Such beloved by all tomatoes, naturally, every gardener grows on a mandatory basis on his own plot.
It is much more pleasant to rip a delicious juicy tomato for salad, grown with your own hands, than to use the purchased one.
But in order to get a decent harvest and to avoid numerous problems when growing this crop, you need to start to provide yourself with good quality seedlings. This is what will be discussed further.
Benefits of Healthy Strong Seedlings
Why, for whom, and for what might strong tomato seedlings be needed? Outwardly, it looks like this:
- The color of the leaves and the stem is deep green.
- Greens all elastic.
- The stem and leaves are developed, thick, smooth, without any bends.
Saplings are ready for planting in the ground in the presence of the following indicators:
- The thickness of the stem reached 1 cm.
- Plant height is about 25 - 30 cm.
- On a sapling 8 - 10 leaves are available.
The advantages of strong seedlings are quite obvious:
- It guarantees high quality yield.
- A strong stocky seedling quickly takes root and begins to develop.
- Plants almost never get sick.
Strong seedlings, of course, are very necessary for gardeners, especially those who appear in their summer cottages only on weekends, sometimes less often.
Also, it is very necessary for farm owners who are engaged in the cultivation of tomatoes on an industrial scale. After all, thanks to strong seedlings always get a great result.
What varieties of tomatoes fit?
The most suitable and popular varieties for growing strong seedlings are as follows:
"Budenovka"
It grows well both in greenhouse conditions and in the open field, yield of one bush reaches 7 kg.
"White filling"
The fruit is rounded scarlet with juicy sugary pulp.
"Far North"
Fruits universal purpose, bright red. The variety is very resistant to various diseases and easily adapts to adverse conditions.
"Demidov"
Wonderful salad variety, shrub low, medium-sized fruit, weighing about 200 g
Seed preparation
Seeds about a month before sowing need to be carefully prepared, that is, to conduct a whole range of different activities:
- Calibration - all underdeveloped, small seeds weed out, should be left only large, at least 2 - 2.5 mm in diameter. Germination of such seeds will be excellent.
- Warming up - dry seeds (selected) should be kept at 30 degrees for 2 days, then at 50 degrees for 3 days and finally heated at about 70 degrees for 4 days. There is another warming option: wrap the seeds in a rag and place them on a radiator about 2 months before sowing.
- Chemical disinfection - a bag of seeds must be kept in a 1% solution of potassium permanganate for about 20 minutes (the water temperature should be about 40 degrees). After that, the seeds should be placed under cold running water and rinsed thoroughly (at the same time hardening occurs).
- Processing by microelements (preseeding) - it is necessary to prepare four solutions (the amount indicated is 3 liters of water): succinic acid (0.1 g), boric acid (2 g), magnesium sulfate (3 g), copper sulfate (1 g). Prepared seeds should be lowered for 15 minutes in each of the solutions, after the last procedure, rinse with clean water. Instead of these solutions, you can also use a solution of ash for such treatment: 2 tablespoons per 1 liter of water.
- Soak - thanks to him, seeds begin to germinate much faster (compared to dry). The water used for these purposes is best melted, heated to 20 degrees), it will perfectly launch all the important life processes. Enough for this procedure two days (at room temperature).
After soaking the seeds a little dry and can be sown.
- Hardening - thanks to this manipulation, fruiting will begin two weeks earlier. There are many options, the most popular ones are: put swollen soaked seeds in a refrigerator (on the top shelf) for 2 to 3 days or bury them in the snow outside (at a temperature of about 5 degrees below zero).
- Bubbling - thanks to this procedure, the seeds are saturated with oxygen. It is very simple to make it - put the seeds in a jar of water (temperature is about 20 - 22 degrees) and lower the aquarium compressor there. It should be turned on for about 12 hours.
Ambient conditions
It is very important to create a comfortable external environment for getting strong seedlings:
As soon as the first shoots appear, immediately you need to organize a good lighting, to avoid stretching the seedlings. Most useful to make the backlight with fitolampy.- Temperature regime - nighttime indicators should be within 10 - 15 degrees, and daytime - not higher than 20 degrees. When the first true leaflets begin to appear, the daytime temperature is raised to 22 degrees.
- Be sure to carry out the hardening of plants (at a street temperature not lower than 8 degrees). Due to this, the stem thickens and leaves darken (become dark green).
As soon as the first shoots appear, immediately you need to organize a good lighting, to avoid stretching the seedlings. Most useful to make the backlight with fitolampy.Soil preparation
The soil for seedlings should be loose, light, breathable. and contain a sufficient amount of nutrients. It is best to prepare such that the composition were:
- Sheet and sod land.
- Peat.
- Sand.
- Humus.
- Perepreshshie sawdust.
- It is useful to add biohumus from the forest floor.
Attention! Before sowing seeds into the ground, it is very useful to moisten it with the addition of the EM-preparation Baikal.
How to water?
Watering should be carried out, following certain rules:
- Freshly sprout sprouts should be irrigated very carefully, preferably with a spray bottle.
- You can not overmoisten the seedlings (otherwise it will stretch or become sick).
- Watering should be done in the morning.
- Water for irrigation use warm (about 30 degrees). In no case should not be watered with cold water.
Top dressing
An excellent fertilizer for seedlings will be an infusion of 0.5 kg of cow manure (or chicken manure) and 100 g valleys per bucket of water. This infusion should be prepared correctly as follows: manure (or litter) is poured with water for a day, then mix everything thoroughly and add ash. When you make feeding you need to dilute 0.5 liters of infusion for 2 liters of water and water the plants. After 10 days, repeat the procedure.
You can also use this solution for the first feeding:
- 20 g of potassium sulfate.
- 30 g of superphosphate.
- 10 g of ammonium nitrate.
- 10 liters of water (warm).
For the second feeding you need to take:
- Superphosphate (40 g).
- Potassium sulphate (25 g).
- 10 liters of water.
Secrets and Tricks
In the process of growing seedlings of tomatoes, various secrets and tricks gradually accumulate to make it healthy and strong. For example, such:
- When the plant grows five leaves, the lower two need to be removed - thanks to this uncomplicated technique, pulling will not occur.
- Top dressing make only in liquid form.
- Be sure to provide a large amount of light.
- If by the beginning of April flower buds are not observed, then it is necessary to cut the stem over the second real leaf, then two strong stems are formed here.
- Be sure to comply with the terms of planting seedlings in the ground, you can do very simple: from the specified period of planting count back 45 - 60 days and start sowing.
Do I need a pick?
Many are quite careful about picking, because this procedure seriously injures the root system of the plant and it takes time and effort to recover. They begin to bear fruit 1.5 weeks later.
therefore the best option would be sowing seeds in separate cups (volume of about 1 liter), thanks to this, when transplanting seedlings to a permanent place, it will immediately begin to develop, and not to waste energy on restoration. Nevertheless, some successfully dive seedlings (with a clod of earth) and everything gets accustomed.
As a result, we can conclude that it is quite possible to grow strong tomato seedlings on our own, it is only necessary to make some efforts for this. Care, care and meticulous care will surely please the desired result. And in the presence of strong seedlings and a good harvest will be provided.
