Figure 6.—Cultivating and side-dressing tomatoes.
Another critical stage in tomato growth comes when much fruit has been set in the clusters and demands upon plant and soil are especially heavy. At this stage, side dressing with nitrogen is helpful in maintaining plant growth and providing resources for growth and maturing of fruit. On sandy or nutrient-deficient soils, more than one side dressing may be advisable. Sodium nitrate is commonly used but other materials are suitable after the soil has warmed up. Side dressing with fertilizer in solution has been recommended recently by Tiedjens of New Jersey.
III
THE BEST IN SEED IS NONE
TOO GOOD
A tomato crop may be much poorer than the seed from which it grows but it can be no better.
The tomato seed is short-oval and flattened in shape, covered thickly with short silky hairs. The embryo or baby plant is coiled in a spiral and imbedded in the endosperm (reserve food supply). Three or four years is generally given as the life of the seed but it often remains viable much longer—up to 10 or 12 years in extreme cases. Good seed should germinate 85% to 90%.
Tomato seed sprouts readily, requiring fairly warm temperature, say, 70° to 75° F. for best results. It germinates very slowly at 40° to 50° F.