The Best Ways to Water and Feed Tomatoes

 For a good crop of sweet tomatoes, it is essential to water and feed regularly. This is true whatever type of tomato you are growing.

Tomatoes need watering regularly, bearing in mind that container-grown tomatoes are more prone to drying out. Start feeding tomatoes once the flowers appear.

Then increase watering and feeding as the tomato fruits form and get larger. If you are growing tomatoes under glass or in a greenhouse, the tomatoes will need watering daily on warm days. If the plant dries out, the fruit can develop tough skins that are prone to splitting, as in the image. In addition, bacteria can enter where the skin has split, rendering the fruit inedible. We all want sweet-tasting tomatoes; irregular watering will impair the flavour. When watering, it is important to avoid splashing feed or water on the leaves, which can raise the chances of diseases caused by water born fungus, image above left.

There is no rule of thumb. Plants need less water when they are small, so as the plant grows, water more regularly. Do not let the compost dry out, and the warmer it is, the more water the plants need.

Regular feeding is equally important. Feed with proprietary tomato feed as soon as the first flowers appear, and feed regularly throughout growing season. The bottle will give instructions to ensure the correct amount of feed to water ratio. 

Start feeding the tomatoes when the flowers appear, perhaps every two weeks, moving to every week as the plant grows in vigour and twice weekly when the fruits are plentiful. However, tomato feed varies in strength; check the manufactures' instructions.

Next step is getting green tomatoes to ripen.

Now you can enjoy your harvest—but what if you have many green tomatoes left over?

Check out A Foolproof way to Ripen Tomatoes

If you have found these tips helpful, why not buy the book: click here for details Success with Tomatoes

The Sunday Gardener's guide to growing tomatoes, packed full of practical tips and helpful images, everything you need to know to grow a tasty crop. Was £6.20 now £4.20 plus postage UK only.