"Three in one - tomatoes in May" - the experiment continues

On February 23, 48-49 days have passed from the seedlings of tomatoes, just over one and a half months. If these were ordinary seedlings, it would be high time for her to go to the greenhouse. But with these eight bushes I conduct three experiments at the same time.

This time there was transshipment from half-liter packages to two-liter ones.

The general idea is described here

Phytolamps are of great importance, but they shine on all bushes. Therefore, I am not writing about them. And Diatomite is everywhere added to the soil.

First major experiment - trimming the crown (February 9). Goal: a well-developed root system and two strong stepsons, and an earlier harvest in time. I cut off the top of the monthly seedlings (I did it, the period may be different). I wrote about this in detail here

For the third season in a row I cut the tops of a couple of tomatoes, this year eight bushes, for the sake of other experiments

Second experiment with bacteria - I check if there is any sense from the bacteria Azotovit, Kaliyvit, Phosphatovit. 4 out of eight bushes I water once a week with a solution of these bacteria.

Third experiment with vermicompost after transshipment

• Two tomatoes (K1 and K2) in clean soil - 0% biohumus
• Two tomatoes (D1 and D2) - 10% vermicompost
• D3 and D4 -25%
• K3 and K4 - 50%

I show you what happened, starting with the most powerful results.

K3 and K4 (early hybrid Christian F1), 50% vermicompost

I have never seen such stocky and spreading bushes as K4 at the age of less than 50 days! No signs of starvation, with whole cotyledon leaves. It was the only one that was not buried during transshipment on February 23, it is so squat.

K3 was unlucky, he stood in the same place in a mirror rackwhere leaf burns occur. Moving such large tomatoes was inconvenient, so K3 lost 2 lower leaves, they really burned out and fell off. The cotyledons also dried out from the stress. But K3 looks great, he pulled himself away from danger and his top 3 sheets are gorgeous!

First conclusions:

• The root system with bacteria is slightly better, but given the strong stress of K3, no conclusion can be drawn
• With 50% vermicompost, the strongest seedlings (by stem thickness, short internodes and the presence of developed stepchildren)

D3 and D4, grade Daria - 25% vermicompost

D3 has a small burn of the lower leaf from the phytolamp. These tomatoes show no signs of starvation.

Second conclusions:

• Root system with bacteria is definitely better
• Excellent seedlings with 25% vermicompost (by the thickness of the stem and the presence of sufficiently developed stepchildren)
• 25% and 50% of vermicompost - the root system does not fundamentally differ, and the ground part is much more powerful in K4 with 50% vermicompost.

D1 and D2 - 10% vermicompost

Both bushes have 2 small stepsons each, but there are signs of a lack of elements: the cotyledons have dried up, in D1 the bottom sheet has fallen off, at D2 the leaf is poured, then it will fall off or cut off, and so there is enough stress for the bush.

D2 has a slight burn from the phytolamp.

Third conclusions:

• The root system with bacteria in this pair is better
• With 10% vermicompost, 2 weeks after the transshipment, the seedlings began to experience a slight starvation, a little stretched out, but in general they are good.
• The root system with 10, 25 and 50% vermicompost does not differ significantly

K1 and K2 are just ground

The most noticeable starvation on the lower leaves, the cotyledons withered.

Fourth conclusions:

• I do not think that a one-sided root system without bacteria is better, this pair cannot be concluded
• Without vermicompost, the seedlings experienced starvation in 2 weeks more than with 10% vermicompost. It looks a little worse.

By the way, for this transshipment from half-liter packages to two-liter it took me for each pair of tomatoes 2.5 kg of a mixture of soil with vermicompost, only 20 liters of soil for tomatoes and peppers, plus vermicompost. I continued to add vermicompost similarly to the previous transshipment.

General conclusions

Vermicompost definitely affects seedlings as follows:

1. The stem is thicker
2. The internodes are shorter
3. The leaf apparatus is stronger, more powerful
4. The more vermicompost, the less the tomatoes experience starvation

The bacteria affect seedlings ambiguously.

We are waiting for the main conclusion, this is an early harvest and its taste.

Now 8 giants in two-liter bags have occupied a whole window sill, 90 cm

How are your early tomatoes doing?

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