An excellent guide to tomatoes: from seeds to ripening about the most popular vegetable

Which varieties are preferable, agricultural technology, treatment of diseases and much more in one selection

No matter how the garden fashion changes, tomatoes remain the most popular crop in Russian beds. Traditional reds or innovative blues with stripes, huge or pea, sweet or sour tomatoes firmly occupy a central place in the heart of any summer resident. But this is a "difficult" culture, in order to grow a good harvest, you have to suffer with seedlings, planting, pinching and edging, tying, feeding, treating diseases and fighting pests. The beginners lose heart, but in vain! We have systematized all tomato science for you in short cards, now success is inevitable.

1. What varieties of tomatoes to choose for planting?

On your site, you need to grow zoned varieties that are maximally adapted to your climatic conditions. Still: most modern varieties of tomatoes are divided into determinate (they grow in bushes) and indeterminate (in a greenhouse, the stem can grow up to three meters). Indeterminate ones are usually grown in greenhouses, they are more difficult to care for, they need shaping and a mandatory garter - they are better grown by experienced vegetable growers.

FORUMNOUSE members annually publish lists of varieties that have shown themselves well in business. One of the best is considered list, compiled by our member with the nickname Polga1973 - you can safely use it.

2. How to check seed quality?

Tomato seeds should be even, preferably of the same size, with no signs of damage or spots. It is impossible that their storage period exceeds 4-5 years: in this case, a good harvest can not be expected. You can check the quality of the seeds like this: immerse them in salt water (no more than 5% salt), if they soon drown, you can sow. If they swim, it is better to throw it away.
The most important indicator of seed quality is germination. To determine it, put 10 tomato seeds in a damp cloth, put them in a warm place and see how many hatch at once. According to GOSTs, the germination rate of tomatoes should be from 85% to 65%.

3. How to grow tomato seedlings?

The ideal soil for tomato seedlings was suggested to the users of our portal by the doctor of agricultural sciences, senior researcher at the Research Institute gardening in Siberia Elizaveta Panteleeva - it must be taken from the place where nettle grows, which always chooses the healthiest and most fertile soil. This soil must be poured into cups, sown seeds in them, covered with foil, put to the battery. When the seeds hatch, rearrange them on the windowsill. The picking of tomato seedlings into boxes should be done at the stage of the first true leaf. Seedlings are watered on sunny days almost every day, on cloudy days - less often. Light up from 7 am to 11 pm. Hardening should be started 2 weeks before landing in the exhaust gas.
There are other ways to grow tomato seedlings, this one is proven and simple.

4. How and when to feed tomato seedlings?

Here's a good seedling feeding schedule:

- Five days after the pick - nitroammophoska, a tablespoon of fertilizer for 5 liters of water.
- After 25 days, repeat the first feeding.
- Two months after the pick, carry out the third feeding. Here you need to look at the leaves: if they are pale, the plant does not have enough nitrogen, if they are bright green, then the seedlings should be fed phosphorus and potassium: dissolve a spoonful of wood ash and a spoonful of superphosphate in five liters of water, and add half a glass under each plant.

5. What to do to prevent the seedlings from stretching?

Additional lighting is usually sufficient to keep the seedlings strong and stocky. Many amateur vegetable growers restrain the pulling of seedlings by the fact that in April they take them out to cold loggias or verandas. If the climate does not allow such radicalism, you can try the old method - cover the seedlings with snow along the edges of the boxes and even in the aisles, but so that the snow does not touch the plants. It is extremely important to observe the timing of sowing seeds, so that the seedlings "do not stop standing."

6. How to properly plant seedlings in open ground?

By the time the seedlings are planted in the ground, the seedlings should be 25-35 cm. tall with formed true leaves and with the first bud ovaries. It should be planted in prepared soil: on a cloudy day, or early in the morning, or late in the evening. Two hours before planting, the seedlings should be well shed so that they easily come out of the container. Planting scheme for medium-sized tomatoes: in a row, the distance between plants is 30-40 cm, between rows 50-70 cm; for tall  - 55-65 cm in a row and 75-95 cm between rows. Before planting, add a spoonful of wood ash (or superphosphate), a handful of humus to each hole, mix well with earth, spill with water. Plant seedlings, deepening to cotyledon leaves.

You can immediately mulch only short seedlings or medium-sized seedlings, tall ones - only after it has taken root. Each bush of seedlings must be covered with something for several days, for example, a newspaper cap.

7. How to feed tomatoes in the open field and in the greenhouse?

If, when planting, fertilizers were applied to the hole, and the summer turned out to be good, the tomatoes can not be fed. But if the heat is on for weeks, or vice versa, the weather is cold and rainy, we cannot get the harvest without feeding. It will be enough:

• Feed the tomato bushes before flowering with phosphorus (it is needed to form a strong root system. Watering during this time should be done in moderation.
• After flowering, until the first 3-4 clusters are formed, give the tomatoes nitrogen.
• When the phase of growth and ripening of fruits comes, feed with complex mineral fertilizer, and here foliar feeding is recommended - many elements needed by the fruits may not rise up the stem.

8. What diseases do tomatoes have and how to treat them?

Tomatoes are a disease-prone crop, especially during rainy and cool summers. Often they get sick with brown spot, which first appears as yellow spots on the lower leaves, and then the leaves dry and curl. For the prevention of brown and other spots, it is necessary to maintain the humidity in the greenhouse at a level of 60-70% and tear off the lower leaves. The second common fungal disease is apical rot, spots appear on the fruits, which quickly become soft and rot. You will have to remove the entire plant to stop the spread of the infection. To prevent top rot, you need to monitor the soil: the soil should not be saline, and there should be enough calcium in it.

But worst of all, if the tomatoes get sick with late blight. This contagious disease can be immediately recognized by the white bloom and brown spots that quickly spread over the fruits and leaves. If you notice something like this, remove the infected plant and burn or bury it outside the site, and spray the rest of the bushes with 1% Bordeaux liquid.

9. What if the tomatoes began to fatten?

Tomatoes often “fatten”, that is, they do not form ovaries, but build up the green mass, get fat in the stems, and throw out endless stepchildren. The leaves become too dark and fold into a boat. This usually happens due to too frequent watering and oversaturation with nitrogen. It is necessary to put them on a non-watering diet for a week, urgently feed them with superphosphate (3 tablespoons per 10 liters of water) and pinch the tops. It is obligatory to delete the stepsons.

10. How to ripen tomato fruits?

Tomatoes rarely have time to ripen in the beds, usually the threat of frost forces summer residents to pick them at the stage of technical ripeness, when the fruits turn from matte to glossy. Such tomatoes (dry and clean) are put in boxes and regularly taken out of them reddened so that the rest ripen evenly.

Continuing the topic, find out how to properly plant tomato seedlings. AND how to treat diseases that can ruin crops in the bud. In the video - about the selection and agricultural technology of tomatoes.