How to Grow a Better Bush Tomato

The Better Bush tomato (Solanum lycopersicum var. Better Bush) is a hybrid variety featuring strong performance in small spaces. It produces plentiful, 8-ounce fruits on a strong central stem with an upright growth habit. The plant bears fruits up to two months. It can reach 5 feet tall and benefits from staking but does not need trellising. Attention to details about growing a Better Bush will help ensure a healthy plant and a bumper crop of big, juicy tomato fruits.

Better Bush is resistant to Verticillium wilt, Fusarium wilt Race 1 and nematodes. together abbreviated as VFN on a seed packet. It is not resistant to other fungal or bacterial diseases, but you can help to protect the plant from other diseases by:

Sheltering it from adverse weather conditions such as hard rains.

Ensuring good airflow around the plant.

Watering or irrigating at the soil level to keep the leaves dry.

Applying fungicide if necessary.

A Better Bush plant needs certain growing conditions to grow best:

At least six to eight hours of strong, direct sunlight each day.  Ten hours of light is even better.

Evenly moist -- but not soggy -- soil that drains well.

Rich soil that provides sufficient nutrients.

Warm, low-humidity, breezy conditions.  When exposed to high humidity and still air, it is at greater risk of fungal disease. 

The plant will die if exposed to frost.

Start a Better Bush tomato seed in a protected location six to eight weeks before your location's last average annual frost date. Starting more than one seed is advisable; use one pot per seed, or use one seed per cavity in a seedling tray.

Small pot or seedling tray with bottom drainage holes

Drainage tray

Good-quality seed-starting mix

Watering can or hose

Ruler or tape measure

Soil-heating cables, seedling tray heating mat or other steady heat source

Grow-light (optional)

Fluorescent light tubes in shop-light fixture  (optional)

Fill a small pot or one cavity of a seedling tray -- either of which has bottom drainage holes-- with a good-quality seed-starting mix. Do not use garden soil because it may contain weed seeds and various plant diseases.

Place a drainage tray under the pot or seedling tray. Water the container's seed-starting mix only until water runs out the container's bottom.

Form a 1-inch-deep depression in the container's seed-starting mix by using your finger. Lay one Better Bush tomato seed on one of its long sides in the depression. Cover the seed loosely with the surrounding seed-starting mix, and lightly press the mix to ensure sufficient seed-to-mix contact.

The seed needs steady heat, ideally 70 to 80 degrees Fahrenheit, for germination, or sprouting. Using soil-heating cables, a seedling tray heating mat or other steady heat source will work. At the ideal temperature range, the seed should germinate and the seedling should start to emerge above the seed-starting mix after five days, with full emergence within two weeks.

Watering the pot or seedling tray from below will keep the seed-starting mix moist but not soggy. Add water to the drainage tray, starting once each day. If the mix takes up water, it was starting to dry out. Continue to add water to the drainage tray as long as the mix absorbs it. Do not let water stand in the drainage tray for more than one hour; discard whatever water is left over after that time.

The rate at which the mix dries out depends on variables in your setup. Experiment a little to find a sufficient time period between waterings. If you have to fill the tray several times before the mix stops drawing water, then shorten the period between waterings. If your environment is so humid that the mix won't take up water even after 24 hours, then lengthen the time between waterings.

Your tomato seed does not need light for germination, but provide at least six to eight hours of strong light per day well before the seedling emerges. A full 10 hours of light is even better to help ensure the seedling gets off to a good start as it emerges through the mix and begins to grow. A grow-light is suitable for a single plant while a set of fluorescent light tubes in a shop-light fixture can provide light for an entire tray of seedlings.

As the seedling germinates, it will develop a pair of leaves called cotyledons. Those leaves break open the seed coat. Then the plant will form leaves that look like miniature versions of the adult plant's leaves. These are called true leaves. After the seedling develops several sets of true leaves, it is ready to be transplanted into a larger pot or, if the danger of frost has passed, in the ground in an outdoor garden.

Good-quality potting soil (optional)

Pot at least 24 inches wide and deep with bottom drainage holes (optional)

Drainage tray (optional)

Watering can or hose

Handheld trowel or spade

Ruler or tape measure

Shade cloth (optional)

Cloche, cold frame or low tunnel (optional)

If you want to grow the Better Bush seedling in a pot instead of in the ground in an outdoor garden, then put good-quality potting soil in a pot that is at least 24 inches wide and deep and has bottom drainage holes. Place the pot on a drainage tray.

Water the potting soil or garden soil to make it evenly moist. You may water a large container from the top, but also fill it drainage tray with water to see if the soil draws water from below. Use the same watering guidelines as with the seedling: If the soil draws all the available water from the tray, it needs more water. If the water stands in the tray, it has enough.

Using a handheld trowel or spade, create a hole within the soil of the pot or an outdoor garden. Make the hole deep enough so that the bottom two-thirds of the tomato plant will fit inside it. Only the plant's top few sets of leaves will remain above soil level. If you transplant multiple Better Bush seedlings directly into the garden, then space their planting holes about 2 feet apart in all directions.

Put your hand over the top of the plant's container with the seedling's stem nestled between your fingers. Turn the container upside down, and tap its base lightly with a handheld trowel or spade until the plant's root ball slides into your hand.

Place the bottom two-thirds of the seedling in the planting hole. Lightly press soil around the plant, ensuring sufficient soil contact for the roots and the buried portion of the stem.

Your plant will need a few days to settle into its new surroundings. Ensure the seedling is well-protected from strong wind, driving rain, hail, frost and other adverse weather. The young plant also needs protection from intense sun exposure, which can scorch young leaves. Either provide the seedling with some light shade for the first few days, for instance via shade cloth, or transplant just ahead of a string of cloudy days. Either approach will help the plant acclimate to direct sunlight slowly. From that point forward, ensure your plant has at least six to eight hours of daylight each day, but 10 hours is better to help ensure fruit set.

If a late frost threatens or temperatures drop below 55 F for several days, then cover the tomato plant with a cloche, cold frame or low tunnel for protection.

The plant needs steady watering, but the frequency depends upon the conditions. A container plant usually needs water every day during the height of fruit production. If your plant is in the ground, then it needs at least 1 inch of water per week from rain and/or irrigation. During hot or arid conditions, it may need double or triple that amount. Try to deliver water in a few deep waterings rather than daily shallow waterings. Deep, less frequent waterings encourage the roots to grow deep into the soil and be less prone to heat and drought.

Tomato plants benefit greatly from fertilizer, but too much can create problems. So a balanced approach is best via small but frequent applications of a complete fertilizer.

Any all-purpose, complete fertilizer, such as a 5-10-10 blend in granular form, will work. If you use a granular, 5-10-10 fertilizer, then apply about 1 1/2 tablespoons of it per tomato plant every two to four weeks in a 1-inch-deep ring that is 5 to 6 inches around each plant's base, and put soil over the fertilizer. Subsequent rain or irrigation will help the fertilizer soak into the soil and provide a slow but steady release of nutrients.