Please disregard that last post.

As others have said - compost, compost, compost.

Then mulch, mulch, mulch. No bare, exposed, soil should be allowed in the garden.

Oh, and plant decent varieties instead of wasting time and money the common cotton candy types.

Dave

I dont give away my secrets...lol...but I will say that its all in the soil,,,dirt is king

Here is a link that might be useful: Article From bestofthehome.com

For me, it was making the move to containers. No more tree roots sucking the water and nutrients out before the tomatoes could get any. I don't even let my containers make full contact with the ground.

Given that, I still agree with the others here - soil and moisture control.

No secret but local practice. Don't give tomatoes any nitrogen if possible. Get your soil healthy and it's in there anyways. Of course I'm only speaking from Rhode Island where the forests and weeds and fields grow without any outside nitrogen sources. Out there in the big world I'm sure conditions are very different. Around here excess nitrogen draws in the bugs like a magnet.

My "secret" which really isn't one is Spray n'Grow. I have been a devoted user of it for many years.

Hey I started using Spray n' Grow this year, and my tomatoes are the best and healthiest I have ever grown. In fact my whole garden looks better than it ever has. I know it's early yet, but I love the stuff.

Grandma, how often do you use it on your plants?

Oh, and I forgot about the one surefire thing to do to guarantee huge crops. Bury a blue dishrag under the back steps during the dark of a new moon.

Or was that to get rid of warts? Worth a try, I guess.

~~~ Or was that to get rid of warts? ~~~

Warts, definately warts.

And you forgot that it had to be soaked in stump water first!

whatever happened to swinging a dead cat over your head in a graveyard at midnight under a full moon?

My 'secret', back when I had access to such a treasure, was fish heads, buried one in each hole at planting time. I was BEGGING people to take some tomatoes with them when they left.

If you are trying to grow tomatoes in Western Washington I recommend the book "Growing Vegetables West of the Cascades" by Steve Solomon. Lots of good ideas from other parts of the country don't translate to our climate.

no bury a cat,fish and a blue rag and use sray and grow and oh wait a minute good (COMPOST)

known good factors:
I'm lazy. automatic watering device. kinda cheap at any hardware store. turns on the water spigot for you, at pre programmed times, all summer.

starting starts WAY too early

concrete reinforcing wire cages. removes so much hassle.

stupice

evidence of good:
trenching is better over burying deep, or just dropping in the ground.

unconfirmed, one or more of:
jersey green sand
home made compost
raised beds

grandma,,,,, I use spray and grow too on my tomatoes, and it works really well for me! do you use just spray and grow, or do you do their recommended dose of spray and grow, and bill's perfect fertilizer, and the coco wet to keep it on the leaves? Christy

Roundup.... Don't laugh. I had such a weed problem last year beacuse I simply tilled the field and amended. I gave up when the grass was thicker in my garden than my grass. Oh, and I used sprinklers last year. This year I used roundup on the grass/weeds 3 weeks prior to planting and I have 6' tomato plants. I also put in a drip system. Seems to do wonders on the peppers as well. Some are 3' tall now.

My tomato growing secret is so secret that I can not tell anyone about it or it would no longer be a secret. SO I am sure you understand why I can not tell you. It would do you no good anyway since you can not use my secret. Oops that was a clue. In fact it is so secret that no one even knows I have a secret.

OK here is one of my best kept secrets. You must promise never to tell. I use tons of composted manure and never water and never fertilize. I grow the natural way. I allow the plants to sprawl on the ground and plant with lots of room between plants. I start my seeds early and grow a jungle of toms. I strongly prefer heirlooms and large toms.

I like to go out and pick a 5 gallon bucket of toms and then go inside and pick out the best one to eat. I slice them very very thick. I put some blue cheese salad dressing on a slice of bread and a thick slice of tom and eat it open face. I eat them all day long. Just talking about it makes me hungry. I still have a long wait to the first tomato.

dangould,
or you would tell us but then you'd have to kill us, right?

This information, and Dangould as well, are being completely controlled by "The Secret Committee".

So, you ask, "What Secret Committee?"

Well, it's the committee that controls the dissemination of this information and is so secret, that you could actually be on the committee and not know it.

I'm still a tomato newbie, but I bought a Square Foot Gardening Success Kit from Gardener's Supply and planted my Sausage tomato in it. It's now almost twice as big as any of my other container plants, has five tomatoes on it already, and about 5 or 6 flower clusters.

I'm sold. Next year I'm getting another one if I can afford it.

I moved the plants 4 ft out from the side of the house so that I could walk behind them. The benefit was that the plants get additional reflected sun on the back side and more water because the eaves create a rain shadow/dry soil next to the wall, and grass would suck up the moisture in front of the plants.

I recommend doing all of the above. PLUS, play lound polka music to the tomato plants from 3:04AM until 6:22AM every morning except the first Wednesday of each month.

Always plant them in the light of a street light too......more light the better.

Oh....also put some perfume in the soil around each plant. They don't like the smell of poo any more than people do.

I think you are onto something there tomatogreenthumb. I have three plant on one side that gets lights from the street at night. It's a Caspian Pink, Orange Strawberry, and Omar's Lebanese. I thought they were big due to just their habit or the nice Caspian Pink seed I grew. I thought they need some dark light to sleep and recuberate. I even went as far as covering up the light at night. But now I let it be and they are hugh 6 feet monsters compared to my other three feet plants.

I am a newbie but what I notice is not just that the compost provide nutrients, but the makes the soil light and fluffy so it's easier for the roots to grow. Take a look at Raybo and Bingster's monter plants, which are grown in fluffy container mixes.

Plant in garden soil that has been heavily amended with compost such that it is very deep and loose. Mulch thickly with straw. Water infrequently or not at all. Bingo.

1. soaker hoses
2. heavy mulching
3. compost - learn how to make your own
4. sharp clippers - to lop off grasshopper's heads - organic pest control
5. one martini at night - so I can finaly relax after the many trips I make during the day to check on the garden so I can pull weeds so I can control insects so I can adjust soaker hoses so I can add mulch so I can turn compost so I can fertilize so I can stake plants so I can trellis plants so I can pull dead stuff so I can plant new stuff so I can pick veggies so I can check on new growth since I was out there the last time so I can...........I need a drink.

Mycorrhiza Fungi
Microbe Tea from T&J Enterprises
BioBizz Bio Grow
Actinovate for disease control
This year in addition to the above I'm using
the Spray-N-Grow Perfect Blend Kit.

I wish I could join you for the nightcap...:)

You guys are hilarious.

Lots of sun, lots of water and lots of compost dug into the garden... along with some amendments.

Hi everyone,

I think my biggest secret is using this forum. Being a newbie to growing anything and enjoying ripe tomatoes for the last two weeks (and more to come). After following all your advice and help, this tomatoe gardening has been amazing. You all are the secret.
I am going to have my martini now. I think I need to grow an olive tree. Lets see that's the Fruit Forum...
Aloha All.

Lehua, an olive tree sounds fabulous. I think I would have to grow a blue cheese tree as well LOL so that I can stuff the olives with the blue cheese and put them in my martini. YUM.

Cow poop works great, Miracle Gro's Moisture Control potting mix, lots o sun, and you have to talk to your tomato plants like they are your dearly loved children. They will feel the love and give you lots of gorgeous and yummy tomatoes.

I like to put some fresh mozzarella and then basil from my herb garden and sprinkle with balsamic vinegar. YUMMMMM.

Cynthia Sandberg recommends
dig a nice 13" to 16" deep hole to accommodate all the additions
plant to be almost completely submerged into the hole
place 6" fish head along with a couple of aspirin tablets and three or four crushed egg shells into the hole this
is followed by heaping handful of bone meal next add two handfuls of Sustane (trademarked name) all-purpose slow release organic fertilizer. Use the 4-6-4 type and then large tablespoon of pure worm castings add several inches of amended organic matter then trim plant and position it in the hole so that 2 to 3 brances of leaves sticks out of the hole. Continue adding organic matter around the plant and gently tramp soil to firm up the plant. Then water plant with 2 to 3 inches of water over a 10 to 15 min period.

Here is a link that might be useful: C.Sandberg's Tomato planting tips

WONDERFUL secrets!!

I didn't have success with my tomatoes until I 1) started from seed for mid-March planting using Wall O' Waters 2) used soaker hoses/drip line 3) compost enriched soil with added bonemeal and 4) stop giving nitrogen after planting

Watering...buried weep hose, 6" deep. No water lost to evapotranspiration, no new weeds (those of you who garden where you get a lot of rain will get more weeds) Adequate moisture that nourishes young roots and helps th em go deep into the ground, Easy...just turn on the faucet. I have tried about every other method of applying water and nothing ever gave me the results I get with the weep hose. Watermelons really do well planted with it too. Also compost...I use 10 year old horse manure mixed with shavings and I have scads and scads of earthworms, red worms and night crawlers, I have NEVER had to fertilize anything in my growing areas. What they get, they get from my improved soil and back to water, soil that has been enriched and is light and fluffy encourages great root growth in everything and makes it easier for water to get to the roots.

elskunkito...

I can confirm that raised beds are great!

But I have a question for you: why would trenching be any better than burying the plant deep? Don't roots form out of the stem no matter which way they get covered?

Just like any sound advice for losing weight or fixing your credit history, my answer may not please you, but it works: double dig your soil and mix in a lot of organic matter, especially aged manure. Chicken is my favorite, but any manure will do. Also add a time-release fertilizer with minerals for insurance and be sure to follow the product directions. Don't plant too early. Tomatoes don't taste very good when they ripen under cool conditions, so who gives a rat's backside if you get a few tomatoes two or three weeks early if they taste like crap? Also, tear off all but the top two pairs of leaves from your seedlings and bury the transplant at 45 degree angle. You'll get more roots and a stronger plant. Water well until the plants set their first fruit and then back off on the H2O. Don't over water, but the most important thing is to provide a consistent level of moisture. This takes some practice. Also, cage the plants. And make sure you mulch, but don't do it until the days start getting hot. Also, don't get greedy and plant the tomatoes too close together. Use 4ft. x 4ft. squares at a minimum. Six hours of direct sunlight at a bare minimum, but 8 or more is preferable. Also, don't water overhead. Last but not least, don't kill them with kindness. I've come to believe that tougher plants tend to produce better tasting tomatoes. Try to strike a balance that allows you to reap a reasonable harvest of great-tasting tomatoes. That's all I've got for now.

seedboy...elskunkito also claimed that trenching was better than just planting deeply (which I always do, leaving the top leaves just poking out of the soil)...

Why would trenching, or planting them on a 45 degree angle be any better than planting them deep vertically?

bluemater,

Maybe trenching is better if you want roots to cover a wide area, and vertical is better if you want them to go deep???

Jan

I'm sooo glad to hear a good report of the Spray 'n Grow.
Been planning to order it...now...I surely will.

Margaret

Jan...but why would more shallow roots be better than more deep ones? I guess that would be the question...

"Why would trenching, or planting them on a 45 degree angle be any better than planting them deep vertically?

I assume that by planting at an angle instead of vertically, you're exposing the stem to warmer soil and therefore decreasing the amount of time it takes for new roots to form.

Planting tomatoes with most of the stem burried (tried shallow trenching & straight deep without any noticable difference.) Always protect from cutworms (I use a toilet paper roll cut in half, burried halfway.) Each plant gets ammendments mixed in the soil: 1 tbs epsom salts, 1 tbs milk powder (or was that tsp--do you really think I measure?), 1 or 2 banana slices WITH the peal. Occasionally wild creatures dig up the banana. THAT argues for deep planting rather than shallow or 45*.

Plastic gallon containers (e g milk) with the bottoms cut out make nice mini green-houses over tomatoes, peppers, etc.

I agree with urbansyl...I save milk jugs all year long (and I keep the ones from each season) I cut the bottoms off and bury them about 3 inches in the soil. It can be a little pain because if it's warm during the day, you have to remove the lids (if it gets too hot in there it will cook the heck out of plants) and then put them back on at night. Otherwise, it's just like a little hot house and peppers, tomatoes and watermelons especially benefit. Jugs are free (well, you had to buy the milk anyway) and it is nice to recycle something into another use. To store the jugs year to year, I tie one by the handle to a long piece of twine and just string subsequent jugs on the line. I hang them in my barn so they are out of the way and stored neatly.

"I assume that by planting at an angle instead of vertically, you're exposing the stem to warmer soil and therefore decreasing the amount of time it takes for new roots to form."

seedboy...ahhhh, now that makes some sense!

Get a container, through some dirt and various other components I might find around the yard and ask mother nature for a hand. :) Hopefully I will have tomato growing secrets someday... Oh, someday.....

Don't for get oxygen for the roots.

link

Here is a link that might be useful: Oxygen

I know you can increase ordinary oxygen in water by stirring vigorously which sounds like what the special watering can at the link does, but I've also heard of people adding hydrogen peroxide to their water for added oxygen.

Did you catch this quote from the nursery owner who used the special watering pot:

"We started tomato plants from seeds and they germinated in six days, twice as fast as seedlings watered with city water, and they also came up straighter and had better root systems,"

He must have really bad city water. Seven days seems to be the normal germination time for me.

Jan

jll...the oxygenation occurs through electric current releasing the O from the H2 not by stirring...

I can see that all of you love growing tomatoes as much as I do, so I'm going to pass on a secret that was passed to me by a friend many years ago - Coffee Grounds & Eggshells. I don't know what it is, but applying directly to the soil really makes for some nice plants (May have something to do with our wonderful Jersey soil too!). Now, if you're spread out over acres of land, you better get to eating those eggs and drinking that coffee! Lol.

I also grow mainly Beefsteaks and begin with mixing our soil with miracle grow soil which also seems to work wonders. Lot of sunlight (Even tho it rained most of June here). My plants are close to 4' tall right now and growing close to 6" a week (As long as the sun shines). Water once a day at dusk.

Oh, and Mom's extra special secret - Love.

Good Luck everyone. Hope you all have a bountiful season!
Johnny