A tomato

General information: tomato is an annual culture of the Solanaceae family. His homeland - South America and Mexico. In Russia, tomatoes are known since the XVIII century, but they were not used for food at that time, considering them poisonous. Fruits and flowers were admired, they were used as an ornamental plant. Only from the middle of the XIX century the tomato began to grow in vegetable gardens as a vegetable crop. Among the cultivated varieties, there are three varieties - ordinary, stamping and large-leaved. Ordinary has thin stems lodging in the period of fruiting. For the stamping characteristic of the compactness of the entire bush, erect thick stems, lodging under the weight of the fruit, a sheet with a short stalk and a corrugated surface. The large-leaved tomato differs from the ordinary one only in the structure of the leaf. Depending on the nature of growth and branching of lateral shoots, tomato varieties are divided into branching and weakly branching. The first of the axils of the leaves of the main shoot form the lateral shoots - stepsons, which in turn give shoots of the second order, then the third, and so on. The latter are characterized by the growth of lateral shoots only in the axils of the leaves of the lower part of the main stem. The weakly branched tomato plants usually do not require pasynkovaniya, and in the middle band they ripen well in the open ground.

Requirements: tomato plants in different periods of growth and development make different demands on external conditions. They can grow and bear fruit with a long and even continuous light. A short day is required only for growing seedlings. The most favorable temperature for growth, development and fruiting of tomatoes is 22-25 ° C in the daytime and 16-18 ° C at night. The need for water in a tomato is quite high, especially the moisture of plants during the formation of buds and ovaries. However, this culture does not tolerate soils with closely located groundwater. Poorly it tolerates high humidity and long rainy weather. Too humid air creates conditions for plant diseases with brown spots and late blight, complicating fertilization.

Tomato can be grown on various soils, but it is preferable to do this on light loamy or sandy loam, well-heated, with a high content of organic matter.

At a young age, plants need fertilizing with phosphorus fertilizers. In the period of flowering and fruit formation, the need for nitrogen increases, during the period of increased growth of fruits - in potassium. Lack of calcium leads to disease of plants with apical rot of fruit. To avoid this, it is necessary to carry out liming of the soil( to a weakly acid reaction).

On soils that are poor in organic matter, a tomato may lack magnesium. Micronutrients - boron, manganese and iron - have a positive effect on the development and fructification of plants.

Plots for tomatoes are located on the southern, south-eastern or south-western slopes.

In the spring, digging soil or peat compost( 2.5-3 kg / m2) and a full mineral fertilizer at a rate of 10 m2: 70-80 g nitrogen, 90-110 phosphorus and 60-70 grams of potassium are applied to digging soil. In this case, it should be noted that the tomato does not tolerate chlorine, so fertilizers containing this element, it is undesirable to apply under it. Many near Moscow vegetable growers produce 25-30 g / m2 of ammonium nitrate, 60-70 - superphosphate, 20 - potassium salt and 200 g / m2 of ash in each hole when planting with irrigation water.

Ingredients: contain vitamins C, B1 B2, B3, B6, PP, K, carotene, protein, sugars, mineral salts, malic and citric acids.

Cultivation: seedlings for disembarkation in open ground are grown in a room, a greenhouse or in a greenhouse. After a single sprouting of seedlings in another box, the seedlings can be transplanted into peat-fungal, paper, cardboard pots or nutritious cubes. After picking, the plants are watered with warm water and pritenyayut, which contributes to rapid rooting.

In the initial period of growth, the air temperature on sunny days is maintained at 20 ° C, at night - 17-18 ° C.On cloudy days, daytime temperatures are maintained at 2-3 ° C below. For 10-14 days before planting plants in the ground, the air temperature is reduced to 17-18 ° C by day.

In the south 30-40-day seedlings are planted in the soil, in the Non-chernozem zone, in Eastern Siberia - 60-75 days. In the middle belt, the period of planting seedlings in the open ground is the end of May and the first decade of June, so that the air temperature does not drop below 6-10 ° C.Low-grown varieties are planted with a distance between rows of 50-70 cm. Ridges are made low - 5-10 cm, with a width of 100-110 cm. Short-grown early ripening varieties can be planted in 2-3 rows. The distance between the plants in the row is 25-35 cm.

In cloudy weather, the seedlings are planted throughout the day, in the sunny, hot - in the afternoon. Low, well-developed plants plant vertically, deeper than they grew in seedlings. After planting, the soil at the roots is tightly compressed, without leaving a hill near the stem. Overgrown sprouts are best planted slightly in the planting with a backfill of the stalk part of the earth so that the plant forms an additional root system. In this case, the top of the plants is oriented in the direction of the prevailing winds. In dry weather, so that plants are better established and rooted, they are watered.

Varieties for open ground

Early ripening ( ripen through 96-110 days) Appatyeva 905 A - resistant to viral diseases. Shrub bush, short. The fruit is medium-fleshy, weighing 60-100 g. Suitable for long storage and salting.

White filling 241 - salad. The color of the ripe fruit is bright red, immature - milky white, for which the variety has its name;the fruit is fleshy, large.

The ground mushroom is resistant to low temperatures and diseases. Fruits ripen well after harvest. Recommended for fresh consumption and pickling.

Mid-ripeness and medium late ( ripen through approx. 130 days)

Breecode 1638 forms a sham, low-branched bush. The fruit is large, orange-red, weighing 70-120 g.

Kuban stamping 220 ( medium-late) has a large fruit, orange-red, very tasty. It is especially good for processing on tomato paste.

Gift is medium-ripening, suitable for seedling and uncultivated culture. The fruit is relatively large, red, used for canning and fresh.

Late ripening ( vegetation period 125-150 days)

Krasnodar / 87-93 is a sham, medium-bright spot. The fruit is flat, round, red, medium in size, weighing 70-100 g. Soviet 679 - heat-resistant. In the open ground it is possible to grow seedlings and seedlings. The bush is not sharp. The fruit is large( 70-110 g), red. Used for making tomato products and fresh.

In the winter-autumn growing of seeds in the protected ground is sown in the middle of December - early January, and in the south - in the second half of November. The soil for seedlings consists of 2 parts of peat or humus, 1 part of sod land and 1 part of coarse sand with addition of 1 m3 of a mixture of 150 g of ammonium nitrate, 250 - double superphosphate and 200 g of potassium sulfate.

Sprouts seedlings in pots containing the above soil, while the content of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium should be 1.5-2 times higher than in soil mixtures when growing seedlings for open ground. The temperature in the greenhouse is maintained at 18-25 ° C in the daytime and 12-18 ° C at night.

Grades for protected ground

Ripened and medium-term - Virovsky early ripening, Leningrad early ripening, Neris, Ukrainian greenhouse 285. Medium- and late-ripening varieties and hybrids - Vnukovsky ( medium-sided), Hybrid Vine-(), ( mid-late-sp), Condine improved ( cn), Leningrad autumn , Moscow autumn ( her), Greenhouse Nikulina ( her), Greenhouse 200 ( her), Uralskth prolific( her).

Plant seedlings in a 50-60-day-old age in a 90 x 60 or 100 x 60 cm pattern in a 90 x 60 or 100 x 60 centimeter pattern. In a row, the plants are placed at a distance of 35-40 cm.

Care: plants in the open ground require a good growth of regular soil loosening, watering, fertilizing, hilling and measures for the formation of the stem. In the first 2-3 weeks, the soil is loosened with a shovel to a depth of 12-15 cm, then with a hoe - to a depth of 5-8 cm, so as not to damage the root system. The last 1-2 loosening is combined with hilling, sprinkling of moist soil to the stem of the plant.

The first fertilizing is given 2-3 weeks after transplanting the seedlings into the open ground at the rate of 15 g / m2 nitrogen and potassium, 30 g / m2 phosphorus. The second time with mass growth and ripening of fruits are fed with ammonium nitrate in a dose of 80 g / m2 and sulfuric acid potassium - 25 g / m2.At this time, non-root fertilizing with trace elements - boron( 1 g / l water) or a growth stimulant is also recommended. Top dressing is combined with the treatment of plants against diseases or pests. Do it better in the evening, when the nutrient solution applied to the leaves dries slowly, and the morning dew promotes its complete absorption. To obtain an early and high yield, it is very important to patch and nip the tops of plants. The strong, branching varieties are planted 1-2 times, removing primarily the lower shoots of 5-7 cm in length. With the

, the mother plant( in the center) with the infrequent stepsons( on the sides)

, the second pasynkovaniya, a month before the final harvest, young buds and blossomsshoots. With a two-stemmed form of a tomato, leave the stepson in the axillary of the leaf located under the first flower brush, and in the case of a three-stemmed - sinus of the second leaf under the first inflorescence.20-25 days before harvesting the plants pinch the tops, leaving 2-3 leaves above the upper brush. In early July, it is useful to shorten the brush, pinching off a part of the buds and flowers, which in the open sky may not have time to produce full-fledged fruits.

If you can cover the bushes in August with a film, then the flowers do not break. Cut off stepsons and brushes with a secateur or scissors, leaving a stump 1 cm long. To create better lighting conditions, plants are tied to stakes or to a wire stretched along the rows. The stakes are placed from the north side at a distance of 7-10 cm from the stem. To the stems, the plants are attached in 3 steps: 1 - immediately after planting, tying the stems with a soft cord around the first sheet;2 and 3 - as you grow over the second and third brush.

Tomatoes in sheltered ground twice fed: first time not earlier than 10-15 days after picking( ammonium nitrate - 5-7 grams per 10 liters of water, superphosphate and sulfuric acid potassium - 10-15 each);the second - for 5-7 days before disembarkation into the ground( foliar top dressing with 0.1% solution of boric acid).2-3 days after planting, the plants are tied to a wire trellis stretched at a height of 2 m. The twine is tied under the first or second sheet. In a greenhouse, the tomato is formed into 1 stem. Side stepsons are removed when

is reached. In July, all the stepsons between the leaf axils and the leaves lying on the ground are removed from the plant. From the middle of August, the still growing seedlets

are picked out.

1. In one stem.2. In two stems.3 - In three stems

, they are 5 cm in length. Growth of the plant is limited to 12-16 inflorescences, leaving 2-4 leaves under the last brush. The top is pricked for 40-45 days before the harvest is completed. To improve pollination in the winter-spring months, flowering inflorescences shake or slightly tap.

During planting, the plants are fed with ammonium nitrate at the rate of 15-20 t / 2, with superphosphate 40-60, with potassium sulfate or better with wood ash - 20-30 g / m2.During the fruiting period, the doses of nitrogen and potassium are increased, while phosphorus is reduced. Do not pour a tomato in the greenhouse, but abundantly. After each watering, once the soil has dried a little, it is loosened. Careful care is the best preventive measure of all kinds of diseases to which tomatoes are susceptible. White flies love their leaves very much. Check the bottom surface of the leaves for their presence and hang the adhesive tapes. Occasionally tomatoes are attacked by mites, much more often - aphids. It should beware of fungal diseases, the effect of which manifests itself first in the form of dark brown spots on the leaves and fruits. Plants affected by disease are subject to destruction. As a preventive measure, plants can be sprinkled with dolomite flour or lime and sprinkled with nettle decoction. Compost improves soil quality. Quite often there is a phenomenon called a green collar, when a solid green tissue forms around the stem. The reason for this is excess nitrogen in the soil or stunting. Gray mold appears with excessive humidity in the greenhouse.

Harvesting: harvest the fruits selectively. First of all, it is necessary to remove the ugly immediately after their appearance. Fruits collect different ripeness depending on the weather conditions and ways of using. Those that go to food, it is better to shoot mature. If it is assumed that the tomatoes will lie for a while, it is better to assemble them in the stage of blanched ripeness. Fruits should be removed from the bushes, while the air temperature at night is above 7-8 ° C.Ripen fruit in a well-ventilated room at a temperature of 18-25 ° C and air humidity 80-85 %. Mature tomatoes are placed in 1-2 layers on shelves in boxes, so that they do not damage each other, in dark, necessarily ventilated rooms. At a temperature of 4-6 ° C they are stored for 15-30 days.

The shelf life of green fruit( reached biological maturity) can be extended to 50-60 days. The temperature of their storage is higher than 8-10 ° C. If it is lowered to 4-6 ° C, the fruits do not turn red. Better and longer( 2-3 months) are stored fruits, sprinkled with sawdust or horseradish peat.