Growing better tomatoes doesn’t have to mean more work. Horticulturist, designer and author Frank Hyman says many common tomato-growing practices — like heavy pruning, frequent spraying and constant tinkering — may actually be unnecessary. Frank joins me this week to share practical ideas and inventive solutions that make growing healthy, productive tomato plants simpler and more successful.
Frank is the author of three books, and the latest, “Ripe Tomato Revolution: Planting and Growing Every Type of Tomato: Beefsteaks, Cherries, Plums, Dwarfs, and Heirlooms,” was published just this month. He’s also an award-winning carpenter and designer as well as a forager.
Frank Hyman is a forager in addition to being a gardener. Here he is with an edible chicken of the woods mushroom in prime condition.
Photo Credit: Frank Hyman
Frank likes to tell people he spent his 20s as a very successful college dropout. He went back to school when he was 27 to double major in horticulture and design at North Carolina State University, where he studied under the renowned horticulturist J.C. Raulston, the namesake and creator of the university’s arboretum in Raleigh.
In between, Frank went to work for tomato farmers in South Carolina and by the time he was 25, he was running an organic tomato farm for a food co-op in North Carolina. This was in 1985, when it wasn’t possible to go to the grocery store and pick up tomatoes from the organic vegetable section.
Ripe Tomato Revolution
Frank put the word “Revolution” in his book title because he has six ideas in the book that no one else offers.
“ I invented them because I’m a designer and a horticulturist and a carpenter. I can make things, I can create things,” he says. ”And there’s another dozen things that are hardly getting enough attention, like tomato cages, just for one example. And I didn’t invent that, but I figured out good ways to make them and share them and sell them and so people could be making a little money on the side or creating them for their community garden.”
He also shares his take on insects and pest control.
“Spraying is not gardening,” he says.
He doesn’t spray because he realized that farmers who spray the most are killing their allies: the ladybugs, assassin bugs and other beneficial insects that provide natural pest control.
”My No. 1 primary horticultural technique is neglect,” Frank says.
Not only does he not spray plants with pesticides, he doesn’t remove suckers or prune tomato plants. He turns on his irrigation system and then keeps hands off.
To be a successful tomato grower, Frank advises not flying blind. Having a garden education will avoid problems before they begin.
“ A lot of people sadly overestimate their knowledge base and can’t be bothered to get a book,” he says. Go to a book store or visit an extension office and pick up brochures. “The information is there,” he says, advising, “stop, slow down and read.”
Being prepared can also avoid having a bad experience that will turn people off to gardening altogether.
In regions with long, cool springs, tomato transplants can stay cozy with Baby Greenhouses, made from row covers supported by remesh.
Photo Credit: Frank Hyman
Why Frank Quit Removing Suckers
Frank stopped removing suckers because it was too much work, and unless the suckers were caught early, they would be sizable. He balked at removing 10% of a healthy plant.
Today, he feels vindicated because studies have shown that whether keeping suckers on or taking them off, the difference is negligible.
“ So don’t take the suckers off, and if you don’t know what the sucker is, just be glad and keep going,” he says.
Removing suckers may provide better airflow to cut down on powdery mildew, he acknowledges, but he says it’s less work to just spray the plants with a dilution of 10% milk in water to prevent powdery mildew from taking hold. (It’s the one type of spraying he endorses.)
Milk contains lactoferrin, which has antifungal properties that may stop powdery mildew before it starts.
Removing suckers provide space for sunlight and air circulation to reduce disease problems. But Frank says studies have found that the difference in plant productively between a plant with suckers left on and suckers removed is negligible.
Why Gardeners Can Struggle With Tomatoes
The original tomato plant, before humans started cultivating it, was a cherry tomato — not a big slicing tomato, Frank points out.
“ The cherries were not like some breeding experiment. The original cherry tomato that all our tomatoes come from evolved on the Pacific coast of Chile and Peru,” he says.
It’s a climate much like the Mediterranean, which is why tomatoes took off in popularity in Italy.
Tomatoes evolved in soil with a high pH of 7 or 8 and low rainfall. “ Those things correlate,” Frank explains. “Low rainfall. High pH. High rainfall, low pH.”
He says when British people take a tour of Italy and feel inspired to grow tomatoes at home, they find their tomatoes wilt and die. “ Evolving in a dry climate, they never evolved the immune system to fight off the fungus and bacteria that’s common in rainy regions,” he says.
The British Isles get far too much rain for happy tomatoes — at least outdoors.
“ Tomatoes weren’t a thing in England until the rich people could buy big sheets of glass to make greenhouses, comparable to what we do in the Eastern U.S. with hoop houses,” Frank says.
Meanwhile, a pepper growing right next to a tomato plant in an open garden can have no issues at all. Frank says that because peppers evolved in a more tropical climate.
“As a general rule with plants, knowing where they’re from gives you a huge leg up,” he says.
Hoop houses that are popular with Eastern U.S. farmers are the shape of a Quonset hut, with plastic sheets stretched over hoops. Hoop houses cover the tops of the crops but are open on the sides.
“Breezes can blow through on the side,” Frank says. “So it’s not enclosed like a greenhouse. It’s just an umbrella, really, for the tomatoes.”
For the home garden, sheet plastic is a bit ugly, and because it degrades in UV light, it must be replaced every two years. Frank wanted to figure out something that would be less of a hassle and not such a big recurring expense.
Frank found 4×8 sheets of clear polycarbonate — the size of a sheet of plywood, but much lighter. He uses polycarbonate to make roofs of little structures he calls “tomato houses.” And they can be assembled with just a screw gun and a hand saw, so no expertise is needed to make one.
Polycarbonate can last 10 years out in the sunlight, but he takes the houses down at the end of every tomato season and puts it back out at the start of the next one, so he expects his polycarbonate will last him 20 years.
Frank’s book shares an easy way to make a tomato house with 2x2s as well as an advanced method for those who have some advanced carpentry skills or can enlist the appropriate help.
The original tomato evolved in a dry region of Chile/Peru that has the same amount of rainfall as the Mediterranean — about 20 inches a year. So keeping the rain off the leaves with a Tomato House means less disease pressure on the leaves and roots.
Photo Credit: Frank Hyman
Take Steps to Avoid Weeds and Tomato Diseases
He uses a soaker hose on a timer to keep the roots moist while avoiding overhead watering that promotes leaf diseases.
Frank encourages gardeners to start their tomato plants from seed rather than purchasing starts from greenhouses, because the soil from those greenhouses may bring plant pathogens into your garden early in the season. Wind-blown pathogens will inevitably find your garden, but the longer you can keep pathogens at bay, the better.
Frank also promotes removing the lowest branches on tomato plants so when rainfall bounces soil up, the soil won’t splash onto the leaves and spread soil-borne pathogens.
Frank enjoys California gardener Shirley Bovshow’s take on mulch: “It’s like birth control for weeds.” He says failing to use mulch is the primary cardinal sin of gardening.
“ Not only does it make the garden look better, but it holds moisture in the ground so the plants aren’t dying of thirst,” he says. “It will keep annual weed seeds from germinating because they need sunlight.”
Mulch also reduces compaction, moderates soil temperatures and reduces runoff.
Frank uses free, organic coffee bean chaff (as in the wheat and the chaff) to mulch vegetable beds and the burlap sacks the beans come in to mulch the paths.
Photo Credit: Frank Hyman
Front Loading Organic Fertilizer
Frank does not side dress his crops with organic fertilizer during the growing season. He feels this practice carried over from the use of chemical fertilizers, which flush out of soils quickly. He just puts some organic fertilizer in the planting holes at the start of the season, and that’s all the fertilizer he uses for the season. His plants have never suffered for it.
Organic fertilizer is slow to break down and become available for plants to absorb, so it lasts.
I focus on building soil health with compost and other organic materials and letting the soil feed the plants, and I just pay attention to how the plants are performing. I’ve never really seen a need to add anything else.
Compost is my key to gardening success. I rely on compost to build my soil for healthy, productive plants. I love it so much I once took a dive into a pile of compost.
When To Pick Tomatoes
Frank fights every bug and disease there is, so as soon as his tomatoes have begun to turn color, he harvests them and then allows them to continue ripening indoors.
He acknowledged that some tomatoes may taste bad when they ripen if they were harvested too early, but he points out that is variety-dependent. “A gardener tomato — an heirloom tomato, a hybrid tomato that gardeners would grow — you can pick it when it first turns color,” he says.
Picking tomatoes as soon as they begin to turn from green also means the plant will have fewer cells to take care of, so it can direct its energy into the tomatoes that are still green.
A Gold Medal slicing tomato.
Photo Credit: Frank Hyman
If you haven’t listened to my conversation with Frank Hyman on “Ripe Tomato Revolution,” you can do so now by scrolling to the top of the page and clicking the Play icon in the green bar under the page title.
What methods or contraptions have you invented for growing tomatoes? Let us know in the comments below.
Links & Resources
Some product links in this guide are affiliate links. See full disclosure below.
Episode 003: Growing Epic Tomatoes with Craig LeHoullier
Episode 004: Heirloom Tomatoes: Past, Present and Future with Craig LeHoullier
Episode 047: Tomato Seedling Mistakes with Craig LeHoullier
Episode 056: Tomato Care Checklist with Craig LeHoullier
Episode 064: Tomato Growing Season Lookback: Lessons Learned with Craig LeHoullier
Episode 066: Tomatoland: The Dirty Truth of the Tasteless Tomato, with Barry Estabrook
Episode 094: How to Start and Care for Seedlings Indoors: My Steps for Success
Episode 095: Tomato Seed Starting Update: Innovations and Inspiration, with Craig LeHoullier
Episode 115: Understanding Tomato Diseases and How to Deal With Them
Episode 173: Starting a New Tomato Garden: Lessons Learned, with Craig LeHoullier
Episode 279: Ten Tomatoes that Changed the World, with William Alexander
joegardener blog: How Do I Grow Tomatoes?
joegardener blog: Busted – Top Five Tomato Growing Myths
joegardenerTV YouTube: How to Top Tomatoes – What to Do When Tomato Plants Get Too Tall
joegardenerTV YouTube: Sunscald – What Happens when Tomatoes Are Overexposed
joegardenerTV YouTube: How to Save Tomato Seeds
joegardenerTV YouTube: The Ultimate Tomato Cage in 5 Simple Steps
joegardener Online Gardening Academy™: Popular courses on gardening fundamentals; managing pests, diseases & weeds; seed starting and more.
joegardener Online Gardening Academy Organic Vegetable Gardening: My new premium online course. The course is designed to be a comprehensive guide to starting, growing, nurturing and harvesting your favorite vegetables, no matter what you love to eat, no matter where you live, no matter your level of gardening experience.
joegardener Online Gardening Academy Master Seed Starting: Everything you need to know to start your own plants from seed — indoors and out.
joegardener Online Gardening Academy Beginning Gardener Fundamentals: Essential principles to know to create a thriving garden.
joegardener Online Gardening Academy Growing Epic Tomatoes: Learn how to grow epic tomatoes with Joe Lamp’l and Craig LeHoullier.
joegardener Online Gardening Academy Master Pests, Diseases & Weeds: Learn the proactive steps to take to manage pests, diseases and weeds for a more successful garden with a lot less frustration. Just $47 for lifetime access!
joegardener Online Gardening Academy Perfect Soil Recipe Master Class: Learn how to create the perfect soil environment for thriving plants.
Frank Hyman on Instagram | @mushroomswithoutdying
“Ripe Tomato Revolution: Planting and Growing Every Type of Tomato: Beefsteaks, Cherries, Plums, Dwarfs, and Heirlooms” by Frank Hyman
“Hentopia: Create a Hassle-Free Habitat for Happy Chickens; 21 Innovative Projects” by Frank Hyman
“How to Forage for Mushrooms without Dying: An Absolute Beginner’s Guide to Identifying 29 Wild, Edible Mushrooms” by Frank Hyman
“Hentopia: Best DIY Backyard Chicken Book” promo video
“Foraging for mushrooms safely in Maine” | CBS 13 News
Territorial Seed Company – Our podcast episode sponsor and Brand Partner of joegardener.com
Soil3 – Our podcast episode sponsor and Brand Partner of joegardener.com
Disclosure: As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. I receive a commission every time you purchase a product through an Amazon affiliate link. Some product links in this guide are affiliate links. However, none of the prices of these resources have been increased to compensate us, and compensation is not an influencing factor on their inclusion here. The selection of all items featured in this post and podcast was based solely on merit and in no way influenced by any affiliate or financial incentive, or contractual relationship. At the time of this writing, Joe Lamp’l has professional relationships with the following companies who may have products included in this post and podcast: Milorganite, Soil3, Territorial Seed Company, Cool Springs Press / Quarto Group and Dramm. These companies are either Brand Partners of joegardener.com and/or advertise on our website. However, we receive no additional compensation from the sales or promotion of their product through this guide. The inclusion of any products mentioned within this post is entirely independent and exclusive of any relationship.
