Growing Tomatoes in Florida
Tomatoes are a warm season crop that loves full sunlight and cannot tolerate frost. There's so many different varieties to choose from with harvest ranging from 60-110 days. Tomatoes can be started in North Florida in February or March after the last frost date has passed. For Central Florida planting can begin in early February just be mindful of potential frost. We have another planting season in September and October in Central Florida as well. For my South Floridians you can start planting in August up until March. Tomatoes will not produce if the weather is too hot so be sure to grab heat loving varieties such as Green Zebra, Cherokee Purple, and Floradade while also planting at a decent time.
Green Zebra
Floradade Tomato
Starting tomato seeds are fairly simple, just grab a container with drainage at the bottom and fill it up with potting mix or your own form of lightweight soil. Be sure your soil is fairly warm as the seeds will not germinate if the temperature is below 50 Degrees. Ideal temperature is between 70-80 Degrees F. You can space seeds a inch or two apart or just drop your seeds in the container as tomatoes do fine with transplanting! Once seeds get their second leaves you can begin to fertilize. After seeds have reached
about 3-6 inches tall feel free to transplant into your garden or a new larger container. The bigger the container the better but tomatoes are warriors and will do well in a 12 or 18” deep container as long as you feed them (fertilize). As your baby grows be sure to prune off unwanted stems and offer a trellis to keep the leaves safe and happy. Tomatoes love nitrogen, phosphorus, calcium, and potassium. Composting is great for tomatoes along with banana water, grass clippings, animal manure, and tomatoes itself (fruits, stems)! After the fruit has set be sure to pick when they are ripe or close to ripeness for the best taste and nutrients. Before rainfall blesses us be sure to grab your ripe tomatoes as many can split and invite mold or flies becoming unwanted for eating or saving. Tomato hornworms, stink bugs, aphids, leafminers, and whiteflies are very common pests found on tomato plants. To control these unwanted critters you can handpick them, invite wasps, and get rid of unhealthy plants or leaves. Wasps love sweet smells such as fruit trees along with bright colored flowers like sunflowers or herbs that produce nectar such as dill. Tomatoes also are known to love basil plants which pests don't enjoy due to its strong aroma so planting herbs nearby will be a great benefit as well!
Tomatoes are one of the easiest plants to grow with the extremely high yields! I’d recommend any beginner gardener to grab some seeds and give it a go!
FUN FACT: China produces the most tomatoes in the world! Within the US California produces the most tomatoes with Florida right behind them.