according to a random survey I found
online Tomatoes are the most popular
vegetable grown in the garden but a lot
of times you end up with huge plants
lots of leaves and not a lot of tomatoes
in this video I'm gonna show you how to
plant prune steak water and fertilize as
well as go over some common pests and
diseases that really are out to get your
tomato plants plus if you stick around
to the end I've got a bonus tip for you
something that is going to increase the
fruit on your plants increase the
quality of fruit increase the disease
resistance of the plant and actually
raise the nutrient value of the fruit
but only if you stick around to the end
that's all coming up
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what's going on guys welcome back to
another video i am brian and if this is
your first time here and you are looking
to learn how to grow your own organic
fruits and vegetables easily and
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my videos let's get right to the first
topic and that is planting out our
transplants now i already did a video on
planting tomatoes from seed i'll link
that down below so once we have our
seedlings up and hardened off if they
were grown outdoors then what's next to
get them off to a really great start the
first thing you have to figure out is
where you're going to plant them number
one they need a location that is in full
Sun the more the better we're shooting
for eight hours per day now they don't
have to be consecutive eight hours mine
get a break in the middle of the day and
the Sun comes back in the afternoon the
soil should be well-drained slightly
acidic but they're not really
temperamental about that and amended
with lots of organic material so once
you've got the place picked out the next
step is to plant the tomato and this is
one of the transplants that I have that
I grew from seed now one thing about
tomatoes and they're one of the only
vegetables you can get away with this is
to plant them deep really deep as deep
as you possibly can so once they're at
this size and the reason for that is if
you take a look at this tomato you'll
see little hairs all the way up and down
the stem each one of those hairs is just
waiting to come in contact with the soil
and when it does it's going to put down
roots and so the more of the stem that
we can have underground the more of a
root system we're going to get on the
tomato plant which in turn is going to
make a better healthier plant with more
fruit so what we would do is take off
all the bottom leaves
as far up as we can I'm just gonna leave
[Music]
maybe that much could probably do more
than that but that's going to give us an
extra six inches of root system now
early on I had seedlings that were a lot
smaller than this but I had to leave on
my trip and so I wanted to get them in
the ground before I left so I buried
them or I planted them in trenches so
that as the plant grew I would be able
to fill in to cover up more of the stem
so I just kind of did it backwards but I
ended up with the same results a larger
root system planted deeply now no matter
what time or when you plant them you
want to use rock phosphate rock
phosphate is gonna help create a better
root system almost like magic this stuff
works really well so by planting deep
you you do not mix this into the soil
you actually want to take a handful of
it in the bottom of the hole and set the
plant roots on all right on top of it so
that as soon as the plants start to grow
their roots they get in contact with
that rock phosphate pull it into their
system and really start to take off the
next thing we want to talk about is
spacing now if you're not going to be
pruning your plants they need a good two
to three feet of space between them if
you're going to be pruning your plants
into Corden's like I do they need about
12 to 18 inches of spacing so you can
get away with a lot more plants in a
smaller space by doing the cordon method
which I'm going to show you because
that's how I grow all of mine that
brings us to pruning and in order to
understand why we prune we need to
understand how a tomato grows naturally
or how it wants to grow anyway tomatoes
are not plants like peppers that pretty
much are you know established when
they're established they're tall upright
plant might need staking if it's if
there's a lot of fruit hanging from it
or if it's windy but for the most part
it kind of does well on its own
standing up keeping the fruit off the
ground that is the exact opposite of a
tomato a tomatoes main goal is to spread
its seeds as
far out as it can and so what it does
and that kind of goes back to the
routing along the stem because what it
does is it just kind of flops and grows
along the ground like a vine and every
time that the stem touches the ground
it's going to put down roots so it can
grow further and if it's left to grow
you know naturally and it's maybe an
indeterminate type you can get a
ten-foot-wide plant and that's maybe now
is a good time to talk about
indeterminate versus determinate a
determinate plant is actually like a
Roma where it is genetically set to grow
to a specific size produce all of its
fruit and then it's done an
indeterminate plant and if you're
growing most Tomatoes especially
heirlooms they're gonna be indeterminate
that means it continues to grow and grow
and grow until the cold weather comes
and kills it so if you have a long
growing season like I do that plant
could grow and produce fruit well into
fall and maybe through the winter
depending on how warm your winters are
and so obviously they're gonna need a
lot more support now an indeterminate
tomato has lateral branches they grow
out from the side that will produce
fruit but not as much as the the main
stem
so we prune those off typically at least
that's how I do it
beefsteak tomatoes on the other hand are
kind of a mix between the two they keep
growing like an indeterminate but their
side shoots are shorter and they
generally have a good amount of flowers
on them so you really only want to prune
a beefsteak tomato just to keep it in
check
now if you live in a wet summer climate
pruning is essential because the more
leaves that are around that plant the
more insulated it is and the more chance
for diseases to start because there's
less airflow so you want to keep it very
well prune so how do we do that what do
we take off what do we leave
it's actually pretty easy if you take a
look at this plant right here you can
see the main stem
go straight
from the ground all the way up to the
top and then as the leaves come out it
creates these little intersections or
armpits where you will start to see
growth now if those little side shoots
are left unchecked they're going to
continue to grow and grow and take
energy from the rest of the plant where
you really want the energy to go into
fruit production not leaves and so what
you want to do is as soon as you see
them pinch them out now the flowers are
going to start to grow in a different
spot they are not going to grow from the
armpits so you don't have to worry about
possibly taking off flowers when you're
pinching out the armpits the flowers
actually grow on their own stem directly
off of the main stem and they start to
produce little buds immediately so
you'll see the flowers versus the leaves
they look different now while we're
talking about pruning and while we're
talking about flowers this is optional
but I like to give my plant the best
start possible and really have it focus
on its roots and so that first bunch of
flowers that come out I pinch those off
as well just again to keep that energy
going into the roots rather than to
already start making fruit the rest of
the flowers then I will leave and it's
already going to have a good root system
to support those now no matter what type
of tomato you're growing indeterminate
determine or beefsteak they are going to
need to be supported
now the determinants they only grow
maybe 3 4 feet tall and so they're not
going to need as much support as one
that might grow 10 feet tall in fact the
basic tomato cages that you can get at
the garden center are gonna be okay for
a determinate plant now for an
indeterminate plant like I said one that
can grow 10 feet or more depending on
the length of your growing season it's
gonna need a good amount of support now
they sell towers that you can get that
are actually kind of like a tomato cage
but really tall you can also use you
know sticks or poles bamboo poles work
well you can even if you have a strong
enough pole you can grow that main stem
right up one cane or one pole and just
tie it on as it grows
now that's okay if you're growing a few
tomatoes but I'm growing about 40 and so
I needed to come up with a way that
wasn't going to be super expensive that
could support a lot of tomatoes and so
several years ago I came up with an
overhead wooden structure with twine
coming down to each plant so I have a
structure here that I built and it's
basically two by three posts supporting
an arbor like top that is going to use
that's going to serve as a place to tie
the twine on that these are going to
grow up from the ground up to the top
it's going to be growing along its own
twine string whatever you have that's
strong enough that's gonna you know work
throughout the season but to anchor that
to the top obviously that's easy you tie
it to the bottom if you plant the
tomatoes and do the the string at the
same time you can actually plant the
strip tomato on top of the string and
that will anchor that string into the
ground now I didn't do that my plants
weren't big enough at the time so I had
to make a secondary system and so
basically what I use our landscape
staples and actually I don't use
landscape staples because I found a way
to make my own that is actually half the
price and all you have to do is find a
roll of wire at Home Depot that is the
same thickness as the landscape staple
cut an eight to 12 inch piece fold it in
half and straighten it out I use those
for my drip lines also and like I said
they're half the price of the landscape
staple you're gonna actually push that
landscape staple into the ground on
either side of the stem at an angle and
you're gonna leave a little loop there
to anchor the twine coming down from
above tie the twine on and then push
that wire all the way down into the soil
you're going to twist that twine a
couple of loops around the main stem
just to kind of strengthen it and then
take it right up to whatever support
you're using at the top cut that to
length and then tie it off then complete
this process till you have them all
finished and you can support a lot of
tomatoes this way
for about twenty dollars now up until
this year
I didn't use anything to actually tie
the stems on to the string I actually
just twisted the stem as it grew around
the twine which is okay but you have to
be really careful because inevitably
every year two or three of them would
get snapped off accidentally and that
pretty much stunts or ruins your plant
and so my wife was actually searching
online and she found these little guys
on Amazon they're just rings that have
little teeth in the bend they grab onto
the twine and when they're then they
snap closed around the the stem allowing
for the room to grow and holding them
securely in place plus they're reusable
so so far I'm really happy with them and
hopefully throughout the season they're
gonna do what I need them to do and I'll
let you know on that because they were
really inexpensive for like 200 now that
brings us to number four which is
watering
now tomatoes like a constantly evenly
moist soil not waterlogged but evenly
moist you also want a water tomatoes
from the ground again tomato leaves are
really weak when it comes to pests and
disease and so any water that gets on
the leaves and stays there is going to
be a breeding ground for disease and so
if you can use a drip system which I now
use that's the best way to do it it
keeps it keeps the ground evenly moist
keeps the water off the leaves and
that's exactly what you need if your
tomato plant goes from desert dry to
flood cracking of the fruit is most
likely going to happen a tomato fruit
expands and grows by pulling water in
from the rest of the plant if they've
gone without water for a while the fruit
might have become a bit dehydrated and
it's gonna suck in as much water as it
can at the next watering time more than
its skin can take and it's kind of like
if you gain a lot of weight really fast
or if you're an adolescent and you grow
two inches really quickly you're gonna
get stretch marks so it's pretty much
the same thing except on tomatoes those
stretch marks crack open and it doesn't
mean the the tomato is inedible but you
do want to remove
all those cracks before eating because
they can Harbor you know mold and that
type of thing so if you don't have a
drip system you want to water every few
days very deeply to encourage the roots
to go down deep where they can get a
consistent supply of water and also
mulch your plants that will help them
stay moist and it will keep any kind of
water if you get rain in the summer
which we don't but most likely you do
it's gonna splash back on the plant and
pathogens are living in your soil and if
they splash from the ground to the
leaves it's gonna start that disease
process so if you mulch it it keeps the
moisture in and it keeps the soil
pathogens covered up number five is
fertilizing now tomatoes need a lot of
nitrogen to grow in the beginning to
start that plant process
I don't really fertilize with nitrogen
on my tomatoes I find that any kind of
organic compost I put into the soil at
planting time is going to be more than
enough nitrogen to get the plant off to
a healthy start the rock phosphate is a
good source of phosphate for the roots
and the blooms and the fruit and so
that's gonna that's gonna start it off
well after about the first month I use a
tomato food most tomato fertilizers have
a high middle number which is the
phosphorus for roots flowers and fruit
and they also have minerals like calcium
which is very important to prevent
blossom and rot which brings us to
disease have you ever had tomatoes
starting to mature and then all of a
sudden you notice the bottoms of the
fruit look like this
that's blossom end rot and it's caused
by a couple of things the first thing
which is actually more rare is a lack of
calcium in the soil usually what the
problem is is the inability of the plant
to get the calcium from the soil up into
the plant and that's typically caused by
a lack of water or inconsistent watering
so a basic tomato fertilizer will make
sure that the calcium is in the ground
and consistent watering will make
that the calcium can get from the ground
into the plant on the other hand blight
is caused because of too much moisture
on the leaves which we already talked
about keep the leaves dry and you
shouldn't have a problem now blight and
blossom in rot are pretty much
irreversible once you have them and so
you need to prevent those by using the
steps we've talked about now there's two
more diseases that they can be prevented
but they can also be taken care of
once the plant has them and that is rust
and mildew
now rust and mildew start the same way
with wet leaves and usually the leaves
that are going to be affected first are
the lower leaves on the plant it's
really easy to take care of because all
you have to do is just pinch those
leaves off
there's plenty more green growth on top
to help make food for the plant in fact
by mid mid-june in my garden most of the
tomato plants have the bottom two feet
of leaves missing that's just how it
works it's not a big deal I think it's
it looks totally fine
and it doesn't really matter about the
looks as long as you have a healthy
plant that's gonna give you what you
want in the end now if a majority of the
plant is affected and it's not just the
bottom few leaves then you're gonna need
to take some further action and for me
that is neem oil it's organic and it's
one of the two sprays that I use in the
garden and that brings us to the next
spray that I use which also brings us to
the next point which is pests
specifically tomato hornworms I'm sure
you've all seen these scary-looking
things they can decimate an entire plant
in a day or two so you really have to be
vigilant the first signs you will see
are stripped leaves and black tiny
droppings the first step to getting rid
of them is pretty easy you just go out
and pick them off there's rarely a horde
of tomato worms it's usually a few fat
greedy ones the only problem with
picking them off is they're really hard
to find they blend in really well with
the tomato leaves themselves however
there's a really cool piece of
for that at night they are sitting ducks
if you have a blacklight flashlight easy
if birds are a problem there's a couple
things you can try
typically the bird is not there because
they like the taste of tomatoes they're
there to get the water out of the
tomatoes so if you can put a birdbath or
a pond or a fountain nearby
that's generally gonna take them away
from the tomatoes if that doesn't work
you can use bird netting to drape over
the plant once the fruits are starting
to ripen my biggest pest problem has
been rats they are the bane of my
vegetable garden existence I've tried
everything last year was the first year
that I was able to fend them off
successfully and that is basically
because I had traps out at the base of
all my plants
well not each plant but each bed had a
couple of traps ready and set all the
time and I caught a lot and I don't know
if I had any tomatoes taken last year I
might have had one and that's when we
were gone on vacation and I just
couldn't change the traps out so the
traps worked really well for me one
thing you don't want to use is poison
for a lot of reasons but basically you
know rats are at the bottom of the food
chain and there's a lot of things that
eat rats and they will become sick and
die just by eating that poison rat
another thing about rats is you don't
know when they're gonna die and if they
make their way you know into your garage
or somewhere you can't get to them
you're gonna have a smelly problem for
quite a while until you are able to find
them
one thing about poisons though
especially if you have pets our pets can
find those rats without us even knowing
and then it's too late
so stay away from the poisons there's
plenty of other options to use so now
it's time for the bonus but in order to
get that bonus you need to subscribe and
hit the bell icon just kidding it
doesn't work that way unfortunately but
subscribe anyway you probably have one
thing in your medicine cabinet right now
that is going to do for
amazing things for your tomato plants
check this out this one thing will help
your plants become more
disease-resistant produce more fruit
make the fruit taste better and actually
increase the nutrient content in the
fruit that it produces that one
ingredient is aspirin when tomatoes are
under attack from pests and disease they
produce a hormone that is similar to the
salicylic acid in aspirin
this hormone triggers the plants immune
system to go into high gear so by
spraying a solution of 600 milligrams of
uncoded aspirin to one gallon of water
you're tricking the plant into thinking
it's under attack which makes its immune
system kick into high gear before
there's any disease present this makes
it much more difficult for disease to
take hold in the first place so that's
it 8 tips to produce a huge bumper crop
of tomatoes for you this year
if you have any tips you'd like to share
or any questions you'd like to ask leave
them in the comments below and remember
subscribe hit the bell icon and give us
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I will see you guys on the next video