How to plant tomatoes for seedlings: important tips
If you remember the cuisines of different nationalities, you will notice that many of them use tomatoes for cooking.
Without them, it is impossible to make ketchup; they are included in borscht, pizza and many other dishes. But to get a good harvest, you need to plant the seedlings correctly.
She needs to be raised healthy and strong. In this case, it will take root, and after that it will bloom profusely and bear abundant fruit. But how to plant tomatoes for seedlings? Not all people know the important rules.
You need to adhere to the correct sowing of seeds, for germination you need to maintain a specific temperature, the plants need proper watering and you need to choose the right soil.
The final stage is planting in open ground.
Content:
Sowing seeds and preparing for planting
To ensure strong seedlings, you need to plant the tomato seeds correctly. There are different varieties, which will determine the sowing time.
Seeds of tall tomatoes are planted in the second half of March, and low-growing ones - in the first half of April. Initially, the seeds need to be properly prepared, and then you need to carefully care for the sprouted plant.
Sowing seeds tomatoes consists of several stages:
- Initially, you need to disinfect the seeds
- After that they are soaked
- Next you need to prepare the soil
- After this, containers are selected in which the seeds will be planted.
- The final stage is sowing
Often people independently collect seeds from fruits in summer and autumn. After this, they need to be disinfected.
The resulting seeds are placed in gauze bags. Each bag contains a different variety. After this, you need to separately dip the seeds, wrapped in gauze, into a solution of potassium permanganate (1%) for a quarter of an hour.
Next, each bag should be rinsed with warm water using a colander. Seeds that are purchased do not need to be disinfected.
The producers who sell them have already processed the material for sowing. But they will need to be soaked and prepared for sowing.
Initially, the seeds should be soaked. To do this, they are laid out on damp gauze. They should stay in this form for about 20 hours. An important step is preparing the soil and containers where the seedlings will be grown.
Often, a few seeds are placed in the bags that are sold. For this reason landing putting them in a huge box would not be rational.
After all, different varieties have their own characteristics, they develop differently. Therefore, it is better to plant them in different small containers.
You can purchase special plastic containers. They should first be washed with soap and then scalded with boiling water.
A hole should be made in the bottom of all containers. This is done so that excess moisture comes out.
To do this, use a nail or a metal knitting needle. This device is heated over a fire, and then it is pierced into a container or box.
Plastic containers melt easily. After this, you should prepare the soil in which the seedlings will grow well. Turf soil is used for this.
Compost with peat is added to it, and then sawdust.Sawdust can be replaced with coarse sand. Before filling containers with this mixture, you should place stones or expanded clay at the bottom.
Planting seedlings
When the seeds have already been prepared and the soil has been poured into containers, you can begin planting. Initially, grooves should be made at a distance of 2 cm from each other. Seeds are placed in them. The depth should be about 1 cm.
You need to pay attention to the size of the seeds. If they are large, then the distance between them should increase. This also applies to depth.
Often the seeds can germinate in the shell. It is better to exclude such a phenomenon. To do this, apply warm water to the sprout. After this, this shell will disappear. If you remove it yourself, you can destroy the sprout.
Therefore you need to be careful. After this, you should cover everything with film and then move it to a place where the temperature will be warm (about 25 degrees).
Under such conditions, sprouts will appear above the ground after 5 days. It is systematically required to eliminate condensation on the film, which constantly appears.
Care and planting in the ground
When small tomatoes with two leaves appear, then you should dive. This makes it possible for the roots to develop, through which the plant feeds.
The seedlings begin to be transplanted into cups; you can also use a box. They should be deepened into the soil until the leaves appear. Sometimes the stem may have already stretched out well, then it should be twisted and covered with earth.
Plants that develop are accustomed to high temperatures. But they should be hardened, since the weather in summer can be different, and it can get very cold.
Tomatoes must be prepared for temperature changes.Hardening should take place over 2 weeks.
To begin with, the seedlings should be placed in the corridor, and after that they should gradually be taken outside, where they should stand for a short time in the sun, with little wind.
At night she can be in the corridor. You should be careful, as seedlings can get sunburned.
When frosts are no longer expected, then you can start planting seedlings. If this procedure is carried out correctly, then you can get a better harvest. There should be 4 bushes per square meter.
To begin with, holes are dug and mole cricket pellets are placed in them. After planting, you should systematically feed the plant and water it.
It is regularly necessary to loosen the soil. In order for the plant to bear good fruit, it needs to be watered once every 7 days. If there is not enough moisture, then the fruits will be smaller. But you shouldn’t water it too much, as this will cause the tomato to burst.
You should also take care of the bush. The plant can grow tall, so it should be tied up. A stake is first driven into the ground, which will provide support for the bush.
If there are too many leaves, they cover the fruits from the sun, then some of them should be eliminated.
Every 10 days you should fertilize. It can be mineral and organic. Today this does not present any difficulties.
So, in order for the plant to bear a good harvest, you should follow the rules for growing seedlings, and then properly care for the planted tomato.
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Comments
Great, you wrote the article just in time.A neighbor gave me an excellent tomato for seeds. But I don’t even know how to plant seeds and grow them. Now I know, and in the spring I will definitely plant them for seedlings.