When spring arrives, many gardeners have a question: when to plant tomatoes for seedlings? Each summer resident has his own secrets and thoughts on this subject. All are one in one - it is necessary to choose the period correctly so that the crop ripens on time, and not by autumn.
The first thing you need to do before deciding when it is best to plant tomatoes for seedlings is to decide on a place: a greenhouse or open soil.
Time for a greenhouse and open ground
If you are already a summer resident with experience, then you already have no questions about landing. Beginners in this regard are more difficult, because they want to do everything right, but there is not enough knowledge. Are you interested in when to plant tomato seedlings in a greenhouse? Know: in the last days of February you will need to prepare the seeds. If everything is done right, then you will have a great harvest! Is it possible to grow tomatoes on open ground? Oh sure. And when to plant tomato seedlings in open ground? This will need to be done in mid-March.
More about landing time
If you decide to plant tomatoes already, you will need to immediately decide when to plant tomato seedlings. Typically, seed producers write their instructions on the other side of the bag, but the information is usually general and often not suitable for a specific region. If you follow all the recommendations written on the bag exactly, the result may upset you, to put it mildly: the plants will be with a thin stem, weak and completely unprepared to be planted in a greenhouse or open ground.
The first thing you need to do is to evaluate the climatic conditions of your place of residence, and only then choose in which month to plant tomatoes for seedlings. Do not forget that seedlings during its growth will also have to tinker with, perform various operations and manipulations. It will take time to give this issue, so that in the end you get strong and resistant plants that are not afraid of weather changes and can bring a big harvest. When to plant tomato seeds for seedlings? The best planting time is the end of January, so spring for a true summer resident begins very early. It is worthwhile to pay attention to the lunar calendar before landing.
What is the relationship between seedlings and the lunar calendar?
Trying to figure out when to plant tomato seedlings? Then pay attention to another detail - the lunar calendar. Some people do not believe that the phases of the earth's satellite affect the development and growth of plants. From a long time ago, when the life of our ancestors depended only on what was grown, people paid attention to the lunar cycle and always reckoned with it, they understood that there could otherwise be a crop failure.
Every year, a lunar calendar appears on sale where detailed recommendations for sowing are indicated, and you can find out when to plant tomatoes for seedlings, taking into account the lunar cycle. If you do not have the opportunity to constantly consult the calendar, then you can be guided by the following tips:
- several days before the new moon and after it is not recommended to plant any seeds;
- Tomatoes for seedlings must be planted on the growing moon, in this phase the plants grow and bear fruit better.
What you need to know in advance about seedlings?
Interested in planting tomato seedlings correctly? Then before that you need to know a little more about the variety. The time when you need to plant seedlings depends on the varieties of tomato, so pay attention to especially strong and large varieties: Russian giant, Pink giant, Bull's heart. By the way, the Bull’s heart is a late-ripening plant, so you need to plant it in the third decade of February.
We turn to the preparation of seeds
Interested in when to plant tomato seeds for seedlings? Then know that special attention will need to be paid to the process of planting a tomato on seedlings. Seeds are the foundation of everything! You are offered the option of preparing seeds for planting, proven by many agronomists. Before planting a tomato on seedlings, soak the seeds of plants in advance. After wrapping them in a bandage or an ordinary cloth and moisten with water, in this form the seeds should lie a day.
Soil preparation
If you have already decided when to plant tomato seedlings in a greenhouse, then you can proceed with the preparatory procedures: preparing the soil, containers for seedlings. Some people prepare the soil from several components and do everything with their own hands. Usually a mixture of peat and sand is taken.
While the seedlings will grow, it will be possible to slowly add various nutrient components for fertilizer and preferably of mineral and natural origin, so that the tomatoes are free of preservatives and nitrates. Yes, this is not easy to do, and you will need patience, some spending on the purchase of ingredients and dexterity. Ready soil will need to be disinfected and its acidity should be checked.
Many gardeners know when it is possible to plant tomato seedlings, but they are never associated with the creation of soil, but simply use the land from their own plot. At first glance, this may seem wrong, but gardeners understand that this method will allow seedlings to grow in the soil, into which it will subsequently be transplanted, and plants will quickly and easily take root in a new place.
How to prepare the land from the site?
You know when to plant tomato seedlings in the ground, but what to do with the soil from the site? The land will need to be prepared in advance, best from the fall, and kept on the street in the cold season. It can be an open balcony, a barn in a private house and so on. Such manipulations will allow you to destroy the pathogenic bacteria in the earth, simply by freezing them. In addition, it is better to disinfect the soil with a special concentrated solution of potassium permanganate, or, in other words, with a usual violet shade of potassium permanganate.
Can I buy soil mixes?
If you do not want to work with your soil or just do not want to do everything yourself, then store soil mixes that are sold for any plants will come to your aid. You should buy soil for seedlings with the inscription "Universal soil" or "For garden crops." Also, if you wish, you can purchase specialized seedlings for seedlings, where the label says: "For tomatoes." It should be noted right away that this soil contains all the components necessary for the development of seedlings in the required ratio, therefore, by the end you will get strong and healthy seedlings.
What can be said about the container for seedlings?
You already know how to plant tomato seedlings correctly, but nothing is yet known about the container. Ultimately, tomatoes can be planted in any container that is convenient for you. It can be a pan, from which, after growing seedlings, transplanted into a pot or box. You can immediately plant the seeds in a box and periodically thin out them, removing extra sprouts or simply transferring them to another box. Another great way to deal with seeds is to transplant them into special pots, from which they will then be transplanted into the ground.
Many experts recommend first to plant the seeds in a pan, and transplant seedlings as they grow. This is done after they reach one centimeter. Saplings can then be planted separately in pots one at a time, and after that they can be planted in the ground. This is a great way to let the plant take root without any problems after planting.
Some tricks
You already know the approximate time when to plant tomato seedlings in February, but you have not yet learned anything about some tricks of gardeners. If you planted different varieties of tomatoes, it is best to sign them all. This is done so that during the autumn harvest you will be able to draw conclusions about each type of tomato and understand whether it should be continued to grow or to find something else.
Water the soil for tomatoes from the spray gun, so that a strong stream does not wash the seeds out of the soil. You can cover the box with film or glass, then put it in a warm place until the first shoots appear, but do not forget to monitor the soil moisture.
After the first sprouts have risen, the box will need to be put in a lighted place, and it is also worth highlighting the seedlings in the winter.
Diving is an important stage
Before you think about when to plant tomato seedlings in a greenhouse, you will need to do another pick. What it is? Now we will deal with this concept. The pick is carried out at the moment when a pair of real leaves appear on the seedlings. Everything is done with a spatula or a special fork, however, be careful not to break the delicate stem of the plant. Take the sprout out of the soil, pinch off a third of the root and place the seedlings in a separate glass with a high neck so that you can later pour the earth. After a picking, the seedlings will need to be irrigated and removed away from sunlight, so that the plants get a little stronger.
Seedling hardening
You know how to plant tomato seeds for seedlings, but what to do next? Let it grow and that's it? No, seedlings need care. Therefore, it will be necessary to harden the plants, and the temperature should be ten degrees Celsius. You can harden on a balcony, a loggia or a verandah, however it is required to cover the leaves of the plant in the first days from the sun, as it can burn them. Pricking seedlings will need to be carried out a couple of weeks before planting in the ground. Why is this done? You know when to plant tomatoes for seedlings, but how to plant seedlings in the soil correctly if they are not accustomed to it? That's why they conduct hardening, seedlings are accustomed to fresh air and low temperature. If you wish, you can simply open a window, a window, or put plants on a balcony or in general on the street for twenty minutes at the beginning, and then gradually increase the daily time.
Many experts say that such hardening is much better than hardening of seeds heated in warm water.
What nutrition is needed?
Do you want your seedlings to be healthy and strong? Want to know how to plant tomato seedlings in a greenhouse? Then, before planting, you will also need to fertilize the plants. This will need to be done throughout the entire growth period, and you can use the following solution: 40 grams of superphosphate, 5 grams of ammonium nitrate, 12 grams of potassium chloride, all this is diluted in water. Watering the seedlings will be required with this mixture once a week, but each time the dose will need to be doubled. Feeding will need to be interrupted if the plants begin to stretch too quickly.
What needs to be done before tomato seedlings?
Phytophthora will need to be well treated a couple of days before planting in a greenhouse or open ground. To do this, do the following: dissolve copper sulfate and boric acid in three liters of hot liquid. Take one and the other powder literally at the tip of the knife, then spray the plants with a cooled solution before planting. Do this in the morning or evening.
When to plant tomatoes in open ground?
Now it’s worth talking in more detail about when to plant tomatoes on seedlings in open ground. The first thing you should know is the geographical location and variety of plants. By the time of landing, the average daily temperature on the street should already be set at twelve degrees Celsius and not lower. Tomato seedlings will prepare for planting when it reaches 20-25 centimeters in height and seven to nine well-developed leaflets appear on it. All this is about long seedlings, if your seedlings already outgrew these indicators at the time of planting, then you should not hesitate.
Now consider the timing of planting seedlings for the central and southern regions of Russia:
- Early varieties of tomatoes. If you live in the south of Russia and grow early varieties of tomatoes, then plant them in open ground from April 15 to May 1. In the central regions of Russia, seedlings should be planted from the first to the fifteenth of May.
- Mid-season varieties of tomatoes. In the southern zone of Russia, this type of plant should be planted in the ground from May 1 to 15. If you live in the central part of the Russian Federation, then plant seedlings from June 1 to 10. Plants planted in April-May should be covered with a film, because the weather is completely unstable in the spring and a sharp cooling can occur. You can remove the film in June, when the weather recedes completely.
Choose a site for landing
You know, tomatoes are photophilous plants, so for their cultivation you will need to choose a sunny place, preferably on the south side, and it would be nice to protect the place from cold winds. Plants do not tolerate high humidity, therefore it is forbidden to plant them in damp areas where groundwater flows nearby.
For high yields, light soil with a neutral or slightly acidic environment is suitable. The optimum pH of the earth for tomato growth is 6-6.7. The best option is a loamy soil, where mineral and organic fertilizers are regularly added.
It is also worth paying attention to what cultures had grown on this site before this. Best of all, if the predecessors were root crops, legumes or green crops. Do not choose a site where potatoes, peppers, eggplant and physalis grew before this, because there is a high probability that tomato seedlings can catch late blight.
We prepare a garden for planting
Do not rush to make beds, because you will need to first prepare the garden, if you want the plants to give the maximum yield. The soil will need to be treated with a solution of copper sulfate or copper chloride. It is necessary to prepare the mixture as follows: a tablespoon of the drug per ten liters of water. Water the garden like this: about 1-1.5 liters of solution should go per square meter of soil. After that, you will need to fertilize the soil. For each square meter, add organic and mineral fertilizers. Organic fertilizer is prepared like this: take a bucket of dung humus, add a bucket of peat, and also add a bucket of wood sawdust. A mineral fertilizer is prepared as follows: add a couple of tablespoons of superphosphate to a tablespoon of potassium sulfate or take a couple of glasses of wood ash. After fertilizing the soil, it will still need to be dug up, and after that they are poured with a hot solution of potassium permanganate at a rate of 3-4 liters per square meter. The soil must be prepared five to six days before transplanting seedlings.
Direct planting of tomatoes
Seedlings are best planted on a cloudy day. If you have sunny weather at home, then wait in the evening, so that overnight the seedlings get a little stronger in a new place and begin to tolerate the sun normally.
Planting pattern depends on the variety of tomatoes, their growth and irrigation system. Plants need to be planted so that they do not interfere with each other's development. Every tomato should have enough air and sunlight. Medium-sized tomatoes are planted at a distance of half a meter from each other, and the row spacing is approximately sixty centimeters or more.
If you have undersized tomato varieties, then plant them at a distance of forty centimeters from each other, and leave another fifty centimeters between the rows.
The process of planting seedlings:
- Seedlings before planting in the soil must be well watered to greatly facilitate the process of extracting plants from boxes or pots. This will reduce the chance of root damage during transplantation.
- Wells for tomatoes must be done deep on the bayonet of a shovel. Before disembarkation, the holes need to be filled with water and wait until it is completely absorbed.
- When the holes are ready, carefully remove the seedlings and vertically deepen it into the ground.
- Sprinkle the root with a little earth, and around the stem it is still worth scattering compost or manure, which is already rotten. Sprinkle the hole with soil, ram it and water it. Approximately every plant will need to spend a liter or two liters of water.
- Near each plant you need to immediately install pegs for garter. Fifty centimeters are suitable for low-growing varieties, and eighty centimeters for medium-sized tomatoes. It is worth saying right away that it is best to tie tomatoes not to pegs, but to arcs or specially stretched wire. It is better to use synthetic twine for garter.
- After transplanting seedlings, it is better to cover the tomatoes with a transparent film. As soon as the seedlings take root and it is warm outside, the film can be removed.
- Until seedlings take root, it does not need to be watered. Tomatoes usually take eight to ten days to adapt. , .
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Enjoy juicy and ripe tomatoes that you grow yourself all summer, and then you can make good conservation for the winter.