7 Plants To NEVER Grow Near Tomatoes (These WILL Kill Your Tomatoes)

The beauty of growing tomatoes is that they grow quickly and produce their fruits within a short period. But, some plants can give you a bad and unproductive experience with tomatoes. Like humans, tomatoes can also be affected by toxic neighbor plants.

There are enemy plants that fight tomatoes, bringing them down, hence making them unproductive. The fact is that plants tend to have different growing conditions.

This can mean a plant that prefers minimal moisture cannot be happy when planted next plant requires moist soil.

Tomatoes are not an exception to this. Without much said, allow us to take you through a quick list of 7 plants to never grow near your tomatoes.

Avoid them to have the good fruits from your gardening effort.

Fennel tends to produce a chemical that inhibits plant and root growth. And this can lead to small tomato fruits and stunted growth of the plant. In fact, fennel is not even a good companion to most garden vegetables, and it should be grown separately in a little pot or patch.

Fennel’s roots are said to release a harsh chemical that will easily affect the growth of your tomatoes and other plants as well. In addition, the fennel seems to struggle to grow. Thus, when planted near tomatoes, it will be negatively effective on them.

The relationship between tomatoes and fennel is illogical. And this is because the fennel is closely linked to carrots, where carrots grow so well with tomatoes.

However, save your tomatoes yield and harvest good yields in your tomato garden, keep the fennel away from your tomatoes.

Eggplants belong to the nightshade family plants that are vulnerable to late and early bright. These plants are mostly affected by a certain disease that leads to the death of the plant tissues.

Unfortunately, this leads to spotting, browning, and withering of the plant leaves. Therefore, if it is grown by the side of tomato plants, it may share the sickness, leading to blight build up in the soil.

The early blight tends to affect the tomato foliage, which creates brown lesions killing the leaves tissue and causing them to drop before the maturity period. Besides, this sickness may not affect the fruits, but it may impact the tomato plant growth.

Overall, planting tomatoes and eggplant plants together increases blight spread chances to both plants, and this ruins your yield. Worse, the blight can also remain on soil leading to prolonged damage of about two years.

Once tomatoes are affected by late blight on leaves, they may spread to other parts, including the fruits and stem.

We highly recommend, if possible, that you avoid planting the eggplant in similar soil right after tomatoes for around two decades.

Tomato and cabbage are not friends at all. And growing the two plants together, all you can expect is stunted growth and fewer yields. Besides, cabbages and tomatoes are said to compete for root growth space.

In this case, tomatoes tend to have a harder time spreading their roots same to other small fruits. The other competition is that cabbages and tomatoes require plenty of nutrients meaning they are heavy feeders.

Unfortunately, tomatoes are said to lose this competition; the cabbage can take all plenty of soil nutrients and leave tomatoes with nothing. In this case, your tomatoes will not mature, and sometimes they may fail to produce fruit making.

Both tomatoes and potatoes belong same nightshade family. Thus, potatoes can lead to different disease issues to the tomatoes. While both plants are susceptible to common sickness, this might lead to an increase in sickness issues from one plant to another.

In addition, when potatoes are closely planted with tomatoes, the harvesting process might lead to huge damage to tomato roots. And it can hugely inhibit the tomato plant growth leading to blossom end rot.

Dill’s early stages seem to act as a perfect plant comparison. Of course, tomatoes and drill don’t have that much enmity as it said to repel some tomato pests and improve tomato growth. The problem comes once dill matures.

Once dill plants mature, it negatively inhibits the tomato plant instead of helping it. It will help if you consider planting your dill in another bed once they start seeding to avoid unproductive tomatoes. You can even avoid growing dill completely near your tomatoes.

The experts say that whenever tomato plants are grown under the walnut tree, they produce smaller fruits. And this is because walnuts tend to produce chemical juglone. This chemical leads to stunted growth of your tomatoes.

Further, tomatoes tend to quickly will whenever growth under or near walnut trees simply because the proximity typically increases the risk of the walnut wilting. And tomatoes are susceptible to getting affected by walnut wilt disease, which can inhibit their growth.

Besides, any nightshade family plants should never be grown near a walnut plant.

Tomato and corn do not mix suitably because both share the same pest, the corn earworm, stick bugs, harlequin, or tomato fruit worn.

When these crops are grown together, they can attract the nibbling pest leading to more extensive damage because corn worms love tomatoes.

The larvae tunnel of these worms eats parts of tomato stems and leaves.

They can also feed on tomato fruit inside and outside, making the plant wholly inedible. Unfortunately, these worms are challenging to remove and cannot be treated directly.

Therefore, you should be keen not to place tomatoes and corn next to each other, as they will create an inviting environment for worms, thus decreasing your harvest.

What Plants Grow Well with Tomato Plants

When you are planting your tomatoes, you may be wondering what other plants you can grow with them to help them grow and thrive. Here are some of the best companion plants to grow with your tomatoes:

1. Basil is a great companion plant for tomatoes. It helps repel harmful pests and improves the flavor of the tomatoes.
2. Parsley is another great companion plant for tomatoes. It helps improve the flavor of the tomatoes and also helps to repel pests.
3. Marigolds are a great choice for companion plants because they help repel pests and also add beauty to your garden.
4. Mint is a good choice for companion plants because it helps repel pests and can also help keep your soil healthy.

If you want to know more plants that will help you grow an amazing tomato harvest, we have created a whole post about it below.

Read more: The 12 Most Popular Companion Plants For Growing Tomatoes

Final Thoughts

The best way to ensure your tomato plants will thrive and make you happy with yield is by putting them on friendly ground. Keep your tomato plant far from the above plants, which keep blocking their sun and depriving them of necessary nutrients, attracting pests and even harming them.

Instead, grow them in a ground that is surrounded by companion plants, which can help them grow well via offering pest deterrence and soil enrichment. Of course, you don’t need to plant and have nothing to harvest at the end.

Remember, your tomato yield is also determined by the plants that you keep next to them.