9 Tomato Growing Myths to Avoid!

When it comes to tomatoes, we've grown hundreds of varieties here at Epic Gardening - and we've tested just about EVERY method of growing them that you can dream up. Growing tomatoes comes with a whole host of interesting advice, tips, and tricks, but also a few myths that simply aren't true. Here are 9 of the most common ones from our journey through the world of tomatoes.

00:00 - Intro
00:20 - Yellow Or Dying Leaves
01:22 - Sauce Tomatoes
02:27 - Tickling Flowers
03:26 - Sun Ripening
03:52 - Pruning Myth
05:18 - Blossom End Rot
06:09 - Vine Ripening
07:37 - Refrigerating Tomatoes
09:32 - Too Much Watering

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[andrearc]

I started cutting my tomatoes at that 50% ripe stage and it stopped my tomatoes from being plagued by tomatoe worms. Thank you for posting this video. It's so informative.

[WARHORSE]

I absolutely love the fact that you all show your tomato plants as they exist naturally, warts and all. It’s a positive reinforcement for me to see a few yellow leaves or dried out branches on the plants when you make the videos. It helps me not freak out when, what I thought where “issues” with my plants, are just nature. Not cleaning everything up to be “Instagram perfect” before filming is very refreshing and it gives me more confidence to know my plants are as “normal” as yours are. Thank you, as always for your refreshing perspectives, positive energies, and super-helpful education. EpicG has a lifelong fan in me!

[alindasue]

My cherry tomatoes produce fruit steadily for a good couple months or so. Last year, after a couple months of picking tomatoes every day, I still had a lot of green tomatoes left on the vine when the frosts started to hit. Before pulling the plants for the year, I picked off about 3 gallons of green tomatoes, figuring I would do something with them. What I ended up doing was snacking on ripe tomatoes every day for the next few weeks as they gradually ripened off the vine in my house. I plan on doing the same with this year's end of season green tomatoes too.

[thepeff]

I was growing some turned garlic in a plastic container by my window with some homegrown compost. A tomato seed sprouted from the compost and I decided to see what would happen and left it there. It strangled out four garlic plants and started climbing my window and is putting down roots in surrounding potted plants. Instead of a trellis I've just been taping the vine to the window. I've been getting some decent cherry tomatoes lately and I plan on propagating the seeds since the tomatoes taste decent and clearly this plant will stop at nothing to survive.

[Toffnm]

Here's another one: You can freeze whole tomatoes! Last year I didn't have the energy to make a whole bucket of sauce so I just pulled the green top off of the tomatoes, threw all of them in a zip lock bag into the freezer, and we've been pulling out whatever we need for stews, soups, sauces etc throughout winter.

[iamjustkiwi]

I gotta say it's weird to me seeing that there are a lot of issues people have with tomatoes because I can't stop them from growing! The various spoiled ones I have tossed into my compost now pop up in ever plant I add the compost to so I just yank out the seedling and replant them somewhere else, and they tolerate it well because of the omnipotence of their stems to grow roots. Now I have like 8 random varieties growing all over my property and it's fun seeing what they come out with!

[karen_james]

Totally agree with you guys on the deep watering your tomato plants. Last year for me I was inconsistent with my watering and every plant got hit with BER. This year I made a concerted effort to be consistent with my watering by checking each plant at the soil level for moisture. If dry an inch down, I’d water. Kept up with regular fertilizing and big difference, I used deep compost as a mulch and nutrition. Not one plant developed BER this year! ❤️

[paulgaras]

One thing to remember about storing ripe tomatoes in the fridge is that tomatoes produce a ton of ethylene. In a closed container or small space like a fridge this could cause the tomatoes not to last as long as one might expect. I do refrigeration contracting and one of my customers is a produce wholesaler. Tomato storage is a big issue for them and over ripening can cost them a lot of money.

[sunflowerhill]

Yep, I agree with all of these! Definitely things I have discovered by trying them out for myself.
You can also save most of the green tomatoes at the end of the season by picking them, and layering them in cardboard boxes, leaving a bit of stem on, stem end facing down. They will ripen gradually in the box, so you get tomatoes way into winter (cool temperate climate where I live in Australia). They just have to have started turning from hard dark green into a paler green with white starting to come through.

[ChipClarkSD]

The main reason Roma and cherry tomatoes are better for sauce is that they have much more pectin which helps thicken the sauce

[pascalxus]

I thought I knew all the basics of tomatoes. But, you guys have taught me several knew things today! I had no idea tomatoes could go in the fridge. and thanks for the comment about bringing tomatoes in at 50% ripeness. My mice won't be happy about that lolz. Keep up the great work guys. You guys are Awesome!

[SandraPerez-tzfw]

Omgosh this year was my first time growing tomatoes from seed. I was beating myself up because the lower leaves kept falling off!! Happy to know that's totally normal. 😁😊

[circuitsalsa]

love seeing the combined perspectives of kevin, jacques, and chris all together in a video <3

[Anjerz]

I follow a few of the Epic tomato tips. I TRY to leave my Everglade bushy when I can. But Florida can be humid, even for Florida varieties so I still get septoria on my leaves and about once or twice a year I have to groom the plant back to almost nothing and hit restart. It works fine for me. Mostly I groom the plant to avoid to much interior growth. I love my giant shaggy everglades tomato. 🍅

[squashit]

I really needed this video! Last couple years I've had a lot of lower dying leaves on my tomatoes and thought I had a HUGE problem and come to find out that it's normal 😅

[bessiewilson]

In Alaska we would wrap green tomatoes in newspaper & have them at Christmas we check them every few weeks

[danikashton]

Thank you for the video! New gardener here in my first year of gardening, and my beefsteak tomatoes just started seriously yellowing at the bottom. I've been trimming them as I notice yellowing in an attempt to stop or prevent disease. It's reassuring to know that I haven't done anything wrong!

[erinsmith]

Thank you for discussing blossom end rot!!! sooo many people keep telling others to put egg shells in their soil next season to fix it

[Cheezyjr]

I had blossom end rot my first year. Tested my soil to see if it was actually calcium deficient. As you said, my soil actually had plenty of calcium. BUT the pH was much higher than recommended for tomatoes (8.5 or so). Which can also interfere with nutrient absorption. I believe higher pH promotes the formation of calcium carbonate which is not bioavailable. I acidified my soil and haven’t had BER since.

[ceecee-thetransplantedgardener]

After 10 years+ of growing tomatoes and cukes in ground with zero problems, I moved them to raised beds (variety of reasons, too long to go into) and man - have I had the issues. It has taken 4 months to decipher watering, fert, and a bunch of other problematics. Very humbling. BUT - I'm hanging in; this video hit many of those points and affirmed my process is right on track. Great vid - Thanks!