Give each plant enough space. Water appropriately for your climate and the plants needs. Fertilize perfectly. Provide ample sunlight for the plant. Support. Monitor regularly for pest and disease. If you nail the cultural practices you will have tomatoes like you won't believe.
Lono – For Improved Yield
Lono is Levity's flagship nitrogen fertilizer which greatly improves fruit number and size and promotes good root growth. Lono provides tomatoes with 'Stabilized Amine Nitrogen' which focuses growth on fruit development rather than vegetative growth.
Maintaining a leaf area index of 3 will maximize fruit growth. Hand thinning of tomatoes on the end of a truss ensures more evenly sized, larger fruit. The use of growth regulators such as auxins at anthesis can stimulate fruit set, and increase fruit size especially under low light and low temperature conditions.
The baking soda absorbs into the soil and lowers its acidity levels giving you tomatoes that are more sweet than tart. Although I haven't done this with every plant on my patio, having a few extra sweet nuggets to mix into a fresh tomato salad has been a wonderful discovery!
Potassium (K)
Potassium is essential for optimal tomato growth and quality. Potassium nitrate is the recommended source because the nitrate form facilitates easy potassium uptake by the plant.
Pruning at the right time directs energy toward creating and ripening fruit instead of making more leaves. Overall, you will probably have fewer fruit on a pruned plant, but it will be bigger.
Give them consistent watering (deep and infrequent trumps a daily sprinkle), well-draining soil (incorporate generous helpings of compost into beds or containers at planting time), plenty of heat and light (direct, unobstructed sunshine for a minimum of 6 hours daily is best) and a slow-release, balanced fertilizer ...
Removing mature tomatoes from your plants earlier lightens the load on your plant. Too many tomatoes on one plant will slow down the production of new blossoms. By removing full-grown tomatoes sooner and allowing new blossoms to form faster you could increase your yields.
Most tomato pruning involves removing suckers -- the shoots that form in the axils where side branches meet the stem. Remove suckers when they're small by pinching them off with your hand or snipping them with pruners. If your goal is to maximize the harvest, prune suckers sparingly.
The most common cause for small tomatoes is stressed plants. When plants are experiencing stressing circumstances, such as extreme drought or heat, insect infestation, or disease, they oftentimes stop sending their energy into flower or fruit production.
Prune off about a third of the leaves (and flowers, if any are present) at the top of the plant, removing the newest, smallest leaves. This will stimulate the plant to branch out lower on the stem, and eventually to produce flowers and fruit throughout its height.
Most beefsteak tomatoes are vining and need strong, tall cages or stakes to keep their copious stems and heavy fruits in check. Even with cages, their stems will outgrow their bounds. This is why pruning is essential. Good pruning may reduce the number of fruits, resulting in larger tomatoes.
Water correctly: Do not overwater. The first week tomato plants are in the ground, they need water every day, but back off watering after the first week, slowly weaning the plants down to 1 to 1.5 inches of water per week.
You help make tomatoes grow bigger by pruning plants, it may sound counterintuitive but trimming plants rewards you with larger tomatoes. Pruning tomatoes is vital when growing indeterminate tomato varieties as suckers can divert energy away from fruits as they develop.
Tomatoes are prone to magnesium deficiency later in the growing season, which can show with yellowing leaves and diminished production. Ultra Epsom Salt treatments at the beginning of their planting and throughout their seasonal life can help to prevent and remedy magnesium deficiency in your tomato plants.
Tomatoes thrive in loamy soils with good drainage and high organic matter content. Adding composted coffee grounds to planting beds is a great way to build healthy soil for tomato planting but won't provide all the required nutrients.
Tomato plants have big appetites and need a steady supply of plant food to grow their best. Miracle-Gro® Performance Organic® Edibles Plant Nutrition Granules feeds both your plants and the beneficial microbes in the soil (which help plants take up all the nutrition they need) for up to 6 weeks.
Second when tomatos begin to appear and are about 1 inch in diameter lightly sprinkle baking soda around each plant to make them sweeter. Repeat this process again when tomatoes are about half grown.
The salacylic acid of aspirin mimics a hormone in tomato plants. If you do a Google search you will see a lot of documentation on this fact. The hormone naturally triggers a defense response in tomatoes.