Tomato Tips: Keys to Success

Tomato Tips: Keys to Success

Tomatoes rank high among the favorites for home gardeners, cherished for their versatility and flavor. Whether planted in traditional garden beds, confined to containers, nurtured in hydroponic setups, or suspended in hanging baskets, tomatoes thrive in the Florida Panhandle given the right care and understanding of essential growing principles. With a bit of advice and a dash of perseverance, achieving a beautiful harvest of delicious tomatoes is not only fun but also fulfilling. Check out these tips for successfully growing tomatoes in your home garden.

A bin of cherry tomatoes UF/IFAS Photo by Amy Stuart

PERFECT TIMING
In the Panhandle, we’re fortunate because we can start planting tomatoes earlier than many other places. But because tomatoes thrive in warm weather, it’s important to wait until the risk of frost is gone before putting them outside. If you’re eager to begin, you can start growing tomato seedlings indoors. Once the weather warms up, you can move these seedlings outside. Another option is to plant tomatoes in lightweight containers. This makes it easy to protect them if there’s a late frost or freeze by moving them to a safer spot. However, don’t delay planting your tomatoes for too long! They need time to grow and produce fruit before the summer heat sets in. Once nighttime temperatures stay above about 80 degrees consistently, larger tomatoes might stop growing fruit. But smaller types like cherry and grape tomatoes usually do just fine.

DETERMINATE OR INDETERMINATE
Some tomatoes, called determinate or “bush” types, grow to a specific size and don’t need pruning. Their fruits all ripen together within 1-3 weeks, which is great for container gardening and canning. Then there are indeterminate or “vine” tomatoes, which keep growing and producing fruit all season long. These kinds need support like stakes and some pruning to keep them neat and tidy in the garden.

RIGHT PLANT, RIGHT PLACE
Tomatoes are sun-lovers, needing about four to six hours of sunlight every day. So, when planting them, choose a sunny spot in your yard. Before planting, consider getting your soil tested by your local Extension office. You’re aiming for a soil pH between 6.2 to 6.5, which is ideal for tomatoes. Also, enrich your soil with organic materials like composted manure. When planting your tomatoes, it’s helpful to bury them slightly deeper than they were in their original pots. This encourages better root growth.

TOP TOMATO VARIETIES FOR THRIVING IN NORTH FLORIDA’S CLIMATE
Florida’s warm and sometimes damp weather can cause problems with insects and diseases that harm tomatoes. To avoid these issues, it’s smart to pick tomato types that can resist common diseases such as verticillium wilt and fusarium wilt, as well as pests like nematodes. Check the seed package for information about resistance. For this region, some good choices are the ‘Better Boy’ and ‘Celebrity’ varieties. If you prefer heirloom tomatoes, think about trying ‘Cherokee Purple’ and ‘Green Zebra’.

Tomatoes are better able to resist disease and dry off quickly after rain showers when they are trellised.
Photo credit Anh Ngo Hoang (Pixabay)

PROVIDE SUPPORT
For tomatoes that keep growing, like indeterminate ones, people often use wire cages, stakes, or trellis systems to support them. It’s a good idea to put these supports in place either right before planting or shortly after, so you don’t mess up the plant’s roots. As the tomato plants get bigger, you can use clips or ties to attach them to the support. Another way is to put stakes between each plant in a row and weave string through them to help support the plants as they grow taller.

EARLY AND THOROUGH SCOUTING
To stop small problems before they get big, make sure to inspect your plants often for signs of bugs or diseases. If you want to learn more about dealing with these issues, you can check out the Tomato Insect Pest Management guide on Gardening Solutions website: https://gardeningsolutions.ifas.ufl.edu/care/pests-and-diseases/pests/management/tomato-insect-pest-management.html.

FEEDING THE PLANT & TAILORING FERTILIZATION
Just like people need food to grow, tomatoes also need specific nutrients to thrive. Using a fertilizer with a ratio like 6-8-8 or something similar will provide these essential nutrients for your plants. You can choose between a liquid fertilizer mix or granular fertilizer. It’s important to fertilize when you plant your tomatoes and continue to do so regularly during the growing season to keep them healthy and strong.

DROPLETS OF SUCCESS
Pick a location for your garden that’s near a water source, like a hose or watering can. Drip irrigation is a good choice because it gives the right amount of water and helps keep leaves dry to prevent diseases. Make sure watering your plants is convenient for you. Aim to water your garden with about 1-2 inches of water each week to keep your tomatoes healthy.

Tomatoes growing on a vine. Photo taken 05-20-21

Successfully growing tomatoes requires attention to detail and consistent care. Ultimately, providing your tomatoes with the proper care such as adequate water, sunlight, and nutrients, is essential for their health and productivity. With these practices in mind, you can look forward to a harvest of delicious tomatoes from your Panhandle garden. For more information about growing tomatoes in the Florida Panhandle, contact your local County Extension Office.

Everglades Tomato Doesn’t Disappoint

Everglades Tomato Doesn’t Disappoint

For me, tomatoes are the most difficult (and expensive) vegetable to grow. I even try to discourage people from growing tomatoes in Florida. Tomatoes are susceptible to damage from a plethora of diseases and insect pests AND they require a lot of maintenance and fertilizer. However, I now have a tomato variety I can recommend – The Everglades Tomato.

The Everglades tomato (Solanum pimpinellifolium) is a different species than the traditional tomato (Solanum lycopersicum). Other names for this tomato are the wild tomato or currant tomato. The plant produces an abundance of small tomatoes (about 1/2 inch diameter) with thin skin. Unlike most tomatoes, Everglades tomatoes keep producing throughout the heat of summer. They are even tolerant of brackish water and salt winds.

Everglades tomatoes should be cared for like any other indeterminate (vining type) tomato. Like most gardeners, I like to plant tomatoes a little deeper (two inches or so) than they were planted in the tray/pot. This allows for more adventitious roots to develop from the buried portions of the stems. I also like to trellis these plants with tall stakes and twine or some other support to improve air circulation. However, I have read that Everglades tomatoes grow just fine rambling on the ground. Make sure to give them a little more space than other tomatoes regardless if you stake them or not. Fertilize and irrigate just the same as you would for other tomatoes.

harvested Everglades tomatoes
A bountiful harvest of Everglades tomatoes. Photo Credit: Connie Gladding, Master Gardener Volunteer, University of Florida/IFAS Extension – Clay County

Of course, just like any plant, Everglades tomatoes aren’t perfect. Their small size makes harvesting a little more labor intensive and their thin skin is easily torn. But I’m able to look past these faults because of their excellent flavor. I’ve also noticed Everglades tomatoes are not immune to caterpillar/moth pests. Fortunately the caterpillars only seem to feed on the leaves, because the tomatoes are so small.

Whether you’re a chef or just want a sweet snack, you should give Everglades tomatoes a try. Just search the internet for seed sources or ask a friend for a cutting.

Be Careful of Residual Herbicides: Buying and Selling Hay/Straw for Garden Mulch and Compost

Be Careful of Residual Herbicides: Buying and Selling Hay/Straw for Garden Mulch and Compost

This article was written by Kacey Aukema, University of Florida/IFAS Extension – Walton County.

I recently met with a home gardener who brought in tomato plants showing strange symptoms on the leaves. Together we puzzled over the odd leaf-curling symptoms that were affecting their tomato beds, but not other areas of the garden. Upon further investigation it was revealed that hay, used as mulch, had recently been spread around the tomatoes, but not in other areas of the garden. It quickly became apparent that the symptoms were likely related to herbicide residual on the hay that was used. The herbicide aminopyralid was the potential culprit. In this case the residual herbicide was not enough to outright kill the growing tomato plants. However, it was interfering with their growth and development and is a cautionary tale reminding us how important careful sourcing of hay used in mulch or compost can be.

What is aminopyralid and how does residual herbicide affect non-target plants through mulch, compost, etc.?

Aminopyralid is a herbicide active ingredient found in several popular pasture products such as GrazonNext™, Milestone™, Chapparral™ and similar products. This and other similar chemicals have residual activity and can be retained in plant tissues, animal manure, and soil, which makes them a very useful for controlling certain troublesome broadleaf weeds in grass pastures for an extended period of time. Unfortunately, this residual activity increases the potential for causing trouble in vegetables or other crops when hay or animal manure from aminopyralid treated pastures is mistakenly used for mulch, compost, etc. In Florida, aminopyralid containing pasture herbicides are often used as the “go to” for control of hard to control weeds like horsenettle and tropical soda apple which are potentially toxic to livestock. Tomatoes, potatoes, and eggplant are in the same genus (Solanum) as those weeds and are therefore very susceptible to this herbicide as are many other vegetable and other broadleaf crops.

Residual aminopyralid damage on a tomato plant.

Residual aminopyralid damage on a tomato plant. Photo Credit: Kacey Aukema, University of Florida/IFAS Extension – Walton County

How can I know if hay is safe to be used for mulch or compost?

Before acquiring hay to be used as mulch or to compost for vegetable beds, be sure to ask if the hay is free of herbicides with residual activity. Find out what was sprayed on the field in the last two seasons before the hay was harvested. Given that hay destined to be used as mulch or compost is usually old and spoiled, management history of a particular hay bale is likely to be hard to pin down. Do not trust hay to be used for mulch or compost in vegetable beds if prior spray management details are unknown. Also consider that well-stored hay may retain residual herbicide better and for a longer period of time than weathered hay, as the active ingredient is less subject to weathering and biological breakdown.

Those who use broadleaf herbicide products with residual activity such as those containing aminopyralid are subject to follow herbicide label guidelines. For instance, supplemental labeling of GrazonNext HL™ (including FL, AL, and GA) indicates that hay/straw from fields sprayed in the past 18 months should not be used for compost, mulch, or mushroom spawn. When in doubt refer to the label of the particular herbicide product used on hay you purchase for any restrictions and/or reach out to your local county extension agent if you have questions about a specific herbicide product. Relevant use restrictions and considerations like in this example should be conveyed between hay producer and buyer.

Perhaps you already have some hay for mulch/compost with an unclear management history, or you would like to double-check and be sure that it is safe. How could one test it to see if it was safe to use?  There is a test called a “bioassay”, conducted by growing susceptible plant seedlings like tomatoes or beans in small pots with the hay/compost/mulch in question incorporated into the potting soil. Then, the test plants can be observed to see if any herbicide symptoms develop to know whether the material is safe to use, before using the hay over a larger area or garden where there would be more risk. For more information on how to conduct a bioassay see: Herbicide Residues, in Manure, Compost, or Hay. Similar in-field bioassays are also recommended when rotating areas out of pasture and into other crops when pasture herbicides with residual activity were used. If susceptible crops like peanuts are grown in areas where such herbicides were used in the recent past they can be damaged, as in this case in an older Panhandle Agriculture Newsletter post.

When used according to label instructions, herbicides with residual activity are very useful for control of broad-leafed weeds in pasture and hay fields and may reduce the spread weeds through seed coming in on purchased hay. However, problems can emerge when hay from fields treated with these products change hands without the use restrictions and considerations being adequately explained. Therefore, caution should be taken by both producer and buyer to avoid damaging sensitive crops when hay or livestock manure are used for mulch or compost.

Correcting 3 Common Tomato Growing Mistakes

Correcting 3 Common Tomato Growing Mistakes

2022 has been a good tomato growing year for many Panhandle gardeners, myself included.  It would have been difficult to have better climatic conditions to aid a terrific tomato harvest.  After enduring a late frost just before Easter, the Panhandle then experienced two mild months in April and May that combined with nearly a month of dry weather during fruit development to deliver an excellent fruit set season with minimal disease and insect pressure.  However, despite the favorable growing conditions, I have talked with several gardeners that once again struggled to yield a good crop of fresh garden tomatoes.  Why is that?  With the Panhandle tomato home gardening season nearing its conclusion, now is a perfect time to revisit 3 of the most common mistakes that prevent an excellent harvest!

Not Starting Early – Since Memorial Day, the rain and heat have really ramped up.  These hot, wet conditions are perfect for developing tomato plant problems like fungal and bacterial diseases, not to mention the fact that tomato plants will stop setting fruit once nighttime temperatures rise above 75 F.  While spraying fungicides preventatively can certainly help decrease disease incidence, the absolute best thing a gardener can do is try to get ahead of the disease-bringing heat and humidity by starting plants early when more favorable growing conditions prevail.  So, what is early?  I try to have tomato transplants in the ground by March 15 or soon after*.  If you plan to grow plants from seed, they should be started indoors mid-January for planting outdoors in mid-March.  Most tomato varieties take between 60 and 80 days to mature after planting, so a mid-March planting date normally yields harvestable tomatoes by the middle of May, comfortably beating the June disease deadline.  *Planting early means protecting plants from occasional late frosts.  Be prepared!

Not Scouting Your Plants – Pest and disease problems are a lot easier to manage if caught early and the best way to do that is to spend time with your plants.  If you scout (just walking by and giving plants a short inspection) daily, you’ll learn what tomato plants and the beneficial insects that hang around all the time are supposed to look like an and be able to spot abnormalities and bad bugs when they occur.  While tomato diseases and pest outbreaks can certainly cause a lot of damage in a short amount of time, they don’t reach disastrous levels immediately – be vigilant and catch them early!

Not Fertilizing and Watering Correctly – It takes a lot of energy for a tomato plant to grow a nice, bushy plant AND yield an abundance of America’s favorite vegetable (or fruit, depending on who you ask).  To produce that necessary energy, gardeners must ensure plants receive adequate nutrition and water.  Here’s my general prescription.  At planting, apply a general purpose, slow-release fertilizer according to the label rate (for example, Osmocote, Harrell’s, or similar) and gypsum (a calcium supplement that helps prevent blossom end rot) at one pound per hundred square feet of garden.  Then, supplement later in the season with a quick-release general purpose fertilizer sufficient to drive growth and fruit development.  Watering is more of an ongoing concern.  For the first couple of weeks of the tomato plant’s life, you can get by with watering once a day or every other day.  As the plants get larger and the days get hotter however, watering twice daily is often needed to prevent wilting down in the heat of the day.  Allowing tomato plants to wilt, even for a little while, is an excellent way to encourage blossom end rot and a subpar harvest!

When tomato season rolls around in 2023, remember to start early, scout often, and water and fertilize correctly.  Follow those few tips and you’ll be well on your way to a great harvest in 2023!  For more information about growing tomatoes or any other horticultural or agricultural topic, contact us at the UF/IFAS Calhoun County Extension Office at 850-674-8323 or email d.leonard@ufl.edu.  Happy Gardening!

 

 

Vegetable Gardening for Beginners

Vegetable Gardening for Beginners

We all must begin somewhere in horticulture, including growing yummy vegetables of your own to enjoy and share.  This activity, or is it passion, has a long colorful history while most of the time provides an exceptional food source.  It can be a bit daunting the first time you try and maybe even the others to follow with determining what, when, where and how to plant for a future harvest.

Raised Bed Vegetable Garden with Drip and Black Plastic. Photo Credit: Stephen Greer, UF/IFAS Extension – Santa Rosa

Selecting that convenient site in full sun easy with access to check on the plants progress.  Things you will need to consider are the number of hours of direct sun the garden area will receive.  Most garden vegetables will need at least eight hours of sunlight.  Many of the leafy greens can be grown with less than eight hours with the least amount of sun at six hours.  All others will need eight or more hours of sunlight.  Water is a critically important part of successful vegetable garden.  Too little water and the plants will not survive well and produce little and too much will reduce or end plant production.  A general rule is one inch of water a week during the growing season.  This can come from rain or irrigation and likely is a combination.

Mid-Spring Production with Managed Irrigation. Photo Credit: Stephen Greer – UF/IFAS Extension – Santa Rosa

Planning your garden before doing anything else is critically important.  Take out a paper and pencil and sketch out how you want to plant your garden and what you want to grow.  Start by drawing rows and labeling each row.  Think about spacings between plants in the rows and between rows.  Do you plan to plant everything in the ground, raised beds or on a trellis?  More effective space utilization can occur by planting two- or three-foot-wide beds to plant multiple narrow rows that can be managed and harvested from both sides of the bed.  Some plants to think about growing this way are leafy greens such as lettuce, kale, onion and others.

Going vertical to grow vine type plants like beans, cucumbers, early spring peas and others can be a fun part of gardening.  This type of gardening allows for more space use over the same ground area.  Other plants can be grown in the same bed depending on the light.

Multiple Types of Raised Beds. Photo Credit: Stephen Greer, UF/IFAS Extension – Santa Rosa

If you have interest in growing with raised beds, there are a number of materials that are used to build the beds.  First do not use old railroad ties as they will leach chemicals into the soil that the vegetables can possibly take up or contaminate your soil.  I have seen all kinds of creative materials used including cedar wood, plastic boards or preformed beds, even old whiskey barrels with legs built under.  Do not forget all kinds of planting containers are available in the marketplace.  Make sure there are drain holes in the bottom to allow the water to properly move through.

This is just the beginning of vegetable gardening.  Other things to plan involve when to plant, what to plant, what is the budget, use seeds or transplants, depth of planting, watching for plant pests, harvest, storage and so on.  Enjoy your gardening adventure!