beef), and resistance to cracking.  Hybrid tomatoes which cross with themselves lose their hybrid vigor and their desireable traits and predictability, so it is not recommended to save seed from hybrid tomatoes.  (You may get tomato plants to grow from such seed, but both the plants and any tomatoes they bear will be a mixed bag with largely unpredictable and poor results.)  Obviously, those who are concerned with the decreasing genetic diversity of our food will want to shy away from support of the multinational seed corporations and their limited hybrid varieties--though one may question how limited our tomato varieties really are as compared to other fruit and vegetables.  Given the tendency toward disease (verticillium wilt, etc.) in tomatoes, limited space for new ground in which to plant, etc., the most conservative and environmentally friendly way to grow tomatoes for me might be to plant a hybrid and lay off the fungicides and insect pesticides, and maybe even that side dressing of nitrogen. (After all, how many tomatoes can one family eat?)  Hybrid seed costs more ($3-$5 per packet) than open-pollinated (free after the first year), but that may be a relatively small cost when all of the factors are weighed.

Open-Pollinated and Heirloom Tomatoes

Open-pollinated tomatoes are tomato varieties that result from non-selective pollination in open fields.  The plants and fruit are not as consistent in their desirable traits and characteristics as are hybrids, but if you plant the seeds of an open-pollinated variety of tomato that you have grown, you will most likely recognize the resulting plant and its fruit as resembling the same variety as the plant and fruit from which you took the seed.  In other words, open-pollinated varieties cross "true"; parent and daughter plants are quite similar.  Heirloom tomatoes are open-polinated varieties that are at least 50 years old--the varieties that grandma and grandpa knew, grew, and loved to eat.

Five Types of Tomatoes (by fruit size, shape and use):

Globe Tomatoes

Globe tomatoes are 2-4 inches in diameter.  Because of their small size, they ripen earlier than bigger varieties.  They are barely big enough for slicing, so they are often included in lists of "early bird" hybrids.  Used for everything that later and larger varieties are used for, slicing, sauce, salsa, etc.

Beefsteak Tomatoes

Beefsteak tomatoes are generally 6 inches and larger in diameter.  This usually results in a "flattened ball" shape, sometimes with large lobes around the top that make the shape uneven and less rounded even in the middle.  Many hybrid beefsteaks are bred for a more globe-like and rounded shape, but heirlooms of this type are often quite "lumpy."  Beefsteak tomatoes are the quintessential slicing tomato, though they too may be used for sauce, salsa, etc.


[Photo: Beefsteak Tomato, Heirloom, Mortgage Lifter]

Pear Tomatoes

Pear tomatoes are usually 1 - 1 1/2 inches wide and pear or tear-drop shaped.  They grow in clusters on the plant and are usually found on hors d'oeuvres plates because they are bite-size and need only to be washed to be ready to serve.

Roma Tomatoes

Roma tomatoes are 2 inches wide and cylindrical in shape.  They are most often used for spaghetti sauces, soups, and tomato pastes, because of their easy-to-peal skin, insignificant core, meaty walls, and few seeds.

Cherry Tomatoes

These are the smallest of the tomato varieties, 1 - 1 1/2 inches in diameter and globe-shaped.  They are used frequently in salads, either whole or in halves.

This is by no means an exhaustive list of the varieties of tomato shapes, sizes and uses.  You'll find larger and smaller examples of each of these types and many other shapes (and colors and tastes, which we haven't really addressed) too many to attempt to catalog here. 

Tomato Varieties:

Tumbledown has grown the following varieties with moderate success.

• Heirlooms, for which I save seed: Brandywine (Beefsteak), Mortgage Lifter (Beefsteak), Rutgers (Globe), Amish Cherry

• Hybrids: Better Boy, Early Girl, Big Beef

The comments that follow relate directly to Tumbledown's experience of growing these varieties in the Midwest (Indiana), but most of the information will also be applicable to other varieties and can be adapted to other climates and soil conditions.  Occasionally you will find lists of available varieties divided by region (especially Northern short season and Southern long season).

Perhaps the best source of information and recommendation regarding Tomato varieties is the All-America Selections (AAS) trials for growth and flavor.

Tomato Planting:

Tomatoes are warm-loving, "tender" plants, so they should not be planted outside until the danger of frost is past.  In Indianapolis, this means after May 10 (after Mother's Day).  Because of the time required from planting to ripened fruit, it isn't feasible to plant tomato seeds outdoors (a.k.a. "direct seeding") in Indiana.  So, either the gardener must buy plants from a nursery or must plant from seed indoors under some sort of grow light.  (Recommendation: one "warm" and one "cool" flourescent bulb in a two-bulb shop light fixture.)  I use a

Floralight, but there cheeper alternatives, including building one's own grow shelf.  I plant indoors from seed because of the larger selection available from the seed catalogs than from the local nurseries and because of the lower cost of seed vs. plants.  I plant four seeds in each pot (a 2 quart orange juice or milk carton cut in half and slit at the four lower corners to allow drainage).  As the plants grow, I thin to one plant per pot.  Seeds should be planted indoors 7 weeks before planting outdoors.  Germination takes 6-10 days.  (See Purdue extension seed-starting publication, HO-14-W; see also Tumbledown's Garden Calendar).

[Photo: Tomato sprouts 10+ days after planting seed.] 

When time comes to plant outdoors, be sure to "harden off" the plants by taking them outside for ever-increasing periods of time in the shade at first and then as they become stronger, for short periods of time in full sun, bringing them indoors when wind, rain, and very hot/dry weather threaten.

[Photos: Tomatoes under Floralight and tomatoes outside hardening off on the deck.]

Tomatoes will grow almost anywhere the first year.  (Planting tomatoes more than once in the same location, without an extended rotation of at least three years [preferably more], is a recipe for tomato plant disaster.)  Almost any soil type will do, though as with most plants, tomatoes "prefer" a well-drained, deep loam.  My soil is a heavy clay, so one of the first orders of business is to modify the soil structure by adding organic matter.  My pH is also high, so I add Sphagnum peat moss to both lower the pH and improve the soil structure.  Tomatoes "prefer" a pH of 6.2-6.8.  One "brick" or slightly more of Sphagnum peat per 25 foot row, tilled or spaded in just prior to planting, works just fine for me.

[Photo: Adding Sphagnum peat and preparing to plant tomatoes.]

For instructions about improving your soil condition, see Logsdon's Gardener's Guide to Better Soil or Tumbledown's soil fertility page.  A soil test is recommended and will come with recommendations for improving the N-P-K and pH of your own soil.  Remember, there are organic alternatives, including compost, for improving your soil.

Actually planting.  In the garden, tomatoes are transplanted (at least where I live), so it is important to dig a hole in soil that has already been prepared by spading and tilling.  Because I live and garden on a pronounced slope, I grow my tomatoes in rows like flower beds, with rows of grass between the rows of tomatoes, a poor man's way of terracing.  This isn't ideal, but it produces tomatoes.  The important thing to remember is to bury most of the stem in a fairly shallow, elongated hole.  The hole should be shallow to allow for quick and uniform heating of the soil around the plant.  The hole should be elongated in order to lay most of the stem in the trench, so that the soil covers most of the stem.  Where the stem touches dirt, the tomato will send out new roots.  Only the leafy top of the tomato plant need stick out of the ground and that only for a few inches at first planting.  Watering the plant in with a dilute starter fertilizer (such as that sold by Miracle Grow, or such as can be made by soaking compost in water) will help overcome the shock of transplanting.

    

[Photo: Planting a tomato in a shallow trench.  NOTE:  the plant should be removed from the cardboard pot before planting.]

Tomatoes are heat-loving, so any mulch early in the season should be along the lines of black paper or plastic to heat up the ground.  Later in the season, mulching with straw to keep down weeds and promote moisture retention is acceptable.  They like full sun and do not like to stand in water.

  

[Photos: Tomatoes staked and later, after the plants are well established, mulched with straw.]

Tomatoes are staked at the same time they are planted in order to avoid disturbing the roots later.  Once the plant is established, it is tied loosely to the stake and mulched with straw to preserve moisture and suppress weeds.

[Photo:  Tomatoes beginning to ripen after a very hot, dry spring.  Cracks and sunscald were almost universal during the drought of 2007.]

After the last of the tomatoes are harvested in the fall, just before the first frost, I pull the plants and put them on the compost pile.  I broadcast rye seed into the straw mulch to be plowed under in the spring for the next crop.

Tomatoes in a Crop Rotation

As stated above, tomatoes do not tolerate repeated planting in the same ground (without industrial fumigation with bromide, but that's a different story).  So, a rotation is crucial, even in the garden.  Take a look at the full garden plan.

Here is Tumbledown's 4-year tomato crop rotation, as borrowed and modified from Gene Logsdon (Small-Scale Grain Raising):

	Spring	Fall
Year 1	Winter Wheat grows until harvested in mid-summer.  (See fall of Year 4.)  Red Clover is broadcast seeded into the wheat in February and March, just prior to the last hard freeze.  Clover can be cut once and dried or fed to rabbits or, if growth has been too slow, left to be plowed under the following spring.	Let clover recover from cutting and stand over winter.
Year 2	Amend soil by plowing under the clover from previous season and adding peat, manure, compost, greensand, and bone meal.  Plant tomatoes.	Pull tomato plants at frost and broadcast-sow rye into the mulch.
Year 3	Plow or till under the mulch and rye from previous fall and plant beans and other legumes.  In favorable season, may get two legume crops in succession.	Plow under legume residues and plant rye in half the rows; amend soil (see Spring of Year 2 above) and plant cold hardy Cruciferae (kale, turnips, etc.) and pre-plant overwintering lily family (onions, garlic) in the other half of rows.
Year 4	Plow or till under rye and amend soil (see Spring of Year 2 above); plant spring peas, lettuce, brocolli, and the rest of lily and cruciferae families as desired.	Plow residues and plant winter wheat.

Note:  Red Clover, in addition to fixing nitrogen and generally improving the soil condition, is used to feed the domestic rabbits at Tumbledown farm.  Their droppings are an important part of our compost. 

Tomato Pests and Diseases:

Blossom End Rot

Blossom End Rot is caused by a calcium deficiency, usually brought on by extreme swings in moisture availability.  (But also by problems with pH, etc.)  Drought years (like 2007) are almost certain to bring their share of BER.

Sunscald

Sunscald is a yellow or white patch on the part of the tomato facing the sun.  It is what it sounds like.

Cutworms

Cutworms often cut off the newly planted tomato at the ground.  (No, a rabbit didn't do it.)

Hornworms

Hornworms are large worms (4 inches) with a horn at one end.  They eat both leaves and fruit.  Pick them off the plant and dispose of them.

Anthracnose, Early Blight, Septoria Leaf Spot

Look for spots on leaves and fruit.  Combat with a ombination of good sanitation, rotation, tolerant cultivars, mulch (to control splashing from dirt in rain), staking and spacing to allow air flow.  If you go for chemical treatment, fungicide sprays are sometimes recommended.

Fusarium Wilt and Verticillium Wilt

Yellowing of lower leaves progresses upward throughout the plant.  It is important to choose resistant cultivars, practice good sanitation and crop rotation to combat these common diseases.

There are many other pests and diseases that afflict tomatoes.  Check out the Purdue extension tomato publication and contact the extension office for advice if you are having problems.

Water Requirements for Tomatoes:

Consistent, thorough, deep watering is crucial for tomatoes.  They are always thirsty.  1-1 1/2 inches per week are required for the health of the plants and for the production of fruit.  Water is especially important for the first few weeks after planting (and longer if the plants are not yet established).  Tomatoes will crack if long periods without water are followed by too much water at one time.  Mulch is crucial to maintaining soil moisture steadily over time.

Nutrients and pH:

The optimum pH for tomatoes is 6.2-6.8.  The soil in my garden tests at pH 7.9, so I must still work to amend the soil over time.  (For the plan to replace nutrients removed by the tomatoes and to amend the soil, follow the previous link or scroll up to the rotation chart above.)  Nonetheless, despite the high pH and nutrient deficiencies, the tomatoes are easy to grow; thriving and producing well when the rains are plentiful.

Tomato Production:

So far, the answer is more than I need and more than I can give away from twelve or so plants per year.  Next year I plan to weigh and count and report here on the results.

Picking Instructions from Pickyourown.org

www.flickr.com More of Tumbledown Farmer's photos tagged with Tomatoes

Tomato Bibliography:

Purdue Extension Tomato Publication, HO-26.

Rodale's All-New Encyclopedia of Organic Gardening. "Tomato," pp. 569-573.

Vegetable Gardening for Dummies, "And the Winner Is ... Tomatoes," pp. 41-56.