Tomato plants are often grown by seed, so many gardeners choose to plant the seeds in containers or plastic bags to save space and easy care.
Usually, gardeners will sow with a large number of seeds to ensure the quantity is as needed. Many seeds will not germinate or the quality of seedlings is low, so you can sow in large numbers to choose healthy and well-developed young plants.
After the young tomato plants have grown to a certain height, you can transplant them to another larger area for them to begin the process of growth, flowering, and fruiting.
Can you transplant tomato plants? This is extremely necessary and has many specific notes, so do not ignore the detailed information in the article below.
Can You Transplant Tomato Plants?
Sowing seeds in containers or small plastic bags will help you save space and easily care for young tomato plants. In particular, this has many benefits to protect young trees against extreme weather conditions.
However, once the young tomato plants are established, you can transplant them into the ground to give them a large space to grow.
Although transplanting young tomato plants into the ground is not too difficult a technique, you should refer to some information below to ensure they can adapt to the new living environment and facilitate growth.
An important note is that you should not water the day you intend to transplant the tomato plant into the ground because wet soil can cause the roots to break, so the tomato plants will have a lot of trouble sticking to the soil in a new environment.
When Should You Transplant Tomato Plants Into The Ground?
One particular piece of information you should know is that you should only move tomato plants out of the container into the garden when the plants are about 4-5 inches tall and the outside temperature is above 50-55 degrees Fahrenheit at night.
However, before planting tomato plants directly in the ground, you should give the young tomato plants time to acclimate to the soil environment and outdoor climate.
This familiarization process should be done for at least 1 to 2 weeks for the best results.
To make tomato plants adapt to the climate and environment, you need to do the following basic notes:
- Choose an outdoor space that gets a few hours of sunlight each day and is airtight. You should make sure this location does not have too strong a wind to break the young tomato plants.
- The first day: You should bring the young tomato plants to this location for 2 to 3 hours and then return them to the indoor environment or the old location.
- The second day: You can increase the time outdoors from 4-5 hours and have direct sunlight.
- You can do this process for 5-7 days, then you will leave the young tomato plants overnight. You just need to make sure there are no frost, snow, or high winds at night that could break the tree. Do not forget to protect the young plants from animals and insects outside.
- From 7-10 days you can put young tomato plants outdoors with direct sunlight for 10 hours.
The meaning of this is to help young tomato plants adapt to the environment gradually and increase their tolerance when planting in other environments to avoid shock or leaf burn in more harsh environments.
Read more: 4 Causes Of Iron Deficiency In Tomato Plants (And How To Prevent It)
What Are The steps To transplanting Tomato Plants?
To be successful in transplanting tomato plants into the ground, you should ensure a few notes and techniques below.
You should know that if you are transplanting a large number of tomato plants into the ground, you should ensure the basics to avoid the mass death of young plants.
- Space: First, you need to determine the maximum space of a tomato plant to grow and develop. The seed packets from most suppliers will list the full-grown size of each tomato variety, so you can determine the right amount of space to avoid wasting or being too tight and affecting the ability to grow, flower, and their fruit.
- Mark on the ground: Once you have determined the space of each tomato plant, you should mark it on the ground. If possible, plant your tomato plants in a north-south orientation so that they get maximum exposure to the sun each day.
- Dig the hole: After marking in the ground, you will proceed to dig a hole that is about 5-6 inches or depending on the height of the sapling. The degree of the latter can vary depending on the size of the tree and its roots.
- Remove leaves: If your tomato plants are tall and leafy, you should remove the bottom leaves to transplant 1/3 of the height of the plant into the ground. You should not leave any leaves in contact with the ground as this will cause leaf rot and pests to the stem.
- Piling: Young tomato plants are very fragile, so you can pile them to help the tomato plants cling to, to avoid breaking or high winds breaking the stem. When they are solid, you can remove the stakes and proceed to build the trust.
- Watering: After the tomato plant is transplanted into the ground, make sure to provide adequate water for the plant. You can refer to the article on how to water to help tomato plants grow healthy and grow better.
- Mulch: After watering, you should cover the plant with a layer of hummus to keep moisture and protect the roots of the tomato plant.
Conclude
The technique of transplanting tomato plants into the ground is not difficult, you just need to ensure some basic principles to protect young plants when exposed to climate and soil environments.
Transplanting young tomato plants should be done when the temperature is right and the young plants are at a certain age. You should not transplant them when they are too young because the success rate will be very low.
Wish you success and enjoy the ripe tomatoes in your garden!