Tomatoes grow best under moderate temperatures. Fruit setting is poor when average temperatures exceed 32°C or fall below 10°C. Tomatoes cannot withstand frost. Frost can damage or destroy your tomato plants. Humidity is an important factor. Humidity levels higher than 60% will increase disease problems.
Planting Site
Tomatoes like a nice warm area in full sun, and need at more than 6 hours of sunlight a day, or they get spindly and produce little mature fruit. Optimum soil pH for tomato is 6.0 to 7.0
Season
Due to varying climatic conditions, there is a wide range of sowing seasons for tomato in Pakistan.
Early crop
Sowing: July-August
Transplant: after four or five weeks
First harvest: 60-70 days after transplant
Fall sowing
Sowing: September
Transplant: after four or five weeks
First harvest: 60-70 days after transplant
Note: This season is not for those areas where frost occurs in December.
Summer crop
Sowing: December, January
Transplant: after five or six weeks
First harvest: 50-60 days after transplant
Keeping in mind the climate for tomatoes, you can plan your own season for example in Karachi tomatoes can be sown in October, November & Feb, March which will give you fruit in those months when there is shortage of tomatoes. The best planning for home gardeners in Karachi is to start from July & prepare some seedlings of tomatoes each month till March, which will give you a long & continuous supply of tomatoes.
Growing media for seedlings is a mix of farm yard manure, soil and sand with the ratio of 1:1:1. Cover your seeds with transparent polythene sheet till germination. The seeds will germinate in 7-14 days.
Transplanting
credit: http://organicgardening.about.com/od/ve ... aq.htm)
Indeterminate varieties are best for containers.
Moneymaker (Container Variety)
Indeterminate, Maturity 80 days, Red round-shaped. Does well under humid conditions
Rio Grande (Fall sowing variety)
Maturity 75 days, Determinate, Disease Resistant
Roma VF (Early season & spring sowing variety)
Maturity 75 days, determinate, Plant height 4 feet, Red Plum shaped
Tropic (Early season & spring sowing variety)
80 days, Indeterminate, Highly recommended for those areas that are hot and humid and prone to disease.