Best Tips For Growing Vegetables at Home - Part 3 ( Tomatoes)

Tomato is most favorite and easy to grow vegetable at home. It is a cold season plant and grown for red and juicy fruits. Used in almost every possible dish, it is an important kitchen vegetable. So what would be better than growing your own tomatoes !! Try  following tips for best results.

Propagation

You can use good quality seeds bought from online sites or purchase healthy seedlings from local nursery.

While starting plants from seeds , sow 2-3 seeds per pot (¼ inch deep in soil ). Store the container or pot in room of 70 -80 degree Fahrenheit until germination. It will take around two weeks for seeds to germinate. When the seeds germinate, move them into full sun or under grow lights. Mist the seeds daily for the first 7 to 10 days. When you start to see sprouts, you can water less frequently. More plants are killed by too much water (that rots the roots) than too little water so water sparingly after the plants sprout.

Soil

Fill containers with equal parts planting mix and potting soil. Combined together, the two provide an aerated, medium density environment for roots to expand and access nutrients. Dig a hole deep enough to cover all but the top three to four inches of the seedling. It's okay to bury the lowest leaves. Those fuzzy white hairs on the stem will form a sturdy adventitious root system.

Sun / Temperature

Tomato plants thrive in 6-8 hours of daily sunshine. Containers can be moved throughout the growing season and are a great choice for home growers who have limited garden space. Be sure to provide enough room for each plant's growth. One tiny seedling can reach an astonishing height of ten feet and will need at least two cubic feet of soil.

Watering

Water deeply and regularly while the plants are developing. Irregular watering, (missing a week and trying to make up for it), leads to blossom end rot and cracking. Once the fruit begins to ripen, lessening the water will coax the plant into concentrating its sugars. Don’t withhold water so much that the plants wilt and become stressed or they will drop their blossoms and possibly their fruit.

Fertilizer

Fertilize with fishmeal, chicken manure, or a premixed low-nitrogen, high-phosphorus organic fertilizer and water thoroughly. You will need to repeat the fertilizing process each year. A weekly dose of liquid seaweed will increase fruit production and plant health, as will side-dressing with compost two or three times during the growing season.

Pruning and Pinching

Pinch and remove suckers that develop in the crotch joint of two branches. They won’t bear fruit and will take energy away from the rest of the plant. But go easy on pruning the rest of the plant. You can thin leaves to allow the sun to reach the ripening fruit, but it’s the leaves that are photosynthesizing and creating the sugars that give flavor to your tomatoes.

Harvesting

Harvest the fruit at its peak. Fruit should appear about 60 days after transplanting. Check the plants daily once they begin to ripen to ensure peak flavor. Gently twist the fruits and avoid pulling at the vine.

Best Tips For Growing Tomatoes Using Hydroponics

Hydroponics is an advanced and popular way of growing plants. In this technique, plants are grown in a nutrient solution rather than soil. Growing tomatoes hydroponically allows the grower to raise them in a controlled environment without weeds, insects or soil-borne diseases. Hydroponic systems recycle water and nutrients, and optimize space. In this way tomatoes grow faster than soil-grown plants, and their yield is greater.

Seeds

Several tomato varieties have been specifically developed for hydroponic production in controlled environments. Some of the more popular varities are Apollo, Belmondo, Caruso, Dombito, Larma, Perfecto, Trend and Trust.

Starting Media and Nutrients

There are many different propagation media available. Any propagation medium must be thoroughly soaked before seeds are sown for uniform distribution of moisture.

A soil less mixture mainly peat and perlite can be filled in seedling trays. This mixture contains enough nutrients for first few weeks of growth. So it can be watered with fresh water initially. In contrast, inert medium like rock wool or oasis will require nutrient solution from starting.

Rockwool blocks comes in several sizes. Seeds can be placed directly into the cubes and later on as plant grows, these cubes can be inserted in to larger blocks making "pot in a pot" system. This also reduces chances of transplant shock, as both blocks are made up of same material.

Oasis horticubes are similar to rockwool cubes. They are also inert and sterile blocks having excellent drainage. Cubes made up of urethane and paper fiber can also be used. 

Tomato seeds should be sown ¼ to 3/8 inch deep. Cover the germination cubes or pots with a large piece of clear plastic to conserve moisture at the surface. Avoid the use of plastic if the cubes receive direct sunlight, as high temperature formed due to plastic can hamper germination. The plastic must be removed as soon as sprouting begins.

Seedling system design

One popular system is Overhead watering. The water is sprinkled uniformly over all seedlings to avoid uneven growth. It is important that seedlings are at proper temperature and in full sun. Plants should be checked often to assure that they are not water stressed.

Another system is - Flood and Drain (ebb and flow). Tray containing the sown cubes or pots is flooded with nutrient solution or water. It provides moisture from bottom which diffuse throughout the propagation block by capillary action. Once the blocks are evenly moist, the tray is drained allowing cubes to drain. The process is needed to repeat throughout the day. No need of doing it in night. Evenly moisturized seedlings, low labor cost and no physical beating of leaves and young plants are some of its advantages.

During the process, maintain the temperature of irrigation solution at minimum 18° C (64° F). Temperature lower than this will slow down the growth. In winter, in Northern latitudes, a continuous supplemental light for 14-18 hours per day may be required for proper growth.

Transplanting

Transplanting should be done within 2 weeks. Once true leaves appear, seedlings should be transferred into larger growing blocks (pots) from the original seedling cubes. Evenly space them to maximize light to each plant, without any crowding or shading. The transplants must be spaced so as not to touch one another, and may need to be spread several times during their growth.