Grow your own delicious tomatoes on Salt Cay. TCI
Latest news from Salt Cay… Do you want beautiful plump healthy tomatoes like these tomatoes?
Well there is no reason why juicy tomatoes cannot grow on Salt Cay once a few minor problems are solved:-
1) Maintain the motivation to care for these little ‘guys’ and feed and nourish them like you would a baby.
2) Understand the type of soil and fertilizer.
3) Understand what diseases tomatoes are prone to and how to recognize unhealthy signs.
4) Keep bugs and chickens and the damn donkeys away from your garden.
5) Know when to water and remember to water!
FROM SEEDS… get your little containers and pop the seeds into a soilless potting mix. Basically a potting soil which is free of contaminants and there is no need for a fertilizer to be added during this seed germination stage. The potting soil can contain a little peat moss.
Sow the seeds a quarter to half inch deep and water. The seeds must be kept moist until germination. If necessary cover trays or containers with plastic bags so the seeds remain moist.
Seeds should be damp not swimming in water.
Seeds germinate between 10 and 14 days.
For optimal growth seedlings need 12 hours of sunlight.
Seedlings don’t like to be crowded, so respect their space and remember to keep them in bright sunlight…they are sun lovers by nature.
When they start sprouting four leaves give them their own bedroom…. a 4inch pot to spread out in.
Don’t forget to label the pot to save frustrating moments later down the road when the memory goes blank.
Tomatoes like a breeze …it makes their stems grow strong, so if you are starting the seedlings in the house or enclosed patio give them a little gentle fanning..Just remember you do not need the ‘blast’ mode unless you want to scrape the seedlings off the wall!
When the plants are ready to be transplanted remember that they can be put in a larger hole like the size of a basketball and buried up to the top leaves because tomatoes are able to grow roots all along the stem.
Add a little fertilizer or organic waste like crushed eggshells which provides a touch of calcium.
You do not need to mulch because tomatoes like peppers are sun lovers.
When the plants are nearly 3 feet tall the bottom leaves can be removed to prevent fungus…the bottom leaves are the most susceptible to disease.
It is the leaves that photosynthesize the fruit so prune sparingly just enough to allow the sun to shine on ripening fruit.
The little nodules between the apex of the branches can be removed since they will not bear fruit and only zap energy.
VERY IMPORTANT…The developing tomatoes must be watered on a regular basis. There is no such thing as ‘island time’ with tomatoes , trying to make up after missing a week does not work and only leads to rotting tomatoes!
Once the fruit begins to ripen LESSEN the water because this encourages the tomato to concentrate the sugars.
Rotting Tomatoes
This is cause by a calcium deficiency…suppliments will not help since the rot is uuually caused by irregularly watering the plants. Water contains calcium and diffuses the source through thre plants when they are watered in a timely manner.
Bottom line is that tomatoes like space, sunlight and careful constant water.
