Pakistan Gardening Forum

Posted: **March 27th, 2012, 6:02 pm**

Climate
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

Note: In frost occurring areas protect your seedling from frost with the help of plastic sheet covering & transplant after no danger of frost.
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 Seedlings
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

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The seedlings should be hardened to withstand the out-door conditions with as little shock as possible. The hardening may be accomplished by lessening water supply. The process may require 7 to 10 days. Transplant four or five week old seedlings on the both sides of 36 inch wide & 4 to 6 inch high beds with a distance of 24 to 30 inch on the rows & 18 inch b/w plants. Transplant seedlings in the evening.

Watering

The first watering is given immediately after transplanting.Afterwards subsequent irrigation at an interval of 7-8 days is recommended. The irrigation interval can be decreased from 5-6 days when weather is too hot. Irrigation water should be given with care so that beds should not be submerged into water.

Fertilizing

A high-nitrogen fertilizer will help the plant start off well, but as soon as the plant is off to a good start, the best fertilizer ratio is low on nitrogen, medium phosphorous and high on potassium.

Harvesting

Harvesting tomatoes at the right time means you get fantastic flavor. Fully-ripened fruit tastes much better than fruit picked early.

Tomato Plant Types

Determinate tomatoes bear their crop all at once, while indeterminate tomatoes bear fruit over the course of a season. Indeterminate varieties tend to grow longer vines and will require more support in terms of staking or caging over the course of a season. Determinate varieties often tend to be more compact and manageable.
credit: http://organicgardening.about.com/od/ve ... aq.htm)

Recommended varieties for Pakistan
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.

Posted: **March 31st, 2012, 9:30 pm**

There is no need to prune determinate tomato plants, only indeterminate plants need pruning.The aim when growing a indeterminate tomato plant is to have a single stem, wait until 4 or 5 fruit bearing trusses have grown from stem then pinch out any additional side shoots leaving the plant top shots known as terminal shot. This should ensure that the majority of the nutrients are sent to the fruits, instead of being wasted on the unwanted growing tips.
As the plant begins to mature, the lower leaves will naturally begin to yellow and wilt. This is perfectly normal, so pull these from the plant when they appear. It will keep the plant fresh, looking good, and help ward of disease.
To get the best out of the last growth of the season, it is necessary to "top" the plant. About a month before the end of season, remove the plants terminal shoot. At this point in the season, the tomatoes currently growing will have a limited time to reach maturity, so all nutrients must be directed straight to the fruit. (Credit: http://www.videojug.com/film/how-to-prune-tomatoes )

Posted: **April 1st, 2012, 5:30 pm**

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Physiological leaf roll starts with upward cupping at the leaf margins followed by inward rolling of the leaves. Lower leaves are affected first, and in severe cases, whole plants can be affected. The exact cause of tomato leaf roll is not fully known. Current knowledge of tomato physiological leaf roll indicates tomato yield and fruit quality are not affected by this physiological disorder.
Although the leaf roll symptoms were similar to those caused by certain viruses but plants with leaf roll symptoms tested negative for viruses. Curly top virus causes upward leaf rolling but, in addition, the leaves may show chlorosis (yellowing), become thickened and crisp, and the growing points may cease to develop. Tomato mosaic virus can cause prominent leaf roll but mostly during early growth stages and is accompanied by mosaic mottle symptoms. Any type of viral disease can cause yield and fruit quality losses but plant growth, fruit yield, and fruit quality are not believed to be affected by physiological leaf roll.

Posted: **April 2nd, 2012, 11:56 pm**

Earlier Post by Khabbab

Here are some personal tips to have good yield:
1- When transplanting, always bury the whole stem, except first top set of leaves. The stem buried will grow roots as well.
2- Never allow your young plants to go on flowering. If they go to fruiting, the yield will not be good as plant still not has established its root system extensively. I always pinch the buds of my cherry tomatoes, until they get thick stems and many branches. For vine types, side shooting will do the job.
3- High potash in when flowering commences. I feed with NPK 5-15-45 liquid fertilizer. I never damaged any tomato plant with high fertilization. They are always hungry (I grow in pots).
4- Full direct sun in winter and spring. In hot months, i give 5 hours direct morning sun only.
5- There are many beefsteak varieties which yield heavy. Remember cherry ones have more resistance to adverse conditions, pests,heat and humidity.

Do share your tips if you got any!!!!

Earlier Post by Izhar

Staking or support is a must for a healthy plant.. the distance should be greater than 8-9 inches between every plant in bed.. they prefer a semi-shade kinda location or a direct afternoon sun.. you can easily multiply your favorite plant by tip cuttings, they root so easily... fruits should be checked frequently for any hole and if found, the whole fruit should be plucked immediately as the grubs inside release a pheromone which lure the other pests to lay their eggs on that plant.. in the open pollinated varieties every plant is different so don't expect same yield from every individual plant.. select the better ones and discard others.. multiply the better ones through cuttings..

Posted: **July 13th, 2012, 5:40 pm**

Tomatoes grows the best temperature . Growing the tomatoes under seven to eight hour sun light .

Posted: **July 30th, 2012, 3:47 pm**

That's really a great info about tomatoes and I will gonna share it with my mother to grow it in our home.

Posted: **November 2nd, 2012, 1:39 pm**

Hi.
I moved my tomato seedlings from pot to ground as the pot was small....but they have started to wilt...they are green but wilted... what should i do?

Posted: **January 10th, 2013, 11:17 pm**

helpful forum to grow tomatos

Posted: **April 23rd, 2013, 11:26 am**

Transplanting is done after 4-5 weeks.I had a problem.Grown some plants and transplanted some plants outside the house.The Plants are good and about 1 1/2 month old.Can i shift the outside plants? If i pull them completely with their Roots,will they survive?

Posted: **May 2nd, 2013, 11:59 am**

Still waiting for answer....

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