3 Things To Keep In Mind Before Growing Tomatoes

Tomatoes are known for their juiciness and nutrition, forming a quintessential part of almost everyone’s diet.

Tomato cultivation takes place in different parts of the world, throughout the year. From large-scale farmers maintaining large plantations to individual homeowners rearing tiny home gardens, tomatoes are the chosen crops of many kinds of people.

If you’re looking to grow tomatoes for commercial purposes, it’s important to know certain details well-beforehand. Read on to find out more.

Maintain Optimal Soil Conditions

Tomatoes grow in a wide variety of soils, but the most optimal types for tomato cultivation include loam and sandy loam soils. It’s important to ensure that the soil is loose and well-drained. This prevents any damage that may be caused due to water logging and also makes way for easy root growth.

Heavy clay soils are not recommended for tomato cultivation. However, the texture of such a soil type can be improved by tilling and addition of sand, sawdust, etc.

Tomato plants grow best in soils with neutral to near-neutral pH levels. They are moderately tolerant to slightly acidic soils with pH levels between 5.5 to 6.8, provided the soil is aerated and free from salts.

Choosing The Right Seeds

Check for diseased or broken seeds and discard them. Early germinating seeds that are uniform in shape and size should be picked for sowing. You need to sow seeds in well-prepared seedbeds that have the right nutrition to support the baby plants.

After initial germination, tomato seeds develop embryonic cotyledons that need to be carefully differentiated from true leaves.  You should transplant seedlings only after they’ve developed true leaves and that too, at the optimal time.

At Sneha Nursery, we grow tomato seedlings in a scientific manner. The seedlings grown in our advanced greenhouses are supplied with the optimal nutrition in a soil type that’s highly amenable to their growth. With our seedlings, you’ll be able to easily achieve uniform yields.

Moreover, our seedlings are resistant to a variety of adverse environmental conditions and endure any undue shock caused due to transplantation.

Fertilizers As And When Required

Nitrogen, potassium and phosphorus are the three main ingredients of most plant fertilizers. These elements are crucial to the growth of tomatoes as well. Nitrogen encourages leaf growth and enhances chlorophyll production. However, in tomato plants, too much nitrogen can lead to excessive leaf growth, which in turn discourages blossoms and fruits.

Phosphorus helps with flowering and also aids in energy production, while potassium helps in fighting diseases and improves fruit quality. In fact, once the plant starts flowering, it’s recommended to increase the supply of potassium.

Tomato plants also require secondary nutrients such as calcium, magnesium and sulfur, but in lesser quantities. Calcium optimizes nutrient availability and is useful in maintaining cell health. Sulfur helps in the formation of proteins and amino acids and magnesium is related to photosynthesis and chlorophyll production.

Even micronutrients such as zinc, iron, molybdenum, etc. are necessary for many reasons, but in much lesser quantities. For example, molybdenum helps the plant in properly using nitrogen while zinc aids in proper sugar consumption.

If you want a bumper crop of tomatoes this coming season, then do remember to implement these points. With the right measures, tomato cultivation can be easy and highly rewarding.