Tomatoes (Lycopersicon esculentum) are valuable garden plants in that they require relatively little space for large production. Each plant, properly cared for, yields 10 to 15 pounds or more of fruit.

Planting

Tomatoes are warm-season plants that grow best at temperatures of 70 to 80 °F during the day and 60 to 70 °F during the night.

Tomato plants may be started indoors from seed, or transplants may be purchased from a reputable garden center. If starting your own plants, use a light soil mix and give the plants plenty of light. Tall, spindly transplants are usually caused by low light levels in the home. Unless you have a sunny, south-facing window, supplemental light will probably be necessary. The seeds are sown six to eight weeks before the last frost date in your area. A week before transplanting time, harden-off indoor-grown plants by exposing them to an increasing number of hours outdoors each day.

Planting Dates

Area	Spring	Fall
Piedmont	May 1-May 30	July 10-20
Central	April 5-25	July 10-20
Coastal	March 25-Apr. 10	July 25-30

When you are ready to put homegrown or purchased plants into the ground, select stocky transplants about 6 to 10 inches tall. Set tomato transplants in the ground, covering the stems so that only two or three sets of true leaves are exposed. If transplants become “leggy,” horizontal planting of tomato plants is an effective way to make plants stronger. Roots will form along the buried portion of the stem, giving better growth and less chance of plant injury from an excessively weak stem. Do not remove the containers if they are peat or paper pots, but open or tear off one side to allow roots to become free. If non-biodegradable containers are used, knock the plants out of the pots and loosen the roots somewhat. Press the soil firmly around the transplants so that a slight depression is formed for holding water. Pour about 1 pint of starter solution (2 tablespoons of 5-10-10 or 5-10-5 fertilizer per gallon of water) around each plant.

If plants are to be staked or trellised, space them 24 inches apart in rows 3 feet apart. Although it requires more initial work, staking makes caring for tomatoes easier than letting them sprawl. Since they are off the ground, fruit rots are r educed, spraying is easier and may be required less, and harvesting is much less work. Use wooden stakes 6 feet tall and 1 ½ or 2 inches wide. Drive them 1 foot into the soil about 4 to 6 inches from the plant soon after transplanting. Attach heavy twine or strips of cloth to the stakes every 10 inches.

Prune staked tomatoes to one or two main stems. At the junction of each leaf and the first main stem a new shoot will develop. If plants are trained to two stems, remove all other shoots, called suckers, weekly to maintain these two main stems. Pinch shoots off with your fingers.

Growing tomatoes in wire cages is a popular method among gardeners because of its simplicity. Cage-growing allows the tomato plant to grow in its natural manner but keeps the fruit and leaves off the ground. Using wire cages requires initial expenditure, but they will last many years. Be sure to get fencing with at least 6-inch spacing between the wires so that you can get your hand inside to harvest the tomatoes.

If tomato plants in wire cages are pruned at all, once is enough. Prune to three or four main stems. Wire-cage tomatoes develop a heavy foliage cover, reducing sunscald on fruits. Caged plants are less prone to the spread of disease from plant handling, since they do not have open wounds and are handled less frequently than staked plants. However, it helps to space the plants somewhat further apart (3 feet) to allow good air circulation between plants. Humidity is higher because of the foliage density, and diseases, such as late blight, spread rapidly in humid situations.

Types

The varieties of tomato plants available may seem overwhelming, but they can be summed up by several major types:

• Midget, patio or dwarf tomato varieties have very compact vines and grow well in hanging baskets or other containers. The tomatoes produced may be, but are not necessarily, the cherry-type (1-inch diameter or less).
• Cherry tomatoes have small fruits often used in salads. Plants of cherry tomatoes range from dwarf (Tiny Tim) to 7-footers (Sweet 100).
• Compact or determinate tomato plants grow to a certain size, set fruit and then decline. Most of the early-ripening tomato varieties are determinate and will not produce tomatoes throughout a South Carolina summer.
• Beefsteak types are large-fruited. These are usually late to ripen.
• Paste tomatoes have small pear-shaped fruits with very meaty interiors and few seeds. They are a favorite for canning.
• Some tomatoes are orange or yellow. Sometimes the only way to get these is by growing your own.
• Winter storage tomatoes are set out later in the season than most tomatoes and fruits are harvested partially ripe. If properly stored, they will stay fresh for 12 weeks or more. While the flavor does not equal that of summer vine-ripened tomatoes, many people prefer them to grocery store tomatoes in winter.

Recommended Cultivars

The following tomato cultivars are recommended for South Carolina gardens. Most cultivars are indeterminate, except for Celebrity and Small Fry.

• Better Boy, Better Bush Improved, Big Beef, Celebrity, Early Girl, Park’s Whopper, Terrific
• Cherry Type: Juliet, Small Fry, Super Sweet 100, Sweet Million
• Plum Type: Viva Italia
• Trellis: Tropic

Always choose varieties with disease resistance. Fusarium wilt is a common disease that can destroy a whole tomato crop. Many varieties are resistant to this disease. This is indicated by the letters VF after the cultivar name. VFN means the plants are resistant to Verticillium, Fusarium and nematodes; VFNT adds tobacco mosaic virus to the list.

Fertilizing

A soil test is always the best method for determining the fertilization needs of a crop.  The desired soil pH for tomatoes is between 5.8 and 6.5. Tomatoes are heavy feeders. Use a starter solution for transplants. Sidedress when the first fruits are about the size of quarters, using 1 ½ ounces of 33-0-0 fertilizer per 10 feet of row. Sidedress again two weeks after the first ripe tomato with a balanced fertilizer such as 5-10-5, and repeat this one month later.

Cultural Practices

Blossom-end rot can be a serious problem with tomatoes. The main symptom is a dark-colored dry rot of the blossom ends of the fruit. It occurs when there are extremes in soil moisture, which cause calcium deficiency in the fruit. When rain or irrigation follows a dry spell, the roots cannot take up calcium fast enough to keep up with the rapid fruit growth. Blossom-end rot also occurs if the delicate feeder roots are damaged during transplanting or by deep cultivation near the plants.

The following measures will help prevent blossom-end rot:

• Test the soil and maintain a pH between 6 and 6.5 and an adequate calcium level by liming or applying gypsum.
• Mulch with 2 to 3 inches of materials such as grass clippings, pine straw and leaves. Mulching prevents rapid soil drying and allows roots to take up available calcium efficiently.
• Do not overfertilize plants with nitrogen or potash. Excessive amounts of these nutrients depress the uptake of calcium.
• Keep moisture levels fairly uniform by regular watering and by maintaining a mulch layer around the base of the plants. Water plants during extended dry periods. Tomatoes need 1 to 1½ inches of water per week.
• Add organic matter to the soil. This will help “loosen” clay soils and will improve the water-holding capacity of sandy soils. In either soil, organic matter will increase plant uptake of water and calcium.

Harvest & Storage

It takes 55 to 105 days to maturity depending on the tomato variety. Pick fruit when it is fully vine-ripened but still firm; most varieties are dark red. Picked tomatoes should be placed in the shade. Light isn’t necessary for ripening immature tomatoes. Some green tomatoes may be picked before the first killing frost and stored in a cool (55 °F), moist (90-percent relative humidity) place. Do not store green tomatoes in the refrigerator since red color will not develop at less than 50 °F. When necessary, ripen fruits at 70 °F. Green tomatoes can be stored at 50 to 70 °F for one to three weeks. Ripe tomatoes should be stored at 45 to 50 °F for four to seven days.

Common Problems

Besides blossom-end rot, the following problems are common:

• Leaf roll: This is a physiological condition caused by excess water.
• Growth cracks: Tomatoes crack when environmental conditions (drought followed by heavy rain or watering) encourage rapid growth during ripening of the fruit.
• Sunscald: This occurs when tomatoes are exposed to the direct rays of the sun during hot weather.
• Poor fruit set: This occurs for several reasons, such as extreme temperatures, dry soil, too much shade and excessive nitrogen.
• Tomato blossoms are very sensitive to temperature. At temperatures of 55 to 60 °F, pollination can be severely impaired and very few fruits will form. Temperatures of 90 to 95 °F are also very unfavorable for pollination.
• Catfacing: This is a disorder caused by cold, wet temperatures during fruit set. The fruit is extremely malformed and scarred.

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Botany of the Tomato

The common tomato of our gardens belongs to the natural order Solanaccae and

the genus Lycopcrsiciun. The name from lykos, a wolf, and persica, a peach, is

given it because of the supposed aphrodisiacal qualities, and the beauty of the

fruit. The genus comprises a few species of South American annual or short-

lived perennial, herbaceous, ranksmelling plants in which the many branches are

spreading, procumbent, or feebly ascendent and commonly 2 to 6 feet in length,

though under some conditions, particularly in the South and in California, they

grow much longer. They are covered with resinous viscid secretions and are

round, soft, brittle and hairy, when young, but become furrowed, angular, hard

and almost woody with enlarged joints, when old. The leaves are irregularly

alternate, 5 to 15 inches long, petioled, odd pinnate, with seven to nine short-

stemmed leaflets, often with much smaller and stemless ones -between them.

The larger leaflets are sometimes entire, but more generally notched, cut, or

even divided, particularly at the base. The flowers are pendant and borne in

more or less branched clusters, located on the stem on the opposite side and

usually a little below the leaves ; the first cluster on the sixth to twelfth

internode from the ground, with one on each second to sixth succeeding one.

The flowers (Fig. 2) are small, consisting of a yellow, deeply five-cleft, wheel-

shaped corolla, with a very short tube and broadly lanceolate, recurving petals.

Fig. 2 Tomato Flowers Enlarged about 2 l/2 Times. Section
of Flower Shown at Right
(Drawn from a photograph by courtesy of Prof. L. C. Corbett)

The calyx consists of five long linear or lanceo-late sepals, which are shorter than

the petals at first, but are persistent, and increase in size as the fruits mature.

The stamens, five in number, are borne on the throat of the corolla, and consist

of long, large anthers, borne on short filaments, loosely joined into a tube and

opening by a longitudinal slit on the inside, and this is the chief botanical

distinction between this genus and Solatium to which the potato, pepper, night

shade and tobacco belong. The anthers in the latter genus open at the tip only.

The two genera, however, are closely related and plants belonging to them are

readily united by grafting. The Physalis, Husk tomato or Ground cherry is quite

distinct, botanically.

Fig. 3 Two-Celled Tomato, Fig. 4 Three-Celled Tomato

The pistils of the true tomato are short at first, but the style elongates so as to

push the capitate stigmathrough the tube formed by the anthers, this usually

occurring before the anthers open for the discharge of the pollen. The fruit is a

two to many-celled berry with central fleshy placenta and many small

kidney shaped seeds which are densely covered with short, stiff hairs, as seen in

Figs. 3 and 4. It is comparatively easy to define the genus with which the

tomato should be classed botanically, but it is by no means so easy to classify

our cultivated varieties into botanical species. We have in cultivation varieties

which are known to have originated in gardens and from the same parentage,

but which differ from each other so much in habit of growth, character of leaf

and fruit and other respects, that if they had been found growing wild they would

unhesitatingly be pronounced different species, and botanists are not agreed as

to how our many and very different garden varieties should be classified

botanically. Some contend that all of our cultivated sorts are varieties of but two

distinct species, while others think they have originated from several.

Classification– The author suggests the following classification, differing

somewhat from that sometimes given, as he believes that the large, deep-

sutured fruit of our cultivated varieties and the distinct pear-shaped sorts come

from original species rather than from variations of Lycopersicum cerasiforme:

Currant tomato, Grape tomato, German or Raisin tomato (Lycopersicum

pimpinellifolium, L. racemiforme) (Fig. 5). Universally regarded as a distinct

species. Plant strong, growing with many long, slender, weak branches which are

not so hairy, viscid,* or ill-smelling, and never become so hard or woody as

those of the other species. The numerous leaves are very bright green in color,

leaflets small, nearly entire, with many small stemless ones between the others.

Fruit produced continuously and in great quantity on long racemes like those of

the currant, though they are often branched. They continue to elongate and

blossom until the fruit at the upper end is fully ripened. Fruit small, less than 1/2

inch in diameter, spherical, smooth and of a particularly bright, beautiful red

color which contrasts well with the bright green leaves, and this abundance of

beautifully colored and grace fully poised fruit makes the plant worthy of more

general cultivation as an ornament, though the fruit is of little value for culinary

use. This species, when pure, has not varied under cultivation, but it readily

crosses with other species and with our garden varieties, and many of these owe

their bright red color to the influence of crosses with the above species.

Fig. 5 Currant Tomato and Characteristic Clusters
Cherry tomato

(L. ccrasiforme) (Fig. 6). Plant vigorous, with stout branches

which are distinctly trailing in habit. Leaves flat or but slightly curled. Fruit

Fig. 6 Red Cherry Tomato

very abundant, borne in short, branched clusters, globular, perfectly smooth, with

no apparent sutures. From 1/2 to 3/4 inch in diameter and either red or yellow in

color, two-celled with numerous comparatively small, kidney-shaped seeds. Many

of our garden varieties show evidence of crosses with this species, and by many

it is regarded as the original wild form of all of our cultivated sorts. These, when

they escape from cultivation and become wild plants, as they often do, from New

Jersey southward, produce fruit which, in many respects, resembles that of this

species in size and form ; but they are generally more flattened, globeshaped,

with more or less distinct sutures on the upper side, and I have never seen any

fruit of these wild plants which could not be readily distinguished from that of the

true Cherry tomato. Prof. P. H. Rolfs, Director of the Florida experiment station,

reports that among the millions of volunteer, or wild, tomatoes he has seen

growing in the abandoned tomato fields in Florida, he has never seen a plant

with fruit which could not be easily distinguished from that of the true Cherry

tomato. Again, one can, by selection and cultivation, easiy develop from these

wild forms plants producing fruit as large and often practically identical with, that

of our cultivated varieties, while I have given a true stock of Cherry tomato most

careful cultivation on the best of soil for 20 consecutive generations without any

increase in size or change in character of the fruit.

Pear (not Plum) tomato (L. pyriforme) (Fig. 7).

Plant exceptionally vigorous, with comparatively few long, stout stems inclined to

ascend. Leaves numerous, broad, flat, with a distinct bluish-green color

noticeable, even in the cotyledons. Fruit abundant, borne in short branched or

straight clusters of five to ten fruits. It is perfectly smooth, without sutures, and

of the shape of a long, slender-necked pear, not over an inch in transverse by

1 1/2 inches in longitudinal diameter. When the stock is pure the fruit retains this

form very persistently. The production of egg-shaped or other

Fig. 7 Pear-Shaped Tomato

forms is a sure indication of impure stock. They are bright red, dark yellow, or

light yellowish white in color, two-celled, with very distinct central placenta

and comparatively few and large seeds. The fruit is inclined to ripen unevenly, the

neck remaining green when the rest of the fruit is quite ripe. It is less juicy

than that of most of our garden sorts but of a mild and pleasant flavor. This is

Fig. 8 Yellow Plum Tomato, Showing Most Usual Form of Cluster

considered, by many, to be simply a garden variety, but I am inclined to the

belief that it is a distinct species and that the contrary view comes from the

study of the impure and crossed stocks resulting from crosses between the true

Pear tomato and garden sorts which are frequently sold by seedsmen as pear-

shaped. Many garden sorts like the Plum (Fig. 8), the Egg, the Golden Nugget,

Vick’s Criterion, etc. are known to have originated from crosses of the Pear and I

think that most, if not all, the garden sorts in which the longitudinal diameter of

the fruit is greater than its transverse diameter owe this form to crosses with L.

pyriforme.

Cultivated varieties (L. esculentum). This is commonly used as the botanical

name of our cultivated varieties, rather than as the name of a distinct species.

In western South America, however, there is found growing a wild plant of

Lycopersicum which differs from the other recognized species in being more

compact in growth, with fewer branches and larger leaves, and carrying an

immense burden of fruit borne in large clusters. The fruit is larger than that of

the other species but much smaller than that of our cultivated sorts; is very

irregular in shape, always with distinct sutures, and often deeply corrugated and

bright red in color. The walls are thin ; the flesh is soft, with a distinct sharp, acid

flavor much less agreeable than that of our cultivated forms of garden tomatoes.

This has commonly been regarded by botanists as a degenerate form of our

garden tomatoes, rather than as an original species, but I find that, like L.

cerasiforme and L. pyriforme, it is quite fixed under cultivation, except as

crossed with other species or with our garden varieties, and I believe it to be the

original species from which our cultured sorts have been developed, by crossing

and selection.

Fig. 9 One of the First Illustrations of the Tomato
Poma amoris, (Pomum aureum), (Lycopersicum), 1581

Such crosses probably were made either naturally or by natives before the

tomato was discovered by Europeans. The earliest prints we have of the tomato

(Figs. 9 and 10) are far more like the fruit of this plant than that of L.

cerasiforme, and the prints of many of the earliest garden varieties and of some

sorts which are still cultivated in southern Europe, for use in soups, are like it not

only in size and form, but in flavor. These facts make it seem far more probable

that our cultivated sorts have come, by crossing, between this and other species

rather than by simple development from L. cerasiforme. Prof. E. S. Goff, of

Wisconsin, who has made a most careful study of the tomato, expressed the

Fig. IO An Early Illustration of the Tomato
(From Morrison’s “Historia Universalis,” 1680)

same opinion, writing that it seemed to him that our cultivated sorts must have

come from the crossing of a small, round, smooth, sutureless type, with a larger,

deep-sutured, corrugated fruit, like that of the Mammoth Chihuahua, but smaller.

However this may be, I think that it is wise to throw all of our cultivated

garden sorts, except the Pear, the Cherry, and the Grape which I regard as

distinct species together under the name of L. esculentum, even when we know

they have originated by direct crosses with the other species ; and it is well to

classify the upright growing sorts under the varietal names, L. validum, and the

larger, heavier sorts, as L. grandifolium, as has been done by Bailey. (Cyclopedia

of Horticulture.)

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