Everything about tomatoes: choosing a variety, sowing seeds, growing seedlings, caring for plants and other tips for summer residents. Novice gardeners may find it difficult to grow tomatoes. But, if you know when and how to plant seeds, about caring for tomatoes, about measures aimed at preventing their diseases, then an exciting process as a result will delight you with an excellent harvest.
Read about growing tomatoes at home on a windowsill
Choosing varieties of tomatoes
First of all, you need to purchase the varieties that your family loves. If there are children in it, be sure to please them with cherry tomatoes - round and teardrop-shaped. The sweetest and most fragrant tomatoes in this series that kids will love are:
- "Honey drop"
- "Cherry black"
- "Amber Drop"
- "Nastya Slastena"
- "Pear-shaped cherry"
- "Honey drop"
- "Kish-mish orange"
- "White currant"
- "Golden bead"
These varieties will delight not only children, but also adults with their taste, shape and rich colors, because their fruits are red, raspberry, white, yellow and even black.
If you want to plant tomatoes so that the fruits are also multi-colored, but large, pay attention to the following varieties:
- "Black Moor"
- "Persimmon"
- "Black Prince"
- "Orange"
Such variegation looks amazing in salads. If you want to put meaty, sugar fruits there, plant a few bushes of the "Ox Heart" and "Ox Heart" on the site. These fruits are mostly eaten fresh, as they are quite large.
For canning, in addition to cherry tomatoes, the following varieties are suitable:
- "De Barao"
- "Marinade 1"
- "Rocket"
- "Prometheus"
- "Caspar"
When choosing seeds, it is necessary to proceed from where the tomatoes will subsequently grow. After all, they are all divided into 2 large groups - determinant and indeterminate. The latter have an almost unlimited point of growth and can rush upward to a height of more than 2.5 meters. If you have a tall greenhouse, plant these. Determinant ones are limited in growth, therefore they are suitable for low greenhouses or open ground.
Some indeterminate ones can then be grown even without shelter. So, if you plant De Barao seedlings on the south side in front of a picket fence, crate or put frequent high supports, you get a colorful hedge that will still yield. Of course, smaller than in a greenhouse, but the plant looks very decorative.
Timing of sowing tomato seeds for seedlings
After you have decided on the varieties, decided how many bushes to plant for fresh fruit consumption, how much for canning, take a little more seeds. After all, some of them may not sprout or the seedlings will be weak, you will cull those. You always need to sow "in reserve" so that the seedlings do not turn out to be less than necessary.
To ensure you have 5-6 bushes for early consumption, plant a few seeds a little earlier than usual. If you have a good polycarbonate or glass greenhouse, you can start the seed preparation procedure for an early harvest on February 1-5. The main sowing for growing tomatoes in such greenhouses will be carried out in mid-late February.
For greenhouses that will be covered with plastic wrap, sow tomatoes on February 10-20. For outdoor cultivation - from February 20 to March 8. After this period, tomatoes are no longer sown for seedlings, since they have a long growing season, and you simply will not have time to get a full harvest.
Presowing seed preparation
Now on sale there are tomato seeds that have been disinfected, covered with a nutrient layer of microelements. If they have a colored coat, plant them right away in a seedling box with moist soil. If the seeds are ordinary, you need to prepare them for planting according to all the rules.
First, cut a few pieces of the bandage so that when you fold it in half, each is 10 x 12 cm long. Pour a certain amount of seeds in the middle of the piece of bandage, roll it up and tie it with a thread.
Place all tissue rolls in a non-food container, fill with light red potassium permanganate solution for 15 minutes. Drain it, rinse the bandages directly in the container with running water.
Dilute the growth stimulant according to the instructions, soak the tomato seeds in a bandage in its solution for 10-12 hours (according to the instructions).
Drain the nutrient solution, fill with water so that it covers half of the bandages. Place the container in a warm place for two days. Keep the fabric damp at all times.
After that, place the seeds for hardening in the refrigerator overnight, where the temperature is +3 - +5 ° С.
Sowing tomato seeds
Sowing a tomato can be done using plastic, wooden boxes. If there are none, take milk or juice bags, lay them flat, cut a horizontal hole, fill the containers with soil. It is best to purchase a special one, which is designed for growing tomato seedlings.
Pour it with a weak solution of potassium permanganate prepared with warm water. Make grooves 1 cm deep, with a distance of 5 × 7 cm. Lower the tomato seeds every 3 cm, sprinkle them with soil.
Cover the containers with transparent cellophane so that moisture does not evaporate, place in a warm place until the seeds germinate. You can place them on kitchen shelves or under a central heating radiator.
2 days after sowing, check every morning and evening for emergence. If so, place the boxes on the windowsill, placing them as close to the window pane as possible.
Growing tomato seedlings
Make sure there are no drafts on the windowsill. Provide the seedlings with a daytime temperature of +23 - +25 ° С, and at night +16 - +20 ° С. After a week, lower both readings by 3 degrees.
It is necessary to extend the daylight hours with the help of artificial supplementary lighting lamps. Turn them on in the morning and evening.
Water tomato seedlings only with water, the temperature of which is +25 - +28 ° С. This should be done when the soil is dry, do not overmoisten the seedlings so that they do not stretch out.
When 2 × 3 leaves are formed on them, transplant them into separate pots. If you planted seeds early, dive first in a container with a diameter of 6, and then - 8x10 cm. Make the second dive 20-25 days after the first. Each time you transplant tomatoes, pull off the root tip to develop the root system.
Planting tomatoes in a permanent place: care
Seedlings are planted in a reliable greenhouse on May 1-10. Under a temporary shelter, in open ground when the threat of spring night frosts has passed.
The place should be well warmed up by the sun, have fertile soil. Use a shovel to cut a notch 50 cm apart. Put a teaspoon of nitrophosphate in each hole, mix the fertilizer with the soil, spill it with water. Plant the plants directly with a clod of earth, deepening its first true leaves. Fill the hole with a mixture of humus, sand and peat. Immediately place a high peg next to it, tie the stem to it.
Do not water for five days so that the seedlings will take root during this time. After 3 weeks, fertilize on damp ground using:
- 10 liters of water;
- 900 ml mullein or 500 ml bird droppings;
- 1 tbsp nitroammophos.
Mix everything, leave for 2 days, after which you can feed the plants.
In total, 2–3 such dressings are made during the season, every 3 weeks. When tomatoes begin to form ovaries, nitrogen is not included in the fertilizer. During this period, you can feed the plants with a solution prepared from 10 liters of hot water, 1 tbsp. double superphosphate, 50 g of wood ash. Everything is mixed and left for 3 days, then watered under the root.
For a better fruit set, shake the flower brushes lightly in the morning. Spraying with "Ovary" also contributes to better pollination. It is dissolved according to the instructions and foliar top dressing is made from a sprayer.
In tomatoes, stepchildren must be removed periodically. If they are small, just break them off in the morning with your fingers, leaving a 1 cm stump. If the stepsons are overgrown, cut them off with scissors, leaving the same stump. Dip the tool periodically in a solution of red potassium permanganate. In the same way, disinfecting the scissors, cut off all the leaves to the first fruit cluster by August 1. In the same period, the growth points of the bush are also pinched so that the fruits have time to set and ripen.
By this time, tomatoes can be threatened by a dangerous disease late blight, therefore, watering is reduced. During the day, a greenhouse or greenhouse is ventilated, and at night they must be closed. As early as July, you can spray the plants with a drug that helps to prevent phytophthora.
More importantly, leaves and fruits should not touch the ground. Therefore, tie the stems to the supports in a timely manner and harvest. Put the shiny green fruits in a box, they will ripen in the light or in the dark.
It is important to observe the crop rotation, it is better to plant it in a greenhouse next year, where there were tomatoes, cucumbers. If this is not possible, then remove and burn all plant residues, and in November remove the soil to a height of 5 cm. Wash the walls of the greenhouse with a solution of soda, rinse. Set fire to the sulfuric bombs, close the doors and windows of the greenhouse, let it burn while disinfecting the greenhouse for 3 days.
After that, remove or open and leave the doors and windows in this position for the whole winter, in December, pour snow into the greenhouse to a height of 10 cm.
Video about practical tips for growing tomatoes:
