In this article we are gonna see how they can grow tomatoes at their home and with the help of just other tomatoes at home. We have a few other articles which help to grow vegetables at home, you can read them from here.
Generally tomatoes are used in the kitchen for almost all the curries in South Indian dishes.
Tomatoes are rich in Vitamin B9, Vitamin C and Potassium and these Antioxidants protect cells in the people's body against the damage from free radicals, which can compromise your immune system. Let’s see how we can grow at home:
Germination Process?
- Initially take a few healthy tomatoes and cut them into slices.
- For potting mix, 50% garden soil, 30 % organic composite and 20% Fine Sand, then mix well.
- Use containers with proper drainage, cover the hole with a stone for better drainage and fill it with potting mix.
- Take the tomato slices and place them on the potting mix, have a space of half inch to one inch gap between the slices.
- Then cover the slices with the potting mix (not too deep, just about half inch above) and Water it thoroughly.
- Make sure Soli remains moist, but not too wet and Keep the pot in the Shade (don’t place in bright sunlight)
- After 6-8 days the seeds will germinate and around 14-15 days, the seedlings will be ready. And at this stage the seedlings are ready for transplant.
Transplanting Seedlings?
- Always take the big containers to plant your tomato plants, like 20-22 inch diameter and 14-15 inch depth containers. You can plant 3-4 plants.
- Dig holes about 4-6 inch depth and plant the seedlings deeper. Planting the tomato plant deep into the soil helps them grow better.
- After transplanting, add water to the soil thoroughly.
- Keep the plant for 3-4 days in the partial sunlight and after that keep in the sunlight for better growth.
- Make sure to keep the soil evenly moist for the first 12-15 days to boost constant growth.
- Provide consistent soil moisture with regular watering especially during the initial growth stages.
- Remove weeds from the container as soon as you see them. Pull them up carefully or loosen up the roots to remove. Try to get all the weed roots so that it doesn't affect the plant growth. Else it will create lesser growth of plants.
- As the tomato plants grow, they need a stick for support, have a stick of 4-5 feet and put it in the container. Tie the stem of the plant to the stick loosely.
- Once you see the flowers in the plant, and after 2-4 days the flowers will lead to the pollination process, generally pollination will happen because if wind or bees, in case if you don’t see this happening, you can always make it yourself, by just shaking the flowers gently so that pollination will start.
- Generally tomato plants will produce tomatoes in around 35 - 55 days post the transplantation. During this process, you can fertilize every 18-20 days, with chicken manure, fish meal, manure vermicompost or other organic fertilizer.
- Check soil moisture regularly and water your plants whenever soil feels dry. Make sure it's not too wet, too wet leaves cause fungus or encourage disease to plant.
- Around 70-80 days you can see big sized tomatoes which are green in color. At this stage Pest management is needed, spray the plant every 6-7 days with the homemade pesticide from garlic extract, chili extract and neem oil. (for half ltr water, add 30 ml of neem oil, 20 ml of garlic extract and 20 ml of chili extract)
- Provide extra support to the stem, while the tomatoes are bigger in size.
- Around 80-90 days you can see the tomatoes turning into red color.
Harvesting?
- Wait for the tomatoes to turn red, ideally check daily after 90-95 days, the tomatoes will be getting ripe.
- Gently twist the tomato and it will come out of the plant.
- In case multiple tomatoes are ripped and you can take bunch of tomatoes at once by cutting the stem of the tomatoes (where 4-5 tomatoes are linked to that particle stem)
- A fully ripe tomato will be a bit soft, but in either case around 95-110 days the tomatoes can be harvested.
Other things to note during the process?
- Make sure to add water multiple times during the hotter days, in case you see it's dry.
- In regards to pesticide, it's really not needed, you can add pests in case you see any fungal or disease.
Here’s the findings of how to grow tomatoes at your home and this will be helpful for people who wish to grow their food and for people who have time for growing at home. Also a good hobby. If you have a hobby of growing such vegetables at home, do continue by reading related articles in Peoples BLOG. Thanks for reading this article, hope you get something interesting today.
