The Tomatois highly esteemed as a yummy food when cooked or eaten in the raw and as a beginning of juice . It is known to be a source of health protective vitamins and because of the ease with which it can be domesticate , it is one of the most popular of home vegetable - garden crops as well as a commercial crop of huge importance . With comparatively little care the Tomato yield well and produces , over a long time of year , a succession of luscious fruits . It exists in many dissimilar variety , some having fruits not much great than a currant , others take fruits that weigh a pound or more each . The fruits are usually ruby , but miscellanea with lily-livered fruit and with pinkish and white-hot yield are also grown . In peak , the plants vary considerably according to variety .
Characteristically , the Tomato is a buff of sunshine and warm weather . It is grown as a bid yearly and is one of the first plant to be damage by fall frosts ; even slight frost harms the bid foliage .
Tomato: A Favorite Garden Crop
The parent speciesof fantastic progenitors of the garden varieties of Tomato are two tender perennial that are aborigine of westerly South America , Lycopersicon esculentum and L. pimpinellifolium . When naturalise , as they sometimes are in botanical gardens and alike place , they are plow as annuals . The Tomato was introduce into gardens in Europe during the former part of the sixteenth hundred , but for a long meter , its economic value as a food was not appreciated , perhaps because it belongs in the Nightshade family , the Solonaceae , and so shows a resemblance to many well - cognize plants that have poisonous characteristics . Before it was accept as a food the Tomato was cultivated as a curiosity and as an ornamental .
tomato were grown in Virginia by Thomas Jefferson in I781 , but harmonise to news report they were almost all unknown in America as an edible vegetable until after 1834 , and it look that another ten years passed be fore they begin to attain any real popularity .
The popular name of the Tomato for a farsighted prison term was Love Apple , and sometimes it was known as Gold Apple .
Raising Plants
Although the Tomato is usually raised from semen , it is very easily increased by means of press cutting . Side shoot off from plants early in the time of year and planted in the sand in a moth-eaten chassis root readily and may be used to give successive plants that will grant well late in the season .
In the South , the source may be sow direct out of door in carefully prepared seedbed and the new plants lifted from the beds and set straight off in the garden . In the North , and wherever earlier plants are needed than can be obtained by sowing out-of-doors , the seeds are inseminate in a greenhouse 8 - 10 week before it is expected to transplant the young plant alfresco . Certified germ ( seeds certified by governmental say-so as having been collected from plants free of cum - borne disease ) only should be sow
When sowing indoors , machinate pots , pans , or flats ( according to the number of seeds to be seed ) by placing drainage cloth in their fanny and occupy them with a sift , rather sandy soil mixture ( loam , sand , and leaf mould , humous or peat moss in about adequate proportionality make a good mixture ) . Water the soil exhaustively with a fine spray and sow the seed , spacing them about half an column inch aside and covering them with soil to about a quarter of an inch .
Keep the newly sown seeds at a temperature of 60 - 70 degrees ; shade them at first , but , as soon as the seedling emerge from the soil , expose them to full sunshine . observe the soil in an evenly moist but not a always saturated experimental condition and keep the plants get in a nursery having a nighttime temperature of 60 - 65 degrees and a daytime temperature of about 5 - 10 degrees high .
When the young industrial plant have evolve their 2d twosome of leaves ( the first couplet of regular tomato plant - leaf shape ) , transplant them to flats , spacing them 2 - 3 in . apart , or plant them separately in little pots . At this time use a filth consisting of equal parts of loam ( surface soil ) , moxie , and leafage mold , hummus , or peat moss , with pearl meal supply at the rate of one British pound to each bushel of the mixed bag . Keep the plant uprise under the same conditions as before and , about two weeks before they are to be implant in the garden , step by step indurate them and accustom them to outdoor conditions .
Soil and Location
Tomatoes thrive in any somewhat goodgarden soilthat is well - drained . It should be deeply spaded or plowed well before the Tomatoes are set and , if substandard in humus , it should be enrich by adding com post , leaf mold , peat moss , or commercial humus . Manure should be used , if at all , with cautiousness , because excessive nitrogen run to make the plant life create an overabundance of foliage at the expense of flowers and fruit . A dressing of a fertilizer that analyzes high in orthophosphate and potash and low in N may be beneficial ; if the soil is fairly deep the addition of organic matter together with a dressing of superphosphate is likely to prove sufficient .
Tomatoes need full fair weather . The early crops are likely to be produced on south - facing slope or in locations that are fill in by a wall or edifice . subsequently harvest may be had from the flat or sloping background without difficulty .
Planting
Plants for do out should be hardy and short - jointed ( the leaves relatively tightlipped together on the stems ) . Tall , weak plants with undersized , yellowish leaf , wide spaced on the stems , are not acceptable . Wait until the weather is fond and settled before planting ; nothing is pull in if , after the plants are place out , the weather condition turn inhuman and the plants assume a low or purple coloring and quit to produce .
The place between plants should vary according to methods of training and cultivation and fit in to the variety ( the more vigorous varieties need more elbow room than others ) .
If the plants are to sprawl on the land without staking , and mechanically skillful cultivators are to be used to keep down weed , as is the practice with commercial growers , the rows should be about 6 ft . apart , and 4 foot . should be allowed between the flora in the rows .
unpaid gardeners who provoke only a few Tomato plants will witness that it devote to support them off the ground rather than to permit them grow without dress . If this is done , the pro portion of neat , undamaged fruit harvested is higher . The plants may be tied to individual stakes or to a treillage . In the former case , a spatial arrangement of 2½-3½ ft . between rows and 2 - 2½ ft . be tween plants in the quarrel is sufficient ; the closer spacings are adopted if the plants are to be pruned to one stem each , more space being pay if each flora is to develop 2 - 3 stems . Rows of trellis may be spaced 4 - 6 ft . apart and the plants are grown against the trellis about 2½-3 ft . aside . Stakes for Tomatoes should be of good , intelligent wood at least 2 in . square and long enough to image from the primer 5 or 6 ft . when they are beat back insufficiently far to fasten them securely . Trellises are usually made 4 or 5 ft . high .
When plant , the holes should be made large enough to accommodate the root without crowding and the plants set deep than they previously were ( because Tomato plant life take root freely from the portions of the stems buried beneath the soil , they may be institute down to the first leaf ) . After they areplanted , each plant should be well water
exemption from weeds‘is important in the refinement of Tomatoes . The dry land in which they are embed either should be mulch or should be hold stirred to a depth of about 1 in . with a hoe or agriculturalist . Keeping the undercoat loose of green goddess with a hoe or cultivator in the early stages of growth and applying a mulch after the plant are well established and at the rootage of really red-hot , summer conditions is the good practice .
Tying and Pruning
Plan thymine that are grow on bet s and trellises will need- tending in the matter of link up at even intervals throughout the summer . Do not bind stems so tightly that they are likely to be hamper by the association as the stems grow and thicken . Use soft string or funnies of old sheeting or other gentle material for tying . Pruning , or the remotion of unwanted shoots ,
is an of import task with Tomatoes take to supports . shoot that are to be hit should be claim off when they are quite small and , asTomatoes growfast during favorable weather condition , this work should receive tending at least once a hebdomad . Once the turn of main shoots that are to be allow to grow has been decided upon , no others should be allowed to develop , and all laterals or side shoots should be pinched out as before long as they are boastful enough to be shoot hold of easily between the fingerbreadth and thumb .
When the main shoots reach the tops of their financial support , which should be when the summer is well advanced , and any further fruit set will not have time to develop and mature ( or even hand while still green a size of it of usage for making Indian relish or other conserves ) , pinch out or cut off the spinning top of the main shoots ; this tends to concentrate the free energy of the industrial plant in plumping up and ripening the fruits already set on the vine . When the lower fruit start to mature some growers cut away a dowry of each of the lower leave of absence to make for better airwave circulation and to include more sun to hasten to ripen . This should be done with caution , however , for if too much foliage is removed the fruits will not fall upon their orotund size of it and the growth of the plants may be checked .
WateringIsImportant.
For the best results , Tomato industrial plant should never suffer from a lack of moisture at any time . undue dryness is very likely to make a physiological fray call blossom - final stage rot , which shows as large blackened areas surround that death of the ripe fruit which is not attached to the stock certificate . Cracking of the fruit is triggered by the handiness of ample supply of wet following a very dry flow . The best room of avoiding this problem is to check that that the plant life never stomach from xerotes .
Harvesting
When thefruits are ripe they should be picked promptly and storedin a nerveless , dark situation ; under these conditions , they keep better than if left on the vines . In red-hot , moist weather the fruit will be firmer if they are pick slightly before they are in full mature and are then give up to ripen at elbow room temperature in door .
At the end of the season , all green fruits should be picked before laborious frost . The greenest may be used for cause conserves . Those approaching ripeness may be stored in shallow boxes or tray in a coolheaded but frostproof shed , cellar , attic , or service department , where they will ripen gradually and provide usable fruits over a full stop of many calendar week . Fruits mature in this way miss the flavor and caliber of those that are vine ripened , but , even so , are likely to be superior to Tomatoes shipped from recollective distance and sold in shop at that season . An alternate method is to pull up the intact vine just before a backbreaking frost and suspend them from the roof of the storage position ; the fruit then ripen on the vine and are , perhaps , of a little better caliber than those pick green and ripened in trays or boxes .
Greenhouse Culture
A greenhouse in which a nighttime temperature of 55 - 60 arcdegree is maintained , where the day temperature is a few degrees higher , and where there is full temperateness makes it possible to have fresh Tomatoes from November until the fruits from outside plants are available the following summertime . The Tomato plants may be grow in largepots or in soilbeds . Each plant should be restricted to a single stem by pinching out all side shoots when they are quite small . If grown in bed or bench , the plants may be spaced 12 - 15 in . aside ; if the plants are potted , pots measuring 9 - 10 in . in diameter will be bombastic enough for the final potting . The plants should be neatly tied to stake or to wires or string stretched tightly between backing .
For greenhouse polish it is usually wisest to select a multifariousness especially recommended for that
To assure fall and early winter harvest the seeded player should be sown in July to have plants that will crop in tardy winter and outpouring the seeds should be sown in September or October .
so as to ensure a setting of fruit in green houses , it is necessary to pollinate the flower or to handle them with one of the especial hormone sprays which are betray for the intent of causing Tomatoes to set yield . Pollination is effected by mildly shake the plant during the middle of each warm , dry day at a metre when the tune in the greenhouse is fairly dry . An substitute method is to take a soft camel’s - hair brush and mildly stroke it across each open flower each lovesome , bright daytime .
Varieties
There are a large number of variety of Tomatoes offer by seedman , and Modern ones are introduced yearly . Some are more suited for one surgical incision of North America than others , some are more adaptable for a particular purpose than others . The right commercial varieties are not necessarily the best for thehome gardener , who does not have to debate problems connected with shipping and selling . sure varieties , indicate in catalogs , are resistant to wilt disease ; only these should be try if the soil has grown wilt - infect Tomatoes previously .
Tomato varieties are divided into two chiefgroups , earlies and maincrops . The former are the only sort suited for planting outdoors in most of Canada and in the northernmost parts of the United States ; these are used also to pro vide early crops elsewhere . Maincrop varieties come into birth a little by and by than earlies and go along to produce well until freeze .
Among other varieties , the keep abreast are recommend : Earliana , Fordhook Hybrid , John Baer , Manalee , Pritchard , Valiant and Victor . Good maincrop variety show admit : Burpee Big boy , Burpee Hybrid , Homestead , Kopiah , Man alucie , Marglobe , Queens , Rutgers and Stokes dale . Among yellow - fruited varieties , Jubilee and Sunray are extremely rated . Oxheart and Ponderosa are pink - fruited varieties that bear very expectant fruits . minuscule - fruited varieties that yield fruit suitable for garnishing as well as eating are Red Cherry , Red Pear , Yellow Pear and Yellow Plum .
