Tips and tricks on growing the best tomato plants

One of the all-time favorite garden crops has to be tomatoes. When gardeners start talking about their gardens, invariably, they will begin comparing how their tomatoes did that summer.

Some will comment how good their crop was, while others will comment how bad theirs was.

Some will say the squirrels stole their tomatoes, and some will comment on how the fungus simply killed their plants.

Tomatoes are classified as either determinate or indeterminate.

A determinate tomato will only grow so tall, and then all its energy goes into producing tomatoes. Most determinates grow to about 3 to 4 feet tall. Many will have several main stems unless you prune it to a single main leader or stem.

An indeterminate simply grows until something kills the plant, whether that be frost or disease or pests. Many indeterminates will grow from 8 to 10 feet tall by the end of summer.

Determinates, such as Celebrity tomatoes, put their tomatoes pretty much on about the same time, with many of them getting ripe at the same time.

Indeterminates just keep putting on tomatoes until fall or the plant dies or stress causes it to quit.

People who live in climates where there is a short growing season will do far better with determinates. Those of us who live where there is a long growing season can choose either one.

I try to plant my first tomato plants about the first to middle of March in my high tunnels.

Where I live, which is grow zone 6a, I can start my tomato plants around the first of January.

It takes about seven or eight or nine weeks for tomatoes to go from seed planting to ready to transplant into the garden, so if I plant my tomato seeds on Jan. 1, they will be ready to transplant around the first to middle of March.

It will take work and effort to keep the tomato plants from getting leggy. You will have to use artificial light if you plant this early.

Most of you will not have high tunnels to plant in, so use Wall O'Waters or their knockoffs. They are about $10 or $15 for three Wall O'Waters.

If you are going to use Wall O'Waters, I'd get some Stupice tomato seeds and start them counting backward from your average frost date.

Our average frost date is, say, May 1, give or take a couple weeks. Go back six weeks from May 1, which comes out March 15 or so. The Wall O'Waters are supposed to protect your plants these six weeks from cold temps.

Now go back from March 15 eight weeks, which gives you the date you need to plant your Stupice tomato seeds. So from Jan. 15 to Jan. 30, it's time to get your tomato plants started in the Wall O'Waters.

Stupice is an indeterminate tomato, which will produce lots of small 4- to 6-ounce tomatoes.

Stupice can handle some cold temperatures, so it is perfect to plant in Wall O'Waters.

Probably one of the best growing aids you can get for free is the catalog from Johnny's Seeds; it has a wealth of information in it.

Not only does Johnny's give a good description, but also it describes the plants' disease resistance.

I've been going through their new catalog and noticed Plum Regal F1. It is a plum tomato that has a bunch of disease resistance.

Right after the name of the tomato there are a number of abbreviations.

You will find HR:F2, LB, TSWV, V, IR:AB.

The key is found on page 129, which tells us the Plum Regal is highly resistant to Fusarium Wilt Races 0, 1 and 2, Late Blight, Tomato Spotted Wilt Virus and Verticillim Wilt and also has intermediate resistance to Early Blight.

It is a small tomato, which should work well in our area.

If you choose to grow heirlooms, they will not have much, if any, disease resistance.

Two of my favorite brands are Mr. Stripey or Kellogg's.

If you choose to grow heirlooms, I would definitely save my own seed. If you choose to save seed from hybrids, they will not grow back with their true hybrid nature.

They may produce tomato vines with characteristics from the parent stock of the hybrid.

If you save the seed from heirlooms, they will grow true to their parent stock.

Watch your plants in your garden. Choose the very best plant out of all you have planted, maybe the one growing the biggest tomatoes or the most disease resistant or the one that keeps growing and producing tomatoes.

Save seed from this plant. Do this year after year. Who knows; you may end up with a super-heirloom!

Later in the spring, when it's time to stake our tomato plants and prune them, I'll do an article on that. If you have questions, drop me an email. If I don't know, we'll find someone who does.

Happy gardening!

Until next time.