Lessons in Transplanting Tomatoes

Tonight I decided it was time to put the tomatoes into the garden. It is May 23. Clear plastic was laid over the entire tomato bed 16 days ago to warm the soil. The plastic was lifted and replaced after the tomato holes were spaced and dug with a post auger about 9 days ago. The tomato transplants were started indoors 6 weeks ago. I was transplanting tomatoes in the evening while the sun wasn't on the plants. In fact, it had rained some today and the humidity was high. Despite a week of 90 F weather, the upcoming forecast was mild. Everything looked perfect.

I brought my leggiest transplants out so I could put them in the deep holes. For some reason they were all a little leggy this year. Nice thing about tomatoes is that you can just plant them deeper. I pruned off the leaves below the soil line and put the tomato in the hole. I filled it half with my compost / soil / bone meal / egg shell mixture and watered it with 10-52-10. I let it drain and filled the hole the rest of the way and gave it a deep soak. That's when I noticed it.

My tomato was wilting. How could it be? All the conditions were right. Well, as per suggestion I decided to separate the root ball a little bit. That was painful for me. But guess what? I forgot to make sure the root ball was wet before I started! That's right, I was pulling the roots off a dry root ball and apparently that is not good.

The big lesson I learned here today, even though I knew it and forgot it, is to water the root ball well before handling. Also, if you dig deep holes, fill the hole with water and let it drain twice.

Trying to keep up with myself is sometimes a little hard and the lessons learned cane be a bit tough. I suggest always starting indoors a couple extra of each type of plant in case you have disasters or frost.

As for me, I'm going to try that again with a wet root ball and I'll let you know how it goes.

For a follow up to this story, see also planting tomato transplants in the garden part 2.