Today, quite a lot of people in our country are engaged in growing vegetables in their personal plot. It's no secret that vegetables and fruits from your own garden are much more beneficial for the body than purchased ones. In order to get a quality crop, it is necessary to monitor the formation of plants from the moment of their sowing. Regular top dressing almost always provides health and strength to crops, and you can rarely do without it. Before feeding tomato seedlings so that there are plump stems, namely they are the key to a future crop, it is necessary to consider the main options for organic and mineral fertilizers, and then choose the best one for a particular case.
The need for additional nutrition
Most often, for sowing tomato seeds, special soil is used with the addition of all the components necessary for proper growth at once, which means that seedlings need additional nutrition only after transplanting to a constant place of growth. Folk remedies for feeding tomato seedlings indicate that for a quality crop, you need to prepare beds in advance. For this, even before the winter cold, the area where the tomato planting is planned should be saturated with humus or manure.
If necessary, it is also added here:
- dolomite flour;
- lime;
- sawdust;
- peat.
Before feeding tomato and pepper seedlings, it is necessary to correctly determine what exactly the plants need. The lack of a particular element can be found by the appearance of seedlings. When leaves, after transplanting bushes, abruptly stop in growth and turn pale, and sometimes become covered with dull spots, this indicates a lack of nitrogen in the soil. Its overabundance leads to a riot of green mass of crops to the detriment of the crop.
A large amount of phosphorus in the earth is indicated by yellowing and falling of leaves from the bushes, and a sign of a lack of this element is the appearance of a purple hue on the leaves. An excess of phosphorus can also provoke foliage twisting if, at the same time, the seedlings lack potassium and nitrogen.
How to feed tomato seedlings so that there are plump and attractive fruits? The quality of the crop is largely affected by the amount of potassium and phosphorus in the soil. It is important not to overdo it in the additional nutrition of plants, since an overabundance of substances often makes the situation even worse.
First feeding
The first fertilizer application should be carried out no earlier than the first true leaves of the plant appear above the ground. At this time, tomatoes need to strengthen the root system, which complex mixes for feeding tomato seedlings such as "Strong", "Agricole-Forward" or "Nitrafoska" will perfectly cope.
After this, the gravy is repeated with a similar, but less concentrated, composition with the addition of potassium permanganate after 10 days. At this point, many are wondering about how to feed tomato seedlings so that they are plump, since their depletion becomes noticeable already at this stage. An infusion of seedlings with the Athlete preparation or superphosphate solution (1 tablespoon per quarter of water) can help.
Extra food after a pick
It is necessary to carry out it only after two weeks from the moment of diving plants. At this point, feeding tomato seedlings with serum from superphosphate and potassium sulfate will be ideal. To prepare a bucket of water, just add 1 tbsp. l each component. You can replace the composition with a solution of nitroammofoski.
After another 2 weeks, the procedure is repeated. Make the last gravy should be no later than 15 days before transplanting into open ground.
Permanent place of growth
After transplanting tomato seedlings into open ground or a greenhouse, plants need time to acclimatize, and to make everything as comfortable as possible, it is forbidden to load seedlings with additional top dressing for a week and a half. In general, all subsequent fertilizer application should be carried out strictly if necessary, as evidenced by the state of the plants. It is also important to know that when planting tomatoes on poor soil and heavy rainfall, the entire period of growth, the amount of substances for additional nutrition must be doubled, but at the same time make a lower concentration.
In order not to burn the bushes, all standard dosages need to be reduced by 1/3, but perform them more often.
Commonly Used Organics
Mullein tomato seedlings are most often used in private households. It is best to add the substance in the fall, during the preparation of the beds. To nourish the solution with already growing bushes, the mullein must ferment well, otherwise the roots of the plants can simply be burned. To normalize the substance, the mullein must be filled with water and left in the sun for fermentation for several days. After that, the solution is diluted in a large amount of water and is applied strictly under the root of each bush.
Similarly, fresh manure is not recommended for feeding. It is better to bring it into the ground in the fall, then during the winter it will cross well and will not harm the roots of plants.
Topping up tomato seedlings with chicken droppings should also be done with a already rotted mixture. Cook it should be similar to the infusion of mullein.
Feeding with ash
It perfectly provides a large number of nutrients for tomatoes and seedlings ashes. Regardless of where it came from: from the stove, after burning fallen leaves or after a bonfire right on the site of future beds, it contains potassium, phosphorus and calcium. Since an overabundance of these components can also lead to negative consequences, it is better to make ash in the fall when digging or directly into each hole when planting. In the first case, it is necessary to distribute the ash in an amount of 0.5 kg per square meter, and in the second case, pour 2 tbsp into the recesses. l., but no more.
Yeast infusion
Fertilizing yeast for tomatoes gives an excellent result, accelerating the growth of green mass and obtaining a good harvest. A solution is used for periodic watering of plant bushes already at the place of constant growth. For its preparation, it is necessary to dilute live yeast in warm water in the amount of 10 grams per 10 liters. To speed up the fermentation process, you can add a little sugar to the mixture.
Feeding with yeast is carried out only at the root, while other mixtures can also be used for spraying.
Ripening acceleration
How to feed tomato seedlings so that there are plump and well-fed fruits a little ahead of schedule? For this, iodine is perfect. For watering on a bucket of water, you need to add only 4-5 drops, and for spraying it is even less, but the effect is noticeable immediately. Often, the substance should not be used, since iodine can burn plants. One prophylactic spraying per season or treatment when diseases occur is enough.
Nitrogen source
Despite the fact that nitrogen is very important for plants, its overabundance is no less dangerous and urea seedlings must be fed with tomato seedlings only in cases of urgent need, since this element accumulates nitrates in fruits in large quantities. Urea should be used only for feeding already mature bushes. You can water or foliar spraying, which gardeners recommend more often. To normalize the growth of tomatoes, it is enough to introduce the substance in an amount of not more than 20 grams per square meter of the plot.
Ammonia is also rich in nitrogen. Topping up tomato seedlings with ammonia can be carried out at the stages of diving. For this, the bushes have a concentration of 20 grams per 8 liters of water during gravy. You can use ammonia to prevent the appearance of a bear in the area. In this case, the concentration of the substance should be increased to 10 ml per 10 liters of water and introduced in a dosage, 0.5 liter, into pre-prepared hollows.
Potassium permanganate and other folk remedies
To strengthen the green mass and prevent the falling of female flowers, tomatoes should be sprayed with a weak solution of potassium permanganate no more than 1 time per month.
In the summer, supermarkets offer exotic banana fruits at a very attractive cost. Few people know that you can use their peel as a powerful source of potassium for a tomato. The skin of one fruit must be insisted in a liter of water for 2 days, after which use the composition for watering the bushes.
You can prepare a nutritional composition by insisting in an egg shell in water. You can use the mixture after the appearance of a characteristic unpleasant odor from it.
Chemicals
Among the wealth of modern preparations for feeding cultivated plants, gardeners still prefer proven remedies, among which:
- superphosphate;
- nitroammophosk;
- "Fortress";
- "Ideal";
- "Epinom."
It is important to prepare solutions based on these substances strictly according to the instructions, since exceeding the dosage can contribute to the accumulation of nitrates in the fruits. All preparations are used both for watering under the root of plants, and for spraying in case of urgent need for nutrition.
Foliar application
Such top dressing differs from ordinary gravy only in the speed of delivery of nutrients to the plant. The fact is that to get power from the soil, the bushes need a lot of time, and the green mass immediately absorbs everything that comes in, and providing tomatoes not only emergency assistance, but also a large concentration of fertilizer. That is why when preparing solutions for spraying, the amount of drugs in relation to water must be reduced.
In addition to the minerals listed above, for foliar application, tomatoes simply need boron, which makes the fruits much sweeter, stimulates their growth and the appearance of new ovaries, and also prevents the spread of parasites and diseases on the bushes.
In order not to harm the tomatoes, you need to follow the following instructions to prepare the mixture:
- heat 1 liter of water, but do not boil;
- add 1 gram of the substance to the still water;
- allow the mixture to cool;
- spray the solution with leaves, fruits and ovaries.
For each plant, you need to allocate at least 10 ml of the resulting solution.
Flowering during flowering
If, during active growth, tomatoes need all the nutrients, then adult flowering plants should focus on certain components. It is best to apply fertilizer at this time by spraying to speed up the production of nutrients by bushes.
The following complexes are best used at this time:
- Kemir
- nitroammophosco;
- diammophos.
You can also use individual substances, spraying tomatoes only with boron, phosphorus or potassium. Under the root, it is desirable to apply organic fertilizers, but it is strictly dosed so as not to burn the root system.
Finally
To get a good crop, just fertilizing is not enough. Tomatoes need a large space for active growth, so immediately when planting in a permanent place, small seedlings should be placed at a distance of at least 45-50 cm from each other. Also, do not overdo it with watering, otherwise the fruits may crack, losing their presentation. With abundant and regular precipitation, additional moisture can be discarded altogether.
It is important to know that when planting tomatoes in a greenhouse, fertilizing is best done with mineral complexes, since organics in a microclimate can behave unpredictably. To get a rich and high-quality tomato crop, you need to follow all the recommendations at once and not focus on only one direction.
Try to take care of it as correctly as possible after planting the seedlings, then you are guaranteed a good harvest!