5 common mistakes when growing tomatoes

The tomato harvest is canceled again? If you avoid these five common mistakes, your tomatoes will be in top shape again.

You learn from mistakes. If you learn from the mistakes of others, all the better. Especially when growing tomatoes, mishaps can happen quickly and suddenly the plants die or do not bear any fruit. So that you don't have to learn the hard way, we have selected the five most common mistakes when growing tomatoes for you and show you how you can do it better.

Mistake 1: The wrong location

Tomatoes like sunshine: the plant should be exposed to the sun for six to seven hours a day so that it bears a lot of fruit. On the other hand, placing the sprouts in a shady place in the ground has a major impact on their growth. The plants die or grow very slowly. In addition, they carry many leaves, but form little or no fruit. You should also pay attention to the right floor: If the floor is too heavy and does not allow water to drain, waterlogging will form. The tomato does not tolerate this at all and it can lead to diseases or the plant dying.

Mistake 2: Early implementation

The early bird catches the worm? Not with tomatoes. Even if the seedlings look strong and healthy, they should never be yours Sow tomatoesbefore the floor has reached a temperature of 10 °C. Otherwise the small plants will die and there is a risk of crop failure. It is best to wait for the ice saints so that the plants are not surprised by late frost. If the temperatures are suitable, you should not move the small plants directly. First, the offspring have to get used to the new environmental influences. For this you sell them hourly (with increasing length) to a protected place outside. However, you should make sure to avoid direct sunlight. Otherwise there is a risk of burns on the leaves of the delicate plants.

Mistake 3: More is more?

Some believe that you need as many plants as possible so that the harvest is good in the end. The opposite is often the case: if the plants are planted too densely, their growth is stunted and they bear less fruit. To make matters worse, the low stocking density makes the plants more susceptible to a variety of diseases, such as the Tomato blight. In the bed, the tomatoes should be at least 60 cm apart. At the Growing tomatoes in the greenhouse it may be a bit narrower, but here too, the distance should not be less than 50 cm so that the tomatoes thrive optimally.

Mistake 4: Too much of a good thing

Of course, tomatoes need fertilizer so that they produce a lot of fruit. Then a little more can't hurt, can it? Wrong: Although tomatoes are heavy feeders, too much fertilization of the harvest can be fatal. Above all, too much nitrogen ensures that the plant puts more energy into its leaf growth - but the fruits fall by the wayside. They suddenly ripen much more slowly and have less taste. So that your tomato is neither undersupplied nor oversupplied, it is best to use a primarily organic fertilizer like ours Plantura organic tomato fertilizer To fall back on. This releases its ingredients slowly and gently to the plant and thus optimally supplies it with all the important nutrients over a period of three months. This will give you resilient and strengthened tomato plants with a rich tomato harvest. more on the subject tomato fertilizer you can find out in our special article.

Mistake 5: Avoid showering

Tomatoes need a lot of water. But also at watering tomatoes you can do a lot wrong. Under no circumstances should you simply water the plants from above so that the leaves get wet. The risk of fungal disease increases dramatically when the leaves have been wetted with liquid and are not able to dry properly. Also, the plant can experience burns when the midday sun falls on the damp leaves. To avoid this, always water the plant below, just above the ground. Also make sure you have a balanced water balance. The soil should never dry out completely, but too much water can lead to waterlogging and the plants can die.

The variety of tomatoes is almost endless. That's why we have the best old and new for you tomato varieties compiled in this overview.