Warm-season and frost-tender. Start indoors 4 to 6 weeks before your last frost; plant out 2 to 3 weeks after your last frost. First harvest 52 to 90 days from planting.
Put in your ZIP code to see when to start, plant and harvest tomatoes where you live, from your own frost dates.
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From seed to harvest
SowSeed goes inWeek 0
SproutFirst shoots showWeek 1–2
Plant outSet out transplantsWeek 6–8
FlowersFlowers openWeek 9–12
Fruit setsSmall fruit formsWeek 10–13
HarvestReady to pickWeek 14–20
How to plant and grow
Start seeds indoors
Sow seeds 1/4 inch deep about 4 to 6 weeks before your last frost. Keep the tray warm, around 75 to 85 °F, until sprouts appear, then give them bright light.
Harden off seedlings
About a week before planting out, set seedlings outside for a few hours a day and lengthen the time daily so they adjust to sun and wind.
Plant out deep
About 2 to 3 weeks after your last frost, once soil is above 60 °F, set plants 2 to 3 feet apart. Bury the stem deeper than it grew in the pot.
Stake or cage
Add stakes or cages at planting time. Tall vining types can reach 5 feet or more and need support to keep fruit off the ground.
Water evenly
Give about 1 to 2 inches of water a week, soaking deeply rather than often. Even moisture helps prevent cracked fruit and blossom end rot.
Mulch warm soil
Once the soil has warmed, spread a few inches of straw or other organic mulch to hold moisture and keep soil from splashing onto leaves.
Pick when colored
Harvest when fruits reach full color and give slightly. Fruit ripens roughly a month after the flower is pollinated, depending on heat and variety.
What you'll see: Brown spots with rings like a target and a yellow edge show on the lowest leaves first. Leaves yellow and drop from the bottom up.
Prevent
Rotate: no tomatoes, tomatillos, potatoes, peppers or eggplant in that bed for 2 years or more.
Mulch so soil does not splash onto leaves.
Stake and space plants, and water at the base.
Grow resistant varieties.
Organic options
Pick off spotted leaves early, never more than a third of the plant, and bin them.
Copper fungicide, from the first spots. Look for OMRI Listed products.
Conventional options
Chlorothalonil or mancozeb, from the first spots, if the crop is on the label; tomato labels do not cover tomatillos. Most home plants still yield well.
Bee caution: Don't spray open flowers. Spray in the late evening, when bees aren't flying.
What you'll see: Many small round spots with dark edges and pale centers, each with tiny black dots, on the lower leaves. Leaves yellow and drop; the fruit is not hit.
Prevent
Grow tomatoes in a different bed for 3 years.
Clear and dispose of infected plants at season's end; do not compost them.
Mulch, water at the base, and space plants so leaves dry.
Organic options
Pick off spotted lower leaves, but not too many.
Copper fungicide. Look for OMRI Listed products.
Conventional options
Chlorothalonil or mancozeb. Most home tomatoes do not need a fungicide for it.
Bee caution: Don't spray open flowers. Spray in the late evening, when bees aren't flying.
What you'll see: Large, dark, greasy-looking blotches on leaves and stems spread fast in cool, wet weather, with white mold beneath. Fruit and tubers rot.
Prevent
Do not plant where tomatoes, tomatillos, potatoes, peppers or eggplant grew in the last 3 to 4 years.
Plant certified seed potatoes and pull volunteer potatoes.
Keep leaves dry: water at the base in the morning and space plants.
Grow resistant varieties.
Organic options
Pull and bag infected plants at once; do not compost them.
Copper fungicide, before infection, when late blight is reported nearby. Look for OMRI Listed products.
Conventional options
Chlorothalonil or mancozeb, before infection, if the crop is on the label; tomato labels do not cover tomatillos. Sprays protect leaves; they do not cure.
Bee caution: Don't spray open flowers. Spray in the late evening, when bees aren't flying.
Photo: “Blossom end rot” by A13ean, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons (cropped). The cropped version is shared under the same licence.
Blossom-end rotGrowing problemNo spray helps
What you'll see: A sunken, leathery dark patch forms on the bottom end of the fruit. It is not a disease: the fruit ran short of calcium, almost always because watering was uneven.
Prevent
Water deeply and evenly; drip irrigation on a timer helps.
Mulch to keep soil moisture steady.
Test the soil before planting and lime only if the test calls for it.
Go easy on ammonium nitrogen fertilizer.
Organic options
Even watering and mulch fix it. Pick off affected fruit.
Conventional options
Same as organic. Calcium sprays do not work: leaves cannot move calcium into the fruit.
Photo: “Manduca quinquemaculata 2” by Thierry Pierrard photographies, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (cropped). The cropped version is shared under the same licence.
Tomato hornwormPest
What you'll see: Leaves and green fruit stripped overnight, with dark green droppings on the leaves below. A big green caterpillar with a horn at the tail.
Prevent
Check plants every few days from midsummer.
Look on stems and leaf undersides; droppings below give them away.
Organic options
Pick them off by hand.
Bt (Bacillus thuringiensis kurstaki) or spinosad on small caterpillars.
Leave any carrying white cocoons; wasps are killing them.
Conventional options
Same as organic. Most gardens need no spray.
Bee caution: Don't spray open flowers. Spray in the late evening, when bees aren't flying.
Fusarium wiltDiseaseNo spray helps
What you'll see: Lower leaves yellow, often on one side of the plant, and the plant wilts and dies. A cut stem shows brown streaks inside.
Prevent
Grow resistant varieties; on tomatoes look for F on the label.
Buy healthy transplants and clean seed.
Rotate for several years; the fungus lives a long time in soil.
Keep soil pH near neutral and avoid too much nitrogen.
Organic options
Pull and remove infected plants.
Conventional options
None. No spray controls fusarium wilt.
Read and follow the product label: it is the law. It sets the rate, the crops it is for, and the days between spraying and picking. Products registered vary by state; for organic growing, look for products allowed under the USDA National Organic Program (OMRI Listed). We name active ingredients, not brands or rates.
The link opens this growing guide, so anyone can read it and look up their own planting dates.
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Sow
Sprout
Plant out
Flowers
Fruit sets
Harvest
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