How to Grow and Care for Early Girl Tomato

Plant Care

Sunlight, nutrient-rich soil, and consistent watering. These prerequisites help Early Girl Tomatoes thrive. Even with their fast growth, it takes a lot of nutrients and support to produce healthy fruit all season.

Light

Early Girl Tomatoes Needs: They need a minimum of 6-8 hours of full sun a day, though more is preferable. Tomatoes grown in full sun develop sweeter, richer flavors, and they produce more fruit. When grown in partial shade, the plant can get leggy and weak, resulting in smaller yields. To ensure strong growth, supplement grow lights of growing tomatoes indoors or in greenhouses.

Soil

To thrive, Early Girl Tomatoes need well-draining, nutrient-dense soil with a pH of 6.0 to 6.8. Till the soil with compost or aged manure before planting to increase fertility. Tomatoes prove to be sensitive to dense, compacted soil, so if you have clay-heavy ground, amend with perlite, sand, or organic matter to improve aeration and drainage. Applying mulch around the base of the plant will help retain moisture and keep the roots cool when it is hot.

Watering

Regular watering is essential for healthy fruit growth and also for avoiding problems such as blossom end rot. Tomatoes like deep, even watering two to three days weekly, rather than shallow and frequent watering. The soil should remain moist but never waterlogged. Ideal is drip irrigation or watering at the plant base as overhead watering may cause fungal diseases. Tomatoes dry out more quickly in container gardening, so check moisture levels daily, watering when the top inch of soil feels dry.

Pruning

Pruning Early Girl Tomatoes promotes air circulation, decreases the risk of disease on the plant, and increases fruit production. This plant is an indeterminate variety and will continue to grow throughout the season, so keeping it at a manageable size will promote healthier growth.

One of the best ways to prune is to cut out the suckers — little shoots that grow between the central stem and a branch. If we don’t cut them early, these suckers become more stems, draining energy from fruit production. Pinching off smaller suckers with your fingers or cutting larger suckers with clean pruning shears helps the plant concentrate on producing strong branches that will bear fruit.

Plus, removing the lower leaves helps to reduce soil-borne diseases. As the plant matures, pick off any older yellowing leaves at the bottom, particularly if they are in contact with the ground. But don’t go overboard with pruning, because the plant still requires plenty of leaves for photosynthesis and a protective canopy over its fruit to prevent sunscald.

Propagating

In contrast to Early Girl Tomatoes, which are grown from seed or seedlings, propagation through cuttings is an easy way to grow new plants.

To start from seeds, you will need to sow them indoors 6-8 weeks prior to the last frost of the season. Until the seedlings are ready for outdoor planting, maintain a warm (70-75°F) bright-light location.

For cuttings, snip a 6-inch section off a healthy tomato plant, strip the lower leaves, and insert it in water or moist potting mix. Roots should form in 1-2 weeks, at which time the cutting can be transpotted into garden soil or into a container. This technique is especially useful at the end of the season when you want to keep a good plant for next year.

Growing in Pots

Even if you don’t have a garden, you can still get a bountiful tomato harvest by growing an Early Girl in pots. Success depends on selecting a large pot (5 gallons minimum) with good drainage and adequate support for the plant’s vigorous growth.

For nutrition, use quality potting soil combined with compost. Containers dry out more quickly than in regular garden soil, so tomatoes growing in pots need frequent watering, sometimes daily when it’s hot. Staking (tomato cage) the plant will keep it from sprawling and feeding every 2-3 weeks with a balanced tomato fertilizer will keep it happy.

Overwintering

Early Girl Tomatoes are usually planted as an annual, but if you live in a warm area you can extend their life by bringing them inside before the first frost. Located near a sunny window or under grow lights, potted plants can remain productive. Or you can take cuttings before the winter and root them indoors so that you have a fresh crop for early spring planting. In milder areas, you might try protecting some plants with floating row covers or frost blankets in an effort to extend the season for a few more weeks.

Blooming & Fruit Production

Early Girl Tomatoes are one of the fastest fruiters! Flowers emerge early, and within a few weeks tiny green tomatoes begin to form. Being self-pollinating, they don’t need insects to set fruit, although a gentle shaking of the plant can increase pollination.

Do not over-fertilize with nitrogen to maximize fruiting; flowers are what becomes fruit, and excess nitrogen will produce more leafy growth than flowers. Instead, apply a low-nitrogen, phosphorus-rich fertilizer to boost blooming and fruit set. Regular harvesting offsets fruiting too, which means you can enjoy a steady supply of tomatoes throughout the season.

Common Issues

Like all tomatoes, Early Girl is vulnerable to certain pests and diseases. 

• Consider amendment with calcium and consistent watering to prevent blossom end rot. 
• Insecticidal soap can control aphids and whiteflies, and the latter may also be managed by introducing their natural predators, ladybugs.
• Fungal diseases like early and late blight do best if you use crop rotation, proper spacing and do not overhead water. 
• If tomatoes crack or split, it is usually because they are not being watered in a regular manner, so keeping the moisture levels in the soil even is important.