Every spring, inveterate summer residents are overcome by a lot of trouble. How to grow a good crop of tomatoes, cucumbers and other greens? How to protect from pests? What you need to know to surely please the seven fruits of their own labors?
Today let's talk about all your favorite tomatoes. How to grow a good tomato crop, for this you need to know what subtleties exist in this business?
Cooking seeds
The key to a good harvest is quality seeds. Unfortunately, they may look healthy in appearance, but the result of sowing will upset poor germination or seedling diseases. Why does this happen? There are several reasons: the seeds are too old, infected with a virus, bacteria or fungus, improperly prepared before sowing. How to grow a good tomato crop with these? Almost nothing.
Buy seeds from serious growers. Before selling, they are usually treated with special anti-fungal substances, which is indicated on the package. Of course, such seeds are more expensive, but if you do not want to spend too much, you can disinfect before planting and yourself.
Doubt your expiration date? In order not to guess if they will ascend, in 2-3 weeks arrange a "source material" preliminary check. Place a few seeds in a linen bag in warm water for about a day. Then put in the same damp cloth in heat for 3 or 4 days. Then plant the seeds in the prepared soil and watch for seedlings.
Seed treatment
How to grow a good tomato crop, if the source material does not completely satisfy you? Before processing the seeds, carefully inspect them, remove hollow, too small or large. The seed can be disinfected with a solution of potassium permanganate (1%). How to cook it? Very simple: throw a gram of potassium permanganate into a liter of water. Wrap the seeds in a piece of gauze and place for twenty minutes in the resulting solution (just do not overdo it), then rinse and dry.
Before sowing, you can additionally treat the seeds with microelements, a mixture of which is purchased in the store, regular ash is also suitable (a teaspoon of wood ash dissolved in a glass of water is insisted for a day). Seeds are kept in solution for about five hours.
To accelerate germination, you can soak them before sowing. Seeds swell in about 18 hours. For this, the best option is to put them on a damp cloth or foam, put a damp cloth on top. If necessary, re-wet it.
We grow seedlings
How to grow a good tomato crop the easiest? There are two ways. After swelling, the seeds are either planted directly in the soil or germinated. In the latter case, the seedlings will appear much faster. You can buy seedlings already prepared, but it is not difficult to grow it yourself.
Growing should begin in a timely manner - taking into account the tomato variety and the climate in your area. The future crop depends to a large extent on this. The farther south you live, the earlier you can start the landing procedure.
First, tomato seeds are sown in special containers or boxes, then dive - planted in individual pots. This prevents the sprouts from being pulled excessively and improves their root system.
Care Features
It is best to take containers made of plastic - they are easy to wash, transport and disinfect.
Want to know how to grow a good tomato crop? Get ready to scrupulously abide by some rules of care.
Different varieties should be planted in separate containers. Each of them should have opaque walls, a drainage hole and a non-leaking tray. The soil should be taken loose and fertile, you can buy an already prepared mixture in the store. The substrate is leveled in containers, slightly crushed and moisturized abundantly.
You can plant both dry and germinated seeds. They should be laid out on top of the ground (you can pre-draw grooves) in rows after two centimeters. Between the "strips" of seeds, the distance is best maintained from three to four centimeters. For convenience, you can take tweezers.
Sprinkle the seeds finely on top with a substrate, condense or gently squeeze in pencil into the ground and sprinkle with earth. Moisturize the soil by spraying.
Other subtleties
Boxes are placed in heat (not lower than 22 ° C), the names of the varieties are best marked on the labels. Avoid hot batteries - the soil will overheat and dry, and the seeds will die. You can cover the crop with polyethylene film - create a mini-greenhouse. Then the moisture will not evaporate. But shoots need to be aired from time to time.
So that the seedlings do not grow crookedly, we regularly twist the box relative to the light. Before seed germination, the soil should be warm - not lower than 25 ° C. Seedlings expect a week or a day earlier. If the room is cold, this period increases.
Shoots appeared - we rearrange the box in a cool and well-lit place. We keep there for about a week. Then we return it to heat until the first pair of leaves appears.
Before picking, tomato seedlings are practically not watered so as not to outgrow. The soil is protected from drying out, moistened with a sprayer.
Dive seedlings
Is compulsory picking necessary? Previously, such doubts did not arise. But now many gardeners do without it. The main thing is to decide on this issue in advance: the technology of both landing and care depends on this. But still consider the process of picking: how and when to deal with it.
Seedlings dive when they get the first pair of leaves. Fill suitable containers with soil (e.g. paper or plastic cups). In advance, for a couple of days, water the seedlings. Remove the sprouts from the ground with a picking peg (you can take a toothpick). At the same time, carefully hold each plant by the ground near the root. You can pinch this root by one third, but this is not necessary.
Dive Secrets
Each seedling is transplanted into its own container, straighten with a toothpick and press down the roots to the ground, fill in the hole, water abundantly and send to a cool, damp place. You will return it to the windowsill once each seedling has taken root. If necessary, the pick can be repeated - as the glass grows, change the cups to larger ones.
Seedlings during the cultivation process are usually fed 2 or 3 times with a prepared nutrient mixture or homemade fertilizer. Shortly before planting into the soil, you need to start hardening - open the window or take out every day for a couple of hours on the balcony. On warm days, you can leave on the loggia all day, covering at night with foil. By the way, some enthusiasts manage to achieve good results without a garden plot. How to grow a good tomato crop on the balcony, and is it possible in principle? We answer: this is quite real, there would be a desire. There are many methods for growing a good tomato crop on the loggia or balcony. But in this article we still consider the "garden" option, so let's get back to our seedlings.
Planted in the ground
We proceed to this stage when the plants acquire developed leaves in the amount of 8-11 pieces and a pair of formed inflorescences. At the time of planting, seedling growth should be approximately 30 cm (plus or minus 5 cm).
Many summer residents know how to grow a good tomato crop without a greenhouse, and they do fine without it. But we still consider the "greenhouse" option. After all, to build the simplest greenhouse for safe and efficient tomato cultivation is possible for almost everyone.
So, if you plan to plant the plants in the greenhouse first, you need to prepare it in advance: cover it with foil, equip the windows and arrange the ground. A suitable time for this is the end of April or the beginning of May. These nights, the air is still cool at night, so cover your greenhouse with a couple of layers of film with an interval of two centimeters. One layer is subsequently removed.
How to grow a good tomato crop in a polycarbonate greenhouse
It is undesirable to grow tomatoes with cucumbers - they require different care. If there is only one greenhouse, it is divided in half with a film. Tomatoes need good ventilation, so it will require window leaves on the sides and top. In addition, they love light, which means that any shading should be avoided.
If the soil in the greenhouse is clay, add peat, humus or sawdust (per bucket per square meter) to it. Sand, sawdust or ground with turf are added to the soil from peat. You can additionally feed the soil with fertilizers.
In the finished greenhouse, beds are marked and seedlings are planted. There are many schemes for this, it all depends on the height of the plants and their varieties. It should be taken into account the size of the greenhouse, the presence of supports for the garter, lighting and the possibility of watering.
What's next?
How to grow a good tomato crop in a greenhouse, what conditions must be observed in the first place? Tomatoes are very demanding of light and do not like too humid environments. When watering them, observe moderation, often air your greenhouse, otherwise the flowers and ovaries will fall off.
Soon after planting (ten to twelve days later), the tomatoes are tied to pegs or a strained wire mounted next to them. It is better to take polyethylene twine for this. It is customary to form one stem in tomatoes, removing extra stepsons. In a greenhouse, tomatoes are pollinated by gently shaking their hands, and they also carry out several radical top dressings.
How to grow a good tomato crop in the open field
By the time of planting, the air should warm up to a minimum of 12 ° C, and the plants should reach a height of at least 20 cm and "grow" about eight full leaves. The exception is when the seedlings have outgrown.
We choose for landing a sunny place with protection from the wind (on the south side). Low wet areas with close groundwater are not suitable. The soil requires a slightly acidic or neutral reaction, a good option is loam with fertilizers.
Landing is better to start on a cloudy day. If it is sunny, wait until the evening, during the night the plants will grow stronger and adapt to the heat of the day. The planting scheme is selected based on the height and variety of tomatoes and the existing irrigation system. Planting seedlings should be such that the plants do not interfere with each other. Each fetus should receive maximum sunlight and air.
How to plant
Before being placed in the soil, seedlings are generously watered so that it is easier to remove it from the pots and not damage the roots. Wells arrange "on a bayonet" in depth. Immediately before landing, they are filled with water until absorbed.
Seedlings are carefully deepened into prepared holes: strictly vertically with an earthen lump. Sprinkle the root with soil and add a little compost. Above - again the soil, which is rammed and watered.
It is best to immediately dig in pegs 50-80 cm high next to each seedling - for future garter. You can pull the wire to a height of about a meter. Twine for a garter is better to take synthetic, in order to avoid decay.
Further care
Immediately after planting, the bed is covered with plastic wrap. When the tomatoes take root, they remove it (subject to warm weather). Watering the seedlings is not recommended until it takes root. Usually this is eight to ten days.
Tomatoes are watered at the root, and the leaves must be protected from water, otherwise the plants will become ill. It is undesirable to use the sprinkling method, because it cools the soil and leads to a delay in ripening. The best hours for watering are in the afternoon.
With the beginning of fruit growth, the need for watering in a tomato increases sharply, it must be carried out regularly and more often. Difference in soil moisture is undesirable. Having “drunk” every bush, do not forget to loosen the soil near it and destroy the weeds. Earth compaction is undesirable.
We form and spud
The question of whether to grow tomatoes or not is of interest to many gardeners. Disputes over how to grow a good tomato crop in the country never subside. Some gardeners consider this procedure unnecessary. But hilling has several advantages. It enriches the soil with oxygen, strengthens the root system of plants, improves their nutrition.
To increase and accelerate ripening, tomatoes form - they pinch and pinch. After that, only a few fruit brushes (usually 5-6) remain on the bush. Stepsons (the so-called lateral shoots) are removed from the stem, pinching over the very top of the hands. You can form a bush in one, two or three stems, removing the lower shoots.
That's all the basic secrets of how to grow a good tomato crop “on the street”.
How to avoid diseases
Indoor plants are more likely to be affected by disease. This is due to high humidity, temperature differences, condensation on the film. For prevention purposes, the greenhouse should be regularly freed from debris and disinfected, seed should be decontaminated before sowing, seedlings affected by the disease should be discarded, the pests should be monitored and the greenhouse should be aired in time.
When growing in a garden, tomatoes should be well fed, observe the planting dates of different varieties, and mulch the soil. After harvesting, the greenhouse should be disinfected with a special solution.
If the tomatoes still get late blight, they are treated with copper chloride (solution). In the most severe cases, you will have to use pesticides.