When it comes to tomatoes, we’ve grown hundreds of varieties here at Epic Gardening – and we’ve tested just about EVERY method of growing them that you can dream up. Growing tomatoes comes with a whole host of interesting advice, tips, and tricks, but also a few myths that simply aren’t true. Here are 9 of the most common ones from our journey through the world of tomatoes.
00:00 – Intro
00:20 – Yellow Or Dying Leaves
01:22 – Sauce Tomatoes
02:27 – Tickling Flowers
03:26 – Sun Ripening
03:52 – Pruning Myth
05:18 – Blossom End Rot
06:09 – Vine Ripening
07:37 – Refrigerating Tomatoes
09:32 – Too Much Watering
IN THIS VIDEO
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I always drain the juice from the pot when making sauce so I can jar it for later. Double duty with tomatoes so you don’t have to spend time reducing it and you can use it for cooking later.
We always harvest our tomatoes at the breaker stage – makes it safe from bird attacks too xD
I started cutting my tomatoes at that 50% ripe stage and it stopped my tomatoes from being plagued by tomatoe worms. Thank you for posting this video. It's so informative.
I have heard most of these myths. I didn't know that people left tomatoes unrefrigerated. If my tomatoes are ripe, I will refrigerate them. I will pinch of suckers; but, it's only been in the last couple of years that I've done it. My mom used to pinch off flowers. I've done that' but, it doesn't seem to have any benefit or detriment to do it. I have lots of flowers on the tomatoes that I've grown from seed. But, no tomatoes yet.
Hi Kevin, Have you ever tried the square foot gardening?
Chemically, when your tomato gets below 50 degrees or so it loses the chemical that gives it the best taste.
Are you crazy???? Refrigerator tomatoes are CRAP and.lose all their flavor. Please stop lying. ANYONE who has honestly tried cold tomatoes knows the difference. Yikes!!! BAD ADVICE!
Love to see all 3 of you in the video 🙂 Thanks for the tips!
Six tomato plants this year, all disappointing. Mostly Big Boys, got one or two small-medium tomatoes off about half of them. Leaves are small, green but curling, plants are small. My neighbor had the same thing; he gave up and pulled them all out. Awful season this year!
The main reason Roma and cherry tomatoes are better for sauce is that they have much more pectin which helps thicken the sauce
I thought I knew all the basics of tomatoes. But, you guys have taught me several knew things today! I had no idea tomatoes could go in the fridge. and thanks for the comment about bringing tomatoes in at 50% ripeness. My mice won't be happy about that lolz. Keep up the great work guys. You guys are Awesome!
Wow! This is an impressive video having the three of you giving your info covers all the questions I have wondered about. This year I wasn’t able to have a garden due to a broken arm but there’s always next year. The squad video was really helpful as I have a few volunteers that are doing well, they popped up after the monsoon season started.
I didn't realise it was so controversial to store tomatoes in a fridge. All my life all our tomatoes were stored in a fridge so they last longer. Also, a cold tomato is a lot more refreshing on a hot summer's day than a room temperature/hot one.
ff uu
Can anyone tell me what variety of tomato is shown at the 6:00 minute mark? There’s so many it looks insane!
if you want to make a dark red sauce let it vine rippen. for everything else youll want to pick as the video says
I've been having massive pest problems this year, so I'm reluctant to leave my tomatoes on the vine too long, and have been picking them the moment they start to show any signs of ripening. It turns out this makes little to no difference, as they will continue to ripen off the vine anyway. Just as long as you don't pick them when they're completely unripe, they'll taste just fine in the end.
my garden is all in buckets and grow bags and when its hot i FLOOD the plants every day, usually right around the peak of the heat. the tomatoes are usually wilted at the top at that time, and even just a few minutes after i water them they perk right back up again, even if the temp is 45C. yes, im "overwatering", my stems can get bumpy, but i dont get blossom end rot, i dont get splitting tomatoes, my plants stay super healthy and happy, and the taste and the texture of the tomatoes are perfect. anyone can tell just by looking at a tomato plant if its happy or not. and it loves what i do, so ive been doing it for years. even during vancouvers 40C+ 3 month heatwave last year. i didnt have any garden issues from too much heat even tho my patio is pavers and like an OVEN. if im using buckets i also put a tray under so it will hold like an inch of extra water. that really helps out during heat waves. and the BEST time to water during a heat waves around the hottest time of the day, or soon before. that blast of cold water to the roots will reduce their stress a ton, and prevent them from being cooked. i dont know if its normal but my tomato plants sweat a lot….the stems and leaves are moist to the touch all the time. but the plants show no signs of too much water issues except sometimes having bumpy stems. the leaves look great, everything is great, and anyone who sees my garden is amazed at how lush and healthy everything is. the most important thing is, if the plants are wilty or droopy, they need water! and if you were right, they will perk back up in a couple minutes. if its really hot and the plants are wilty i will go through and do a first flood of all the tomatoes, then go water everything else, then come back and flood the tomatoes again. that lets them suck up what they need to get perky again, and then the soil is refreshed back to its max capacity again for them to drink later. its better tho to get them before they get wilty tho of course. but during heat waves they will get wilty. i only water once a day. never more than once. i keep seedlings in a kiddie pool so i can put some water in the bottom if its really hot so they dont dry out too fast. lol i have so many extras still that wont fit in my garden, and i have a chili plant in a 1" plug that has a pepper growing on it. hahahaha the plant is only a few inches tall. i just cant throw a plant out that might possibly get used by someone else later…ive already given away hundreds of seedlings.
everyone always says to let your plant go to a double leader to get more fruit, but its actually better to keep plants to a single leader, and just plant them really close together. so 2 plants in a bucket that most people would plant one…..this is better because there are more roots feeding the stalks. if you have one plant with 2 stalks, its being fed by one set of roots and through one stem before it branches off. 2 plants in the same space will have twice as much capacity to eat/drink, and if one gets a problem and the main stem damaged, you still have the other. ive been putting 3 tomato plants in a 10 gallon grow bag, and that seems to be more than plenty of space for them, and ive even let them have multiple leaders. i have a trellis and string to hold them up. i actually use a market tent frame without the top to trellis a lot of things around my garden, and to hang baskets from.
Hey thank yall so much!
we have loads of red ice balls (aka tomatoes) in our fridge… none have ever spoiled… broken, yes, smashed to smithereens cause i'm a clumsy guy, yeah, spoiled? nope!
Yep, I agree with all of these! Definitely things I have discovered by trying them out for myself.
You can also save most of the green tomatoes at the end of the season by picking them, and layering them in cardboard boxes, leaving a bit of stem on, stem end facing down. They will ripen gradually in the box, so you get tomatoes way into winter (cool temperate climate where I live in Australia). They just have to have started turning from hard dark green into a paler green with white starting to come through.
Those watering tips were the best part for me personally. You probably just saved my tomato plants.