12 Tips to Grow Tomatoes Like a Boss

Growing perfect tomatoes doesn’t require complicated fertilizer routines or Master Gardener status.

I’ve tried almost every trick in the book (both science-based and those rooted in folk wisdom) to improve my harvest each time. What I’ve discovered over the past two decades of growing tomatoes is that there aren’t really any “tricks” to achieving an abundant crop, only a series of well-timed steps that will give you great tomatoes year after year.

This is what I do every spring when I’m planning my tomato crop, and I’ve listed the steps in order of what you should do, too. These simple tips will boost your yields and help you save time and money in the garden.

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Determinate tomatoes are also known as compact, bush, or patio plants, as their manageable size, early bloom, and predictable harvests make them ideal for small-space gardens and containers.

When they start setting blossoms, all growth stops and the plants’ energy go into ripening the entire crop within one to two weeks before they eventually die off. In areas with longer growing seasons, the plants may go dormant before setting a second set of blossoms for a smaller follow-up crop.

Certain types of determinate tomatoes can also grow in partial shade with as little as 5 to 6 hours of sunlight.

Though it’s a less popular method, tomatoes can also sprawl on the ground if you have the space. (Just stay on top of your harvests, as many tomatoes can be lost this way—hidden under the leaves—and start to rot.)

The typical life cycle of an indeterminate plant involves growing a foot or two, setting some flowers, producing fruit, then repeating the process all season long.

It continues to grow until killed by frost (which means in USDA zones 10 and up, a tomato plant can actually survive as a perennial).

The amount of flowers and fruits set depends on the variety of tomato. Some only set a handful of flowers at a time, while others (particularly cherry types) set dozens all at once.

Indeterminate varieties are ideal for gardeners that like to have small harvests several times throughout the season for fresh eating.

Technically, semi-determinate tomatoes are indeterminate types that have atypically short vines, and your yields will generally fall in the middle of the two types.

So, it’s best to start your tomato seeds indoors about four to six weeks before your last expected frost date, repot the seedlings to increase root mass, and give them time to harden off properly to ensure strong, healthy plants.

If it’s already past the last frost date by the time you’re reading this, you might be able to get away with starting seeds now if you have a decent growing season and choose an early-maturing tomato variety.

Dig deeper: Use my interactive tool to look up frost dates in your area

You can always buy tomato starts from a garden center if all else fails, but when you do the math, it just makes cents (er, sense) to try to start tomatoes from seed every year if you can.

This is most apparent if you’ve ever let your tomato vines flop on the ground, forget to stake them upright, and come back a couple weeks later to find the vines have firmly rooted themselves into the soil.

The plants have tiny, fuzzy bumps on their stems (called adventitious roots, root initials, or tomato stem primordia) that are essentially the beginnings of new root nodes.

If left in contact with water or soil, these nodes eventually develop into roots, further increasing the root mass of the plant.

This in turn means stronger, more resilient plants that need less irrigation and fertilization because their extensive root system can reach deeper into the soil, pulling up moisture and nutrients.

You can learn how to repot your seedlings the first time in this post, why you should transplant tomatoes a second time here, and how to plant tomatoes sideways in a trench if you’re not able to dig a deep hole to bury the stems.

For a good harvest, allow at least 8 hours of full to filtered sunlight per day for your plants.

In climates where summers regularly rise above 85°F to 90°F, try to provide partial shade. Although it’s often said that tomatoes are heat-loving plants, they actually suffer when there’s too much heat. Excessively high temps can cause stunted growth, make blossoms more prone to falling off, and result in fruits that ripen very slowly (or fail to ripen altogether).

Allow a minimum of 18 to 24 inches between indeterminate tomatoes in the ground, or 12 to 18 inches between determinate types.

If you’re growing tomatoes in a container, remember that bigger is better. People are often advised to grow tomatoes in 5-gallon buckets, but unless you’re super limited on space (or growing a special micro variety), that’s not nearly enough room for the roots to thrive.

Related: Use this printable chart to find the root depth of garden vegetables

Determinate tomato plants are most successful in 10-gallon or larger containers.

Indeterminate tomato plants need at least 20-gallon containers (such as half whiskey barrels) to reach their full potential.

Shorter, wider container profiles will accommodate more robust cages and help prevent tipping as the plants grow taller.

Unless your plants have yellow leaves, however, try to avoid high-nitrogen fertilizers, which will give you lots of foliage but no flowers.

I like to feed seedlings with diluted liquid fish fertilizer, then add handfuls of a slow-release granular fertilizer, bone meal, crushed eggshells, and fish heads when they go in their final planting hole in the garden.

(You read that right: fish heads. Learn more about using this unlikely but amazing fish fertilizer for your tomato plants here.)

Related: How to identify common green caterpillars in your garden

They’re also one of the most annoying pests in the garden, especially in spring when there’s a veritable buffet of delicious, tender seedlings for the feasting.

If you’ve ever woken up one morning to the horror of what looks like someone just took a mini lawnmower to all your seedlings, you’ve likely been the victim of cutworms.

They hide during the day and feed at night, clipping the stems of seedlings and young transplants close to the soil surface.

Usually the top of the plants are left untouched, lying on the ground near the chewed-off stems, but some cutworms will climb up seedlings to feed on buds, shoots, and leaves. They love tomato seedlings but will eat any and all vegetables in the garden, including the seedlings of squash, corn, and beans.

So, this little trick will work for all your young plants, and it’s a surprisingly effective, cheap, and easy method of pest control.

After you transplant your tomato seedlings and starts, place a small bamboo stick, popsicle stick, wooden skewer, coffee stirrer, or similar apparatus right against the stems.

The stick prevents the cutworm from wrapping itself around the stem and gnawing on your plant.

That’s because tomato plants that receive only a small amount of water each time (even if they’re irrigated more frequently) tend to have shallow roots that gather near the soil surface where the moisture is.

Shallow watering and shallow roots weaken the plants and make them more susceptible to pests, diseases, and low production. (Not to mention tall—yet shallow-rooted—plants may topple over in high winds.)

My best advice for managing moisture (and ensuring not too much or not too little reaches the roots) is to install drip irrigation lines or soaker hoses on a programmable timer so you never forget to water. (Use my calculator to figure out how long to run your drip irrigation.)

Tomato plants benefit from consistent moisture as it helps prevent blossom end rot and keeps the skin from cracking.

A good mulch (like straw, my usual go-to) helps conserve moisture, prevent weeds, and regulate soil temperature.

It also keeps the soil from splashing up on the leaves when your plants are watered, reducing the chances of soil-borne disease.

But it doesn’t take long for those plants to get unwieldy, and before you know it, you’re struggling to contain the vines without snapping the stems or losing flowers or fruits.

Tomato roots spread rapidly, and it’s best to stake, cage, or trellis them early so you don’t risk driving the supports into their developing root systems.

Other gardeners like to DIY their own supports out of hog wire (using it like a living fence for tomato vines to climb), or fashion their own sturdy cages out of rebar and concrete reinforcing mesh. Experiment with what works for you!

The taller your supports are, the healthier your plants will be. Keeping the leaves off the ground discourages pests or diseases from taking hold, and air is better able to circulate around the plants when the vines have ample support.

But the one thing I always try to do? Prune any leaves that touch the ground.

Low-hanging stems and leaves that contact the soil are more susceptible to soil-borne diseases, so you should preemptively remove all the lower branches within the first few weeks of planting.

Keep an eye out for damaged or discolored leaves throughout the season and cut those off as well. Since damaged leaves can no longer support the plant, they should be removed and thrown in the trash (not the compost pile, since they might be signs of disease).

The key is to harvest your tomatoes in the “blushing” stage, where they have some color but aren’t totally red yet. At this stage, the tomatoes have fully developed and will continue to ripen indoors with no loss of flavor, quality, or nutrition. Just let the fruits ripen on the counter and use them when they’ve reached peak ripeness.

This post updated from an article that originally appeared on April 30, 2019.