It became a serious concern to me when I noticed that the leaves of our Tomato plants began to turn yellow even when it ought to had started bearing fruits by now. I was worried that it's up to two months now but it's still not bearing any fruit until I inquired from my mom who told me that tomato plants grows well in well-drained sites that receive full sun for most of the day.
According to her, it depends on the variety, tomato plants can bear fruit two to three weeks after flowers fully open. She said that there are two kinds of tomato plant growth habits: determinate and indeterminate.
According to her, Determinate tomato plants will grow to a genetically specified height and produce all of their fruiting flowers at once.While Indeterminate tomato plants continue to grow and produce fruiting flowers throughout the entire season unlike the determinate that doesn't produce through out the planting season.
She said that tomato plants can be grown on a garden bed or in a container, but Whether you want to grow tomato plants on a garden bed or a container, choose a spot with at least six to eight hours of direct sunlight daily to avoid lack of chlorophyll.
Ideally, making of the garden bed according to her is more preferable but Whether it's garden bed or container,the soil should be well-drained, soft and fertile, but tomato plants grow in all types of soil except on a clay soil.
According to her,lack of adequate sunlight,the greenish colouring pigment begins to fade and turn yellow. I nodded in affirmation because I now know why our tomato plants turned yellow because we planted it under a mango shade.
Inorder to make me understand more on the causes of retarded growth and why the leaves are dieing,she narrated the methods involved in growing tomatoes 🍅
"The methods run thus:
-the first thing is to prepare the farmland or garden bed which involves clearing of grasses with matchet or hoe,tilling of soil to make ridges or bed as well as making the soil soft.
-- Plant your tomato seeds on the softened soil by spreading it in form of making a nursery
-- Regular irrigation is very important at this point especially when we are in dry season when rainfall has ceased. With a constant irrigation,the tomato seedlings will be sprouting up after few days of planting or spraying of tomato 🍅 seeds. According to her,Planting of tomatoes can be done anytime and anywhere if you have irrigation facility on your farm and must be ready to constantly irrigate the soil.
--Transferring the Nursed Tomato Plants to avoid overcrowding and retarded growth becomes necessary. Now ,the nursed tomato plants can be transferred to a larger farmland that is spacious. when it starts growing,it can be staked or make bed with sticks about 3-5 meters high to aid it's maximum growth.
--Weeding and Application of Fertilizers can be applied at this moment to cause rapid growth because it adds nutrients to the soil. In my place, we likely substitute fertilizer with animal dung or compost manure which most times ensure quick plant growth and also act as natural pesticides because it kills pests.
--Harvesting and selling of the Tomatoes Produce 🍅 🍅 when the fruits are ripe (turns from green to red colour).Then it can be sold for more money making at the market.
So, to a farmer that wish to grow strong and healthy tomato plant that bear fruits, he/she should know that tomatoes require sun, warm air and soil temperatures, including rich, loamy and moist soil."
I appreciated her for making me know the reasons why my tomato plants didn't grow well and promised myself to start practicing the methods .