“Better Boy” tomatoes are a favorite among home gardeners to get their medium to large red fruits weighing approximately 16 ounces. This highly disease-resistant tomato is an superb addition to any garden, with an ability to resist verticillium and fusarium wilts, alternaria, grey leaf spot and root knot nematodes. “Better Boy” tomatoes reach about 5 feet tall, with an indeterminate growth habit; you can anticipate the very first vegetables 72 to 75 days after placing them in the garden.

Select a sunny, well-draining planting site using a soil pH between 6.0 and 6.8. Amend the top 12 inches of garden soil having 3 to 4 inches of compost using a rototiller or scoop if drainage problems exist. Replace missing nourishment while correcting the drainage if a soil test shows below average results.

Prepare your “Better Boy” tomatoes right before planting in mid-May, when soil temperatures are above 65 degrees Fahrenheit. Remove all but the top one or two pairs of leaves out of your tomato transplant prior to burying about 75 percent of every single plant in holes just wide enough to get every single rootball, spaced 2 to 3 feet apart in 3-foot rows.

Water your transplant thoroughly to settle on the soil, before mulching up the plant into the leaves. Place a cage round the transplant as soon as possible to avoid damaging roots. Continue to include mulch since the plant grows, until the mulch layer is 2 to 4 inches deep. Water weekly, but withhold fertilizer until the tomato plant has already set green fruits which are around the size of a quarter.

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