Dave “The Tomato Guy” Freed will help you grow great tomatoes
I’m Dave Freed, the tomato guy. What’s in store for you on this website? Why should you take the time to check out my website instead of the hundreds of others? Look at the photo below. That’s me with three tomato plants as featured in the Los Angeles Times. The plants — two “Better Boy” and one “Big Beef” — each individual plant has more than 100 pounds of tomatoes hanging from their vines.
Thanks!
Dave Freed / the Tomato Guy
Other websites will not show pictures of tomatoes like you see on this website. You will see great looking tomatoes. The plants were all grown by me and more pictures will be coming. I tell you, “If I can do it, you can do it” because I show and tell you everything I do. As you look at the tomato gallery of pictures, click each picture for a larger view and description.
After looking at the pictures, scroll through “Tomato Growing Advice” and if you don’t find answers to a question, you are welcome to email me at davethetomatoguy@gmail.com. I’m pretty good at getting back to you. I want you to be successful.
In some pictures, leaves have been cut away to show the loads of tomatoes different varieties of tomato plants can produce. You will see plants grown in self-watering containers, you will see tomato plants 3-4 foot tall loaded with 50 to more than 100 6-10 ounce tomatoes. Also, in containers you will see 7 foot- plus tall plants loaded with 150 to over 200 …. 6-8 ounce tomatoes.
You will see some plants in the ground can produce over 100 pounds of tomatoes from a single plant. If I can do it, you can do it. I’ll show you how. If you don’t have a “Green Thumb,” I’ll give you one. It’s as simple as I’ll give you a shopping list of things to pick up, you purchase the products on the list and follow a few simple steps …that’s all it takes and you will grow tomatoes easily!
A hint on when to pick tomatoes. We tend to pick too soon. Wait until that tomato is a little soft…..just because it’s the right color does not mean it’s the right ripeness! You will see a big difference in flavor. You are welcome to share this information with others—family, friends and clubs, etc.
Tomato plants in the pictures you see were grown by me. Most of what’s written is based on my actual experience growing those homegrown tomatoes. I pass my experience on to you. I want you to be successful so you in turn can pass your success on to others.
Need a good tomato speaker for you next meeting or get-together? A 45 minute-1 hour slideshow/PowerPoint presentation by Dave the Tomato Guy on how to easily grow tomatoes followed by a question and answer session. Google Dave the Tomato Guy and you can see other…
It was quite an honor to be featured in the Los Angeles Times weekend Gardening Section. Yes, I was both shocked and surprised when I received the email asking for an interview……and the rest is history….. “You can do it your way if you want,"…
What are the basics to growing tomatoes? The following are “cut-to-the-chase” shortcuts so you can plant your tomato plants right away. Go to Growing Advice and look up and check off/be aware of each of the following. Once you have started growing, bookmark the website…
Should you start with live plants or seed? Live plants are the easiest. I only plant seeds if I can’t find a live plant. What size tomato plants should you to buy? Avoid six plants in a container pony packs if you can. Many times…
In the following pictures, leaves have been cut away to show the loads of tomatoes different varieties of tomato plants can produce. You will see plants grown in self-watering containers, you will see tomato plants 3-4 foot tall loaded with 50 to more than 100 6-10oz…
Plus or minus four hours of sunshine for smaller tomatoes such as cherry Tomatoes. Larger size tomatoes need more sunshine, 8-10-12 hours. If you are not sure you have enough sunshine plant those tomatoes anyway. Books say tomato plants need at least 4 hours of…
The bag must say either potting soil or potting mix, these terms are interchangeable. How to use these potting soils/potting mixes in each type of planting application such as pots, containers, raised beds, regular backyard dirt, etc. will be explained in each of those separate…
What size pot, container should you use for tomatoes? For typical varieties of tomato plants use a very minimum of 15 gallon container. The smaller the container size the more often you will need to water, the smaller root system you will have resulting in…
Raised beds, raised planters are a great way to grow tomatoes and garden vegetables. A raised bed puts great soil for planting on top of your poor soil. How to make your own raised bed from scratch? Google it—you will find zillions of suggestions. And…
Maximize plant growth with deep watering pipes For each of your tomatoes, dig holes 18-24 inches wide and about 18-24 inches deep. Space the holes 3½-4 feet apart, 4 feet is best if you have the room. That soil you dug out of the hole…
Full grown mature tomato plants can easily use 2-3 gallons of water daily, sometimes more. Some may use 4-5 gallons daily. How do I know this? I make and use SelfWatering containers and pots. The containers/pots have a water reservoir in the bottom holding 3-4…
What fertilizer is best for tomatoes? Always use a liquid fertilizer or a granular fertilizer that dissolves in water to become a liquid and a fertilizer made for tomatoes/vegetables. Liquids are taken up by the plant almost immediately... As the roots take up water, the…
Organic and made from steer manure, manure tea helps your tomato plants grow large deep green leaves and loads of tomatoes. Make a “Steer Manure Tea” and pour around the base of your tomato plants. As we talked in fertilizers, liquid nutrients are taken up…
Each flower contains both the male and female parts. Inside of the same blossom, the male part drops pollen onto the female part. Pollination happens mostly by the wind, a breeze moving the flower/blossom. Then bingo! That blossom is pollinated and a baby tomato is…
Why do you need heavy duty tomato cages? You are going to grow big tomato plants and you want to keep the fruit up off the ground. How to make your own heavy duty tomato cages using concrete mesh wire? You can buy a 150…
There is really no right or wrong in pruning and if you don't prune at all, you will still have plenty of tomatoes. So, why should you prune tomato plants? Let’s cut to the chase:If your plant is growing out of control, it’s OK to…
What are dwarf tomatoes? Dwarf tomatoes produce regular size tomatoes from plants smaller in size to accommodate smaller spaces. Ideal for pots and containers and those small areas. Dwarf tomatoes have been the talk of the town. A few years ago, grafted tomatoes were the talk…
When should you pick your homegrown tomatoes? For the best of vine ripened tomatoes, I don’t pick tomatoes until I’m ready to eat them... When are homegrown tomatoes at their best flavor? Look for these signs to pick for vine ripened flavor: They have turned…
The most important factors when growing in containers will be container size and using great potting soil/ potting Mix. Size of container. For typical varieties of tomato plants use a minimum of 15 gallon containers; 20 gallon is better and 25 gallon is ideal. 1…
Let’s talk general solutions to tomato pests and diseases...
First and most importantly, grow a healthy tomato plant. We covered this elsewhere on the site, review if necessary.
Like us, tomato plants that are weak and frail usually get sick. Say your once healthy tomato plant looks a little sick. What to do? Discolored leaves falling off, wilting, bugs. Whatever. We think, “Let’s ask the experts." Some expert somewhere must know the answer. The internet has what seems like 100s of possible cures.
We post a picture of the problem and get 50 different remedies from 50 different people. Then we take a leaf to the local nursery for help. The local nursey is ready to sell us a slew of products that might help.
Sometimes we leave thinking maybe we may know more than the nursey employee. That’s how we normally proceed on sick plants.
So what should we do about a sick tomato? First, we don’t always need a specific diagnosis. We need to do more of those things that generally fix sick tomato plants. When tomato leaves are dying and falling off the tomato, usually it’s a "fungus” problem. We don’t need to know the specific fungus. There are 100s and 100s of different types of fungus. I don’t spend all day trying to figure out which specific fungus it is. First do something that generally treats/cures fungus and sick tomato plants in general. That’s what you’re going to read about in this section.
When your tomato plant has bugs? Take you garden hose and spray off the bugs. Do it in the morning so your plant has all day to dry.
If your tomato plant is really bad?? Pull it out and put in another new healthy little guy. You’re not running a tomato hospital.
In this section you will read a few of the common problems with some helpful solutions on powdery mildew fungus, fungus in general, spider mites, blossom end rot, root knot nematodes.
I don’t generally use pesticides, never needed to. Even with some disease every year, we always have plenty of tomatoes.
Grow healthy tomato plants! That is most important way to control pests and diseases. Just like humans, the weak, frail and stressed catch illnesses. To grow a healthy tomato plant, remember we need: Enough sunshine Good soil Right amount of water Fertilizer To pick a…
Sulfur dust prevents most types fungus, including powdery mildew, from spreading. Sulfur dust also prevents spider mites from infesting your tomatoes. You must purchase sulfur dust, not sulfur powder. Sulfur powder is too coarse. Sulfur dust is very, very fine ... exactly what you need.…
So, how do you control spider mites? The spider mites typically seen on tomatoes are kind of orange-red in color. Once you have an infestation it’s very difficult to get rid of them as they are on the underside of leaves and not easily seen.…
Every year people ask about blossom end rot—a dark leathery spot on the bottom of the tomato. Your plant will continue to bloom and set fruit until the end of the season. It’s pretty common and especially so with tomato plants growing in containers. It’s…
What makes you think you have nematodes? Many times it’s just poor soil conditions and someone telling you it’s probably nematodes , tomato root knot nematodes. What are nematodes? There are good nematodes and there are bad nematodes. Root knot nematodes are bad pests; they are…
There are hundreds of types of powdery mildew. Pictured below is what powdery mildew commonly looks like. It usually starts down low and towards the center of the plant and works it way upwards. Sulfur dust is an organic way to protect your plants against powdery…
Everyone encounters hot weather. Tomatoes enjoy days that are about 75 degrees. Once temperatures exceed 85 degrees most tomato plants will tell you it’s too hot to bear tomatoes. In this section we talk about how to help your tomatoes during hot weather.
Hot weather is the enemy of tomatoes. I live in Southern California and hot temps, especially inland, begin to ramp up as summer comes on. If you are on the coast or in the mountains and do not experience excessive heat, you can plant normally; you…
What is mulching? In your regular backyard soil/raised beds, mulching is adding a three, four or even five inches deep of a coarse compost type mulch on the ground soil around your tomato plants. I use straw. Why is mulching with a thick layer of…
During sunny hot weather the hot sun may sunburn/sunscald your tomatoes. Best to make some shade for that especially-hot-afte-2 p.m. sun if you can. 50% shade cloth works well and is simple to use. Most shade cloth sold in big box stores is about 75%.…
If you want to plant tomatoes during hot weather months try some of those labeled “heat tolerant.” These plant varieties can tolerate the heat and produce pollen and tomatoes when the temperature is above 85 degrees. Heat tolerant tomatoes will have names like Solar Fire,…
I teach to you and others, on Zoom and in person at little or no cost how to grow tomatoes easily. I enjoy this, it’s my hobby. I don’t do it for an income but do have some expenses. A $5/$10 or even $20 donation occasionally is appreciated. Because of your donations, I went from a blogsite that cost little or nothing to this website. Visits to the blogsite/website exceeded 100,000 annually in less than 5 years. I’m thinking next I would like to do more YouTube videos. Short 2-3 minute segments covering most of the subjects detailed in the website. We’ll see.
You have seen pictures of tomato plants loaded with tomatoes, you see the results. And then I tell you exactly how I do it so you can do it too. Once you can do it—you can then help your friends, neighbors, and relatives do the same thing. Anyone can write about how to grow tomatoes but when you see the pictures, you can see I know what I’m doing. I’m not a scientist. I learned mostly from experience and I continue learning and I pass that on to you. In addition to tomatoes, my techniques, methods, specific recommendations apply to most all vegetables. Vegetables will be bigger and in more abundance. We need more home vegetable and tomato gardens. Many younger parents want to teach their children how to grow a vegetable garden. What could be healthier than growing a vegetable garden and home grown tomatoes at home? And it’s not that difficult. I’m always happy to help when I can.Use your search engine/Google — Dave Freed the tomato guy — see things I have been doing and what others have to say about me.
Advertising? You don’t see any on my website. I don’t accept any form of advertising, money or free products in exchange for promoting other people’s products. I have had offers. I don’t accept the offers because I want to always show and suggest products to you that work best for growing tomatoes and not products that others pay me to promote.
When you have suggestions and ideas I always enjoy hearing from you.
My email: davethetomatoguy@gmail.com.
That’s my story, my cause, my mission. I appreciate any help you can give.
Thanks!Dave Freed / the Tomato Guy
Improving your soil is probably the best way to grow better tomatoes.
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