Plant them on a good day.     

A good day to plant tomato plants is not a beautiful sunny spring day like you would think. Tomato plants will do best if transplanted on a cloudy day, or if you have to transplant on a sunny day, do it in the late afternoon, and don't get the leaves wet when watering the plants in for the first time. Alternatively, you can plant them in the morning on a sunny day, but fix some sort of a shade for them, so that they don't get roasted right from the start. Don't transplant on a very windy day, this will dry out the leaves often to the point that they are severely damaged. It's best to plant tomatoes after your last frost date is expected for your area. If you plant them sooner than that, realize you may have to cover your plants if it gets cold or lose them altogether if it gets very cold.

Bury a tomato plant's stem and the stem will sprout a host of new roots that help the plant grow sturdy and tall quickly. You can bury just about all of stem—simply remove the branches below the top two to three inches of leaves. Take a look at your tomato plant closely. Do you see little bumpy looking things on the stem? Those are new roots just waiting to form! So don't feel upset if the tomato plants you receive are a little on the tall side, with not too many leaves at the bottom. That's actually a good thing!

If your soil has warmed or in dry or hot climates, bury your tomato transplant in a straight, deep hole. Cooler, moister soil below 6 inches deep helps tomatoes survive in hot, dry summers. If you live in a cooler northern climate or your water table is high, make a trench and plant the plant lying on its side with the stem just a couple of inches below the surface and the top sticking out. As the plant grows, the top will orient itself towards the sun on its' own. So don't worry if your tomato plant looks like it's top is pointing to the side. If you check that plant in a day or two, you'll see that it's standing straight up!

If your soil has warmed or in dry or hot climates, bury your tomato transplant in a straight, deep hole. Cooler, moister soil below 6 inches deep helps tomatoes survive in hot, dry summers. If you live in a cooler northern climate or your water table is high, make a trench and plant the plant lying on its side with the stem just a couple of inches below the surface and the top sticking out. As the plant grows, the top will orient itself towards the sun on its' own. So don't worry if your tomato plant looks like it's top is pointing to the side. If you check that plant in a day or two, you'll see that it's standing straight up!

Mulch for sure.                                                             

 Mulching your plants is very worthwhile. Plastic mulches such as the new red ones, or even black plastic or ground cover cloth like you use in a flowerbed is worthwhile. If you're frugal like me, use a layer of straw, leaves, dried grass clippings, dry leaves, or pine needles, or newspaper or cardboard covered with any of the above-- and it will keep the plants' roots cool, prevent weeds from sprouting around them and retain moisture in the soil. Old pizza, shipping, and other assorted cardboard boxes often find their way into my garden underneath a mulch of dried leaves, and it really cuts that weed pulling down to a manageable level too.

Another benefit of the mulching is that is helps keep your plants free from soil-borne diseases. These diseases often get their start in cooler or wet weather when there is a lot of dew or water on the leaves for a prolonged period. Diseases like early and late blight can be prevented or will at least wait to attack your plants later in the season if there is a layer of mulch applied right after planting so that the fungus/bacteria can't splash up from the soil onto those bottom leaves. Preventing problems is MUCH easier than trying to "cure" them later on, which often can't be done!

In extremely hot, dry climates, like Florida and the Southwest, you can put a soaker hose around your plants under the mulch to conserve and add moisture and keep your plants happy. Simply wind the hose between the plants before mulching, then water plants deeply once a week for at least an hour. Most plants like an inch of water a week, and tomato plants are no exception to this rule. Don't spray the leaves directly with the water, especially in the late afternoon. If you have to water with an overhead sprinkler, do it in the morning so that the leaves have a chance to dry before nightfall to help eliminate diseases.

Tomato vines left to themselves to sprawl on the soil are very susceptible to attacks by pests and diseases. Sprawling vines take up a lot of room in your garden and the fruit they bear is not as clean and also more difficult to harvest. Stake or cage the vines for your healthiest, most productive tomato crop ever. Staking or caging your plants helps also promote good air circulation around your plants and help keep them healthy longer. And if you've ever had a problem with voles or slugs in your garden, this will eliminate or severely hamper their efforts to damage your crop. Nothing is more frustrating than to see a big nice tomato lying on the ground, go to pick it--and see that the whole bottom side has been eaten by a critter or slug!

If cutworms, voles, slugs, the neighbor's dog, shipping damage, your kids, your hoe, or you just get your hand on the wrong thing when pulling weeds--don't despair. If your plant arrives broken off as a stem and a rootball, or if you accidentally cut it off or step on it, and it's not dehydrated it too badly, cut an inch or so off the bottom of the stem and place the cut off part in a container of water out of direct sun-like in the house on a east or north windowsill for a week or so. It will sprout roots along the stem. Then transplant it back into garden and watch it grow. Or if you just decide you want to make more of a particular healthy plant and your season is long enough, you can do cuttings of your plants. This is a great way to have plants to carry inside in the fall to a greenhouse or sunroom too! An added advantage of cutting grown plants is that they start bearing fruit right away because they "know" that they are fully mature older plants.

Avoid the very common mistake of overfeeding your tomatoes. If a little is good, more is even better, right? WRONG!! Tomatoes thrive in soil that's rich in humus (organic matter) for extensive, well-nourished root systems and potassium (K) for strong stems. Add too much nitrogen (N) and you'll have a big, lush plant with very little fruit. If you use a commercial fertilizer, look for one with a larger middle number, and use it sparingly. Definitely don't use more than the manufacturer recommends, and even a little bit less is usually sufficient. You can always add more later, but you can't take it away!

If you use organic fertilizer, make sure any manure you use is well-rotted and used sparingly around tomato plants. Compost is ideal for tilling into your tomato growing area before planting and even as a topdress at times throughout the growing season.

Avoid another common mistake of planting tomatoes (or any other veggie for that matter) in the same place year after year. Make sure and rotate your plants to a different spot in the garden each year to avoid buildup of soilborne diseases and pests. If you don't have a good place to change your tomatoes to because of limited sunlight, consider growing them in large pots one year and in the garden the next to give the soil a break. You can still plant something else there for that "off" season. There are several cheap drip irrigation systems available at garden centers and stores and by mail order which will make it easy to keep your containerized plants watered.

If this is not an option you wish to pursue, then at least make sure you get all the debris from your old plants cleaned off in the fall, and mulch heavily as soon as those plants are planted in the spring to help keep bacteria and fungus from splashing up onto the bottom leaves of your plants from the ground. This will help prolong your harvest.

If this guide was helpful to you, please take a moment and leave a rating for me. Feel free to copy it for your personal use, and thanks for your time. I can be reached for questions through my website, www.northerntropics.com.

Sandy Burrell

Northern Tropics Greenhouse, Muncie, IN