Tomatoes are usually considered one of the easier things in the garden to grow. Just as long as they have enough water and sun, most times they stay rather bug and disease free. But are they really being the best plant they can be? Click through the jump to find out what 18 essential nutrients your tomato plant needs to be all that and a bag of chips.
Many of us are so focused on just keeping our gardening adventures alive, that we forget to think about keeping them as healthy as possible. We always want our vegetable plants to yield as much produce as possible, but do we remember to take that extra step to help the fruitful results of your labors to be out of sight?
We have been using Espoma Tomato-Tone this season on our tomato plants. We will admit that it doesn't always cross our minds to check the Ph balance of our soil every month to make adjustments as needed, so by using a twice-monthly fertilizer, we know we can take care of our plants and spend our extra time elsewhere!
We have been using as directed, sprinkling it in a ring a few inches from the base of the plant, twice a month.
We enjoy that it's not water based and organic (We believe that water-soluble fertilizers tend to provide a meal comparable to a fast food diet) so there is no fear of getting it on the leaves, using it in areas that animals might be, or consuming a product that came from non-green sources.
It keeps your plant balanced and healthy at a steady and controlled rate. We found this chart at Espoma to be helpful in understanding the true needs of a tomato plant.
We have already seen a noticeable difference between our plants this year and last! Which makes us happy since produce prices are only going up!
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Really, truthfully, just how easy/hard are tomato plants to grow?
I've always wanted to do this. But I'm afraid of failure. Because they have to be in a pot on a balcony and there is no other place for them to be. I don't have a choice of exposures.
Tomatoes are easy if (1) you have enough direct sunlight and (2) you water them regularly.
(This won't guarantee that you'll get the best possible yield, but you will get some fruit.)
You need at least six hours of direct sunlight to make tomatoes produce well -- sunlight early in the morning (say, before 9am) or late afternoon (say, after 4pm), doesn't count. If you've got that kind of exposure on the balcony, try tomatoes in a pot.
@TRUE BLUE:
It all depends. Before I was an apartment dweller, I once planted a tomato plant in my backyard in a spot that got blazing hot sunshine. Then I promptly forgot about it for a few months. One day my housemate knocked on my door and wanted to know when I was going to pick my tomatoes.
The plant was bending over from the weight of ripe fruit.
Now, this was I think a fluke of the sun conditions and a rainy summer, but given the right location a tomato plant can be pretty easy. I've never given them a go on the patio yet though.
In addition to what Moryse said (which was all good advice!) tomatoes have deep roots, so if you are planting them in a container, it needs to be deep. You can't plant a tomato in a window box!
Cool... don't forget that pH regulates the nutrient availability to the plant too. So if your pH isn't within the 6-7 range then it will be harder for your plants to obtain some nutrients (see chart below):
nutrient availability chart
(taken from this page)
Vermicompost is an awesome organic fertilizer. The City Bin is a new indoor vermicomposter that's actually cute! I got one and can't wait to get it!
http://igg.me/p/84405/x/273821