How to Grow Tomatoes Organically

More Americans grow tomatoes than any other summer favorite - for salads, salsas, spaghetti sauce and to put the T in BLTs. Grow your tomatoes organically for the confidence of fresh eating without the concerns that come with using chemical fertilizers and pesticides.

Dipel Or Pyrethrin

Balanced Organic Fertilizer

Fish Emulsions

Garden Stakes

Gardening Tools

Tomato Cages

Tomato Plants

Trellises

Put your best organic attitude to work in growing tomatoes - prevent problems that might tempt you to use synthetic pesticides.

Select a sunny site that you can water, whether it's a garden bed or a 30-gallon garbage can on the patio.

Select tomato varieties with a track record of success in your area - nurseries, garden columns and cooperative extension service publications are valuable resources. Grow disease-resistant hybrids and reliable heirlooms (but remember that an heirloom will usually perform better the second season from seeds you have saved yourself).

Build organic soil to grow great roots, nurture worms and support the big, leafy tops your tomatoes need to ripen lots of fruit. See "eHow to Build Organic Soil" for details.

Plan to feed your tomatoes with organic fertilizer every other week until they set fruit, then again after each flush of fruit. Use a balanced organic fertilizer that you work into the soil or a fish emulsion in water - their steady release of nutrients makes for the consistent, thrifty growth that is the mark of organic vegetables.

Provide essential air circulation and distance from soil pathogens by growing mulched tomatoes on tall stakes, in wire cages or attached to a trellis. (Most tomatoes top six feet in height, and crawling on the ground puts them at great risk of soil diseases.)

Give tomatoes the water they need. To let them wilt between irrigations stresses them and violates the organic strategy of steady growth. Mulch under tomatoes once the soil is warm to keep weeds, soil temperature and water levels moderated and to prevent blossom end rot, which is caused by irregular water availability.

Take low-impact steps to control insects: encourage beneficial insects, watch for pests, stomp and squish all you can and use physical controls such as hair to repel slugs. For big pest problems, spray or dust with organic controls; for example, use Dipel with hornworms, and soapy water or pyrethrins for aphids and whiteflies.

Harvest tomatoes at the "pink shoulders" stage (when they're just starting to ripen) to prevent birds from pecking and to prevent the invading insects that follow them from destroying the fruit.

To stake without damaging tender stems, wrap cotton ties around the tomato stake first, then catch the stem with a loop and tie it loosely with a knot or bow behind the stake.

Rotate your tomato crop in the garden or change soil in pots to control nematodes organically - they are inevitable nearly everywhere.