Transplanting, warm season crop
Cultivars
Cordon/Indeterminate
Brandywine
Moneymaker
San Marzano
Juliet
Super Fantastic
Balls Beefsteak
Bush/Determinate:
Red Cherry
Yellow Pear
Manitoba
Scotia
Carolina Gold
Viva Italia
Transplanting
Tomatoes can be transplanted a little deep to increase stability. Pinch off the lowest set of leaves and plant up to that point and the plant will produce new roots. Leaves will rot if they are buried.
Maintenance
Bush/Determinate tomatoes don’t usually need to be staked or trellised. The plant produces all its fruit in a 2 to 3 week period. These plants DO NOT need to be pruned.
Cordon/Indeterminate: Install trellises to support these tall tomato plants. Some cultivars can grow up to 4 to 6 feet. These varieties will produce fruit over several months.
- Prune off all blossoms that appear before the plant is 12 to 18 inches. After the tomato has reached that height leave the blossoms.
- Prune off the suckers or side shoots that grow above the main leaves in order to produce fewer but bigger fruit. You can leave 3 to 5 suckers to become a main stem and later produce blossoms and then fruit.
- One month before the first frost, prune all growing tips to redirect the sugars into the already formed tomatoes. (http://homeguides.sfgate.com/prune-indeterminate-tomato-plants-53652.html)
(image from squarefoot.creatingforum.com)
Harvesting
Determinate tomatoes will ripen all at once so get the canning equipment ready! Pick when the colour is even, they should feel between firm and soft. Overripe tomatoes will crack and will drop to the ground and be wasted. Indeterminate tomatoes will ripen up until frost. It takes warmth to ripen a tomato not light so if the days are getting cooler than 12 degrees Celsius, the tomatoes should be picked. Tomatoes will have a better chance of ripening off the vine when the skin has turned a mature green (a hint of colour).
