Keep up with maintenance for best results
Looks like 2010 will be a bumper crop year for tomatoes. My plants are loaded with large juicy tomatoes! Entries are coming in now; it'll be a lot of fun growing our way up to the winner of the contest.
This year's ideal growing conditions have caused a lot of our customer's plants to out-grow their stakes and cages. At this point in the season you may have to cut the tips to stop upwards growth. Prune off about 6 inches from the top of the tomato's upper most branches; the cut should be slightly above a set of branches (remember to clean your pruners with rubbing alcohol before moving on to the next plant). The tomato will now put energy to side growth, fruiting and ripening of existing fruit. Remember a nice heavy upper leaf canopy will help prevent sunscald and growth cracks. Keep up with pruning suckers and removing any side growth from the bottom 2 inches of the plant. Large amounts of suckers on the upper canopy of the tomatoes should also be removed. Remember we're approaching the end of the season; sometimes it's a good idea to remove flowers to put more strength into the plant.
You may need to add extra supports around your cages or poles like I had to. Get a few 1-by-2-inch wooden stakes about 8 to 9 feet tall and cut a few 21/2-inch sections and attach them to a 1-by-2-inch stake with a couple of wood screws like steps on a ladder. The vertical stake that you'll hammer into the ground next to the cages should be a least 2 inches higher than your cages or center stakes. Carefully lift the over grown vines up and drape them over the cross braces of your homemade tomato "ladder." Tie the branches to the ladders using soft stretch tape; this will prevent branches loaded with tomatoes from snapping off. This being said you may decide to make some extra tomato ladders up and use them earlier in the season before your plants get out of control.
When large tomatoes, especially heirlooms, begin to ripen keep a watchful eye on the weather. If there's approaching heavy rain storms it's often a good idea to harvest the fruit a little early to avoid the skin from splitting. Cracked tomatoes lose juice and flavor rapidly, the cracks will also develop a black mold making them non-edible.
Stay on top of chores and you may at the top of our Tremendous Tomato Contest.
•Wally Schmidtke has been a manager at Pesche's Garden Center for 20 years. Wally is a horticulturalist; an expert in plant pathology, and insect problems. The tomato contest ends Oct. 10. Rules available at Pesche's; prizes include Pesche's gift cards.