When should you throw away tomato plants?

If you've been watering during the dry spells, fertilizing monthly and trying to keep ahead of fungal diseases but you still have a plant that looks like the one above then it's probably time to just pull it. This plant has few tomatoes and diseased leaves almost to the top.
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What do you do with tomato plants at the end of the year?

The best idea is to dispose of the plants in the municipal trash or compost bin. Tomatoes are susceptible to Early blight, Verticillium, and Fusarium wilt, all soil borne diseases. Another effective management tool to combat the spread of disease is to practice crop rotation.
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Do I need to replace my tomato plants every year?

Tomatoes are annuals that are killed by frost. They need to be replanted each year.
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Do you cut down tomato plants for winter?

Tip. Only determinate tomatoes stop bearing fruit; indeterminate varieties continue to grow and produce flowers and fruit until the cold weather stops them, so pruning tomato plants for the winter isn't necessary, as they will die back on their own.
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Can tomato plants produce a second year?

Tomato plants do not regrow every year. There are two possibilities for a tomato plant: it either survives the winter, or it does not. Tomatoes are perennial, but they can only make it to the next year if they survive the frost! If you protect a tomato plant from cold, it can survive the winter.
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How to Prune Tomatoes for Maximum Yield and Plant Health



How long will a tomato plant live?

ANSWER: A tomato plant will only last a year in most vegetable gardens. As soon as it gets cold and freezes, the tomato plant will die. In places where the temperature never falls below 60 degrees or when indeterminate tomatoes are grown indoors, they are short-lived perennials that will last for two years.
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Do tomato plants last multiple years?

Although it is a short-lived perennial, tomato plants can bear fruit for more than one year in parts of the world that never dip below 65 degrees Fahrenheit.
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Do tomato plants come back the following year?

As a general rule, tomato plants do not grow back every year since they cannot withstand frost. In areas that don't experience frost, tomato plants can live and produce fruit for up to 2 years.
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What should I do with my tomato plants in winter?

Small, determinate tomatoes and wild tomatoes, on the one hand, can be wintered well as a whole plant. When moving them into their winter home, cut about half of the plant back, to adjust it to the lower evaporation and light requirements of the darker, cooler winter season.
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What do you plant after tomatoes in the fall?

Any legume is a good crop to rotate with tomatoes. Legumes include peas, beans, peanuts, clover, and alfalfa. These crops will help to restore nitrogen to the soil when planted after tomatoes. You can also plan for a 3, 4, or 5 year crop rotation schedule to further reduce the risk of disease.
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How do you take care of tomato plants in the winter?

Tomatoes prefer temperatures between 65 – 80 degrees Fahrenheit, but can be kept alive at lower temperatures, ~40 degrees Fahrenheit. To keep tomatoes alive, keep the temperature above freezing, which kills the plant. Move plants indoors, or cover the plants with plastic to retain heat outdoors.
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Should I remove tomato plants in fall?

Pull up spent tomato plants, including roots (as well as bean, squash, pea, cucumber, pepper, other vegetable plants, and weeds that surround tomatoes) that are finished producing or have been killed by frost. If they're disease-free, compost them.
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Can you put old tomato plants in compost?

The answer is yes, as you may have guessed. According to the USDA, gardeners can compost tomato plants as long as the plants are free of fungal and bacterial diseases.
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Do you pull up dead tomato plants?

Even a minor frost will probably kill the tomato plants so go ahead and pull them as soon as it happens. It's important to pick up any dead and diseased leaves as you are clearing out to minimize future problems in the garden.
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How old is the oldest tomato plant?

Scientists searching a prehistoric lake bed in southern Argentina recently uncovered the fossilized remains of a tomato that dates back 52.2 million years.
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Do tomato plants last over winter?

Tomato plants don't grow back every year. Tomatoes are perennial, but only if they survive the freeze will they return next year! A tomato plant can survive the winter if protected from the cold.
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Can tomato plants live year round?

Outdoors, frost signals the end of your tomato plants and the tomato season. But indoors, the season doesn't have to end. You can have fresh, juicy tomatoes all year long. Even if you do harvest fewer tomatoes from your plant, you will be able to enjoy them year-round.
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How do you keep tomato plants alive?

#1) Rotate Where You Plant Your Tomatoes

Tomatoes are one of the most susceptible vegetable plants to soil-borne disease. And by planting your tomatoes repeatedly in the same soil space, it makes it easy for tomato blight and other diseases to take hold. And once they do, they can stay in that soil for 5 years or more!
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How do you prune tomato plants?

To grow the strongest tomato plant possible, prune side stems below the first fruit cluster. As a tomato plant matures, its lower leaves begin to yellow. Pinch or prune yellowed leaves to prevent disease, improve the tomato plant's appearance, and help the plant keep its energy focused on fruit production.
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How many times does a tomato plant bear fruit?

If you plant what are known as determinate (or bush) tomato varieties, you'll have just one harvest of tomatoes before the plants die. Determinate tomato plants are "programmed" to grow, bloom and fruit just once during a growing season, says The Old Farmer's Almanac.
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What do you do with your garden at the end of the season?

End of Season Clean Up & Cover Crops in your Garden
  • Step 1: Harvest everything still growing. I'm looking at you tiny green tomatoes! ...
  • Step 2: Cut down all plants. You can cut them with shears or pull out the roots, either way it's time for them to go. ...
  • Step 3: Add compost. ...
  • Step 5: Clean & Store Garden Tools. ...
  • 2 Comments.
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Why should you not plant cucumbers near tomatoes?

Cucumbers' and Tomatoes' Shared Diseases

When growing these two crops together, you must consider the potential for disease. While cucumber mosaic virus does affect both tomatoes and cucumbers, the disease is not limited to these two crops — it affects more than 40 families of plants.
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What is 3 year crop rotation?

In a three-bed, three-year crop rotation system, they can be followed by peas, carrots, and onions, which in turn are followed by kale and broccoli. So, the Potato Family is followed by Legumes, Roots & Onions, which are followed by Brassicas. (Image credit: Alamy)
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