Tomatoes

Q: If I plan on canning tomatoes, should I plant determinant or indeterminate plants?
A: Determinant plants produce their fruit (tomatoes) all within a rather short period of time, usually within a couple of weeks. This gives the home gardener lots of tomatoes to process. Celebrity, Heinz 1350 and Campbell 1327 are three varieties of determinant tomatoes.

Q: Why are store bought tomatoes so tasteless ?
A: These are commercial tomatoes produced by large scale farming. They are designed to all ripen at the same time, so they can be machine picked, and are chosen for their resistance to disease, bruising, and their adaptability for mechanical handling and automated processing. Taste is the last thing on the minds of commercial growers, and store bought tomatoes prove this fact.

Q: What causes the bottom of a tomato to turn black?
A: Blossom end rot is normally caused by the plant not receiving enough water. If the leaves dry out they draw water from the fruit itself, and a black rotted end on the tomato occurs. Water heavily at least once a week. When you plant your tomato plants, add some bone meal as this will increase the amount of calcium in the soil, a lack of which can also cause blossom end rot.

Q: What causes the tops of tomatoes to split?
A: Basically, too much water. If it rains after a period of dryness, the tomatoes can suddenly increase in size and the skins split. Another cause is that the water interacts with sugars in the tomato, swelling it and causing splitting.

Q: What is a tomato hornworm?
A: A bright green caterpillar, up to 4” long, white bars along the sides and a horn at its rear end. While harmless to humans, it can defoliate a tomato plant is no time. If you have only a few plants and a few caterpillars, simply pick them off; if lots of plants and bugs, then use BT. Note: if they contain small white capsules attached to their backs, leave them alone as they will soon die. These capsules are the larva of the Trichogramma wasp, which an enemy of the hornworm and a friend to gardeners.