Growing tomatoes in your garden is a very beneficial idea, tomatoes are full of vitamins and delicious. Growing them in your garden is more comfortable than going to buy them in a store every few days.
So, you decided to grow some tomato plants in your garden, but then you find out that they grew astonishingly tall! Why is that? There a few specific reasons why tomato plants grow that tall:
Firstly, tomatoes have excessive nitrogen which causes so too much fertilizing will cause the tomato plants to grow so tall.
Secondly, you must make sure that the tomato plants have full sunlight as much as possible. Without enough sunlight, the plant will stretch itself as much as possible to grow.
And thirdly, because the plants were set to in an “Indeterminate” size, see below to more information on that.
So, even though growing tomatoes is a long process that includes some challenges, we have great tips that will make it easier for you to grow the perfect tomato plants!
How tall should you let tomato plants grow?
Tomatoes can be categorized into plants that were set in advance to either “Determinate” size or an “Indeterminate” size.
“Determinate plants are set to stop growing when the final cluster of flowers reached the pre-set point which can be between 3 and 5 feet at maturity, the tomatoes will tend to be bushy and grow quickly.
And there are “Indeterminate plants” that continues to grow all the growing season long and can reach the height of 7 to 8 feet.
There are also “Dwarf tomatoes” that reach the height of 1 to 2 feet at maturity.
Why is my tomato plant growing so tall but isn’t producing many tomatoes?
Sometimes you see that your tomato plant is growing incredibly tall, but the plant isn’t growing many tomatoes if not at all. Why is this happening? There a certain reason,
Firstly, the tomato plant requires a moderate amount of nitrogen but only during certain parts of the growing season, so you must test the soil before and after the growing season to check the level of nitrogen in it and if the plant needs fertilizing or not.
Secondly, make sure that you put to give the plants just the right amount of fertilizer because too much nitrogen will cause the plant to have little energy to grow fruits or flowers.
And finally, if you have overfertilized the tomato plants then you can water the plants deeply will balance the nitrogen level in the soil.
Also, if the tomatoes are spindly then they need a lot of support, so you can cage or stake the tomatoes or prune them to one main stem.
How do you keep the tomato plants short and bushy?
Tomato plants tend to grow wildly which limits their fruit production, so what’s the best way to keep them short and bushy instead to produce more fruit? There are a few ways…
Firstly, you should allow the plant to grow as tall as 1 foot into one or two main branches and cut the others with gardening shears and keep the plants far from each other.
Secondly, stick a 3-foot bamboo or wooden stake high as 3 foot in the ground (Around 12 inches into the ground) about 2 or 3 inches from the plants to lead the plant’s growth upward.
Thirdly, cut the offshoots and leave only one or 2 side shorts after the plants grew at as tall as 2 inches, it allows the plants to grow thicker and stronger.
And finally, place a 2-foot sized cage over the tomato plants, it gives the tomato plants the perfect amount of space without sprawling.
Should you cut off the bottom leaves of the tomato plants?
Some people think that the lower leaves of the tomato plants affect its fruit production because they can drain the nutrients from the tomatoes, which is why the lower leaves must be removed. Is it true?
The truth is that the bottom leaves don’t generally affect the fruit production of the tomato plants unless they turn yellow which means that they are dry and will drain the sugar from the tomato so they must be removed.
Other reasons that you can remove the lower leaves if you want are that the lower leaves become moist which can disease that can be avoided by cutting it. Another reason is that the upper leaves get all the sunlight and lower leaves get less so at some point they might drain the sugar from the tomato and cutting them will avoid this.
What is the best fertilizer for tomatoes?
Fertilizing tomatoes depends on the amount of nitrogen in the soil, which means that first, you must test the soil (Preferably during the fall and when the soil is dry).
If the soil is balanced or has a high amount of nitrogen, then you should use a fertilizer that has a lower amount of nitrogen and a higher amount of phosphorus. If there’s less nitrogen in the soil, then you should use a balanced fertilizer.
Usually, the soil is balanced and it’s best to use a fertilizer with a high amount of phosphorus.
