Care and Fertilization Methods for Cherry Tomatoes After Fruit Set

Once your cherry tomatoes have set fruit, it is by no means all smooth sailing. If you want the fruits to be abundant and sweet, and to keep harvesting later on, three steps are indispensable: pruning, fertilizing and disease prevention! Today I will walk you through the specific steps.

Post-fruiting pruning

Pruning promptly after the fruit sets reduces wasted nutrients and helps new branches grow stronger. Remember these 3key points:
 
1. When the tomatoes are 60"main force", so it can keep flowering and fruiting afterwards.

2.Cut away the branches at the bottom that block airflow, and just keep 3healthy leaves and branches above each truss of fruit (they carry out photosynthesis to make nutrients). Remove all the remaining overly dense branches and diseased or weak branches, so they do not compete for nutrients and block airflow.

3.Be sure to prune on a sunny morning! At this time wounds heal quickly and are less likely to become infected with pathogens. Do not water right after pruning; leave the plant in a well-ventilated spot to let the wounds dry, and wait 1-2days before returning to normal care.

Fertilizing and watering
 
Cherry tomatoes consume a huge amount of nutrients during the fruiting period. If water and fertilizer are not given correctly, the fruits tend to be small, poor in flavor, or even drop off!
 
1.Focus on supplementing with high-phosphorus, high-potassium fertilizers, such as bone meal fertilizer or monopotassium phosphate (either diluted in water and poured at the roots or sprayed on the leaves), together with organic fertilizers such as decomposed sheep manure. This promotes fruit swelling and prevents premature aging of the plant, so the fruits you harvest are sweet, tart and juicy.

2.Insert a chopstick 2cminto the soil; if it comes out without soil sticking to it, it is time to water. Water thoroughly, but do not let water accumulate. During the flowering period you can hold back water slightly (but not too dry), which promotes fruit set; after the fruit sets, return to a normal watering frequency to meet the needs of fruit growth.

tips: Never water at noon during hot seasons! Watering in the morning or evening is best, to avoid the large temperature difference stressing the roots.

Pest and disease control
 
During the fruiting period the plant is weak and prone to pests and diseases. Two in particular need focused prevention:
 
1. Powdery mildew: white powder appears on the leaves. At the first sign, spray with Luna Sensation (1:1000dilution). Do not wait until it has spread to treat it.

2. Late blight: dark green water-soaked spots appear on the leaves. Use Yinfa (1:1000dilution) to control it. As soon as you find diseased leaves, pick them off immediately and bury them deep or burn them. Do not leave them in the pot to spread the infection!

In addition, while preventing disease you can also spray the leaves with a 0.3%monopotassium phosphate solution, which both supplies nutrients and boosts resistance, killing two birds with one stone.

 
Notes
 
1. Never, for the sake of a "tidy"look, prune the leaves too aggressively. You must leave enough functional leaves for photosynthesis, otherwise the fruits will not grow large!

2.Remember "apply light fertilizer often". Applying too much at once easily burns the roots, which instead causes leaf drop and fruit drop. Better to apply a little, many times, than to be greedy for more.