Growing juicy tomatoes is every gardener’s dream. But what does it take to produce the perfect tomato? Wanting to know how to cultivate their tomatoes to be ideal, a gardener took to social media and advice platform Reddit to see what fellow Redditors do in the pursuit of tasty tomatoes.
In their Reddit post they wrote: “Does anyone have any game-changing tomato growing tips? I am relatively new and would love some advice from the tomato people of Reddit .”
Bury Most of the Stem When Planting:
One person advised that when you plant tomatoes, sink them deep. Bury most of the stem. Only leave one to two sets of leaves above ground, and trim off leaves that would be buried. “This gives the root system a jump start, because roots will grow out of the buried stem,” they said.
Don’t Use Cages:
Another individual advised to not use cages. Instead, put up poles on the ends of your row or box. Then run a pole across those. After that, drop twine from the horizontal poles to hold up your vines.
Use Eggshells:
“They love eggshells… the calcium,” one Reddit user suggested of planting tomatoes. “Just crunch some up around the soil. They hate having their roots sit in water, so make sure they are well-watered in soil that drains (not clay).
“They also sprout roots from the stem if buried, so bury up to the first set of leaves whenever you transplant to encourage deeper roots.”
Use Coffee Grounds:
Two people suggested using coffee grounds. “Save your coffee grounds, and add them around the base of your plant occasionally,” someone said. Another added: “Coffee grounds around the base is good for tomatoes.”
Have a Plan and Commit:
Another Reddit user gave quite some advice when they wrote: “My advice would be have a plan for how you want to grow them and commit to that. Some gardeners grow them horizontal (to encourage a stronger root system), others as a bush (to protect the plant from sunburn), and others recommend pruning to single stem (to concentrate the sugars, inhibit blight, and fit to a small garden space).
“This is the method I’m trying this year and I like so far that it gives me the opportunity to prune the suckers from the plant and grow these as backups if the original plant fails. I haven’t found any consistent advice on watering other than ‘water consistently.’
“I can tell you mine continued to drop blossoms until I began watering daily. Previously I had been going on advice to wait until the top of the plant looked mildly stressed/wilted and then to water.
“For context my plants are in mulched beds planted directly in the ground. They did not set fruit until I fertilized. Be prepared to give your plants daily attention and be responsive/make adjustments based upon what the plant is telling you.”
