Growing tomatoes in a greenhouse: features, technology and recommendations

To grow tomatoes in a greenhouse, you need to make a lot of effort. These plants need constant care, from sowing seedlings to the last harvest. Beginning summer residents often encounter difficulties. To get a big crop, you need to know the rules for growing tomatoes in a greenhouse.

Types of Tomatoes

All varieties of tomatoes for growing in a greenhouse are divided by type of growth into:

1. Indeterminate. These include all plants with unlimited growth of the main stem. If you plant such a variety in a heated greenhouse and provide it with proper care, as well as carry out the correct formation, then it will bear fruit throughout the year. As a rule, such varieties are formed into a single stem, removing all lateral shoots, as they reduce the number of planted flower brushes.
2. Semi-determinant. These varieties grow constantly, but can constantly stop growing when adverse conditions occur. Typically, such varieties are formed in two stems.
3. Determinant This type includes varieties that stop growing after reaching a certain size or after laying five flower brushes. Different types relate differently to the formation process. Superearly can not be stepsoned at all. Some varieties require the removal of excess shoots. Most often, determinant varieties are grown in the northern regions. Such tomatoes can be formed in two or three stems, leaving up to seven brushes with fruits on each bush. Plants rarely stretch more fruits.
4. Stamps. A novelty among tomatoes is the mushrooms. They are characterized by high stems, a tree structure. Stamps do not stepchild and do not tie: for them the minimum care. Most often, such varieties are grown in heated greenhouses, as they are able to produce crops for several years.

The first steps to success are seeds

In the greenhouse, it is necessary to plant special varieties of tomatoes, designed specifically for growing in greenhouses. Before sowing seeds for seedlings, they are treated. This helps to increase the resistance of plants to various diseases.

For seed treatment, potassium permanganate is used: a solution is made from the powder, taking half a gram of potassium permanganate in a glass of water. Seeds are placed on cheesecloth and dipped in a cooked product. They are left there for twenty minutes. Then pulled out and washed under running water.

This treatment helps to accelerate the germination of seeds, and also enhances the opposition of plants to various types of diseases.

Hardening is good for seeds. There are many ways of hardening seeds: each gardener has his own. Among them, the simplest is to lay a layer of snow on top of the crops (about a centimeter). With this variant of hardening, the seeds are moistened, and immune defense is activated in them.

Preparing the ground

To grow tomatoes with a large crop in a greenhouse, you need to properly grow seedlings. To obtain strong plants, it is necessary to properly prepare the soil. This can be a ready-made substrate, offered in stores, or you can make the mixture yourself. It will require humus, peat, turf land, taken in equal parts. Be sure to disinfect the composition by calcination in the oven or by boiling with boiling water. Fertilizers are certainly added: fifty grams of wood ash is added per five kilograms of the mixture, and five grams of phosphorus-potassium fertilizers are added. To facilitate the substrate, a liter of large disinfected sand is added to it.

Sowing

Ready soil is poured into seedling boxes. Furrows are made between the rows, maintaining a distance of six centimeters. Between the seeds, the distance should be at least two centimeters. If you sow plants more often, then the seedlings that will be in the center will begin to stretch due to lack of light.

Seeds are sown in holes to a depth of about one centimeter. You can simply spread them in a groove of the desired depth, and sprinkle with soil on top.

When growing tomatoes in a polycarbonate greenhouse, varieties are carefully selected. In such conditions, you can grow even the most capricious plants.

After sowing, the boxes are placed in a warm lit place, where the temperature throughout the day does not drop below 22 degrees. In a week shoots will appear.

Seedling Care Recommendations

To grow tomatoes in a polycarbonate greenhouse, you need to properly care for seedlings: the quantity and quality of the crop depends on this. The main task in the period of growth of sprouts is to ensure that the seedlings do not stretch, but gain strength.

After the appearance of sprouts, as soon as two real leaves are formed on them, the plants begin to accustom to temperature extremes. At the same time, the daytime is reduced to 18 degrees, and the night - to 15. Such conditions help to simulate natural conditions.

It is recommended to water the seedlings with warm water with a temperature of 20-22 degrees, while making sure that the droplets do not fall on the stems.

Before diving, the plants must be shed, allowed to completely absorb water into the soil.

To seedlings do not stretch, boxes with seedlings are turned over daily.

Pickling seedlings for individual containers is carried out when three of these leaves appear. To do this, use the same earthen mixture as for sowing seeds. Two weeks after the picking, seedlings are fed. To do this, a tablespoon of phosphorus-potassium fertilizer and five to six granules of ammonium nitrate are mixed in a bucket of water. Watering is carried out at the rate of one hundred grams per plant. Tomatoes will grow in small containers for about a month.

What to do with seedlings next?

As soon as there are six leaves on the plant, they are dived once more, but already in a container of larger diameter. Double transplantation is important when growing tomato seedlings in a greenhouse. It helps the root system develop better and prevents elongation. Two weeks after re-diving, the plants are fed. To do this, prepare a solution of 20 grams of phosphorus-potassium fertilizers dissolved in a bucket of water. Watered at the rate of 200 grams per plant.

In April, seedlings begin to harden. If by this moment the temperature in the street rises to 12 degrees during the day, then hardening is carried out on the balcony or unheated veranda. When hardening, be sure to ensure that the soil is moist.

Three days before the seedlings are planted in the greenhouse, the two lower leaves are removed from it. This will be the prevention of diseases, and also allow plants to get more air and provide access to light to the stems and all inflorescences.

Seedlings are considered successful if their height is about 30 centimeters, on the stem there are about ten formed and well-developed leaves, and there is also at least one inflorescence.

Transplanting

To get a good harvest, you must follow the rules for growing tomatoes in a greenhouse. This design protects plants from the adverse effects of weather and also provides good ventilation.

When planting seedlings, it is important to maintain the distance between the plants. For undersized varieties, the distance should be at least half a meter. Tall varieties are recommended to be staggered.

Tomatoes love a slightly clayish soil that can retain moisture for a long time. Sandy land mixed with peat is able to retain water for a long time. For plants to grow and develop normally, they need nitrogen, potassium, phosphorus and some other trace elements.

The greenhouse is prepared for planting seedlings five days before the start of work. Begin this procedure with the disinfection of the greenhouse itself. The easiest way to do this is to process the greenhouse with a sulfur block. At the same time, doors and vents must be closed. After a day, the greenhouse is ventilated and only after that you can proceed to the preparation of beds.

Greenhouse ridges are best done high, so they warm up faster and better. The height depends on the ability of the gardener to fill the volume with soil. Planting and care when growing tomatoes in a greenhouse requires the proper preparation of the substrate. To do this, humus is added to clay or loamy soil at the rate of one bucket per square meter of beds, as well as peat in the amount of five liters. Be sure to make a bucket of sod land on one square meter, half a bucket of coarse sand.

A spoonful of potassium, two tablespoons of phosphorus per square meter are added to the resulting substrate, everything is well mixed. Before planting seedlings, the soil is disinfected by spilling it with a solution of potassium permanganate: one gram of powder is diluted in a bucket of water with a temperature of 60 degrees.

Seedlings are carefully removed from the container so as not to damage the roots and trunk, and planted in the hole. After two weeks, the tomatoes are tied.

The technology for growing tomatoes in a greenhouse involves maintaining a space of half a meter between plants. If you make it larger, then the bushes will begin to actively expand in breadth, reducing the number of fruits. Because of this, the gardener will have to carry out pinching more often, causing severe stresses in the plant.

Care: basic rules

In the case of growing tomatoes in a polycarbonate greenhouse, planting and care are important components for obtaining a high yield. Plants need:

1. Timely garter. The first procedure is carried out approximately ten days after the transplanting.
2. Pollination. In the early stages of planting, plants may need additional pollination. To do this, just shake the bushes slightly. This is done early in the morning.
3. Watering. The peculiarity of growing tomatoes in a greenhouse is a rare but plentiful watering. It is recommended to water the plants once a week. Differences in soil moisture have a positive effect on productivity. When the fruits begin to ripen, the amount of watering is increased to two times a week, while the amount of water decreases. It is important that the soil remains semi-dry.
4. Top dressing. Plants love to be fed on time. When planting seedlings, fertilizers were introduced into the soil, so it is important to monitor the condition of the plants. The first feeding is carried out at the stage of fruit ripening. During this period, make complex fertilizer on the sheet.
5. Hilling. When small white tubercles appear in the lower part of the stem - this is a signal to the need for hilling. Such growths indicate that the plant does not cope with the needs of the aerial part in nutrients and the bush needs help. He begins to build extra roots.

Root dressing

A special role in the cultivation of tomatoes is played by root dressing. They begin by observing the landing patterns. This is a necessary rule in which the root system can develop normally, and the plant will receive all the necessary nutrients without competing with another bush.

During the cultivation of tomatoes, up to four dressings are carried out for the entire growing season. The first - three to four weeks after transplanting seedlings. To do this, prepare a solution of:

• 500 grams of mullein (liquid) or take two tablespoons of liquid complex fertilizer;
• a tablespoon of nitrophosphate;
• buckets of water.

The finished solution is applied under the root at the rate of one liter per plant. Two weeks later, another top dressing is introduced, prepared from a tablespoon of organic fertilizer and a teaspoon of potash fertilizer taken in a bucket of water. The composition is applied at the root at the rate of one liter per plant. The third top dressing is carried out ten days after the second. For it, use wood ash (two tablespoons) or a tablespoon of superphosphate. The product dissolves in a bucket of water: consumption - five liters per square meter. If you follow all the rules of cultivation, the tomatoes will be thanked for their high yield and active growth.

Bush formation

Growing and caring for tomatoes in a greenhouse comes down to forming bushes. This is a rather time-consuming procedure, during the execution of which one cannot be mistaken. Each type of plant has its own formation methods.

The formation of undersized tomatoes

When growing cucumbers and tomatoes in the greenhouse in the winter and at other times of the year, it is important to observe the formation technology. She has her own characteristics:

1. In precocious varieties, lateral shoots can not be touched. Usually they manage to bear fruit until the bush begins to grow. The small and compact size of the bush makes it easy to care for.
2. For plants ripening on the 90th day and later, it is recommended to remove the stepsons. This is a simple procedure: all side branches break out two centimeters above the place where they leave the main stem. Stepsoning is carried out once a week, in the morning, in dry weather. The plant is in one or two stems. If growing tomatoes in a greenhouse in winter, it is better to leave only one stem. When growing in the warm season, you can leave two stems, and all side branches are removed.
3. To provoke branching into two stems, it is necessary to pinch the main stem - the growth point. Next, stepsoning is carried out according to general rules, removing all side shoots.

Formation of indeterminate varieties

And how to grow indeterminate type tomatoes in a greenhouse? This type includes tomatoes with unlimited growth. For such plants, a single-stem cultivation method is considered ideal. Most often, tall tomatoes form in one stalk. This option improves the ventilation of plants, as well as providing light to the entire bush. In tall varieties, all lateral shoots are removed.

There is another method that involves leaving one flower branch in the first stepsons, which helps to get more yield. With this scheme, it is important to ensure that after each brush there are at least two sheets, otherwise the circulation of nutrients is disrupted, and all the fruits dry out.

For best productivity and protecting plants from infection from the ground, it is necessary to remove the lower leaves to the brush with the fruits. As soon as the tomatoes are poured on the brush, the leaves are removed until the next brush.

So that the plant does not experience stress, remove no more than three leaves at a time.

Stepson rules

Growing tomatoes in a greenhouse, the formation is recommended to be carried out strictly according to the rules:

1. Break off leaves and stepsons is necessary only in the early morning. This is necessary so that the wounds on the branches have time to heal and dry by the evening.
2. If it is not possible to remove leaves and stepsons in the morning, then it is better to do it in warm, sunny weather, without rain. Wounds must be treated with a solution of potassium permanganate. This technique helps protect plants from infection.
3. Only stepsons that have reached five centimeters in length need to be removed.

Poor plant health

When growing cucumbers, tomatoes, dill in the greenhouse in the winter, as well as at other times of the year, it is necessary to monitor the general condition of the plants.

The following problems are typical for tomatoes:

1. Active build-up of green mass. It is observed with very strong growth, thickening of the stem, staining of the foliage in a dark green color. At first glance, it may seem that the plant is healthy, but experienced gardeners know that such "fattening" bushes do not give a good crop. The reason for the active growth lies in a lack of light and an excess of nitrogen. To correct this situation, it is necessary to stop watering for a week, raising the temperature in the greenhouse by two degrees. Mandatory manual pollination of flowers. To reduce the level of nitrogen, a superphosphate solution is applied to the soil at the rate of 1 liter of solution per plant (three tablespoons are diluted in a bucket of water).
2. Fall of flowers, fruits. With a negative microclimate, tomatoes dump flowers and fruits. Also, this phenomenon may indicate insufficient watering. To fix this, it is recommended to treat the plants with the preparation “Ovary” or “Bud”, and aerate the greenhouse.
3. The fruits do not pour. If the fruits on the second and subsequent hands do not pour, then this indicates a lack of strength in the plant. To fix this, you must remove the crop from the first brush, even if they are not ripe. It also helps to reduce the air temperature to seventeen degrees, airing the greenhouse, abundant watering.

When growing plants in a greenhouse, it is important to monitor the light transmission of polycarbonate, and try not to plant tall plants near the structure, as they can create a shadow. In hot, dry, windy weather, dust settles in the greenhouse, blocking the penetration of sunlight. For normal tomato growth, it is necessary to periodically wash the greenhouse.It is also important to monitor the indoor microclimate, to regulate the level of humidity and temperature, the greenhouse is ventilated. When night temperatures are kept at a mark not lower than twenty degrees, you can constantly leave the window open.