5 main rules for growing tomato seedlings
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Growing tomato seedlings - 5 most important rules
Proper lighting is the key to getting strong, green and healthy tomato seedlings.
Lovers of the world from America
Some friend invited me to visit:
- Look at my seedlings, something is growing poorly. What is she missing?
I came and saw: on the bare window-sill there are boxes with pale, thin and frail plants.
- They are hungry with you!
- What are you, - the hostess answers, - I feed almost every day!
- I forgot the school! They “eat” mainly sunlight, not your fertilizers.
“So they are standing on the south window — and what, is there little light for them?”
“Look,” I continue to convince, “they stretched out on the shelves and intertwined, and this is a clear sign of poor lighting. Even if you put one plant on your windowsill, in the early spring it will grow poorly. Seedlings of tomatoes in our country are like exotic birds in a cage: they look longingly at the street, where there is still plenty of snow, and recall their hot and sunny Motherland.
And they come from Central and South America. So we must try to make the conditions in which they grow, at least a little like those that are inherent in them genetically
If before the appearance of real leaves there will be little light, then the flower brushes will start to be pawned less often.
Once I could not look at the windowsill without sadness, but now I've learned how to grow strong, green and healthy seedlings.
And in fact all 5 rules must be observed!
1 - take care of the "scouts"
I am very careful about cotyledon leaves. They, as scouts, determine the conditions in which the plant will live. Many gardeners, helping shoots to free themselves from the “hat *, injure delicate leaves, and this negatively affects the further development of the entire seedling. The longer the cotyledons last, the greater the yield in the future.
2 - correct backlight
As soon as leaflets discard the seeds of the seed and unfold, I arrange for them additional lighting. I take ordinary lamps for daytime lamps and hang them over the plants (about 10 cm from the sheets). With the growth of lamps I raise
I used to use ordinary lamps, but then friends advised me to use lamps with an 840 spectrum (this is enough for seedlings) They shine the same way; I personally don’t see the difference, but the plants “see” differently. They cost as much as ordinary lamps.
3 - light trap
By turning on additional lighting, I surround the seedlings and the lamps with white
screens. For this purpose everything that reflects light is suitable: sheets of foam plastic, which are laid by furniture during transportation, white sheets, sheets of whatman, attached to a solid base or curtain. You can use even foil (matte side inside). And in the auto shops rolls sold material for engine insulation. Its shining side perfectly reflects the light
You just need to prevent the light from scattering around the room, fencing the seedlings with screens. It turns out such a small and well-lit camera - a light trap. Reflecting from the screens, the light completely goes to seedlings.
4 - lighting duration
When the cotyledon leaves in the evening (at about 22: 00-23: 00) rise up by the boat, this means they have "eaten up" and it is time for them to sleep.
By the way
At one time, to reflect strong light, I used a film that was hung on windows.
In the morning, the lighting includes a special timer. I have a simple mechanical one. Very convenient: no need to wake up early in the morning, everything happens automatically. It turns on at about 6 or 7 in the morning, and the shutdown time is set to “full”.
Earlier, when I had simple lamps, I had to shine around the clock for the first few days, and with new plants, there was a period of darkness.
See also: Additional highlighting of tomato seedlings
5 main-photosynthesis
I do not reduce the temperature for seedling at night. Heat also plays a big role. Seedling develops well, if the air temperature from 20 to 25 * C, and the lamps at the same time shine as it should.
If you properly set the lighting and not get carried away by constant top dressing, then the seedlings do not stretch. I practically do not do top dressing, I try to lay everything that seedlings for the first time, immediately in the ground. The main thing is to provide good photosynthesis.
Know the measure
I'm not a farmer, I do not need to plant fields, so I do not have many tomatoes either.
With the use of technologies seen from nature, a couple of dozen plants in the greenhouse and a dozen on the street more than provide delicious fruit to my large family. Less is better, but better!
All about seedlings and methods of growing it read here и here
© Author: G. Donova
Below other entries on the topic "Dacha and garden - with their own hands"
- Layered beds for tomatoes - my advice and feedback (St. Petersburg)
- Super-hardening tomato seeds and sowing expired tomato seeds - my reviews
- Tomato variety "Mongolian dwarf": my reviews
- Multi-colored varieties of tomatoes - cultivation in the Yaroslavl region and my reviews
- Harvesting Your Tomato Seeds - Tips
- Falling asleep of tomato stems when planting with earth (Maslov's method) my reviews
- Cultivation of tomatoes in "changeable" climatic conditions
- Planting scheme for tomatoes 4x5 - my reviews
- Cinnamon tomatoes - varieties, photo title and description
- Formation of tomatoes - indeterminate and deterministic
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After the landing of tomatoes, the seedlings remained in the greenhouse, and I thought: what to throw the bushes, why not arrange them on buckets?
I collected all the old buckets and other large containers that were found on the site. I made a screwdriver in the bottoms of holes, put in each container a bit of rubble as a drain and poured to the edges of humus. Assembled tomatoes and placed them on the glassed veranda. And closer to summer she carried me to the garden under the trees.
I looked after them as they did on planting beds. But on the bushes in the vessels one-and-a-half times more fruit was produced than on the greenhouse plants. And they began to mature for a fortnight before (apparently, due to better soil warming).
And the buckwheat pomidchiki turned out to be larger, dense, fragrant. No one cracked. None of them suffered from phytophthora. I did not have to remove the unripened fruits, because I brought tomatoes to the veranda, and they were safely ripe there. So that extra seedling can come in handy!
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Tomatoes are planted on the lunar calendar at the end of January (or earlier) in glasses of beer. I cut off the top and the bottom: it is easy to remove when landing.
I water the earth with boiling water with the addition of potassium permanganate. It cools down and you can sow. Soak the seeds in aloe juice for a day (less possible). I take the earth from under the cucumbers. I add one part of chernozem, sand, earth and a glass of ash to a bucket.
I put glasses on pallets. I fill the earth with 2/3 cups, then I pour it, so that a good root system is formed for planting. I land in April under arcs. In the autumn, I prepare trenches where I lay compost, hay, leaves - whatever I have, I water it with a potassium permanganate solution. In the spring I plant some of the tomatoes in place, immediately put the sticks and tie. I put the part between them in pots. When it gets warmer, I plant them in place in pre-prepared wells. I close the arcs with an insulating cloth, and at night also with a film. I water it with a pink solution of potassium permanganate: the fruits are sweeter, and there are no pests. I mulch the earth. For the prevention of late blight, I spray from a watering can with a pink solution of potassium permanganate, after a week - with a solution of copper sulfate (1 liter per 10 liters of iodine). As the color appears, I spray it with boric acid, after dissolving it in boiling water (0,1% solution), to form the ovaries. After the appearance of the fruit, I spray it with iodine: 20 drops per bucket of water.
I plant Giant Novikov - the fruits are sweet, large, but for late storage - De Barao. Once the husband planted it under a 2-meter tree on the sunny side, collected 285 tomatoes! I mulch nettle and water it: I have a barrel with nettle tincture, and so that there is no smell, you can add valerian. I store tomatoes in sawdust under a canopy.
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I prepare salads from tomatoes, preserve them for the winter, sluggish, make topical pests from tops, and face masks from fruits.
I sow seeds for seedlings in 2 terms. Low-growing - in the middle - the end of January, and medium-tall and high on February 10-15. For growing tomatoes of early consumption, I take a few seeds, ten is enough to get 8-10 bushes. I plant seedlings in a polycarbonate greenhouse on April 20-25, if severe frosts are expected, I put arcs inside, cover the bushes for the night with an additional white geotextile. Already in June, the first early fruits ripen.
Tomatoes are very useful. They help the cardiovascular system, improve vision, digestion. They say, even prevent the onset of cancer. Also, tomatoes improve the face, give it freshness, rejuvenate. For the preparation of cosmetic products, I grate the medium-sized tomato, add to the resulting puree 1 art. l. flour and egg yolk. I mix everything, I pour on my face for 15 min., Then I wash it off. This mask softens and refreshes the skin, allows it to stay young for a long time.