Tomatoes are a staple in the home vegetable garden, prized for their versatility and flavor. However, achieving a bountiful yield of tomatoes can be a challenge for even the most experienced gardener.
Basics like soil health, pest control and regular watering all play a role in tomato yields – in fact, they’re essential ingredients when starting a vegetable garden. But if you want to take your crop to the next level, our proven tomato growing tips will help you become a pro. As well as increasing yields, many of these methods will help your tomato plants grow faster.
Whether you’re a novice gardener or a seasoned pro, these strategies will help you get the most out of your tomato plants, ensuring a summer filled with delicious homegrown tomatoes.
1. Choose the highest yielding varieties
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Choose a tomato variety known for its yield. High yielding tomatoes are bred to produce lots of fruit, ideal for maximizing your home harvest.
However, if you can combine these traits with strong disease resistance, you have a winner. Disease-resistant varieties will minimize the risk of crop failure due to common tomato diseases.
Our high-yielding, disease-resistant tomato varieties will give you the best chance of a bountiful, healthy harvest – some of them are also among the easiest to grow.
- Celebrity A determinate hybrid tomato variety with medium to large fruit and reliable high yields.
- better boy An indeterminate hybrid known for its large, flavorful fruit and very high yield.
- Juliet A cherry tomato variety that produces small, sweet fruit.
- Big beef An indeterminate hybrid that produces high yields of large cherry tomatoes.
- Mountain Magic High yield, small, round, sweet fruit.
- The Iron Lady A hybrid tomato known for its high yield, robust, disease resistant, small to medium sized fruit.
Shop for the supplies needed to grow tomatoes
From the best seeds to planting tools and seed starting kits, Garden Guide Shop has everything you need to start growing your own delicious tomatoes.
2. Use smarter support
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Supporting tomato plants with stakes or trellises is key to improving yields – as well as maximising the use of space. Keeping plants upright and off the ground ensures better light distribution to promote growth and improves air circulation around the plant, reducing the risk of fungal diseases such as leaf blight and powdery mildew. It also makes it easier to train the plant and remove excess growth.
Many vegetable trellis ideas that will allow you to train your tomato plants. However, Florida Weaving Method is an easy, affordable aid that can increase crop yields.
This method involves using stakes and wire to support the tomato plants as they grow. Simply drive the stakes firmly into the ground at the beginning of each row and between every two or three plants. Tie the wire to the first stake and weave it in and out of the tomato plants, wrapping it around each stake as you go. As the plants grow, add layers of wire every 6-8 inches (15-20cm), weaving the plants through, like weaving a basket.
This creates a strong support structure that can handle heavy branches and creates a gentle curve in the vine, allowing for more fruit production. It also makes it easier to access for monitoring and harvesting fruit.
3. Try planting in furrows
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Growing tomatoes in trenches is a method of growing seedlings horizontally instead of vertically. It may sound strange, but it can significantly improve yields by promoting stronger root systems and healthier plants.
By planting the seedlings horizontally, more of the stem is buried, allowing the plant to develop roots along its entire length. This creates a wider, healthier root system that can absorb more nutrients and water from the soil. The roots also provide better anchorage for the plant, reducing the risk of the plant being uprooted by wind or heavy fruit loads.
This method not only increases yield but also prolongs the growth period of the plant, producing more fruit per plant.
To dig a trench for planting tomatoes, choose a seedling with a good root system. Dig a shallow trench about 4-6 inches (10-15cm) deep and long enough to accommodate the seedling’s stem. Remove the bottom leaves from the seedling and lay it horizontally in the trench, with the top cluster of leaves above the soil line. Fill the trench with soil, covering the stem and leaving the top cluster of leaves exposed. Water the newly planted seedling thoroughly to help it establish.
Stake at planting time to minimize the risk of damage.
4. Touch to pollinate
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Tomatoes are self-pollinating plants, meaning that their flowers have both male and female parts. They rely on wind and pollinating insects to transfer pollen from the stamens to the carpels. Where air movement and insect numbers are low, hand pollination for tomatoes is the secret to increasing crop yields.
Methods include using cotton swabs to manually transfer pollen, shaking the plant to distribute the pollen, and even vines vined with an electric toothbrush. However, tapping the plant is a quick and effective method.
Begin tapping as soon as the flowers begin to open, once or twice a day. Gently tap the main stem of the plant, starting from the bottom and working your way up.
Midday is the best time for pollination, especially on warm, sunny days with low humidity.
Pulling tomatoes takes just a few minutes of your day and will result in a bountiful and healthier harvest.
5. Trim excess growth
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Pruning and deadheading tomato plants are important techniques that can significantly increase crop yields by focusing the plant’s energy on producing fruit instead of producing too many leaves.
By removing unwanted leaves, more sunlight can also reach the remaining leaves and fruit, promoting photosynthesis and healthier growth. With more energy focused on the existing fruit, tomatoes can grow larger and the plant can produce a larger harvest.
Pruning also helps fruit ripen more evenly and improves air circulation to reduce the risk of fungal diseases.
As the plant grows, remove low leaves close to the ground to prevent soil-borne diseases from splashing on them. Regularly pinch off shoots that grow between the main stem and the foliage. Use your fingers to remove shoots when they are about 2-4 inches (5-10cm) long.
At the end of the growing season, you can cut the top of the plant to stop the upward growth. This forces the plant to focus on ripening the existing fruit.
Indeterminate varieties benefit most from regular pruning and topping because they continually produce new growth and fruit. Pruning helps control their size and encourages regular fruiting.
Determinant varieties typically have a fixed growth and fruiting period. Pruning these plants should be kept to a minimum, focusing on removing lower leaves and any buds below the first flower cluster to promote healthy structure.
6. Companion plants make good neighbors
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Intercropping tomatoes is one of the most beneficial things you can do to promote growth and improve crop yields.
This method involves strategically placing tomatoes alongside plants that have beneficial properties. This could be to repel pests, attract pollinators, improve flavor, add nutrients to the soil, or help plants retain moisture. Valuable companion plants for tomatoes include:
- Marigold prevent nematodes from attacking tomato plants, while their odor can distract other insects, such as whiteflies.
- Basil deters aphids and tomato hornworms. It is also believed to improve the vigor of tomatoes as well as their flavor.
- musk And oregano Attract pollinators, promote fruit production.
- Kinds of beanBeans, for example, fix nitrogen in the soil, enhancing the nutrient availability to tomatoes.
- Borage attract pollinators and can return nutrients to the soil, improving overall soil fertility.
- Chives, onionAnd garlic are effective in repelling insects.
- Leafy green vegetables For example, lettuce can provide ground cover, reduce soil temperature and retain moisture, which is beneficial to tomato root health.
Along with good companion plants, there are also bad neighbor plants:
- Cabbagesuch as broccoli And cabbage compete for nutrients and inhibit growth.
- Corn attract tomato fruit worms.
- Sweet cabbage And dill will all hinder the growth of tomatoes.
- The potatoes Should not be planted with tomatoes because they are also susceptible to similar diseases.
7. Fertilize with the right nutrients
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Tomatoes are heavy feeders and need regular fertilization. Fertilize with the right nutritional balance to provide a bountiful harvest.
There are many great tomato fertilizers on the market; however, homemade tomato fertilizer can be just as effective and is a truly organic solution.
The main nutrients needed by all plants are nitrogen, for green leaf growth; phosphorus, for healthy root growth; and potassium for fruiting. However, tomatoes also need calcium, for healthy fruiting; magnesium and iron, for chlorophyll production; and other trace elements.
However, too much of a good thing can cause problems. For example, too much nitrogen can result in green plants with no fruit, too much phosphorus will stunt plants, and too much potassium can make tomatoes taste sour.
Use a nitrogen-rich fertilizer early in the growing season, then switch to a potassium- and phosphorus-rich fertilizer before flowering.
Fertilize tomato plants immediately upon planting and then every few weeks until the plants are established.
