Table of Contents
What does a healthy young tomato plant look like?
For example, a healthy tomato plant has softly fuzzed, medium-green leaves. If the leaves of your plant have brown or black patches, holes, chewed edges or fuzzy mold growing on them, make a note of that before perusing the list of problems.
How can you tell the difference between tomato plants?
Steps to Determine if a Tomato Plant is a Determinate or Indeterminate Variety. Check the height of the plant. After the plant has been growing for a while and has tomatoes on it, check its height. If it is fairly short (no more than four to five feet tall), then it is probably a determinate tomato.
What are the stages of a tomato plant?
2. Tomato crop guide: Growth stages
| Growth stage | Stage duration (days) | Crop age (days) |
|---|---|---|
| Planting | 1 | 1 |
| Vegetative | 14 | 15 |
| First flowering | 15 | 30 |
| First fruit set | 10 | 40 |
Should I take flowers off young tomato plants?
ANSWER: Many gardeners recommend pinching off the first set of flowers a tomato plant produces in late spring, before the plant has been transplanted into the garden. Once your plants are in the garden, don’t remove flowers as there is no further benefit, and you’ll just be robbing yourself of delicious tomatoes.
What does blight look like on a tomato plant?
Early blight is characterized by concentric rings on lower leaves, which eventually yellow and drop. Late blight displays blue-gray spots, browning and dropped leaves and slick brown spots on fruit. Although the diseases are caused by different spores, the end result is the same.
What are the hairs on a tomato plant?
Have you ever wondered why tomato plants have so many little hairs on the stems and leaves? They are kind of neat to look at, but they actually serve a purpose too. The tiny hair-like structures are called trichomes, and they are there to help protect the plant from weather and herbivorous insect invasion.
Do you pinch out the top of tomato plants?
Pinch out the tops If you’re worried that your tomato plant is growing too tall, you can also pinch off the tip of the main stem, below the highest blossom to control this. Do this once seven trusses have set on indoor plants and four on outdoor varieties.
What happens to a tomato plant when it matures?
As the plant matures, more leaves develop and flower buds form (see Figure 1). On mature tomato plants, flowers develop and this is where sexual reproduction occurs. Figure 1: Diagram of the tomato life cycle.
Is the tomato plant a vegetable or a fruit?
In cooking, tomato is considered a vegetable mostly because it is not sweet and not usually used in desserts. But in botany, tomato is a fruit. Fruit is defined as a part of a plant that develops from a flower’s ovary and has seeds. Since a tomato develops from its flower’s ovary and it has seeds inside, it is a fruit.
How big are the leaves on a tomato plant?
The leaves can be up to 12 inches long, and each leaf has five to nine leaflets. The plants produce yellow flowers with five points. The tomato is a perennial but is usually grown as an annual.
Why do tomato plants have both male and female organs?
Tomatoes belong to a group of plants known as flowering plants, also called angiosperms. The tomato plant reproduces sexually. This means that it needs both female and male organs to produce seeds. Every tomato seed has a tiny tomato plant inside. When the conditions are just right, tomato seeds will germinate.