During the wet season, you will need to plant tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, beans and some other vegetables. The reason is that any prolonged contact of the fruit with the soil will be lead to rot and waste. I don’t think you want to lose part of your expected farm income!
In addition to rotting, the fruit also loses much of its market appeal due to the discoloration of the underside, especially for cucumbers, and if this happens, the money the buyer expects to pay will certainly be reduced. Sealing also increases ventilation on farms and, consequently, reduces morbidity. Disease is definitely your number one enemy and often beats your teeth and nails with your harvest to reduce their yields and increase your profits. A well-laid crop allows you to easily perform routine work on the farm, such as exploration, spraying, weeding and harvesting.
The tomato plant may begin to rot during flowering, causing the end of the fruit to turn brown. If the rain has been intermittent, your tomato plants are not getting enough nutrition, especially calcium, because the soil is dry and unable to provide the plant with proper nutrients. To fix this, be sure to put mulch in your garden to retain moisture, and don’t just rely on rain to water your garden. Water your garden when you don’t have enough rain to keep the soil constantly moist. If splitting or cracking occurs, remove bad tomatoes and spray calcium chloride on the tumor.
Dealing with Insects
Heavy, heavy rain can be helpful when it comes to pest control on your tomato plants. Rain can help protect your tomato plants from spider mites that are barely visible to the human eye, and tiny pear-shaped aphids that like to hang on leaves. The pressure of heavy rain can restrain these insects by washing them away. If there has been no heavy rain for a long time, soap water or a chemical spray may be needed to control the insects.
Bright red glossy look of tomatoes may look like a “harvest of the rainy season”, but this is not the case. It is not recommended to grow tomatoes in the rainy season. Tomatoes are 95% water and need proper sunlight, nutrient-rich soil and smart watering to thrive. The best time to grow tomatoes is before or after the rainy season, as the growth of tomatoes is mainly controlled by watering them. Although rainwater is good for the tomato plant because it contains a pH scale of about 6.2, uncontrolled watering can damages the tomato crop.
The PH level refers to the acid / alkaline level. A pH level below 7.0 indicates an acidic nature, while a pH level above 7.0 indicates an alkaline nature. Each crop thrives best under different circumstances, and tomatoes grow best in acidic soil with a pH of about 6.8. Tap water usually offers a pH level of 7.2. However, rainwater maintains a pH of about 6.8. Therefore, rain feeds the tomato crop, supplementing the soil with phosphorus, manganese and boron; all this stimulates a healthy tomato harvest.
My Pest control tip
During the rainy season, it is quite natural that you will face many problems with diseases, including bacterial and fungal. With such thinking, it is desirable to play an offensive role, not a defensive one. Do not wait until you see the disease before taking precautions. Have a pre-determined protocol at hand and apply within the deadline. There are also preventive and curative remedies, but once the disease is allowed, you will definitely allow a reduction in the potential yield.
The Pest Control Protocol also applies to disease control, but you may not need to apply regularly, as in disease control applications. Depending on the crops in question, you may need to wait before applying pest control measures. However, it is important to conduct adequate reconnaissance every time, because most pests, especially insects, are not visible to the naked eye from afar. Go through your farm and check the leaves by the side; that’s where most insects hide.
Do you know that weeds are a pest? You probably should have had them during this period. Whether you manage manually or otherwise, you need to do it regularly before they become competing forces that affect your yields. Read more about this in our previous article on agrochemical protocols.
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How I Successfully Grow My Tomatoes In The Rainy Season
To have the best chance of successfully planting and growing tomatoes, transplant tomatoes in the garden after the last average date of frost in your area. Although seeds can be sown directly in the garden and plants can be grown to ripening in warm areas, most successful tomato gardeners buy a transplant or start the seeds indoors six to eight weeks before their mid-frost.
Plant small bush varieties of tomatoes at a distance of 24 inches from each other and larger varieties, especially sprawling growing indeterminate plants, at a distance of 36-48 inches, in rows at a distance of 36 inches.
To transplant tomatoes most likely to succeed, plant them deep so that half of the plant is underground. This planting depth is unique to tomato plants because, unlike other vegetable plants, tomato plants can form roots along the stems. Additional roots help to strengthen the plant and give more opportunities for the absorption of water and nutrients, which is especially useful when starting with high, long-legged transplants.
To give the tomato transplant a better chance of growing more successfully, cut the lower leaves of the transplant and insert the root ball into the planting hole deep enough so that only the upper group of leaves protrudes above the ground. If the transplant is exceptionally tall and long-legged, take a trowel and dig a trench 4-6 inches deep in the soil. Place the plant sideways in the trench and turn the upper part of the stem vertically so that the upper cluster of leaves falls out of the ground. This helps to level the plant.
How I manage to keep the tomatoes healthy in wet weather
- Mulch-can be used both organic and inorganic. Be careful if your plastic culture is impermeable to air and water, heavy constant rainfall can saturate the soil and drown the roots if the soil cannot dry out. Mulch also acts as a barrier to prevent soil-borne fungal spores from the lower leaves of tomatoes.
- Fertility – Constant rainfall can remove fertility from the soil, making it inaccessible to plants. Carefully monitor the growth and health of plants to avoid nutrient deficiencies. Foliar fertilization can be used when the soil is too saturated to water with water-soluble fertilizers.
- Pruning – promote air circulation by pruning the lower leaves. Try to minimize the contact of the lower leaves with the soil. Use sterilized secateurs to remove diseased leaves and do not forget to put diseased leaves in the trash, not in the compost after pruning.
Caring for my tomato plants
After the soil warms up, mulch the plants with a layer of organic mulch 2 to 3 inches thick, such as straw or finely chopped chips, to prevent weeds and maintain soil moisture. Mulch is also necessary for the successful cultivation of tomatoes, as it prevents the soil from spraying and soil-borne diseases on the leaves during rain. At the end of the season, enrich the soil with mulch. It will decompose and add valuable nutrients for the next season.
Tomatoes grow most successfully when they have constant humidity. If it rains less than 1 inch a week, add watering. From a sprinkler standpoint, it’s 20 minutes three times a week. To prevent disease, avoid wetting the leaves. Use a watering can or stick to deliver water directly to the root zones, or use a drip irrigation system.
Learning when to fertilize tomatoes is as easy as tracking the fruit: When they are the size of golf balls, fertilize tomato plants with a balanced plant diet, such as 5-5-5 or organic fertilizers. Although these plants do not need to be pruned, it is good to remove all the shoots growing between the main stem and branch. These shoots take energy from the plants, which can go to the branches that grow fruit.
The best tomato seeds for the rainy season
In the rainy season, abundant tomato production requires an effective disease control strategy, foliar fertilization and, most importantly, sustainable seeds. Seed selection plays a crucial role in growing a healthy tomato crop. To choose the right seeds for your garden, you need to have a deep knowledge and a critical understanding of the available varieties of seeds. Below are some of the best green seeds from American hybrid seeds that can give the best tomato yield even during heavy rains.
- Tomato F1 T-29
This type of seed stands out as one of the best tomato seeds that can be stored for almost a month. It is a hybrid seed that can tolerate temperature changes and heavy rains. It bears an ovoid fruit weighing about 100-110 grams per fruit. Its ripening period lasts 70-75 days. It gives thick and firm tomatoes, resistant to common fungi.
- Tomato F1 Tyking 5
With a maturation period of 68-70 days Tyking is very resistant to heat and rain. It bears small red fruits weighing almost 90 -110 grams per fruit. It is an ideal tomato seed for the harsh rainy seasons and can be cultivated in almost all regions. Its tolerance to whitefly geminivirus, bacterial wilt, and tomato mosaic virus and gray leaf spot; Stemphilia is excellent.
- Tomato F1 Mongal (T-11)
This tomato seed adapts well to cold and tropical atmospheres. 60-65 days after transplanting ripens, it gives round slightly flat tomatoes with a reddish-red skin and green lining. The average weight of these tomatoes is about 140-160 grams when they are fully ripe. These seeds are heat-resistant and resistant to bacterial wilt, fusarium wilt and powdery mildew.
- Tomato F1 Cariboo
Caribbean seeds grow well in extreme weather conditions and heavy rains. After ripening, tomatoes are firm and bright red and weigh about 140 grams / fruit. Being extremely resistant to bacterial wilt and fusarium wilt, Caribou seeds combine perfectly with the tropics.
- Tomato F1 Tyrex 1
This tomato seed, resistant to rain and temperature, gives round orange tomatoes with a mild taste and weighing about 150-180 grams / fruit. It is resistant to tomato mosaic virus, Fusarium wilt race 1, gray spot and stem nematodes.
- Tomato Tropimech
Tropimech seeds are ideal for growing in wet and rainy areas. With a ripening period after transplantation of 65-68 days, ripe fruits have the shape of an egg weighing an average of 110 grams. These seeds are highly resistant to nematodes and geminiviruses transmitted by whitefly.