Tomato Talk – Let’s Grow This!

Tomato History:

Tomatoes wild relatives originated in South America, most likely in the Andes Mountains, but the fruit was not cultivated by the Andean people. Instead, it traveled over 2,000 miles north of its center of origin to Central America where the pre-Mayan people grew and domesticated the plants, naming them xitomatl. Hernán Cortés and his explorers are credited with finding the tomato in an Aztec market around 1520 and transporting the seed to Spain and the rest of Europe.

Bringing Tomatoes to the New World

Colonialists brought many plants from Europe to the New World, and the tomato was one of them. Thomas Jefferson raised them as ornamental plants at Monticello in 1781, but it wasn’t until the 1800s that people in North America began to relish tomatoes as food. In 1880, James Vick’s Flower and Vegetable Catalog of Rochester, New York listed six types of tomato seeds. In that same decade, Alexander Livingston of Livingston Seed Co. introduced ‘Golden Queen’, described in W. Atlee Burpee’s 1888 Farm Annual catalog as “handsome yellow slices making a beautiful contrast in a dish with the red tomatoes.” Burpee listed twenty-one other tomato varieties for sale that year as well. A select few tomatoes from that era, including ‘Acme’, ‘Paragon’, and the revered ‘Brandywine’, can still be grown today.

Heirloom Tomatoes…

A select few tomatoes from that era, including ‘Acme’, ‘Paragon’, and the revered ‘Brandywine’, can still be grown today. These and thousands of other tomatoes are known as heirloom tomatoes, loosely defined as varieties that have been in circulation for more than 50 years. Open-pollinated tomatoes, which include heirlooms and all other varieties that grow true from seed, remain popular with home gardeners. Saving and sharing the seed of the many unique tomato varieties is a labor of love for many gardeners who help to maintain the genetic diversity of the species.

Modern Breeding…

The modern age of the tomato was ushered in by Dr. Oved Shifriss, who bred ‘Big Boy’, one of the first F1 hybrids. Offered by W. Atlee Burpee in 1949, this meaty 1 lb. tomato is still sold today. Thousands of hybrids succeeded it, offering gardeners desirable traits such as earliness, disease resistance or tolerance, and compact habits. These traits make it easier for gardeners and farmers to successfully grow tomatoes in smaller spaces or without using pesticides.

Growth Habits:

Tomato varieties are distinguished by their growth habits, which may be determinate or indeterminate. Determinate tomatoes are relatively compact and reach a predetermined height or number of fruit clusters that ripen in a concentrated time period. This may be ideal for gardeners who wish to preserve fresh tomatoes.

Indeterminate tomato plants grow, blossom, and produce tomatoes throughout the growing season. They can be very tall, producing many main stems, all of which are capable of flowering and fruiting. To support this growth and to keep tomatoes off of the ground, the National Garden Bureau recommends supporting plants with cages or stakes. Staked plants should be pruned to remove all but two growing stems, which are tied loosely to the stakes and trained for vertical growth. Pruning can produce larger but fewer tomatoes.

There is a third type called semi-determinate which is bushy like a determinate but will set and ripen fruit over a longer period of time. The best way to grow determinate or semi-determinate plants is not to prune the plant.  Place a cage around the tomato while it is still small. As the plant grows it fills the cage. Gardeners need only pluck ripe fruit.

Planting:

Tomatoes are one of the easiest garden plants to grow. They need as much direct sunlight as possible to produce the highest yield. Native to the tropics, tomatoes require warm temperatures for good growth. Therefore wait until the nighttime air has warmed to about 55 degrees F before transplanting them. Planting tomatoes too soon will only slow them down.

A good way to plant a tomato is the trench method.  This method does not work for a grafted tomato. After loosening the soil, dig a trench and lay the tomato plant into it horizontally. Pinch lower leaves off of the stem. Allow the top cluster of leaves to lead out of the trench. Cover the root system and bare stem with soil, gently firming it where the plant emerges, and push a pillow of soil under the top stem to keep it erect. The plant will grow up towards the sun and, because the bulk of the stem is buried at a shallow level, the newly developing roots will warm up quickly.

Hot, Hot, Hot!

If temperatures drop at night, keep young plants warm with a cloche or other protective cover. Tomatoes are not frost-hardy and will die if exposed to 32 degrees F without protection. Continue watering regularly for about two weeks until the plants are established. Throughout the growing season remember to water the plants deeply during dry periods for as long as they are setting fruit. Established tomato plants need at least one inch of water per week.

In Containers:

Gardeners living in urban environments can grow tomatoes in containers. For best results select a variety with a compact or determinate habit—compact cherry tomatoes are good choices. The container needs to be deep, at least a foot, with drainage holes. Use a sterile growing mix, keep the plants evenly watered, and place them so that they receive as much direct sunlight as possible. Feed plants regularly with a water-soluble fertilizer. Remember that nutrients will leach out of the pots faster than garden soil. During periods of hot weather, full-grown plants may need to be watered daily.

Harvest:

For the best tomato flavor, allow the fruit to fully ripen on the plant. Wait until it is deeply colored because once removed from the vine, the supply of sugars is cut off. To harvest, gently twist the fruit so that the stem separates from the vine. Tomatoes are best kept at room temperature and will store on a kitchen counter for several days. It is absolutely unnecessary to place a ripe tomato in the refrigerator. At the end of the season when frost is predicted, green tomatoes can be harvested and placed on a windowsill or counter. Most will gradually turn red and have some degree of tomato flavor. Placing unripe tomatoes in a paper bag will hasten the ripening process.