Tomato Farming With Important details Including Cultivation Guide

In this blog, we are going to share all the details of tomato farming. I have gathered all this knowledge from my practical experience.

This blog will help you in all the conditions whether you are going to grow tomatoes in the field or in a pot or willing to do terrace farming.

Let’s start the journey to become the master of tomato farming. Trust me, you can get incredible practical and theoretical knowledge on how to grow a tomato in a pot.

Tomato Farming In Short

Tomato.	Botanical Name:- Solanum Lycopersicum Family:- Solanaceae
Health effects.	Source of vitamin C, vitamin K, potassium.
Soil Requirements	PH:- 6.0 to 7.0 Can grow in all different soil, from sandy to heavy clay
Climatic Requirement.	Best For Growth 21 degrees Celsius to 24 degrees Celsius.
Nursery Preparation.	For Nursery, 400 to 500 grams per ha is required.
Transplanting.	Well, Plough field, manual transplanting is recommended.
Irrigation.	14 to 15 Irrigation Required, Drip irrigation recommended.
Fertilizer.	Nitrogen:- 75 kg/ha, Phosphorus:- 40 kg/ha , Potassium:- 25 kg/ha
Pest.	whitefly, spider mite.
Diseases.	Bacterial wilt, Early Blight.
Harvesting.	70 to 80 days After Transplanting.
Yield.	Normal Variety 20-25 t/ha Hybrid Variety 50-60 t/ha

Contents In Blog

Introduction of tomato

Before starting tomato farming, it is very important to know every detail of the tomato.

According to science, tomatoes are fruit, but we consume tomatoes as vegetables.

Whenever we make a list of healthy fruits or vegetables, tomatoes will always come in this list because it is a major source of antioxidants called lycopene. Antioxidant lycopene decreases the risk of heart disease and also cancer.

Not only antioxidant tomatoes are also a significant source of vitamin C, vitamin K, potassium, and foliate, these are very essential vitamins and minerals that help our body function.

We do not consume tomatoes ? only as fruits or vegetables; we consume tomatoes like paste, puree, syrup, juice, ketchup, drinks, etc. All these products are prepared on a large scale and consumed.

In many parts of the world, it is also called tomato as poor man’s orange.

There are many health benefits of tomatoes. It is helpful for constipation. It is also used in the treatment of chronic dyspepsia, bronchitis and asthma and is also used as a blood purifier.

We can grow tomatoes wherever you want. You can grow in the kitchen garden, you can grow in the terrace garden, and you can also grow in the backyard garden. You can make a lot of money after harvesting them. All we need are pots or land and a little patience.

Tomatoes are an annual plant. It is a short-lived plant and perennial herb.

The leading producer country of tomatoes is China, India, USA, Turkey

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Botanical description

Before starting tomato farming, we will learn about a botanical description of tomatoes. It is important because of the plant we are going to grow. We should have complete knowledge of that plant, without this we can’t take care of the plant.

Tomato belongs to the genus Solanum
The family of the tomato is Solanaceae.
The origin place of the tomato is Mexico
The scientific name of the tomato is Solanum Lycopersicum

Here, we will not describe an in-depth botanical description because we do not require it in tomato farming. If you want to read in-depth about botanical description, we will suggest reading any horticulture book or you can also refer to Wikipedia.

Morphological description

The height of the tomato plant is between 1 to 3 metres.
The tomato is a self-pollinated plant.
The stems of the tomato are weak. They can’t bear the weight of the fruits, so they need support to stand.

Leaves

The leaves of the tomato are very soft, we can easily observe the tiny hair on the stems and leaves. These tiny hairs protect the plant from animals.
The number of leaflets in the plant is between 5 TO 9 in number’s
The size of the leaves is between 4 to 24 inches long.

Size of leaves and the number of leaves can vary according to place, size of the plant and environmental condition of the place.

Flower

The Colour of the flower in the tomato is yellow, size is small.
The male and female parts of the flower are present at the same time because it is a self-pollinated crop.
Flowering in tomatoes is very important for reproduction, and the result is fruit formation then seed formation.

The fruit

In scientific terms, we classified tomato fruit as a berry.
Fruit setting and development of fruit is a very tough process that needs a lot of cooperation, protection, and care.

Growth habit of tomato plant

There are two different tomato plants

Determinate
Indeterminate

We knew determinate type as Dwarf and shrub type

We knew an indeterminate tall growth variety.

The fundamental difference between Determinate and Indeterminate, draft variety, will stop growing after flowering, but the indeterminate type plant’s main branch continues growing until frost.

We always suggest growing the Determinate type of tomatoes for a wonderful production. It also takes tiny space to grow, meaning you can grow more plants in the row as compared to the Indeterminate type.

Soil requirement for tomato farming

For, the proper growth and development of the plant ? type of soil are very important. We can say soil plays an essential role in the growth and production of the plant.
Tomato ? can grow in all different soil, from sandy to heavy clay.
PH Requirement for good growth and development of tomatoes is between 6.0 to 7.0. It is ideal for growth.
The major requirement of the soil for proper growth is soil should have good moisture-holding capacity.
Tomato farming requires a good amount of organic matter in the soil, for a wonderful production.
The plant grows well in acidic soil with a sufficient amount of nutrient supply and availability of nutrients.
Aeration in soil should be good, soil should be free from slat for proper growth.

We will not recommend adding a bulk amount of organic fertiliser to the soil before planting. You can add it after planting the tomato. We do not recommend waterlogged conditions for the proper growth and yield of tomatoes.

Those farmers or plant lovers who want to grow tomatoes in metro cities, there are difficulties in finding soil, so we suggest they use coco-peat. It is an easily available alternative to soil. Anyone who is interested in gardening can use it. Coco peat is very useful for gardening.

Climatic Requirement Of Soil

Mainly, tomato is a rabi crop, we do tomato farming in summer because it requires warmer temperature for the proper growth and development

We can easily observe tomatoes throughout the year in our market at a cheap rate. This comes to our mind how it is possible. This is possible because maximum farmers are farming tomatoes in a poly-house or greenhouse in a controlled environment.

The temperature required for the proper growth and development of tomatoes is between 21 degrees Celsius to 24 degrees Celsius.
The tomato cannot tolerate the cold season and low humidity.
A medium-range of sunlight is very favourable during the fruit set.
In moderate rainfall conditions, plants grow well. It is good for the growth and development of the plant.

Selection of seed

The selection of seeds is a very important decision. Before buying the seed, keep in mind it should seal the seed packet and the seed packet has government authorization.

We suggest to always prefer branded seed, open the seed packet and check seed shouldn’t be broken or damaged, size of the seed should be uniform

After the selection of seed, the most important thing to do comes that is a seed treatment in many packed good branded seed treatment of seed is already done, but sometimes we have to do it with our on-self

Seed treatment Of Tomato Seed’s

Before doing the seed treatment the question always comes to my mind why seed treatment is so essential for the crop, then we do research and we figured out that seed treatment protects our plant from all soil-borne diseases, it also protects seed from insects that can damage the seeds, it also helps to germinate weak seeds.

In some research there is said that seed treatment also increases the Growth rate of the seeds; this will help plants to compete with weeds.

We do seed treatment for protecting disease, we also do seed treatment for adding nutrients, vitamins, and micronutrients for good germination and a healthy tomato plant.

Just as we have read above all, the importance of seed treatment lets us know how seed treatment is done.

The first is a chemical treatment in this method we treat the seeds using nutrients like vitamins, and micronutrients such as KCL (potassium chloride), NACL (sodium chloride), Znso4 (zinc sulfate), and Mgso4 (magnesium sulfate) (magnesium sulfate)

We can get all these chemicals easily from the market. It is very simple to just mix all the chemicals before showing.

The second method of seed treatment is treating the seeds with fungicides. In this method, we used to treat seed fungicide. We can use any popular and branded fungicide available in the market. It will protect the seed from the fungal infection that is most common in the seed.

I am adding some names of popular fungicides like thiram, metalaxyl, and captain. You can use any available fungicide in the market.

Using methods of these chemicals will vary from brand to brand because of active ingredients present in that chemical, so before using, read the instructions carefully, then use it.

NURSERY BED PREPARATION

Preparation of nursery is very important for the growth and development of a healthy plant. It is like preparing the base of a building.

Before making the nursery, make sure that you break all the clods in the field. After that, use a leveller to level the field.

For tomato farming, we will suggest a raised bed nursery. It is very helpful for proper germination.

We will suggest scattering vermicompost on the nursery bed to provide nutrients to the germinating seed.

We can also make nursery beds in ridge and Furrow manner and plant seedlings on the ridge.

We should protect the nursery from direct sunlight so that you can use a greenhouse or poly house, and most easy is to change the direction of your nursery bed, medium sunlight should be there for some time.

We will suggest protecting the nursery from water logging conditions that can totally affect germination.

Also, protect the nursery from drought conditions by spraying regular water with a hand method or sprayer.

We will suggest protecting the nursery from rodents like rats or other birds that used to take out the seed from soil and eat, and this treated seed is not good for them to consume directly.

Those plant lovers or for hare tomato lovers are growing in metro cities on their terraces or small place. They can use egg trays or recyclable disposals or small home cups to grow the nursery and besides this, every process will be the same as it is. Don’t forget to make holes below the cup for proper drainage.

The seed rate for tomato farming that is recommended use is 400 to 500 grams per ha.

Transplanting Of Tomato

Before doing transplanting, we should notice these important things.

The field should be clean and free from weeds well ploughed.
All soil clods should have broken.
Moisture content in soil should be high. It increases the chance of survival.

We should spray a proper amount of fungicide to protect the plant from initial fungal infection.

Plant to plant distance depends on the environmental condition. If we are planting in a rainy period of the year, the distance will be 75 x 60 cm and if we are planting in the warm period (summer season, the distance should be 75x 45 cm.

We do tomato farming on a ridge, so the space between one ridge to another is 50 cm x 50 cm. It gives a very wide space to grow the plant.

Preparation Of Land For Tomato Farming

If you are farming tomatoes in the field or plot, the first thing that we have to do is to plough the field properly.

After ploughing the field, make a proper ridge and furrow in the field for planting.

The next process is to make a fence around our field. It will protect our field from goats, cows and other animals.

We will suggest spreading the vermicompost on the field doesn’t make a thick layer of compost.

Those plant lovers doing tomato farming in pots will suggest adding a mixture of soil and vermicompost in the pot’s base.

We will always do regular weeding before germination, and after proper germination, one or two wedding is enough.

Keeping the root zone of the plant clean will help the plant compete with weeds.

We will also suggest doing plastic mulching to get rid of weeds.

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Staking the plant (Providing support to plant)

We have discussed previously that the plant is very delegate. It requires support to bear the weight of fruits and if the fruit touches the ground, it can spoil early.

From this, we can understand the importance of staking. For staking, we can use a stick or rod just simply tied the stick to the main stem.

This will help the plant stand and handle the weight of fruit.

Irrigation

Irrigation is very important for the proper growth and development of the plant.

Flowering and fruiting are two critical stages of tomato farming in which we have to pay attention before irrigation and after irrigation.

During the fruiting stage, if there will be drought conditions, and suddenly we irrigate the field it will lead to fruit cracking, and it will give huge economic loss to the farmer.

Tomato plants also cannot handle the stress during the flowering period. Any type of stress will lead to the flower dropping, and it will affect the production of tomatoes.

Water requirement for tomatoes is very low, but we should provide it on time or the plant cannot bear a sufficient amount of fruit and this will cause economic loss.

We will suggest using a drip irrigation system for tomato farming if you have the proper technical knowledge and financial ability.

In warmer days (summer season, we will recommend irrigating at the interval of 6 to 7 days and in cold periods (winter season) we will recommend irrigating at the interval of 10 to 15 days.

The total irrigation requirement in tomato farming is 14 to 15 irrigation.

Sowing time of tomato plant

In a controlled environment like a poly house or greenhouse, tomatoes can grow throughout the year.
We can easily do tomato farming in summer and cold seasons both.
In the cold season, we show tomatoes in October. I do transplanting in November and in December we can harvest.
In summer, we can do planting from March to June and transplant it after 30 to 35 days.

Fertilizer Requirement in tomato cultivation

We will always suggest using organic fertilizer for the fruits and vegetables that are consumed directly or farmers can use leguminous green manure crops to decrease the requirement of chemical fertilizer.

Always add farmyard manure during the field preparation. In tomato farming, you can use the farmyard manure at 20 to 30 tons per hectare.

The quantity of farmyard manure can be increased or decreased on the matter of availability.

It is so important that farmyard manure should mix properly with the soil, and we will suggest you leave the field for two to three days empty after adding farmyard manure to it.

Before applying the chemical fertilizer, we will suggest doing soil tests after that report and apply chemical fertilizer according to requirement.

Common requirement of fertilizer in tomato farming

Nitrogen:- 75 kg/ha
Phosphorus:- 40 kg/ha
Potassium:- 25 kg/ha

We will suggest applying a half dose of nitrogen, a half dose of potassium and a full dose of phosphorus before transplanting in the field.

After 15 to 25 days, we will suggest applying the remaining one-fourth of nitrogen and half of the potassium after successfully planting the tomato plant in the field.

After two months, apply all remaining fertilizers that you have.

If you are using a drip irrigation system, you can use liquid fertilizer. It is more effective for the proper growth and development of the plant.

Pest on the tomato farming

Pest is a very serious problem for tomatoes, if it does not control the pest on time only because of the pest farmers can have an economic loss of up to 30 to 40%.

Here we are going to list important pests. It is very important to control this pest.

First One is Whitefly:- this is a very dangerous bug, it mainly damages the leaves of the plant, it feeds the leaves and makes the plant weak by disturbing the process of photosynthesis, resulting in the tomato’s yield will decrease. To get rid of the whitefly, use the pesticide acetamiprid. This pesticide is easily available in the market.
Second is Spider mite:- Main affected part from the spider mite is the leaves colour of the leaves changes from green to reddish-brown and bronzy, the effect of spider mite is not only left it also damages the flower and fruit formation, but the best way to control spider mite is also through neem oil or insecticidal oil these two are very effective for spider mite.

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Diseases of tomato plant

If we are farming tomatoes, we should know about all the diseases that can damage and cause economic loss.

First Disease Is Bacterial Wilt:- It is a very serious disease of tomato, this disease mainly attacks plants in hot temperature and high temperature, it affects the plant so badly that plant start wilting and the colour of the plant becomes brown and yellow, for the protection from this dangerous disease there is an only way to use wilt resistant seed and certified seed this is the most satisfying way to control Bacterial wilt.
The second disease is Early Blight:- There are many similarities between Bacterial Wilt & Early Blight, like Bacterial Wilt early blight also attacks the plant in hot temperature and high temperature, but we get different symptoms in both of the diseases in early blight leaves and fruits both are affected leaves start browning plant wilt precaution of this disease to do proper mulching and give proper fertilizer you can also spray Bonide Liquid Copper Fungicide concentrate or Bonide you can use on Tomato & Vegetable

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Harvesting Of Tomato

Harvesting of tomatoes depends on the variety that you are planting.

Usually, after transplanting, it takes 70 to 80 days to get ready to harvest.

Harvesting of tomatoes depends on the purpose of what we are using, like for transporting, sell, consumption, etc.

We should do harvesting In the morning and evening time.

We should do the harvesting by hand twisting and separating the fruit from the stem. We should keep harvested fruit in the shade place as we know all fruits don’t mature at the same time, so we recommend you to harvest at the gap of four to five days.

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There are five different stages of harvesting:

Fully ripe:- In this condition, fruit is fully ripe. We only use it for processing.
Reddish pink:- In this condition colour of the fruit turn Reddish pink. We only use it for local sales in the nearest market, not recommended for transplanting.
Pink stage:– the 3/4 part of the fruit will turn into a pink colour. We use it for transporting to nearest market at a range of 30 to 50 km.
Breaker stage:- In this stage, the fruit is partially pink. 1/4 part of the fruit turns into a dim pink colour. This is the best stage of harvesting and transportation.
Dark green colour:- In this stage, we harvest the fruit in dark green only for long transportation and marketing, 48 hours before selling, we use ethylene (it is used to make fruit ripe) spray to make it ready to sell.

YIELD:-

The yield of tomatoes varies with variety and environmental conditions

The yield of local variety:-20 to 25 tons per ha

The Yield of Hybrid Varieties:- 50 to 60 tons per ha

At the last, let’s conclude this:

In the end, I am going to conclude what I have learned and how I have grown the tomato. Growing tomatoes is not too difficult. Just follow the guide which I have tried to give you. At last, I have just said that one line keeps planting healthy.

Please share this blog with your family and friends through this small step to motivate us to grow new plants and write about them.

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