When growing plants that bear fruits (like tomatoes), there are some extra things to remember.

Summary:

  1. Have only one tomato plant per pot. Sow 2-3 seeds in the same spot. If more than one seed sprouts, remove the rest.
  2. Tomato flowers are self-pollinating, but it can be a good idea to shake them a bit to improve pollination.
  3. Some tomato plants need to be pruned, but not all. Check which type you are growing.
  4. The Auk is great for pre-cultivating tomato plants.

How to sow

We recommend having only one tomato plant per pot and a maximum of two tomato plants in the Auk at a time. If you have more plants, there will be less light for each plant. This will make them a bit spindly, and they will have fewer flowers and less fruit.

You can sow 2-3 seeds in the same spot in a pot. If more than one seed sprouts, remove the extra plants so you only have one plant left. If you don't want to throw away the plants you remove, you can re-pot them outside of the Auk. 

 

Pruning tomato plants

Whether a tomato plant needs pruning depends on which type of plant it is. There are two different types: determinate and indeterminate (determinate types are also called bush tomatoes).

Only the indeterminate types need to be pruned because they can grow almost unlimitedly (the world's tallest measured 20 meters!). The determinate types does not get very big and they stop growing when they reach a certain size. 

We sell three different tomato seeds in our online store: Twiggy orange, Cocktail tomato, and Tarzan tomato, but the Tarzan tomato is the only one that is indeterminate and needs pruning.

 

Here are the essential tips on how to prune:

Remove side shoots. These are shoots that come out above the leaves that grow down the stem. They are also called "suckers." All side shoots should be removed:


Trim the top shoots if the plant becomes too tall. If the top shoots grow beyond the light, you should trim them. Keep as many flowers/tomato clusters as possible (you may need to remove some to reduce height). Here, for example, we trim right above a flower cluster:

 

Pollination

For tomatoes to grow, the flowers must be pollinated. This is the fertilization of the flowers, which are the plant's reproductive organs.

Tomato plants are self-pollinating, which means that the flowers pollinate themselves. However, it may be wise to help them to ensure that as many flowers as possible are pollinated. You can do this by regularly shaking the plant or blowing on the flowers.

 

Pre-cultivation

Auk is excellent for pre-cultivating tomato plants, which you can re-pot for them to grow outdoors or in a greenhouse.

When pre-cultivating, we recommend 1-5 plants in each of the six pots. The number of seeds depends on how big you want the plants to be before repotting them.

The plants can be repotted at any time after they sprout. If they are to grow outside or in a greenhouse, it depends mainly on when the temperature is suitable. The night temperature should be at least 8 degrees Celsius, and if you are not going to use a greenhouse, they must be placed in a protected, sunny spot for them to thrive.

 

Is there anything else you are wondering about? Do not hesitate to contact us or check out more articles :)