Many amateur gardeners try to grow all kinds of vegetables in their beds. These are usually different cultures, but special attention has always been paid to tomatoes. The red, very tasty fruits have always served as a decoration for any table, and you can serve them all year round in various forms. Who will refuse ripe tomatoes? Or canned ones? Or is it better to have a salad? But first they need to be grown. Of the variety of seedlings, the Volgograd tomato variety rightfully occupies a special place.
Create variety
In 1973, at the Volgograd experimental station, Chulkov Nikolai Ivanovich introduced a new variety of tomatoes. A feature of this species was its unpretentious qualities, which is why even a beginner gardener can grow a tomato "Volgograd precocious".
Key Features
The main advantage is the rapid growth and ripening of the fruits of the crop. The first tomatoes can be eaten around the hundredth or one hundred and tenth day. The culture is very remarkable: it lays its first flowers over the seventh leaf, and then after 1-2. Each brush can have up to nine fruits. Thus, the Volgograd tomato can achieve high yields - up to eight kilograms per meter. As the name suggests, the variety is considered to be early. The plant itself reaches a height of 25 to 35 centimeters, and in just 15 days of fruiting, it ripens from a quarter to half of all tomatoes. This quality is very useful both when growing for personal needs, and in commercial production.
Agricultural technology
The Volgograd tomato prefers fertile soils and feels wonderful in places where onions, cabbage or legumes were previously grown. It multiplies well with seedlings, the seeds for which are sown in open ground in the first quarter of April. If it is planned to sow in sheltered land, then it is possible two or three weeks earlier. Given the small size of the seeds, it makes no sense to dig them deep, an acceptable depth of 0.5-1 cm. Already finished seedlings are planted in the ground according to this scheme: a piece of a 30 x 70 centimeter bed is assigned to one plant. Due to the unpretentiousness of the variety, Volgograd tomato can be grown both in a greenhouse and in open soil, it also tolerates thickened plantings.
In the southern regions of Russia, such tomatoes can be grown without seedlings. In this case, the seeds must be sown to a depth of 5-6 centimeters, and the temperature of the soil should be at least ten degrees. After 7-10 days you will see the first shoots. Special care is not required, ordinary weeding and loosening are sufficient; if necessary, you can feed and water it with warm water.
To increase fertility and reduce the need for watering, you can also use soil mulching. Mulch, like a blanket, wraps the lower part of the plant, which helps to reduce the evaporation of moisture from the surface of the soil during the day and avoid overcooling plants at night. It is also good to use natural compost as this material: the plant will then receive additional nutrients, and it will be much more difficult for weeds to grow.
Marketable condition
Tomatoes of this type have a flat-round shape, red color, the skin is smooth, possibly ribbed in some places. Tomato "Volgograd" on average weighs 80-100 grams and has a 5-7-chamber structure. The sugar content in the fruit is approximately three percent, and in combination with the increased dry portion (5.86-6.2%) allows the use of tomatoes for commercial purposes. They are perfect for both salads and canning.
The variety has medium resistance to most tomato diseases, is well transported and can be stored for quite some time. Thanks to these qualities, tomato has occupied a competitive niche in the country's markets for many years.