How do I tutor tomatoes?

There are several ways to tutor your tomatoes, so they can grow properly. Here are our top tips.

Tutoring, what's the point?

In addition to helping your tomatoes grow, tutoring protects the fruits from diseases, to which they are more prone when they stay close to the ground. And when you grow tomatoes, it's to eat them... So it's in your best interest to preserve them as best you can!

The other argument in favour of tutoring is simply your comfort: it will be much easier for you to pick your tomatoes when they are ripe if your feet are properly tutored.

And then, between us... What could be nicer than growing a well-ordered vegetable garden? You will at least agree on one point: just by taking a look at it, you immediately want to pamper fruits and vegetables!

Tutoring well, how to use it

First of all and whatever you choose as to the tutor you will use, remember to plant it before your plants. This way, you will avoid damaging them. To do this, push your stem by at least a third, so that it is strong enough on the day your plants have grown, and will therefore weigh a certain weight.

Tutoring: what type of tutors to use?

The most difficult choice when you start tutoring your tomatoes is necessarily... That of tutors, or tutoring technique! Here's a list of the different ways you can do this:

• The simple tutor: this is the most commonly used technique, simply because it is also the easiest. It is a matter of planting a stake,made of wood or iron, before wrapping your tomato plants as they grow. Among the most economical, this process can be used regardless of the variety of tomato planted;

• The advantage of the simple tutor, the spiral tutor: the advantage is that it will make it easier to palnate - attaching the stems to the guardian - since the plants will naturally wrap around the stem. To improve this system, you can also connect your tutors by a wire,horizontally. This way, you can wrap your tomatoes high, allowing them to hold easily, in addition to sunbathing more;

• V-shaped tutor: To set it up, simply tilt your stakes slightly inwards, and unite them at the top, giving an inverted Vshape. Wrap an arm of your tomatoes at each stake,which will make it much easier for the sun to reach your plants. This method can also be used for bean and other vegetables that need a lot of sun. In the same idea, you can also plant 3 stakes, which will give a teepee shape to your installations;

• tutor on the ground: do not hesitate to delineate a small tray, with wooden planks, to plant your cherry tomatoes. There is no need for paling in this case, it is simply to prevent the plants from scattering by preventing them from spreading beyond the square you have created;

• Greenhouse: The advantage in the greenhouse is that you can hang a piece of string hanging from the top of the greenhouse, and then wrap your plants around it. You won't have to disburse yourself to palpate, in addition to having tomatoes well protected from the weather;

• The lattice tutor: hanging on a wall, planted in a pot, it makes it easy to straighten your plantations up to about 1 meter in height. This type of tutoring has the advantage of being particularly solid.

Water well once the plants are tutored

Once you have found the right guardian, think about the maintenance and needs of your plants. Don't hesitate to listen regularly if you have opted for a simple tutor, for example. However, make sure your links aren't too tight... It would be a shame to damage or break tomato arms by attaching them to your stakes!

Also, consider watering your tomatoes. Just because they have been tutored doesn't mean they will grow on their own: they will need water! For watering, there are other possibilities than browsing your vegetable garden with a watering can. You can invest in water tank tutors, which are very easy to find in the trade - of course, you have to pay slightly more than for the purchase of traditional tutors.

Finally, don't hesitate to find out about the varieties of tomatoes you intend to plant: indeed, the watering, the need for sunlight (or not) of your fruit will differ depending on their variety. That's why you'll have to adapt your choice of tutor to the plants you've selected. It's up to you!

Check out our selection of tutors on Multitanks.com!