Tomatoes
Tomatoes are related to Solanaceous cultures. They originate from Peru, where the climate is hot and dry, and hence the requirements for tomato growing conditions: good illumination, warmth, moderate soil moisture and dry air.
To Europe, tomato seeds were brought from South America to Columbus, and first they were grown for purely decorative purposes. The fruits of tomatoes were considered poisonous, and so much so that the English spy James Bailey, implanted in the headquarters of the American army fighting for US independence, decided to poison Gen. Grant, who had commanded the rebel army too successfully. He invited the general to dinner, where he was served a whole dish of exotic red fruits, which the general ate with great pleasure. When the next morning after Bailey galloped the messenger with an order to appear urgently at the headquarters, Bailey decided that he would be arrested at the headquarters in connection with the death of the general, and shot himself.
So, tomatoes need a moderately fertile soil( agronorm N + P + K = 58), loose, air-and water-permeable, with non-neutral or weakly acidicreaction( pH 5-6), the sun, but they can also grow under reduced illumination, for example, in cloudy or cloudy weather, tomatoes like dry air, draft, uniform and moderate watering, heat( 18-28 degrees).But they easily tolerate short-term temperature drops of up to 1- 12 degrees and even small frosts to -2 degrees, and in greenhouses and hotbeds on the warmed ground, with an additional double shelter lutrasilom or spunbond, tomatoes carry the morning spring frosts to -6 degrees
Tomatoes are phospholubbers( the ratio between nitrogen, phosphorus andpotassium they have 36: 19: 45.) For normal growth and development, they require higher doses of phosphorus and additional potassium, but they should be given moderate nitrogen.
Clay, heavy loams, condensing acidic( pH below 5) of soil are not suitable for growing tomatoes. Do not like tomatoes fresh manure. The introduction of manure causes them to grow green mass to the detriment of fruit formation. Excess nitrogen in the soil inhibits the formation of ovaries or causes them to fall off. Suspended plantings and poor airing tomatoes also do not like, as this causes an early disease of phytophthora and a strong stretching of plants. Contraindicated them and moist air, because wet, heavy pollen does not scatter and do not pollination. Do not like tomatoes high temperature( above 36 degrees), in which the pollen becomes sterile and does not occur fertilization.
What else does not like tomatoes? Large doses of mineral fertilizers, waterlogging of the soil, uneven watering( after a long period of drought abundant watering causes cracking of fruits), a prolonged cooling( 8-12 degrees), in which plants cease to absorb nutrients from the soil, and therefore stop growing and developing. A prolonged cool( 14-16 degrees) weather causes the pistil to stretch, and pollen does not enter it, so pollination also does not occur, accordingly, fruits are not fastened, so in this weather, pollination should be done manually in the morning.
Select a variety of
Before you sow and plant anything, decide what exactly you need. If you want to get an early harvest, then you should buy seeds of early varieties, or even better hybrids, because hybrids have better germination, they are hardier, and therefore more resistant to disease, they give a better harvest, but they are more expensive than varietal seeds. In addition, the seeds can not be taken from hybrids for subsequent planting, since they do not inherit parental properties, in addition, the seeds are often underdeveloped. And the best seedlings are obtained just from their seeds of the past summer.
If you do not have high greenhouses, then you need to choose grades of undersized ones - as a rule, ultradeterminant( super determinant), whose growth is limited. It can be both varieties and hybrids. At such tomatoes on the central stem 2-3 flower brushes are formed, and on it their growth comes to an end. Therefore, they are not stepchildren, since the main crop is removed from the stepsons. The first flower brush is laid after 6-7th leaf. Then, after 1 -2 leaves, they have the following flower brushes. Usually the fruits are small or medium, in the family chambers of which there is a lot of juice. The maturation period is 90-100 days. Harvest usually ripens before the appearance of phytophthora. Varieties often have fruits that are not aligned in size, there are smaller and larger ones in the same brush, in the first brush fruits are larger, in the upper - smaller. Hybrids have more leveled fruits. Among these tomatoes, the most interesting are: Far North, North, Subarctic, Dubok, Dwarf, Japanese dwarf, Crab, Yamal, Nevsky, Moskvich, Antoshka( with yellow fruits), Siberian early maturing, Betta, Boni-M, Alaska, Harem F1,Benito F1, Sultan F1.
Determinant tomatoes begin to lay the first flower brush after 8-9 leaves, and the next - through 2-3 leaves, the growth ends with a 5-6th brush. Such tomatoes are usually grown in two stems. For the second stem leave the stepson, coming from under the first flower brush( and not the first, growing out of the sinus of the first or second leaf).Such tomatoes are pamphoned, that is, plucked or cut out stems( stepchildren) appearing at the place where the leaf is attached to the trunk( in the axillary leaf).This should be done as early as possible( until the stepson has become longer than 3-4 cm), so that the plant does not lose in vain the force for an unnecessary additional stem.
Determinant tomatoes can be both small-fruited, medium-fruited, and large-fruited. Their fruits can contain a lot of juice in the seed chambers, but can also be dense, suitable for canning( it depends on the variety).The harvest ripens on the 110th-120th day and falls under the phytophthora. There are a lot of good varieties and hybrids of the companies "Semko", "Sedek", "Hardwick", "Gavrish", "Ilinishna".In my opinion, the most interesting are the medium-large varieties: Anzhelika, Korsar, Dann, Golubka, Garant, Raketa( Vinturi), Photon, Fontanka, Tsarskoselskie early, Talalikhin, Blagovest F1, Master F1, Verlioka F1, Semko-Sindbad F1,Portland F1.
Semideterminant tomatoes end with the 8-10th brush, completely all the brushes for the summer do not have time not only to ripen, but even to blossom, so they should be grown exactly like indeterminate tomatoes, that is, tomatoes with unlimited growth. Usually all these tomatoes bloom after the 10-12th leaf, the subsequent brushes appear every 2-3 leaves, during the summer they have time to ripen the fruits on 5-6 brushes. Each subsequent leaf appears after about 5-7 days, so for the appearance of the 6th brush it will take about 90 days plus about 60 days before the first flower brush appears, the total for their cultivation is about 150 days. Further growth of the central stem must be limited, that is, simply tear off the top( pinch), so that the plant does not waste in vain the force for growth, and used them to grow fruit already fastened( this technique is called piercing).Usually slinging is carried out in late July-early August. As a rule, the fruits of these types of tomatoes are large, fleshy, evenly growing and all the same size. Under the phytophthora all varieties and hybrids of this group of tomatoes, naturally, fall. These are famous hybrids: Margarita F1, Gamayun F1, Milady F1, Swift F1, Kostroma F1, Swallow F1, Rusich F1, Olya F1, F1 Fields and others. But there are also tall varieties with small fruits, for example, Marseilles( with fruits of 60 g), Anna Herman( with yellow fruits 50 g), Apple Russia( Tamina) with potato leaves and red fruits about 50 grams, Yelochka( Citafel) with fruitsabout 100 g of crimson color and many others.
Large-sized tomatoes are of great interest for fans. Among them, the varieties of Persimmon, King of London, Gigant Novikov, Bull's heart, anniversary Tarasenko, Monomakh's Cap, Dessert pink( early, with potato tops), Dessert red, Best of all, Beefsteak, Senor and amateur varieties Perfection, Vizma, De-Barao( large-fruited),
The dream of an amateur, Tsifomandra, as well as hybrids Athos F1, Porthos F1, Duet F1, Funtik F1.It should be noted that tomatoes with potato tops do not differ from tomatoes with a usual tops. Recently a whole series of promising tomato varieties of Siberian selection has appeared on sale: Sevryuga, Kuraga, Golden domes, Anna, Japanese tree, Japanese crab, Giant Crimson, Bakery, Pink honey, Favorite holiday, Russian Soul, Bear's Leg, Three Fatties. I recommend that amateurs try these varieties in their regions, because even in the North-West they showed excellent qualities.
I also want to note tomatoes that are subject to long-term storage - up to 3-4 months( without genetic variation): varieties New Year and Giraffe, hybrids Schlager F1, Instinct and Cartouche.
Recently, the bushy tomatoes have become fashionable. Usually these are hybrids, for example, Samara, Intuition, Reflex and others. They are interesting in that they have long floral brushes, carrying up to 20-25 fruits, aligned in shape and size.
In addition, small-fruited cherry tomatoes, the size of cherries, are widespread, but they are very prolific( Cherry yellow, Cherry red).
There are tomatoes suitable for pot culture, which grow well and bear fruit in the room and on the balcony: Little Prince, Hummingbird, Ranetochka, Bonsai, Balcony Miracle.
There are lianas reaching 3-4 m in height, for example, Limon-liana, the same De-Barao.
In short, there are tomatoes for just about any taste: short, tall, small, large, sweet and sharper, red, yellow, purple, pink, orange, white and even striped. So the choice is yours. Choose those varieties and hybrids that you like and work well for you. On them, and make a bid, and satisfy your curiosity, sowing annually a couple of new products, but never sow on the seedling at once a lot of unknown to you sorts, no matter how they are praised by neighbors and acquaintances.
Terms for sowing
The seeding time for seedlings should be determined in accordance with the selected variety or tomato hybrid. For large fruited tall tomatoes, the seedling age should be 60-75 days after emergence, plus another 5-10 days for sprouting, so seeds should be sown about 70-80 days before transplanting the seedlings. It is not necessary to sow too early, the seedlings will stretch out and may even blossom, and these first flowers will still have to be cut off, because the plant does not yet have a sufficiently good root system. You can, of course, resort to some tricks, so that by this time the seedlings already had a well developed root system. For example, cut the bottom and the neck of a plastic bottle, cut it along and, cutting off a few lower leaves, wrap it with the lower part of the stem. Fill with moist soil and secure, that is, increase the capacity. All over this part of the stem, additional roots are formed. However, there is also some inconvenience: it will have to be planted in rather deep holes, and below, the earth in many regions of the country remains cold for a long time, and the plant stops development. You can, of course, plant such a seedling lying, but then it takes much more space to accommodate it. But you can follow the advice of Jacob Mitlider: transplant the seedlings with 5-6 leaves in a large capacity( 3-5 liters) and arrange them wider so that the leaves do not overlap each other.
As the harvest is to be collected already in the middle of July( for the non-chernozem and North-West regions), and it takes about 150 days to do this, it is necessary to sow tall tall fruited tomatoes at the very end of February or the beginning of March. Plant them in the greenhouses as early as mid-May.
For small-fruited, early-ripening, low-growing varieties, seedlings can be planted in greenhouses in the middle-end of May, and in the ground - after the end of frosts, to harvest in mid-July. For this, seedlings at the age of 60 days are best, and therefore the seeds can be sown for seedlings at the end of March. There are superscale tomatoes, which are sown in the open ground in a non-sparse way. However, in the cold regions( Kaliningrad, Leningrad, Vologda regions), they still have to grow them through seedlings. Sowing can be done in the beginning of April at home or directly in the greenhouse, if you make biofuel, or heat the greenhouses, and then, after the spring frosts pass, plant them in the open ground. In the Northwest, it is better to grow them in a greenhouse. Among these tomatoes the most interesting is Snegir, which has rather large, fleshy, exceptionally tasty fruit weighing from 50 to 150 g.
Preparation of soil for seedlings
I do not advise taking soil from greenhouses, because together with it you can bring home pests and pathogens. It is best to make the soil itself from a mixture of peat, sand and ash: on each bucket of peat take a half bucket of sand and a liter can of wood ash.
In this mixture, you can additionally make "living land" from under the Californian worms, or pour it with a solution of "Phytosporin", or add "Bamil", "Agrovit" or other organic fertilizer, but all this in small amounts, in accordance with the instructionsinstructions.
Instead of peat, coconut substrates or sphagnum moss, needle needles or sawdust can be used. It is necessary to take them in the same proportions with sand and ash as peat, but the sawdust and pine needles must first be poured with boiling water, cool, water drained, pour again with boiling water, cool, drain water and only then add sand and ash. When using fresh sawdust, add 5 tbsp.spoons of any nitrogen fertilizer.
Why is it recommended to make such a primer? The process of decay of the organic component in it is slow and therefore, while the seedlings are growing, the chemical composition of the soil does not change and the temperature of the soil is approximately constant, there are no causative agents of diseases and larvae of pests.
If you apply them, then first steal them. To do this, put a sealed bag of soil in a bucket and pour boiling water over it into the bucket, cover it and hold the bag in water until it cools.
Rules for sowing tomatoes
If you are sure of the good quality of seeds, they do not need any preliminary preparation. If you are afraid that there are pathogens on the seeds, then do what the famous American scientist Dr. Jacob Mitlider advises: lower the seeds for 20 minutes in a thermos bottle with water heated to 53 degrees, then drain the water and lightly dry the seeds on a clean ironed ironpaper to flowability and immediately sow. The causative agents of diseases will die, and the seeds will not suffer from such short heating.
You should know that some growth stimulants, for example "Regrost", cause premature aging: the plant begins to develop rapidly, but then ceases to grow earlier than the due date, sometimes even at a small age, the foliage turns yellow. With the use of all kinds of stimulants, all seeds, including weak ones, sprang in unison, which would certainly lead to a poor harvest. If you want, use such drugs as "Novosil"( "Silk"), "Epin-extra" or "Energen".They are of natural origin and act differently from other stimulants and growth regulators, as they strengthen their own immune system of plants. Use stimulants only when the seeds are bad, and the plants must be grown, because there are no other seeds of interest. In other cases, seeds are not stimulated, because at an early stage of growth, I immediately see weak plants and discard them.
If you are an advocate of unnecessary procedures, then presow seed treatment as follows. Dissolve 1 tsp of table salt in a glass of water and dip the seeds in there, stir and wait until they get wet( this is called calibration).Surfaced upward throw, and drowned wash in the water, then for 15 minutes soak in a solution of potassium permanganate potassium, then for another 10 minutes in a solution of any copper-containing preparation( 1 g per 1 liter), rinse with water( this is called disinfection).
After that, hold the seeds in the refrigerator in a solution of aloe vera juice with water( 1: 2) or in a solution of the growth stimulant( better "Novosil" or "Epin-extras").Then, at room temperature, keep the seeds in a solution of mineral fertilizers( 1 teaspoon of azofosca plus a micronutrient grains per 1 liter of water).It is possible to use an extract of ashes( 1 item spoon to pour in 1 liter of boiling water and insist for 24 hours), fertilizer "Kemira-lux"( 0.5 teaspoons of fertilizer per 1 liter of water) or "Uniflor-growth"( 0.5 h.spoons for 1 liter of water) and 15-20 minutes to hold the seeds in any of these solutions( they are called nutrient solutions).Then you have to wrap the seeds in a wet cloth and put in the refrigerator for the night, take it out and keep it at room temperature. Entertained for about three days( this is called hardening).And only after that you can finally put the seeds in a warm place for germination for 2-3 days, and then sow them. Watch the germinating seeds all the time: once the seed has come on, immediately sow it, since a long( more than 1 mm) sprout can break off when planted.
J. Mitlajder considers, that all these actions anything, except for shock conditions at an embryo, do not give, and consequently, are harmful to the future plant. The best result is obtained from seeds, simply sown in the soil without any treatments. You can conduct exciting experiments yourself, comparing the results obtained and so and so.
All these activities will take an additional ten days, so start these procedures 10 days before the best day of sowing according to the lunar calendar, if you follow it. Sowing of dry seeds should be done 2 days before the best day of sowing according to the lunar calendar so that they can swell and include the biochemical process of cell division.
The container for planting should not be very deep( 6-7 cm in height).Fill it with a well-moistened soil mixture, not reaching the top edge of 2 cm. Seal the soil with a tablespoon, add the soil, if necessary, re-compact and spread the seeds along the soil surface at a distance of 1 x 1 cm. Pour dry 2 cm high soil and compactspoon. Cover the container with glass or film and put in a warm place.
At a temperature of 28-32 degrees, the seeds will ascend in 4-5 days, at 24-26 - after 6-8 days, at 20-23 - after 7 days. They will ascend even at degrees, but only two weeks later. The best shoots are those that will appear in a week at 25 degrees Celsius. The very first shoots are not the best. The best ones that come together are the whole group. Those who strongly( for 4-5 days) lag behind the main group, should immediately be rejected.
Weak plants grow later, without having discarded the seed coat, they have fused cotyledons, the first true leaves are irregular in shape, they lag behind in growth and development from the rest. But shoots may appear later because some seeds you sowed to a greater depth than others, so make sure that all the seeds were sown to the same depth. The plant does not discard the shell from the seed, because the seed has been sown too finely, or the soil has not been compacted after sowing, or the seed is weak. Therefore, compact the soil, sow seeds to the required depth, then shoots will sound to you about the poor quality of the seed.
The first transplant of tomato seedlings
Tomatoes quickly restore the damaged root system, and when they break off sucking hairs they grow even thicker, so tomatoes easily tolerate transplantation, and generally speaking, the more transplants, the more the plant is stronger. Therefore, tomatoes can be transplanted first into small cups, then in a larger container.
The seedlings are peeled in the phase of 2-3 true leaves. It is necessary to prepare landing pots with a capacity of at least 1 liter, fill them with soil for 3/4 of the volume, pour it well, lightly compact, pencil in a funnel, pick up sprouts with a teaspoon and put it in a funnel. In this case, if the spine is too long, it must be shortened by a third of the length, and it must not be allowed to bend upwards. Tomato is buried in the most cotyledonous leaves. When transplanting the plant should be kept not for the stalk, but for the cotyledonous leaves. Then the soil around the plant is squeezed, gently poured with water and put on for a couple of days so that the seed did not get direct sun and light from the lamp. Then they move it to the brightest place.
If you are going to the site on weekends, and there is nobody to water your seedlings, then I recommend that you use Aquadon at the first pick. It is a polymer powder that turns water into a gel. Plants take moisture from "Aquadon" gradually, as necessary, as it happens when drip irrigation. You can not water your seedlings for a couple of weeks or more - you will have enough moisture for all this time."Aquadon" is pre-soaked in water to the state of jelly and at the transplant put directly under the roots of 2 teaspoons of the resulting gel( instead of "Aquadon" you can use a hydrogel).As the seedlings grow, the soil must be poured.
There is an interesting way of picking seedlings into "diapers" from the film. To do this, cut the film into pieces measuring 15 x 25 cm, pour in the center of 1 tbsp.a spoonful of soil and put it on the plant so that all the leaves are above the upper edge of the film. Top another 1 tbsp.spoon soil and swaddled like a baby, with the lower edge of the film barely tucked up so as not to spill out the soil. Put a rubber band on the tape so that it does not turn around. It is not necessary to wrap the edge at the very ends of the roots, this will prevent their growth downwards. With this method of picking, the central spine is not plucked, so that, when transplanted into place, it immediately grows into the soil.
In each film, pour 1 teaspoon of water and make all the pockets next to each other in a shallow tray, for example, in a can of herring or a photocell. When the plants have 5-6 sheets, the bags are unfolded, add a couple more spoons of soil to it and wrap again. With this method of growing seedlings, it takes up little space, requires a small amount of soil, it is easy to transport, and since it grows under stress, it tends to plant flower brushes as soon as possible.
By the way, in this way it is possible to plant seeds directly and grow seedlings in general without picks.
Fold the small pieces of a small sheet of film( 12-15 x 20-25 cm), fill them with moist soil for seedlings and sow each tomato seed. On the rims, put on an elastic band or fasten it with a paper clip so that they do not turn around, then make them in shallow containers close to each other. Place in a warm place, for example, under an ordinary table lamp or near a heating battery( the best temperature for a friendly and rapid appearance of shoots is about 25 degrees).Seedling sown in this way, does not dive and does not sit down. It is only necessary to unfold it and add one tablespoon of soil, when it will have approximately 4-5 present sheets. As you understand, the tip of the root is not plucked. In the future it will promote its rapid growth in depth, and this will allow not watering tomatoes all summer. Sprinkling of the seedlings, especially the ones that are dived into "diapers" from the film, is always done very moderately. By the way, in such film "diapers" any seedling, even cabbage, grows perfectly.
When growing seedlings, leave only the most amicable and strong shoots.
As soon as the first sprouting bug appeared, without waiting for the others to appear, immediately put the container at the lightest and coolest place( 12-14 degrees at night and 16-18 degrees in the afternoon).Do not keep the glass itself, it's too cold, the seedlings will not absorb the food. The sign of phosphorus starvation is the purple color of the underside of the leaves and stem, and also the leaves raised upwards. When these signs appear, move the seedlings away from the glass. After a week, both night and daytime temperatures should be increased by about 3-4 degrees.
Once the cotyledonous leaflets are opened, the plant passes to the root-its own food. It is very important that at that moment all elements of food, especially nitrogen and phosphorus, are accessible to him, so immediately start feeding the plant in watering with a weak solution of mineral fertilizers, without waiting for the appearance of the first real leaf. You can use a weak solution( 1 teaspoon per 5 liters of water) of one of the following fertilizers: "Kemira-lux", "Uniflor-growth", "Rastvorin", AVA.At the same time, we need to give very good coverage, as the development program for the whole plant is being laid at the growth point. "Tomatoes laying the first flower brush after the 5th-6th leaf, in case of insufficient illumination instead of a flower brush, will lay the leaves until the lighting becomesfor them enough, and each leaf is about 5-7 extra days before the beginning of fruiting. Where the Summer is short, every week counts, so try to provide the plants with very good lighting, including daily for 12 hours of daylight lampsa. Lamps should be placed directly above the plants, about 7 cm above them. As the plants grow, the lamps are lifted so that the distance between the plants and the lamp remains the same.
Seedlings should be watered very moderately, each plant in the initial period is sufficient for 1 hour.spoons. The typical mistake is excessive watering of seedlings. As a result, the roots develop poorly, they do not have enough oxygen, they do not go in.
Gradually watering should be increased, while keeping in mind the weather. In dull and cold weather, watering and feeding should be less, and in sunny and hot - more. It is better to water not with water, but with a weak solution of mineral fertilizers, as mentioned above. Do this as necessary, as soon as the surface of the soil dries slightly. In hot days - every day at night, in cold days - in 2-3 days. You can not tolerate the drying up of seedlings, this will necessarily affect the yield.
Transportation of seedlings of tomatoes to the site of
When transporting seedlings in "diapers" to the dacha, each plant is wrapped in a newspaper, stacked in a box with a jack( one crown in one direction, the other in the other) and transported to the site. When planting in place, pour the seedlings in the "diapers" with water, unfold them and transplant the seedlings into the prepared wells.
If you transport seedlings in pots or growing in boxes, wrap each plant with a newspaper and make them into large boxes. It is possible to put boxes with seedlings in boxes from under bananas so that the seedlings stood in them vertically. The boxes are covered with lids. They are convenient to carry, and wrapping each plant in newspapers is not required. If you plant seedlings from pots or other containers, then, on the contrary, do not water it for a couple of days.
Before any transportation the seedlings are not watered for 2-3 days, then it will be less fragile and will suffer less during transportation, and by weight it will be much easier.
Transplanting tomato seedlings into the greenhouse and into the soil
It is often recommended to water the seedlings before planting them in the soil. I do not advise doing this for the simple reason that, together with the wet ground, when you transplant the seedlings from the container, a significant part of the roots breaks off. Usually the seedlings are turned upside down, passing the stalk between the fingers, then remove the container. At this point, a part of the roots remains in the container together with the moist soil. Conversely, do not water the seedlings before planting in place for 2-3 days, so that the land in the tank is dried( even if the leaves of the seedlings hang, like the ears of a poodle).If you turn the seedlings upside down, the container will be easily removed and all roots will remain unscathed.
Before the transplant, add 1 tbsp to each well.spoon of superphosphate( if you have double superphosphate - then an incomplete spoon).Pour a full hole of water and, as soon as it is absorbed, add water 3-4 times more and only then plant the seedlings. The hole should be slightly deeper than the height of the pot with the seedlings.
Tomato, when planted, is buried and hilled to form additional roots. By the time you do the transplant, the plants will be tall enough, and they should be tied to narrow pegs with narrow strips of tissue immediately after the transplant. Then transplanted plants should be well watered again and after that do not water for a week to force the roots in search of moisture to grow in breadth and depth.
Transplanting transplants is best done in the afternoon and a couple of days after transplanting it should be pritenyat. Feeding can be done after the seedling has taken root( she has a new leaf).
Transplanting into the ground can be done only after the end of night frosts. If you transplant the seedlings in the open ground, then it must be hardened beforehand, for this you take it out for 3-4 hours to the street within a week.
If you plant seedlings in a greenhouse or a greenhouse, then you do not need to temper it. You can not quench the seedlings at all, but to protect against strong ultraviolet radiation it should be sprinkled with a solution of the homeopathic preparation EcoBerin immediately after planting. It is enough to grind 2 grains until completely dissolved in a small bottle half filled with water. Then add water to 1 liter, stir well and spray. Similarly, you can spray not only seedlings, but also any other planting( in particular, conifers) against spring sunburn.
In a greenhouse tomatoes can be planted early, if you make the warmed soil. To do this, in the spring, as soon as the soil in the greenhouse permits, it is necessary to excavate the trenches in depth and width onto the bayonet of the shovel. Filling the trenches harvested from autumn with dry hay( or dry leaves), return to the hay from above the soil excavated from the trench, put a plank on it and walk around the board to compact the soil. Further, everything is the same as when planting seedlings in the ground.
Tie up the seedlings in the greenhouse is better to the horizontally stretched wire( trellis) with a soft twine. There are two such tapestries. One pull on the yu-15 cm above the tops of transplanted seedlings, the second - under the ceiling of the greenhouse. Under the lower pair of leaves, you must tie the twine with a loose loop and, twisting the stem with twine, hold it under each sheet, then tie first to the bottom trellis on the bow so you can easily untie the twine. Twine must be taken so long that in the future you can tie tomatoes to the upper trellis. You can not allow the curvature of the stem, in this case the plant is poorly supplied with food from the soil. As the plant grows, the twine must always be wound around the stem, passing it under each leaf.
Spun a spunbond or lutrasil non-woven material over the trellis, cover the planted tomatoes. It is better to make a double shelter a thin material, rather than single and thick. Spunbond will give a little shade and protect the landing from night frosts. Hay in the trench will start to heat in the greenhouse and give heat to the root system of tomato, in addition, this heat will warm the air under the spunbond. With such a planting, tomatoes survive morning frosts to -6 degrees. After the termination of frosts and shelter, and an extra trellis can be removed, and plants tie up to the upper trellis.
In warm daylight hours before the end of freezing, greenhouses should be open, but spunbond can not be removed. When the weather is warm after the end of frosts, the door to the greenhouse and the windows under the roof ridge should be kept open 24 hours a day, moreover, in the hot time in the middle of summer you can generally remove the roof over the greenhouse with tomatoes. This improves the tying of fruits and prevents disease by phytophthora.
Top dressing and watering of tomatoes
Usually it is recommended to make top dressing of tomatoes every two weeks, first giving 10 g of nitrogen, 10 g of phosphorus and 20 g of potassium( 10 g - about 2 tsp) for 10 liters of water, consuming 0, 5 liters for each bush. Then the fertilizer dose is doubled, add 10 g of magnesium per 10 liters of water, consuming 0.5 liters per plant.
However, experience shows that it is much more effective to combine watering with fertilizing, that is, watering plants not with water, but with a weak solution of mineral fertilizer( 3 tablespoons per 10 liters of water) weekly( or more often in dry, hot weather).To do this, take 2 tbsp.spoons azofoski, add 1 tbsp.spoon of double superphosphate and 0.5 teaspoons of carbonate or potassium sulfate( tomatoes do not like chlorine), add 2 teaspoons of "Uniflor Micro" to a bucket of water and pour 0,5 liters of solution under the root of each plant.
It's even better to organize drip irrigation - either using a special hose with holes or digging between plants two-liter plastic bottles with a nutrient solution, which in the bottom of the side surface should be made with a thick hot nail of 12 holes and unscrew the lid. Part of the bottle with holes must be in the soil. If the solution pours out too quickly, turn the bottles around their axis so that the soil forms earth plugs in the holes. The solution will continuously and slowly seep into the root zone. Your business is to ensure that the bottles are not emptied by pouring a solution through the neck in them( for this it is convenient to use a teapot).
To those who on the site is quite rare, and to grow tomatoes still want, I recommend when planting to make in the hole 1 st.spoon double superphosphate, 3 tbsp.spoon pre-soaked in water "Aquadon" or hydrogel and 1/3 tsp of fertilizer AVA.Firstly, watering can be done once in 2-3 weeks, and secondly, there is no need to do any additional fertilization all summer.
But it should be immediately said that the stock of mineral fertilizers will suffice only for the first period of seedling survival. In the future, of course, additional fertilizing will be required throughout the summer.
Complex fertilizer AVA, obtained by a high-temperature melt of thirteen minerals, very slowly, within 2-3 years, "melts" in soil solution and therefore is not washed out of the soil, but is constantly present in it, supplying plants with the necessary nutrients. It is even better to add 1/3 tsp of the powder fraction of this fertilizer to the well when planting seedlings. Then plants use it for one season, and all summer will not need any mineral fertilizing. There is one more long-lasting fertilizer - "Apion".Before planting seedlings in place, dig between 4 plants a bag of "Apia" at the depth of the palm. Irrigation should be done between plants on the "Apion".
If you are experiencing financial difficulties, then just water the tomatoes with infusion of weeds, diluting the infusion with water 1: 5, and constantly pour ash around the plants, without getting on the stem.
Tomatoes like a uniform watering. They are watered moderately, without allowing the soil to dry out. If after a drought immediately abundantly watered tomatoes, they cracked fruit. Therefore, first you just need to moisten the surface, then after a while to water it is not too abundant and only the next day give the plants abundant watering. In cool or cloudy weather, 2 liters of water per plant is enough once a week. In hot and sunny weather, such watering is done twice a week. But it is better, as already mentioned above, to organize a continuous supply of plants with water through drip irrigation. At an early age, the need for moisture in tomatoes is small, but at the time of fruiting it increases, but the excess moisture at this point can cause cracking of the fruit.
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To find out if there is enough moisture in the soil, it is necessary to take a clump of soil from a depth of 10 cm and squeeze it in the palm of your hand. Then open the palm: if the lump has not disintegrated, then enough moisture;if it has broken up - moisture is not enough and irrigation is required;if the moisture from the clump of soil begins to ooze, the soil contains a surplus of water.
So, tomatoes are fed and watered all season moderately.
Tomatoes can not be watered at all, but for this it is necessary to direct their roots deep into the soil. This is done so. First, during the picking, the central root is not shortened and the seedlings are dived into "diapers" from the film. Secondly, before planting, dig holes in the soil a bit deeper than the length of the roots. In the hole make the necessary fertilizers and pour gradually 4-5 liters of water. Then transplant the seedlings, water it, hump it and necessarily mulch to prevent evaporation of moisture from the soil surface. As mulch, peat can be used( it must be scraped with ashes), dry cloddy soil or simply newspapers( for this they are folded in 2-3 layers, make a cut and cut out a small hole for the stem, then put on the soil and slipped under a plant, like a childbib).The moisture starts to go down, and the roots will reach for it deep, instead of expanding in breadth. And at a sufficiently large depth of moisture is enough. Planted in this way, tomatoes can not be watered all summer.
This technique is not suitable for sandy soils. On sand it is best to use "Aquadon" or drip irrigation through plastic bottles or hoses with holes, connected to the tanks. Banks do not necessarily put high. It is necessary that they only slightly rise above the surface of the soil and the water flowed out of them by gravity.
How to accelerate the maturation of tomatoes
To accelerate the maturation, stop watering the tomatoes and cut off some of the roots, reducing the supply of nutrients from the soil( for this plant you have to tug at the stem or split the stem and stick a chip into the crack).
Swipe( remove the growth point, that is, simply tear off the tip of each stem) at the end of July and cut off all the flowers.
It is possible to pollinate the soil under plants with Regrost regulator or similar, causing aging of plants. But keep in mind that "Regrost" contains a fairly toxic substance carbide, so I do not use it.
Formation and phases of the development of tomatoes
The formation is the timely removal of stepsons: the gradual removal of leaves under a fruiting brush, first first, then second, and so on, until all the fruit brushes are bare. Over the last one, 3-4 leaves should be left, cutting off the top of the plant at the end of July. At the same time, it is necessary to cut off all flowers and buds. If tomatoes are grown in two trunks, for this leave the stepson growing from under the first flower brush.
Tomato shoots appear about a week after sowing, at a temperature of about 25 degrees. The first real leaf appears about two weeks after emergence, then each new leaf - in 5-7 days. The first flower brush is tied about 35-40 days after the emergence of shoots in early varieties, 60 days later - in the varieties of the average maturation period, in 90 days - in large-fruited, late varieties. Each brush blossoms from 7 to 10 or more days, depending on the weather conditions, and after the formation of the ovaries filling the fruit to blanche ripeness( this is the stage of technical ripeness - when the tomatoes have not yet colored in the inherent tone, but have already brightened), about 20-30 days, depending on the variety. Then it will take another 2-3 weeks for the fruit to ripen.
Fruits in blanche ripeness can be removed and put on a dosage, with the light does not matter, but the temperature is important. Dosage usually occurs at a temperature of 16-18 degrees, but can occur at lower temperatures. However, at temperatures below 12 degrees, the formation of pigmentary substance of lycopene stops, which stains the fruits in red, and the fruits turn yellow. This is observed in the autumn, when ripening fruits directly on plants in cold weather instead of red become yellow.
The most delicious fruits are those that are fully ripened on plants. It can often be heard that the ripening of fruits directly on plants hinders the growth of the rest. This is not true. While the first fruit is being poured on the brush, the rest gets less on this nutrient brush, but as soon as the fruit has grown to the standard size for this variety, its growth stops and no more nutrients are taken, because nutrients are not required for maturation. On the contrary, the ripening fetus produces ethylene gas, which promotes rapid ripening of the remaining, still green, fruits.
Tomato is a long-term culture, unfortunately, we do not have wintering, so we grow it as an annual one. A healthy tomato shrub can be excavated in autumn and, after transplanting a large pot( with a capacity of at least 5 liters), from the site home. In late November, tomato will discard the leaves, at which time it should be very sparingly poured. In late February, the plant will again have leaves and a flower brush is formed almost immediately. Carry it to the site, when frosts pass, and drop them into the ground already with fruits. In the fall, you can take him home again. Gradually the tomato grows into a real tree. But personally I have not been able to grow the same plant for more than three years - it is dying, probably because of too frequent transplants. Tomato grows well on the balcony and the loggia, and even in the room on the windowsill. You just need to pick a suitable variety.
Recently appeared so ripe tomatoes that they can be sown with seeds directly into the ground or a greenhouse. As a rule, these are small-bodied and low-growing varieties that do not require pasynkovaniya.- Snowdrop, Spring drops, but among them there is a fairly large-bodied variety Snegir.
From varieties( but not from hybrids - they are marked with the sign of F1) you can grow your own seeds. The best seeds are obtained from unripe brown tomatoes. If you want to sell them, then give them a full ripening, but do not overreact, since the germination of the seeds will fall. Cut red ripe tomato, take out a teaspoon of seeds and soak them in the juice of the same tomato for two days, then rinse in water, dry, spread on sachets and label on the bags the name of the variety and year. If you are preparing seeds for yourself and your friends, enough of the unripe tomato to take out the seeds with a spoon directly on the toilet paper, smear them, pushing about 1 cm apart, and dry them by writing the name of the variety and the year directly on the toilet paper. When the paper dries, roll it into a tube, put on an elastic band and store it. When sowing it is enough to cut a piece of paper with seeds and spread it on a moist soil surface, sprinkle dry soil on top and compact it.
Tomato diseases and
problems If the seedling is stretched strongly, it means that it does not have enough light. Place the mirror behind the seedlings so that the mirror glass is facing the window, this greatly increases the illumination of the plants. Instead of a mirror, you can use foil or a special reflective film by the St. Petersburg company "Shar".Exclude from the feeding of nitrogen, it also promotes intensive growth, increase phosphorus fertilizing - this will slow down growth. But if the seedlings are still very much outgrown, it will have to be cut immediately above the 4th leaf and placed in water with "Kornevin" or heteroauxin to form new roots. The water in the jar with the seedlings should be a little, and the temperature in the room is not lower than 20 degrees, otherwise, instead of giving roots, the tip of the stem in the water will simply decay and the seedlings will die. When several roots are formed, again plant the seedlings in the soil, preferably in more spacious pots of at least 1.5 liters. This procedure tightens the fruiting approximately for 10-14 days. The remaining lower part of the seedlings must be discarded.
A good indicator of the well-being of tomatoes are leaves.
If they are matte with a greyish tinge or too light and small - this indicates a lack of nitrogen;feed the plant with infusion of weeds, urea or any saltpetre( 1 tablespoon per bucket, 0.5 liters per root).
If a purple hue appears on the underside of the leaves or the leaves are pressed against the trunk and raised upwards, this indicates a lack of phosphorus. Sprinkle under each bush 1 tbsp.spoon of superphosphate and seal in the soil, without getting fertilizer on the stem and leaves. You will achieve a faster effect if you top up tomatoes in watering with extract from superphosphate. For this, a glass of fertilizer should be filled with a liter of boiling water and let it stand overnight. Then, dilute this solution in 10 liters of water and water the plants. Top dressing give 0.5 liters under the bush.
If there is a drying edge around the edges of the leaves or they fold into a tube upwards, then this is a lack of potassium, give top dressing with any potassium fertilizer that does not contain chlorine, preferably potassium nitrate( 1 tablespoon per bucket, 0.5 liters per plant), or pour under each plant half a glass of ash on wet soil.
If the leaves curl downward( forming a "chicken foot"), do not pay attention: this is either a feature of the variety, or the central vein grows faster than the plate, and therefore the leaf is twisted.
If the leaves have acquired a marble light and dark green color, this indicates a lack of magnesium;sprinkle half a glass of dolomite under the plant on wet soil. To get a quick effect, you can give fertilizing on the leaves, dissolving 1 teaspoon of magnesium nitrate or 1 teaspoon of English salt in 10 liters of water.
If the leaves have acquired a mosaic yellow-green color, this may be a signal about the lack of any of the trace elements. Dissolve 2 tsp of "Uniflor-micro" fertilizer in 10 liters of water and sprinkle the plants in the evening on the leaves if the weather is dry or pour( 0.5 liters of solution per plant) if the weather is wet.
However, such a mosaic of leaves can also be caused by a tobacco mosaic virus. In this case( if after 5-7 days the supplementation with microelements "Uniflor micro" did not help), the plant must be destroyed and burned.
If black spots appear on the lower leaves and then on the remaining leaves, which then begin to increase, and around them a yellow spot forms, this is a terrible disease of tomatoes of the phytophthora - a fungus that lives in the soil, but only if it does not contain enough copper. Hence the prevention of the disease: before planting, pour the soil with copper oxychloride( Hom, Osih, Polych) or copper vitriol, or use the preparation Profit( 1 tbsp spoonful of preparation per 1 liter of water for watering the soil or 1 h.spoon of the preparation for 10 liters of water for spraying on the leaves, after spraying the fruit can not eat three weeks).You can prophylactically sprinkle tomatoes with infusion of mushroom-tinder, for this, crush yu g of mushroom, pour boiling water, cover and cool. After this, strain and immediately sprinkle tomatoes on the leaves. After 10 days, repeat spraying. It is recommended to do such preventive spraying in late June - early July.
If the phytophthora has just started, then you can sprinkle tomatoes with iodine solution( 10 ml of 5% iodine per 10 l of water).After three days, repeat. By the way, the solution costs unlimited time and it can be used to spray other plants against all fungal diseases. You can use the biologic "Zircon", which enhances its own immune system of plants. It is a mixture of hydroxycinnamic acids, which produces the immune system of any plant. But if the plant is weak, then these organic acids it does not produce enough and it starts to overcome the disease. Spraying plants with "Zircon", you increase the content of these acids in them to a normal level, and the plants become viable.
If the phytophthora is severely affected, diseased leaves should be removed and burned, and the fruit should be sprinkled with a 1% solution of calcium chloride( a 10% solution in 200 ml vials is sold in a pharmacy.) The bottle should be dissolved in 2 liters of water).Especially carefully it is necessary to spray the peduncle, as the phytophthora penetrates it into the fetus.
After harvesting tomatoes, strongly affected by phytophthora, it is necessary to lower the fruit for 10 minutes in a hot( 40 degrees) solution of potassium permanganate potassium pink. Do not make the solution too dark - on the skin of the fruit a burn is formed. Remove the fruits, wash with water and wipe dry. After that, they can be put on storage, wrapping each in paper. Then the phytophthora will not pass from one fruit to another, if suddenly one of them still begins to deteriorate.
Sometimes gardeners insert a thin copper wire in the stem in order to avoid the phytophthora. In my opinion, it is better to gradually saturate the plant with a copper, sprinkling it 2-3 times during the growth, beginning with the seedling, with a weak solution of chlorine-copper oxide( 1 g per 1 liter).In addition, regular preventive spraying of plants, as well as watering the soil under tomatoes with "Fitosporin", helps, but it should be started from the end of June.
Tomatoes growing in the open ground, as a rule, are not susceptible to fungus diseases, but if the fruits lie on the ground - diseases of phytophthora can not be avoided.
There is one popular way to combat mushroom diseases: dilute the yeast into 10 liters of water and water the plants on the leaves.
Another formidable disease of tomato is leaf mold. The disease appears in the form of yellowish spots on the leaves, which stain the hands, then the leaves wither. The disease spreads very quickly and can kill tomatoes in the greenhouse literally in a week. The disease provokes too high( 95%) humidity in the greenhouses. At the very beginning of the disease, stop watering, sprinkle the soil with chalk or ash, ventilate the greenhouses well, remove the diseased leaves and burn them.
Less common diseases include white and gray rot of fruits, which are expressed in the appearance of rotten spots on the fruit, often at the stalk, which causes them to fall off. The best measure of protection is good ventilation of greenhouses. The wilting of tomato, as a rule, is caused by decay of the stem. In this case, nothing remains, how to dig a plant and destroy it. Vertex rot most often affects pepper, but sometimes it happens in tomatoes. It appears from the lack of potassium, calcium and moisture. The plant begins to pump them to the point of growth from the apical part of the fruit, the fetal tissue dehydrates, turns pale, then dies and rotes. As soon as you noticed the light spots on the fruits, give watering and top dressing with calcium and potassium nitrate( 1 tablespoon each for 10 liters of water).
There are few pests in tomatoes, but there is one rather dangerous one - a whitefly( a small white butterfly-mole).Whitefly is a sucking pest, very prolific. Destroy it can be chemical poisons "Top Star", "Confidor" or "Commander", after spraying with which the fruits can not eat for 20 days. Usually they are used after harvesting, if the pest attack is too strong. There is a less effective( on the whitefly), but an ecologically safe biological agent "Fitoverm", after the application of which, after two days, tomatoes can be eaten. There are special glue plate-traps for flying insects, they can be used in greenhouses.
Typical failures in the cultivation of tomatoes
There is no fertilization of .The reason is high humidity or high temperature in the greenhouse( spray in the morning hours with "Buton" or "Ovary" preparations and well ventilate the greenhouses).
Ovaries of the fall off. The reason is excessive fertilizing with nitrogen, manure or infusion of weeds after transplanting to a permanent place;for the same reason, there is a delay in fruiting and excessive growth of the above-ground part.
In tomatoes, the facet( double) flowers are formed. The reason for low temperatures when laying flower buds, out of terry flowers, are ugly tomatoes grown from several fruits, seeds can not be taken from them, since this deformity can be transmitted to the offspring, so abnormally large buds of facet flowers should be removed even in the bud stage.
Early disease with phytophthora. The reason is the lack of copper in the soil, in high humidity, poor airing and thickening of plantings.
Slow growth of ovaries. The reason for prolonged cooling, cloudy weather or a sharp change in daytime and night temperatures( in this stressful situation, you should feed the plant with calcium nitrate - 3 tablespoons per 10 liters of water, 0.5 liters of solution under the bush).
Sometimes gardeners are themselves guilty of creating stressful situations when late open greenhouses. They should be opened no later than 8 am, while the temperatures inside and outside the greenhouse differ only by 2-3 degrees. If you open the greenhouse at 10 am, then the outside temperature is still low, but in the greenhouse it has already risen to 20-25 degrees. As soon as the greenhouse is opened, temperature equalization begins, which proceeds quickly. Plants react negatively to a rapid change in temperature - they stop the process of photosynthesis, that is, for 2-3 hours the development stops, and the delay occurs in the most valuable morning hours.