UgNaija

Hi everyone, you are all welcome to today's guild on how to care for your tomato plant. Are you a gardener? A commercial tomato farmer? Or maybe you are simply interested in having a broad knowledge of tomatoes? if yes, then stick around and read to the end because this article is for you. Two weeks ago I publish an article on how to grow tomatoes at home. You can read it here . A bunch of tomato fruits All that been said, let's quickly delve into the business of the day. Tomato being a very important and a highly consumed vegetable worldwide, comes with numerous challenges which includes climatic, pest, diseases, soil types and so on. How you can better care for your tomato plants to minimize the effect of the above named challenges are what I will be talking about today. How to care for your tomato plants in the nursery The nursery is the place where your tomato plants are raised from seeds.  As a beginner you may not have the much needed knowledge to raise your t...

Are you tired of the high cost of tomatoes in your area? Or maybe tired of cooking with not so fresh tomatoes? Or....? Well, which ever way you feel I will teach you how you can actually grow tomatoes at home or in your backyard garden, so relax and read to the end. First of, you have to know that tomatoes are propagated (grown) by seeds as explained below  before transplanting them to their permanent location where they develop till fruiting and eventually die off. A tomato plant How to grow tomatoes by seeds at home Firstly, ensure that you purchase viable and high quality seeds from reliable producers or you can use seeds extracted from the fresh tomatoes you bought from the marked (note: they may not be as highly prolific as those from known producers). Now get a plastic bow and fill it with soil mixed with a moderate amount of fertilizers (preferably organic fertilizers) Thereafter, apply water on the soil to keep it wet but not water logged (full of water). Furthe...

As a farmer or a gardener, you may have heard of the word blossom end rot or tomato rot if you probably don't know what this really means or you want to further increase your knowledge about this physical dysfunction them this article is for you.  Read through to the end to get the best out of it. What is blossom end rot? Being a farmer or a gardener, you may have once or twice notice a depressed water-soaked effect on the blossom end of your tomato fruit (like in the image below), this is know as blossom end rot .  Source: shutter stock. It occurs when the tissues in the blossom end of your fruit breaks down typically due to calcium deficiency in the plant which may be as a result of insufficient calcium in the soil or there is lack of or excess water in the soil which hinders calcium uptake by the plant. Blossom end rot affects the fruit when dey are still green or at their early stage of ripening. After affecting the plant, the later stage  results to a bla...

Tomato with the botanical name Solanium   lycopasicum , is a fruit vegetable which can be grown in a well drain loamy soil with a moderate proportion of organic manure.  Tomato is an important fruit vegetable and growing it comes with a number of challenges, among which are diseases, pest control, adequate manuring to mention a few. In today's article we are going to talk about one of the most important disease of a tomato plant. Bacterial wilt Bacterial wilt (also known as Southern bacterial blight) is caused by a bacterium know as  Ralstonia    solanacearum  ( formally,  Pseudomonas solanacearum). Ralstonia solanacearum is a soil-borne microorganism which gets into the plant through wounds caused by cutting, pest attack and transplanting. Bacterial wilt is a dangerous disease. Its development is favoured by high moisture (water in soil pores) as well as high temperature.  The bacterium  Ralstonia solanacearum  which causes bacteri...