All about growing tomato seedlings

Growing tomato seedlings is an extremely important process, because it largely depends on whether the gardener can harvest at all. All aspects must be taken into account, from seedbed preparation to diving.

When exactly tomato seedlings are planted, it is determined depending on which variety is planned to grow. As a rule, the manufacturer marks these terms on the packaging. For example, a mid-season variety, which is harvested on average after 110 days, requires 10 days for the sowing itself, the emergence of seedlings and the adaptation of the crop in the open field. This means that, in order to harvest the fruits on July 10, the planting of seeds will need to be carried out on March 10. The climatic conditions of the regions should also be taken into account. So, in the central regions, including the Moscow region, seedlings of early varieties will need to be taken up in the first half of April, middle ones - in the second half of March, and late ones - in early March.

In the Urals and Siberia, the early varieties are sown from March 20, the middle ones - from the 10th to the 15th of the same month, and the later ones are not bred at all. It is typical for the southern regions to plant seeds of early varieties in early April, middle ones from 10 to 15 March, and late ones from late February to 10 March.

Tomato seeds are usually used for pre-sowing treatment. It allows you to get rid of fungal spores and bacteria that provoke infectious diseases, as well as significantly improve the germination of the material used. This stage is mandatory for both purchased grains and those harvested from their own tomatoes.

• The most common way is to soak the seeds in a bright pink manganese solution. The procedure lasts no more than a couple of minutes, after which the seeds are washed with water and dried on a napkin or paper towel. Some gardeners, however, prefer to first wrap the seeds in a piece of gauze, and then lower them in a dark pink liquid for 20-30 minutes. The optimal solution is obtained by mixing 2.5 g of powder and a glass of water.
• To get rid of spores and bacteria, the material can be left for half an hour in undiluted pharmacy chlorhexidine or for 10-12 hours in pharmacy hydrogen peroxide.
• The use of brilliant green requires a preliminary dilution of a teaspoon of the product in 100 milliliters of pure water. The procedure in this case lasts from 20 to 30 minutes.
• Aloe juice, taken in an amount of 50 milliliters, is first mixed with 100 milliliters of water, and then used for daily soaking.
• The same amount of seed will need to be kept in 100 milliliters of liquid in which a pair of garlic cloves have been crushed.
• There is also the possibility of preparing a daily infusion of wood ash from a pair of matchboxes of powder and 1 liter of water and then carrying out a three-hour soaking procedure.

This preparation is diluted in accordance with the manufacturer's recommendation, and the seeds are left in it for only 10 minutes. Presowing treatment often includes activities such as heating and hardening.In the first case, the seeds are kept for about 3 hours at a temperature of 60 degrees. A special lamp, battery or oven will allow you to process the grains in this way.

It is possible to harden the material before planting in several ways.... So, already swollen material can be left on the refrigerator shelf for 1-2 days, where the temperature is maintained from 0 to -2. Some gardeners do it even easier and bury the seeds in the snow. Another option implies a twelve-hour stay at a temperature of +20, and then the same time period at a temperature of 0 degrees. Such alternations can be repeated for 3-7 days. After hardening, the seeds are slightly dried and sown immediately.

In some cases, at the final stage of pre-sowing preparation, it makes sense to germinate the material so that the seedlings appear faster. To do this, a regular napkin is slightly moistened with water and folded in half. The seeds should be found between these halves. A wet napkin is laid out on a small saucer, which is then transferred to a bag and placed in a warm place. The paper should be periodically moistened, and then the seeds will hatch for 3-5 days.

For growing tomato seedlings, the easiest way is to purchase a ready-made universal soil... If it is decided to use our own land from the garden, it will need to be processed: about a couple of weeks before sowing the seeds, soak it with a bright pink solution of potassium permanganate. Both options should be subjected to repeated freezing and thawing, or steaming. If the soil mixture looks too heavy and dense, then it will need to be loosened by adding fine river sand, perlite or vermiculite. To increase the nutritional value of the soil, it makes sense to mix it with compost or vermicompost. Of course, even before using garden material, you will need to make sure that it has neutral acidity.

Growing tomatoes at home can be carried out using both a common seedling container and individual plastic cups or peat pots. The difference between these two options is that sprouts from a large box have to be dived, and after individual pots, they can be immediately sent to the open ground.

According to the rules, even in individual plastic cups, holes must be made at the bottom, and a drainage layer of expanded clay, pebbles or eggshells must be formed. The technology requires filling the container with earth and thoroughly irrigating it with warm water. Further, small pits about 1-2 centimeters deep are formed on the surface, and 2-3 seeds are located in each. Crops are carefully sprayed from a spray bottle, covered with cling film and removed to a well-heated space.

Even common seedling containers shouldn't be too big. - it will be enough to place representatives of the same variety inside. Following the step-by-step instructions, you have to start by filling the container with earth, tamping it and high-quality moistening. Following on the surface, several rows are formed at intervals of 4 cm. They can immediately be watered with a warm solution of a growth stimulant. In the grooves, the grains are laid out so as to maintain a two-centimeter gap. Do not bring them too close to each other, otherwise the seedlings will thicken, which, in turn, will provoke the development of fungal diseases.

Using a pencil or thin stick, each seed is gently pressed into the surface with a depression of about 1 centimeter. Upon completion, the seed is sprinkled with earth, but additional watering is no longer required. The box is tightened with a transparent film or the included lid, and then rearranged to the battery until the first shoots appear. After about 4-7 days, the container will need to be transferred to a well-lit place where the temperature is maintained at 18 degrees.

It should be mentioned that tomato seedlings can also be grown in diapers. The essence of the method is that the seeds are sown in plastic bags filled with a substrate and swaddled like babies. When the sprouts increase in size, the structure will need to be disassembled and supplemented with fresh soil.

Seedlings should be properly looked after even before the seedlings germinate. All this time, the culture must be grown in a mini-greenhouse, that is, with the maintenance of high temperature and humidity levels. The structure must be ventilated every day. Ideally, the procedure should be carried out twice a day, lifting the lid or film for 20 minutes. It is important for beginners to remember that before returning the covering material, condensation must be erased from it. In order for the seedlings to successfully sprout, the emerging plants must be irrigated from a spray bottle, and the temperature is recommended to be maintained at plus 23-25 ​​degrees.

For seedlings to turn into strong and healthy seedlings, they need to be provided with adequate lighting. Otherwise, the seedlings will develop poorly, stretch and, as a result, will be too weak to adapt to open ground. It would be best to place the seedlings on the windowsill of a window facing south or southwest.

The optimum temperature after the appearance of the first shoots is plus 14-16 degrees... Under such conditions, the tomato grows for about a week, and then the temperature changes again to plus 20-22 in the daytime and plus 16-18 at night.

The first few days, the shoots that have appeared are sprayed from a spray bottle, and then the seedlings can be irrigated from a syringe or a small-sized watering can. Everything will need to be done carefully so that moisture is directed only under the root, without getting on the stem and leaf blades, and also without provoking the exposure of the root system. The liquid itself should have a room temperature of about 20 degrees and be settled. Ideally, seedlings are watered in the morning.

Good feeding allows you to strengthen the seedlings, but you should fertilize the seedlings with caution, especially if the planting was carried out in purchased, already enriched soil. Tomatoes can react especially badly to an excess of nitrogen: if the plant looks pale and thinned, then this is exactly the problem. Before feeding, the tomatoes need to be watered with clean water, otherwise the root shoots will get burned. After the procedure, the seedlings are carefully examined: if the droplets fall on the aerial parts of the sprouts, then they are carefully washed with warm water and wiped with a clean cloth.

Fertilization at the stage of seedling development is carried out several times. The first feeding is carried out 10 days after the pick. Alternatively, it can be a mixture of a tablespoon of "Nitroammofoski" and 10 liters of water. At the same time, each plant should receive about half a glass. In addition, immediately after picking, the seedlings are proposed to be treated with a growth stimulant, for example, "Epin" or "Zircon". Such spraying will improve the adaptation of the plant in a new place.

The next fertilization is done 10 days after the procedure... To use for this purpose, the same mineral fertilizer is allowed. The final procedure is carried out somewhere 3-4 days before the transportation of tomatoes into open ground. Usually a mixture of 1 tablespoon of superphosphate, the same amount of wood ash and 10 liters of water is used for this purpose. Each representative of tomato seedlings requires half a glass of the nutrient mixture.

Potassium humate diluted according to the instructions, vermicompost infusion based on 2 tablespoons of granules, as well as complex formulations containing a small amount of nitrogen are also used to feed the seedlings. Their use is limited to once a week. Urea in the amount of 5 grams, supplemented with superphosphate and potassium sulfate, is applied 10 days after the pick, and then after another 2 weeks.

From folk remedies, banana peels and ammonia are especially popular. You can add ammonia immediately, as the culture begins to demonstrate nitrogen starvation, or after waiting for the second feeding. A teaspoon of a pharmaceutical preparation is diluted in 10 liters of water and supplemented with a teaspoon of potassium monophosphate. Watering is first proposed to be carried out on the sheet, and after 2-3 days, repeat at the root. As for the banana peel, it is most convenient to use it in the form of an infusion. The crushed skin of one fruit is poured with a liter of water and infused for 3 to 5 days. The darkened liquid is filtered, and before irrigation, it is also diluted with water in a 1: 1 ratio. Once a week, you can add a couple of tablespoons of banana liquid to each 2-3 liter container.

During the pick, all weak seedlings are necessarily removed, and you cannot pull them out - instead, you should carefully pinch off the plant near the ground... If tomatoes are grown in individual cups, then the procedure ends here. If the seeds were originally planted in a common container, then they will need to be distributed in separate containers. The procedure should be started when a pair of real leaves hatch from each seedling. Each seedling is carefully removed from a single container using a tablespoon or a small stick so as to get a small earthen lump together with the plant. In new pots, the resulting specimens deepen almost to the cotyledonous plates.

For individual containers, the same soil is suitable as for the general container, but enriched with a mineral complex. In this case, for every 5 liters of substrate, 1 tablespoon is required. Before starting the procedure, the soil will need to be moistened and warmed up to 20 degrees. The displaced seedling is watered gently under the root with warm water. When the moisture is absorbed, the area will need to be sprinkled with dry earth.

It will be useful to know what diseases the seedlings are prone to, and what other problems may arise in order to take timely measures to correct the situation.

• Most often, tomato seedlings die at home from a black leg. The disease is characterized by thinning and decay of the lower part of the stem, and it occurs due to thickening or non-compliance with the rules of care.In this case, it is not possible to save the plant - if one of the specimens falls, then all that remains is to remove it, and treat the rest with Fitosporin or Bordeaux liquid.
• If the soil turns white in the pot, then most likely we are talking about mold.... In this case, the top layer of soil is removed, and the remaining soil is spilled with "Fitosporin" and mulched with a mixture of river sand and ash.
• If tomato seedlings turn yellow and wither, then it is necessary to assess the level of lighting and feeding of the plantings.... For example, leaves curl when they lack potassium, and turn pale with a small amount of nitrogen.
• Chlorosis of plants is provoked by a lack of iron, and a change in the color of the stem to purple - the need for phosphorus.
• Plates curl even with an insufficient amount of boron... The crop grows poorly due to poor soil, excess moisture, or temperature fluctuations.
• Pests of tomato seedlings include whiteflies, aphids, spider mites and others.... It is better to fight them with folk remedies: an infusion of onion husks, tobacco or laundry soap, but in serious cases you will have to turn to insecticides.

If the tomato seedlings are too elongated, then at the picking stage, the plant can be deepened to the cotyledonous leaves or twisted with a spiral in the lower part of the stem. In the future, the culture will need more light and less nitrogen-containing dressings. Lowering the temperature for growing tomatoes is a good solution. In some cases, the lack of sunlight becomes the reason for the stretching of the plants. In this case, installing phytolamps and moving containers to the correct window sills can help.

The age of seedlings for planting in open ground can be different, so it is better to focus on the appearance of the plant and weather conditions.

• As a rule, you have to wait for a bush height of 18-28 centimeters, a thick stem, 7-8 true leaves and buds of the first flower cluster. For early ripening varieties, the presence of 9-10 leaf blades and even fruits with a diameter of up to 2 centimeters is considered mandatory.
• Moving seedlings into open ground is carried out when the probability of frost return disappears. For open ground in the southern regions, such conditions occur in April, in the Volga region - in May, and in other regions of Russia - in June.
• Tomatoes are planted in the greenhouse in May, with the exception of the southern regions, seedlings can be transferred there already in March.