Cherry tomatoes on the windowsill - little tricks

In the vegetable departments of supermarkets we often see baskets with cherry tomato crumbs. They look very attractive, even decorative, and they taste... Few will remain indifferent after trying this aromatic, thin-skinned, sweetish vegetable! You can try to grow Cherry tomatoes on the windowsill, and to help you avoid common mistakes, I will give some tips.

Content:

• Tips for growing and caring
• Tricks to note
• Varieties and hybrids for window sills and loggias
• A little about fertilizing and planting substrate

Tips for growing and caring

So, to grow cherry tomatoes on a windowsill, you will need:

• choose containers for growing (cylindrical shape is better than square or rectangular - they are less likely to be filled with the root system) and fill them with nutritious soil;
• choose the most illuminated window sill (preferably not northern or western);
• organize additional lighting (preferably with a source of short-wave red-blue light) - if there is a lack of light, the buds fall off;
• the seeds are planted in trays covered with plastic film; until shoots appear, the trays should be kept in a dark and warm (25-30 degrees) place, then the film is removed, after two “real” leaves appear, the plants are planted and planted in a permanent place;
• after planting in a permanent place, the seedlings are cared for in the same way as in open ground - watering, pinching, fertilizing, disease control, tying to a support;
• If you wish and have sufficient skills, tomatoes can be grown hydroponically at home.

Tricks to note

When caring for tomatoes monitor the optimal humidity - excess moisture pushes the plant to grow, it actively grows stepsons. It is advisable to halve watering in cloudy weather.
In tomatoes, the stamens are fused with the pistil, or rather around it, so they are self-pollinating. But increased soil moisture and environmental temperatures above 30 degrees make it difficult to form ovaries. Therefore, it is better to go over your cherry plants with a brush, helping them set fruit.

An interesting feature of tomatoes is their ability to root stems and cuttings. Therefore, it is not at all necessary to drive out the cherry blossoms for the windowsill from the seeds; you can transfer the plant directly from the garden, or root its stepsons or shoots.

If you want to root stepsons, then add a drop of flower fertilizer to a glass of water. Under good room conditions, they will take root in just a week. But if you propagated cherry tomatoes this way in the fall, then in the spring it’s even easier to get good seedlings in two weeks! Such seedlings will be ready to bear fruit within a month, because you are taking part of an already developed bush.

Continuing to list the advantages of growing cherry tomatoes in this way, we can add that rooted tomatoes planted in open ground will have time to produce a harvest before the massive spread of late blight.

Well, in June you can safely replant newly rooted shoots, which will bear fruit until October.
I can’t help but share the trick used by German gardeners to stop tomato seedlings from stretching out in low light conditions. They stroke the top of the shoots and leaves with a brush, thereby slightly damaging the hairs.Plants immediately slow down their growth and bush.

Also interesting is the experience of growing tomatoes in iron buckets. Such seedlings are not planted in the ground at all, and they are not affected by late blight. Apparently, iron strongly inhibits this parasitic fungus.

Varieties and hybrids for loggias and window sills

• Craiova
• Cherry Lisa F1
• Bonsai
• Bead F1
• Thumbelina
• Baby
• Pygmy
• Minibel
• Greenfinch F1
• Date F1
• Cherry Lycopa F1

A little about fertilizing and planting substrate

I think many will agree that it is difficult to pass by bright labels with fertilizers and fertilizers in supermarkets. Growing a mini-garden on the windowsill, it seems that the pets will not survive without additional food. But we don’t stuff cats and dogs with special stuff. vitamins constantly. Plants not only do not need increased nutrition, but it is also harmful.

Excessive nutrition with mineral complexes will lead to their accumulation in fruits. I don't think anyone wants to be poisoned by their own harvest. Therefore, it’s better to prepare it correctly planting substrate, and for feeding we’ll take some WMD (no more than twice a month) and simple herbal tinctures.
The soil substrate is prepared from a mixture of turf or garden soil, compost, peat and sand.

The addition of charcoal will have a positive effect on the development of tomatoes; it contains the entire complex of minerals, with the exception of nitrogen.

It has been observed that simple mechanical mixing of the substrate is less effective than mixing with spraying layers. Spraying seems to provide more structure to the planting substrate, and in the future the water better wets the soil and does not roll down to the plant stem.

By following these simple rules and noting the necessary tricks for yourself, you will certainly be able to get healthy, fruit-bearing cherry tomatoes on your windowsill.