The purpose of mulching is to prevent loss of moisture from the soil, reduce leaching of the fertiliser, suppress weed growth and keep the fruit off the ground helping to ensure that there is less risk of disease and fruit rotting.

Other advantages associated with mulching are that there is less need for cultivation of the soil as weeds fail to come through the mulch layer, same applies to having to apply chemical weed killers. Also when you water there is a reduction in the level of evaporation, the soil consequently retains moisture better and has less tendency to develop a surface crust.

So clearly there are advantages to mulching when growing tomatoes, but one slight disadvantage of using traditional mulching methods for tomatoes is that mulch tends to prevent warming of the soil, which tomatoes like, so it is a good idea to warm the soil before applying the mulch consequently ensuring that the soil conditions tomatoes really like are established.

An alternative to traditional mulching is to use a breathable black plastic membrane mulch, this lets water and air through but prevents weeds growing underneath it along with the other mulching benefits. Use this method and you will have all the normal benefits of mulching plus the added benefit of warm soil for your tomatoes. So this is, in my opinion, the best mulch for tomatoes.

If you still prefer the more traditional methods of mulching plants, then at the end of the growing season, providing there has been no obvious problems with contamination and disease the mulch can be dug into the soil to increase the level of organic matter content in the soil.

The recommended thickness of mulching is between 3″ to 4″ ensuring that the mulch works at its optimum efficiency without preventing the air reaching the roots of the plant. That is unless you are using coffee grounds which have a tendency to cake but are rich in nitrogen. For coffee grounds the recommended thickness is 1″

Mulches on tomatoes that require special care are:

• Bark
• Newspaper
• Sawdust
• Wood chips

All of the above have a high carbon to nitrogen ratio and if used need a nitrogen fertilser application to compromise for this.

Visit Growing Red Tomatoes for more tips and advice on tomato growing in a greenhouse and to get access to expert advice that could double or triple the size of your crop of tomatoes.

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