Transcript Tomato-Patch Did You Know?

Tomato-Patch
Did You Know?
• Introduced to Europe in the sixteenth
century, tomatoes were called “love apples.”
• While the Spanish and Italians ate them,
Northern Europeans believed they were
poisonous.
• An 1893 Supreme Court decision declared
that, though botanically a fruit, the tomato is
a vegetable.
‘ROMA VF’
Lycopersicon esculentum
Transplanting and Harvesting
Best grown in cages.
Determinate. 75 days to harvest
from planting-out date.
Determinate: growth of a plant stem that is
terminated early by the formation of a bud. Naturally
self limited growth, resulting in a plant of a definite
maximum size.
‘SUN GOLD’ HYBRID
Lycopersicon esculentum
Var. cerasiforme
Transplanting and Harvesting
Trellis or sprawling.
Indeterminate. 65 days to harvest
from planting-out date.
Indeterminate: inexact in its limits or nature, no
specific end size.
‘EARLY GIRL’ HYBRID
Lycopersicon esculentum
Transplanting and Harvesting
Trellis or sprawling.
Indeterminate. 54 days to harvest
from planting-out date.
‘SUPERTASTY’ HYBRID
Lycopersicon esculentum
Transplanting and Harvesting
Minimal support necessary.
Semideterminate. 70 days to
harvest from planting-out date.
‘BRANDYWINE’
Lycopersicon esculentum
Transplanting and Harvesting
Either stake, cage, or trellis.
Indeterminate. 88 days to harvest
from planting-out date.
‘YELLOW PEAR’
Lycopersicon esculentum
Transplanting and Harvesting
Plants do best on a trellis.
Indeterminate. 75 days to harvest
from planting-out date.
Starting Plants: Step 1
• Place one peat pellet in each pot.
• Pour a total of ½ cup of warm water over
the pellets and allow them to expand (about
five minutes).
• Fluff and mix the peat with a fork, then
place the pots in the greenhouse.
Starting Plants: Step 2
• Gently press two or three tomato seeds into
the top of each pellet.
• Plant each pot with a different variety.
• Mist lightly, close green-house, and place
near a sunny window.
Starting Plants: Step 3
• Check daily to ensure that the soil stays
moist and to allow air to circulate.
• Once seeds germinate, leave top of
greenhouse open.
Starting Plants: Step 4
• When seedlings have two or three sets of
leaves, transplant into 3” peat pots, and set
in a sunny spot.
Starting Plants: Step 5
• Plants may be transplanted to your garden on
week after the last frost. (no frost in Hawaii so this
does not apply)
• Before transplanting, be sure to harden off
seedlings by keeping them outdoors for
increasingly longer periods of time.
• Start with an hour or two, and gradually move up
to a full day.
• Avoid direct sunlight at first.
Don’t Forget to add Herbs to your
Tomato Meal