What Can Happen to Tomatoes - Pitfalls in Growing Them

Tomatoes (lat. Solanum lycopersicum) are plants from the nightshade family (lat. Solanaceae). Their cultivation is very widespread even in our climatic conditions. Small-scale growers can easily grow their own tomatoes from seeds without major problems.

A great advantage of tomatoes is that almost everyone can get at least a few tomato plants, because many tomato varieties can be grown even in pots on the balcony, some even in window boxes.

Growing your own tomatoes is worthwhile even nowadays, when they are readily available in shops for just a few pounds. The taste of home-grown tomatoes is always better than shop-bought ones.

To ensure you actually get your own tomatoes, read the following article, where you'll learn everything that can happen to tomatoes during the growing season and what measures to take to help your tomatoes grow well and fruit for as long as possible.

Choose a suitable variety

The foundation of successful cultivation is choosing the right variety. When selecting seeds or seedlings, always consider the climatic conditions in which you'll be growing tomatoes and don't forget about your space limitations.

Growers with a greenhouse or large garden will choose different varieties than those who want to grow at least a few tomatoes on a flat balcony.

When choosing suitable varieties, consider whether you want to grow the increasingly popular small-fruited cherry tomatoes or classic tomatoes. One thing that can happen to you when growing tomatoes is that you expect a harvest of beautiful large tomatoes and small yellow tomatoes resembling little pears start to ripen.

This surprise is more common when planting bought or gifted plants, where unintentional confusion (incorrect labelling) occurred during propagation.

When growing from seeds, you can avoid such unwanted surprises by carefully studying the label.

Bush tomatoes are smaller in growth and form a bush, which also makes them suitable for growing in containers on the balcony. Cordon tomatoes grow more in height and are more suitable for growing in beds and greenhouses.

When growing them, don't forget to tie them to supports so that the stems don't break under the weight of the tomato crop.

You can also grow bush tomatoes on window sills.

Create Favorable Conditions for Your Plants

Another factor that growers can easily influence when growing tomatoes is providing suitable growing conditions. The foundation of success is a sunny, well-ventilated, drier location and well-fertilized soil.

You can work fertilizer into the soil just before planting, but it must not be in direct contact with the roots, as this could burn them. Freshly chopped grass (mulch) can also be used as fertilizer, which simultaneously protects the plant roots from drying out.

Plant tomatoes in beds or move them to outdoor locations only when there is no risk of frost. In beds, you can initially protect them from cold with an improvised plastic shelter or non-woven fabric.

However, don't forget to ventilate the shelters well during the day! Once the weather permits, you can remove the shelter and let the tomatoes grow freely.

Ensure Adequate Air Circulation for Your Tomatoes

The spacing of tomato seedlings is also related to ensuring good air circulation - lack of space between individual plants leads to poor ventilation and the development of fungal diseases, to which tomatoes are very sensitive.

For overly vigorous tomato plants, remove the densely growing lower leaves that prevent free air circulation. For indeterminate tomatoes, it's necessary to pinch out not only excess lower leaves but also side shoots during the season.

Pinch out shoots by hand - using a knife could cause disease transmission between individual plants. Young side shoots about 5-10 cm in size are sufficiently fragile that they can be easily pinched out without tools.

Tie indeterminate tomatoes to supports so the stems don't break under the weight of the fruit.

Reasons for Leaf Curling and Fruit Sunscald in Tomatoes

During the growing season, you may notice leaf curling on tomatoes. If the leaves are completely healthy, not attacked by any pests, and it's mainly the older lower leaves curling, there's no reason to panic.

Leaves most commonly curl on plants that have undergone significant removal of green mass (pinching out many side shoots or topping).

A drastic intervention can disrupt the nutrient supply to the leaves and consequently lead to leaf curling. Another reason for leaf curling, especially in the upper part of plants, is lack of water or excess sunlight.

By curling its leaves, the plant protects itself from excessive transpiration. After thorough watering, tomato leaves usually unfurl again. Tomatoes benefit from thorough watering performed at regular intervals.

However, the intervals must not be too long, because after thorough watering following a longer dry period, tomato fruits tend to crack.

Excess sun can damage ripening fruits. Tomatoes love sunny and warm locations, but excess sunlight can burn ripening fruits that are not protected by leaves.

Sunburned fruits are very easy to recognize because they lose their color and stop growing. The taste of the tomatoes also changes significantly. Sunburned tomatoes cannot be stored.

If the weather forecast predicts a heatwave and your tomatoes are in full sun, it's worth shading unprotected fruits at least during midday.

Diseases and Pests

Tomato plants are quite sensitive to attacks by various molds. For this reason, you have aerated the lower leaves and have not planted individual plants too close together.

Growing plants under a shelter or by a south-facing wall, where plants are protected from rain, can also help. Of course, watering only at the roots is essential, not spraying on the leaves!!!

Unfortunately, even the best prevention usually doesn't help and chemical treatment is necessary.

Tomato plants are attacked by potato blight in wetter years. The blight gradually attacks leaves, fruits and finally also plant stems. Without timely intervention with chemical spray, plants will soon die.

Septoria leaf spot of tomatoes, which is equally treacherous to plants, is often confused with blight. Septoria leaf spot does not attack fruits, so there is at least a minimal chance that you will harvest at least a few fruits before the plant dies completely.

Both these diseases can be effectively controlled by preventive spraying with products Korzár, Ridomil Gold MZ or Kuprikol which you can also buy in our e-shop.

Tomato plants are also often attacked by grey mold, which manifests as rapidly spreading grey spots on leaves, stems and fruits. A disease called tomato powdery mildew has similar symptoms.

This disease manifests as whitish rapidly spreading powdery spots that eventually cover almost the entire surface of leaves, petioles and stems. Affected plants turn yellow and gradually wither and die.

Treatment must begin as soon as the first signs of infection are noticed. Sulfur-based products are used against powdery mildew on tomatoes.

In addition to fungal diseases, tomato plants can also be attacked by pests, most commonly aphids and spider mites. Spray affected plants with a product designed to kill sucking and chewing insects. You will find many suitable products in our range.

Growing tip: Choose tomato varieties resistant to molds in our e-shop and rid yourself of worries!

Wishing you great success in growing tomatoes - Lenka Z.