A veg gardenisn’t complete without a few love apple plants ( Lycopersicon esculentum ) . you may choose from dozens of different variety , including modest cherry red tomato that can be special - flavorous . This character includes the cultivar ' Tom Thumb , ' which originate in the Andes mountain in South America and is make for its resemblance to a carmine cherry . An prosperous - to - grow plant , ' Tom Thumb ' needs circle of sun , even moisture and well - drained soil to produce a bumper craw .
Getting Started
Like all tomatoes , ' Tom Thumb ' is hoar - sensitive and grows as an yearbook in all parts of the United States . If you exist where bounce frost is plebeian , start seeds indoorssix to eight weeks before the last expected frost , sowing them in compressed or pots filled with uninventive potting soil or soil - less mix . Keep the intermediate moist and set the plants in strong brightness level once seedlings emerge . you could also pop with purchased seedlings , but wait until nighttime temperature stayabove 45 degreesFahrenheitand risk of frost has run .
Warning
Never utilize garden territory to start out semen indoors because it can harbor plague and their testicle , as well as fungal organisms .
Site Selection and Planting
works seedling in a smear that getsfull , direct sunfor at least eight hours each daylight to produce a good crop . Well - drain land is also substantive , as is soil that ’s robust in organic issue . Add about 1 inch of compost , mixing it in before planting , to improve the soil ’s prolificacy and constitutive content .
' Tom Thumb ' tomatoes become about 2 feet marvelous and 8 inches wide , so set works in the garden with about 8 inch between them to allow seedlings to spread as they grow . Plant seedlings supernumerary - bass so the soil level reaches the first hardening of leave-taking ; base spring up from the buried stem to produce a strong plant . Tamp down the soil and water well to assure breeze is n’t trap around roots .
Watering and Fertilizing
This is adeterminatevariety that raise one large crop of love apple and takes about 70 days from plant to farm its first fruit . It needs a steady , even amount of moisture throughout the season for best answer . Provideextra waterwhenever the top inch or two of soil feel dry to your fingertip , but keep foliage dry to forestall growth of fungous organisms . Add 2 or 3 inch of constitutional mulch under the works to helps economise soil wet , but keep this back a few inches from the plant ’s centre of attention to monish fungal outgrowth .
Fertilizing ' Tom Thumb ' plants also helps support a laborious crop , but waitress until you see the first small fruits . Then mix about 1/2 cupful of a 5 - 10 - 5 granular formula into a shallow trench encircling each flora about 5 or 6 inches from its center — calledsidedressing – and irrigate it in well . take over this feeding when you harvest the first violent , ripe yield .
Providing Other Care
This variety is n’t especially tall anddoesn’t expect post , but you could help keep Lycopersicon esculentum off the ground by using a commercial tomato John Cage or a stake driven into the priming coat for support . When tomatoes equal the primer , that can raise rot . If you use a wager , attach the stems to the stake with soft tie such as strips of fabric , which prevent attrition to stem where they rub on the stake .
Watch fortomato hornworms , large light-green caterpillars that devour leafage , andColorado Irish potato beetles , which are deprive yellow , hard - bodied pests . Hand - pickboth of these cuss to keep in line them . If you seeaphids , little green crawl louse , master these by spray them with a strong special K of water , but do this too soon in the day so the plant life dries chop-chop .
