Tomato Violet Jewel

When choosing tomato seeds for planting in the country, you always want the variety to combine the most necessary qualities - great taste and aroma, high yield and ease of maintenance. All these properties are possessed by the Amethyst Jewel - tomatoes, which will be discussed below.

Tomatoes of the Amethyst Jewel variety were bred in California by American breeder Brad Gates, Wild Boar Farms. The original name is Amethyst Jewel. You can also find such names as Precious Amethyst and Amethyst Treasure. When creating the variety, the goal was to get a tomato that is equally suitable for growing both in open and protected ground, as well as to attract the attention of buyers with an unusual color of the fruit.

Amethyst Jewel is a versatile, indeterminate variety suitable for growing both in greenhouses and outdoors. It is distinguished by its tall growth: a powerful, spreading, medium-leafed bush in protected ground reaches a height of 180 cm, in the open - up to 160 cm. It has a simple inflorescence. Requires garter, pinning and shaping. The number of stems during formation is 2.

The variety has good immunity, is resistant to many diseases, including those especially common among tomatoes: bacteriosis, mosaic, spotting, late blight. The fruits are not susceptible to cracking, therefore, high keeping quality and transportability are characteristic of the Amethyst Jewel. The harvested crop can be stored for up to 15 days. The purpose is universal. Can be eaten fresh, as well as used for canning and preparing a variety of culinary dishes.

The fruits of the Amethyst Jewel are represented by large, round, slightly flattened tomatoes. The weight of one copy can be 350-800 g, and sometimes even more. Up to 5-6 tomatoes are formed on the brush. Tomatoes have a dense, smooth skin that is highly resistant to cracking. They have an interesting color: the unripe fruit is painted in red-pink shades with blue-purple shoulders. In the process of maturation, the depression near the petiole becomes almost black with a soft smooth light purple transition to a pink apex. On the cut, the pulp is bright, shiny, juicy, dense, red or deep pink in color.

Tomatoes of the Amethyst Jewel variety have a pleasant sweet taste with light acidity and fruity notes. Perfect for fresh consumption. It goes well with other vegetables in summer salads.

The Amethyst Jewel variety belongs to the mid-season. The first harvest can be obtained after 110-115 days from the moment of sowing the seeds, provided that it is grown in greenhouses. Differs in long-term fruiting: up to September in the open field, in the greenhouse - even longer.

The Amethyst Jewel is a high-yielding variety. From one bush, you can get up to 7-9 kg of fruit. Up to 8 tomatoes grow on a brush.

Sowing the seeds of the Amethyst Jewel for seedlings should be done 70 days before transplanting into open ground.During this time, the seedlings will gain strength and will be fully ready for transfer to a permanent place of growth.

Growing seedlings will require peat cups or other containers, as well as special soil. It can be purchased in the store ready-made or made by yourself by mixing 1 part humus, 1 part peat, 1 part sand and 2 parts earth. It will be useful to add a complex mineral fertilizer for tomatoes to the prepared mixture.

If the seeds are purchased at a special store, then you can sow them immediately. If you use seeds of your own collection, before planting, they should be disinfected by immersion in a weak solution of potassium permanganate for 20 minutes.

Seeds are sown to a depth of no more than 8 mm. If planting is planned not in separate pots, but in a box, then a distance of 6-7 cm should be observed between the seedlings. After planting, the soil must be moistened, and then the pots must be removed to a warm, dry place. It is important to monitor watering - the soil should not dry out, but too high humidity will become destructive - the seeds will rot and there will be no shoots.

The first shoots should appear within a week of sowing. They need a lot of light, so the pots should be placed on a windowsill. Additional lighting with special lamps can be organized if the daylight hours are less than 9 hours. The room in which the seedlings are located must meet the following requirements:

• air temperature +23 degrees;

• air humidity within normal values ​​(40-60%);

• lack of drafts and direct sunlight.

Do not forget about regular watering at the root with warm, settled or filtered water. Picking in individual pots is carried out a month after sowing the seeds. The seedling is buried in the soil up to the cotyledonous leaves.

Before planting in open ground, the seedlings should be adapted to future new environmental conditions by hardening. A couple of weeks before transplanting, the pots should be taken out to fresh air for a period of 1 to 10 hours, and the time should be extended smoothly and gradually so that young plants gently get used to the temperature difference.

Transplanting into open ground is carried out approximately 70 days after sowing the seeds. The distance between seedlings should be observed, equal to 50-60 cm.

Two weeks after planting, it is necessary to feed the plants with organic fertilizers. Chicken droppings are great. It is necessary to prepare a solution from it as follows: dilute 600 g of droppings in 1 bucket of water.

The variety requires fertilizing with complex mineral fertilizers in the phase of bud formation and flowering. You should purchase a special composition for tomatoes. Re-add the mineral complex during the fruiting period.

The powerful shrub of the Violet Jewel needs garter, pinching and shaping. The first pinching should be carried out 14 days after planting in open ground, and then repeated every 2 weeks.Formation is carried out in 2-3 stems. All this is needed to increase yields. At the end of summer, it is recommended to pinch the top of the growing bush to allow the remaining fruits to ripen.

It is recommended to grow the Amethyst gem in the open field in a climate typical of central Russia, since this variety does not tolerate heat very well. Air temperatures above +25 degrees can be fatal for these tomatoes.