How Far Apart to Plant Tomatoes for the Best Harvests – And to Give Yours the Space They Need to Thrive
Whether you grow tomatoes in the ground, pots, bags, or raised beds – these are the spacings you need to know
Getting the spacing right with tomatoes is critical to having healthy plants and abundant harvests of tasty fruits. The distances do vary by type and variety, and it can get confusing, so let’s focus on how far apart to plant tomatoes.
Tomatoes come in different groups, and trained vining varieties can be planted closer together than bush tomatoes. But with any type, the danger of putting plants too close together is that they battle for water, nutrients, and sunlight, which ultimately affects yield, and they are at risk of disease.
To keep your crop healthy, plan the spacing carefully when growing tomatoes. I have grown many different tomato plants both in the ground and containers, planting them in greenhouses, polytunnels, and outdoors. While the temptation is always there to squeeze more plants into a space in search of extra fruits, you’ll get better harvests by spacing them properly. If you’ve ever wondered how far apart to plant tomatoes, here we look at the right spacings for different types and scenarios, and examine why space is so important.
Why Is Plant Spacing Crucial With Tomatoes?
Planting tomatoes so each one has sufficient room to develop ensures your plants have the perfect conditions to grow. Get it right, and every plant has the space it needs, gets enough water and nutrients, and rewards you with healthy growth and abundant fruits. However, get it wrong, and it can lead to several worrying issues.
Tomato plants produce deep root networks, with bigger varieties capable of roots reaching three feet long. Packing plants too close means lots of roots competing for water and essential nutrients in the soil.
Ultimately, it can lead to all plants going short. It can cause plants to remain small or stunted, make tomato leaves turn yellow, and leave plants lacking energy to produce and ripen fruit. You’ll end up with a disappointing harvest.
On top of fighting for water and nutrients, plants will also compete for light. Indeed, plants too close together can shade one another, depriving their neighbors of vital sunlight for photosynthesis. They’ll never be able to get to their full potential with a lack of sunlight.
And, when plants are stressed due to a lack of water, nutrients, and light, they are more vulnerable to tomato pests like aphids, tomato hornworms, spider mites, fruitworms, and more.
Not leaving enough space between tomato plants affects air circulation. A lack of air movement increases the likelihood of many tomato diseases, in particular fungal problems such as powdery mildew, leaf spot, and tomato blight.
Finally, you, as a gardener, can struggle when plants are packed too close together. It’ll make simple jobs like weeding, watering, feeding, and pruning tomato plants difficult. It ups the chances of you accidentally damaging one plant while trying to look after another.
Ideal Spacing for Different Types of Tomatoes
The best place to start explaining is to look at the different types of plants. The two main groups are indeterminate and determinate tomatoes, or vining and bush tomatoes, as they are often known. The different growth habits affect how far apart to plant tomatoes.
Below is a general guide, but it is recommended to check seed packets and plant descriptions for the recommended spacings for any tomato varieties.
How Far Apart to Plant Vining Tomatoes
Indeterminate (vining) tomatoes grow throughout the season and continue to produce fruit. They grow tall, up to 10 feet, depending on the variety, and their vertical growth habits do impact the spacing.
The ideal spacing for indeterminate varieties being trained to grow vertically is 18-24 inches apart.
A key part of successfully growing these types is providing support for the plants to grow upward. This can be stakes, trellises, or tomato cages (you can get a four-pack of sturdy, 64-inch tall tomato cages at Garden in Minutes).
If you stake a tomato plant or opt for growing tomatoes up a string, follow the spacing above. However, if the crops are in cages, they will need a bit more space, so plant them 30-36 inches apart.
Some gardeners do allow indeterminate tomatoes to sprawl on the ground. If you adopt this approach, increase the plant spacing to 4-5 feet apart.
How Far Apart to Plant Bush Tomatoes
Determinate tomatoes, also commonly known as bush tomatoes, are shorter than indeterminate varieties, usually reaching just 3-4 feet tall. These compact varieties fruit over a few weeks rather than throughout the season.
These bushier plants require more space than vertical-growing tomatoes. They still need support to keep them upright, especially when laden with fruit, and this is often with a tomato cage or small stake.
The ideal spacing for determinate varieties is 24-36 inches apart.
You can get dwarf bush tomato varieties that reach 12-18 inches tall, and they can be planted 10-12 inches apart as they don’t spread so far. One example of such a dwarf variety is this prolific Veranda Red Hybrid tomato at Burpee.
FAQs
How Far Apart Should You Plant Tomatoes in Containers?
You shouldn’t pack plants in tightly when you are growing tomatoes in pots, either. It is best to plant a single tomato plant per 12 to 18-inch pot or grow bag. It is the same when growing tomatoes in buckets; put one plant per container to avoid them competing.
The best tomatoes for growing in pots are dwarf varieties that can be highly productive, but in a smaller space, such as a patio, deck, or balcony, like this Patio Hybrid tomato at True Leaf Market.
How Far Apart Should You Plant Tomatoes in Raised Beds?
If your tomatoes are growing in raised beds, stick to the same spacings outlined above for determinate or indeterminate varieties. It ensures your plants have the right conditions in which to thrive.
How Far Apart Should You Plant Tomatoes in Square-Foot Gardening?
Square-foot gardening is an efficient way to grow vegetables in small spaces. It involves planting into square-foot sections, mapped out in a grid. Different vegetables are assigned a certain amount of space, and tomatoes are planted at one plant per square foot segment.
Do Tomatoes Like to Be Planted Deep?
Tomatoes have a nifty trick up their sleeve, and that is they can produce roots up their stem. For the strongest plants, you can plant tomatoes right up to the first set of leaves.
Remove those bottom leaves and plant to just above that level. They’ll produce new roots right up the buried section, anchoring them to the ground and enabling them to take in more water and nutrients.
A lack of moisture or sunlight caused by planting too closely can lead to a lack of tomatoes. However, there are other reasons your tomato plants may not be fruiting. Blossom drop is a symptom where the flowers fall before being pollinated.
Temperature is a common cause, both cold nighttime temperatures below 55°F or high temperature spikes of over 95°F, but fertilizing tomatoes with too much nitrogen can mean tomato plants with lots of foliage and stems but not many blooms or fruits.
It is advisable to fertilize tomatoes with a balanced fertilizer or bone meal (get organic bone meal at Burpee) after planting, then transition to a tomato feed high in phosphorus and potassium once the plants start flowering.
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