How to Grow Tomatoes? The Latest Planting Techniques and Methods Tutorial

Tomatoes are also called tomato, foreign persimmon, with the ancient names June persimmon and Xibao Sanyuan. In Peru and Mexico, they were initially called “wolf peach”. The fruit is rich in nutrients and has a distinctive flavor. It has effects such as weight loss and slimming, eliminating fatigue, increasing appetite, improving the digestion of protein, and reducing stomach bloating and food stagnation. Every 100 grams of fresh fruit contains about 94 grams of water, 2.5-3.8 grams of carbohydrates, 0.6-1.2 grams of protein, 20-30 milligrams of vitamin C, as well as carotene, mineral salts, organic acids, and more.

Requirements for Environmental Conditions

1. Temperature: The optimal temperature for tomato growth and development is 24-26°C. Under low-temperature conditions below 5°C or high-temperature conditions above 40°C, tomatoes will stop growing.  

2. Light: Tomato is a light-loving crop and is sensitive to light. With sufficient light, the plants grow robustly, with thick stems and strong resistance; insufficient light will cause excessive vegetative growth, fewer flowers, and flower and fruit drop.

3. Water: Tomato is a deep-rooted crop, afraid of both drought and waterlogging. The soil drainage must be good, the groundwater level must be low, and water must be supplied evenly.

Tomato Cultivation Techniques

1. Sowing period: Generally, spring sowing is from late January to February, and autumn sowing is from July to August; when planted in summer, the temperature is high, the plants grow weakly, many flowers drop, fruit setting is difficult, diseases are severe, and failure is very likely; winter planting is only suitable for the southern plains or low-altitude hilly areas of our city, with sowing from October to early November.     

2. Seed disinfection: Seed disinfection is an effective measure to reduce the spread of diseases. During disinfection, the seeds can be wrapped in gauze, placed in 50°C warm water (keeping the temperature constant) and soaked for 10 minutes, or placed in a 10% sodium phosphate solution and soaked for 20 minutes, then removed, rinsed clean with clean water, and then placed in 30°C warm water and soaked for 2-3 hours, then removed and dried in the shade.  

3. Seedling-stage management: This should be determined according to different climatic conditions. For example, winter planting or early spring seedling raising requires emphasis on cold protection, using small arched sheds covered with plastic film; while summer and autumn seedling raising should focus on preventing high temperatures and heavy rain, using shade nets with shed coverage. During the seedling-raising process, appropriate supplementary fertilization should be applied, generally together with watering, by drenching with decomposed urine water or 0.1%-0.2% urea water. At the same time, during the seedling stage, 600-fold chlorothalonil solution plus 1000-fold dimethoate solution should be sprayed 2-3 times.

Soil Preparation and Field Planting

The tomato planting site should be selected where the previous crop was rice or where crops such as Solanaceae plants, peanuts, soybeans, sesame, and radishes have not been grown. Before planting, apply sufficient base fertilizer. Per mu, 1000 kg of decomposed pig and cattle manure and 50-100 kg of superphosphate can be used. After mixing evenly, spread them uniformly on the bed surface and incorporate them into the soil while preparing the land. The bed specification can be    1.3-1.7 m including ditches, with two rows planted, plant spacing 40-50 cm, and double-stem pruning. In the early crop, with sufficient sunlight, appropriate close planting can be done, with 1500-2000 plants per mu. Alternatively, single-stem pruning can be used, with plant spacing 20-25 cm and about 3000 plants per mu. Winter tomatoes should be cultivated with plastic film mulching. Because topdressing is inconvenient, it is especially emphasized that sufficient base fertilizer should be applied at one time when preparing the land and making beds, mainly with slow-release organic fertilizer. Other measures are basically consistent with open-field cultivation.

Field Management

1. Fertilization: Tomato is a vegetable that grows and fruits successively. In addition to sufficient base fertilizer, adequate topdressing is also needed. Generally, topdressing begins after field planting and recovery of growth vigor (within 1 week after planting), every 8-10 days. Before fruiting, each topdressing should not exceed 5 kg of urea per mu. After the first truss of fruit expands, appropriately apply heavier fertilizer. When the second and third trusses of fruit expand, more nutrients are required, so topdressing should be heavy, appropriately increasing the amount of phosphorus and potassium fertilizer. Later topdressing should ensure the needs of the fourth, fifth, and sixth trusses of fruit for continuous enlargement. On the basis of sufficient base fertilizer, generally each mu of tomatoes requires a total topdressing amount of 50 kg urea, 70 kg potassium fertilizer, or 100 kg compound fertilizer plus 30 kg potassium fertilizer.

2. Water management: Plant with deep ditches and high beds, and open surrounding field ditches on all sides. When watering, it is better to irrigate plant by plant, and avoid flooding the whole field. If irrigation is needed, it should be done in the evening, and it is best to use quick-flowing water. After staying in the furrow for 1-2 hours, drain it dry immediately, keeping the soil moist. Because irrigation can easily cause the spread of bacterial wilt, it should be used less.

3. Hilling and weeding: Hilling is an indispensable task in growing tomatoes. Generally, hilling is needed 2-3 times, combined with fertilization and weeding. Weeds can be covered by hilling to reduce root damage caused by pulling weeds.

4. Staking and vine tying: When tomatoes grow to 30-40 cm high, stakes should be inserted, and then the vines should be tied.

5. Pruning, topping, flower thinning, and fruit thinning: Single-stem pruning keeps only one main stem, and all other side branches that grow out are removed; double-stem pruning, in addition to retaining the main stem, also retains the side branch growing from the first leaf axil below the first inflorescence, and all other side branches are removed. Because tomatoes bear many fruits, if allowed to grow freely, the fruits will be uneven in size and there will be many inferior products, so flower and fruit thinning should be carried out. Generally, each branch can retain 5-7 fruits.

Pest and Disease Control

Bacterial wilt, late blight, and other diseases are the main diseases affecting tomato production. For diseases, prevention should be the main approach, and strict preventive measures should be taken in every production link. Operations such as tying tomato branches and removing side buds can very easily cause the spread of diseases. Field operations for tomatoes should be carried out in clear weather with sunlight, and should be avoided on rainy days.    

1. Bacterial wilt: It is very likely to occur under high temperature and high humidity conditions. When it first occurs, the stems and leaves suddenly appear as if dehydrated, the leaves droop, and the whole plant wilts, but it still remains green; when the stem is cut open, the vascular bundles can be seen to have turned brown. The control methods are as follows.

① Implement crop rotation, preferably with a non-Solanaceae previous crop, and with rice in paddy-upland rotation.

② For acidic soil, appropriately increase the application of lime, which helps inhibit the reproduction of pathogens and reduce damage.

③ Strengthen fertilizer and water management, adopt high-bed and deep-ditch cultivation, and prevent flooding irrigation and continuous-flow irrigation.

④ From the early fruiting stage, strengthen field inspections. Once diseased plants are found, pull them out immediately, collect and burn them, and disinfect the diseased holes with 20% quicklime water. In the early stage of disease occurrence, use 200 ml/L agricultural streptomycin or other antibiotics to irrigate the roots, with 0.5 kg of medicinal solution per plant, once every 7-10 days, for 3-4 consecutive times.

2. Late blight: Leaves, stems, and fruits can all be infected. Infected leaves mostly develop symptoms from the leaf tip or leaf margin, appearing green, water-soaked, and gradually turning brown, until the whole leaf turns brown and rots; on infected stems, the lesions are dark brown, slightly sunken, and become rotten, and finally the upper part of the plant wilts, breaks, and dies. Infected fruits mostly begin to develop symptoms near the fruit stalk, and in severe cases the entire fruit turns brown and decays. Under humid conditions, obvious white mold-like substances are produced on the diseased parts. The control methods are as follows.

① Avoid excessive close planting without ventilation. Especially in the early crop, because there is little sunlight and high humidity, sparse planting should be adopted.

② Plant on high beds to avoid water accumulation in the field.

③ Use 58% Ridomil MZ wettable powder 600-fold solution or Previcur 600-fold solution, and copper oxychloride 800-fold solution alternately. Starting from fruit setting, insist on spraying once every 7 days, and spray for control immediately after rain turns to clear weather.

3. Cotton bollworm, tobacco budworm, tobacco cutworm, and beet armyworm: Control them at a young age, that is, during the hatching period, before the larvae have bored into the fruit.

① Alternately spray with 5% Yitaibao 2000-fold solution, 20% Mieshaoli 2000-fold solution, 2.5% Kung Fu 3000-fold solution, 10% Xingmianbao 2000-fold solution, etc. Spraying in the morning and evening gives good results.

② When damaged fruits are found (that is, insects have already bored into the fruit), they should be removed manually, and then the whole field should be sprayed.

4. American leafminer: The American leafminer is a pest that has occurred severely in recent years. It can be controlled by spraying with 20% Confidor 4000-6000-fold solution, 1.8% Abamectin 2000-fold solution, and 40% Qixingbao emulsifiable concentrate 600-800-fold solution.