Lets face it. The old saying, “everything you read on the internet is
not true” might be even more applicable today. Bloggers looking for a
fast buck and to be known for something have been spreading lies on
their websites and social media sites like pinterest for years. My
question is why would you want to be known for a lie? Silly silly
people. In this episode I am going to be covering the myths and truths
to actually growing sweter tomatoes. Hopfully saving you time, money,
discouragment, and upset, and beating yourself up for using a tip that
was claimed as fact but is total and absolute horse crap.
Here are some of the myths being spread around:
1. Adding sugar to the planting hole makes sweeter tomatoes
2. Adding baking soda to the planting hole makes sweeter tomatoes
3. Epsom salt makes tomatoes sweeter
4. planting basil next to tomatoes makes tomatoes sweeter
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what if you add some molasses(this is what will others add for plants) in the watering , will that help sweeten the fruit? Or Epson Salt?
I'm more interested in flavor than just sweetness. I've heard that minerals enhance the flavor of tomatoes. The suggestion was to use multivitamins a few times a year per plant. I absolutely know that mineral content in any plant affects flavor. Sommeliers prove that all the time by having to exactly pinpoint regions and vineyards with 100% accuracy. So, I would like to know your thoughts on enhancing flavors by enhancing mineral content. Seems to me this (mineral science) is an almost entirely unexplored genre of edible gardening.
I guarantee the basil knows the tomato is there and vice versa. Their root systems and the mycelium/bacteria networks connecting them share a lot of chemical messages, and they probably agree with each other about what the soil chemistry should be. Not changing sugar content in the tomato though, because that would obviously be easy to prove, assuming it's been tested.
Sand is just a grain size, not the contents of those grains. If it is reddish orange/yellow sand (arkosic) instead of bright white sand, it has a lot of minerals that weather relatively fast and release nutrients like potassium.
Roots can communicate information to other plants in the vicinity. It's a fascinating topic.
I have found a lack of minerals to be a factor as well! We get caught up in all the organic material in our soil such as compost. but tomato's need minerals to sweeten as well! Like adding a little clay to your soil to up the minerals works well,..
What about using aspirin diluted in water sprayed on the leaves to protect against disease and sweeten the fruit?
Haha that's why I go here first. Slowly kicking my bag of sugar so no one sees
What about aspirin?
basil grown along with tomatoes; slightly better than sugar pills.
Is the gas good for ur body Smbh I leave everything to Mother Nature
And potassium juice I give all my plants
TABLE SUGAR lol
What about using baking soda please? As I watched videos saying this as well… I live in the Pacific NW & this has not been a good spring as well as summer, so a bit concerned… Thank you, great video…
Wow Luke – this is great, but you've come so far since 2016. Thanks and congrats!
So as a really novice gardener I am wondering – Luke, when you say “reduce the water “ – by how much?
Very nice video. Thank you. But I was a little disappointed that you didn't mention the most important factor for tomato sweetness: variety! Many tomatoes are genetically predisposed to produce tart or even sour fruit while others are naturally sweeter. Starting with a variety that has proven to produce the sweetest, low acid fruits is essential for growing the sweetest tomatoes.
I tried companion planting this year to help keep bugs but it did nothing, same amount of bugs, basil did not help and a mess to clean up
Forget the sweet. Pass me the sulphur please….
That was awesome. Thanks for dispelling myths and giving a few helpful ideas. Would love to see more on this
Great tips.
Only question is when to cut water in half? When fruit is bud, when starting to turn red, or….?
Basil will attract Japanese beetles though.
What about removing the leaves?
I usually harvest at first blush to protect from pests and let ripen slowly on counter..
I found that pests were eating the basil first
Do these tricks work with other fruit, like strawberries?
Luke, when you talk about reducing the water by half, do you mean water half as much each day, or water less frequently?
Thanks! I get a lot of your videos, and appreciate all your good info.
"plants will not uptake anything from adding sand to your soil"
cries in sandy soil