EXPERIMENT WITH EXPIRED TOMATO SEEDS AND THEIR SUPER HARDENING.

Everyone in my big family loves tomatoes. But there is not enough land, and there are many children, so for many years I just bought them either in the market or in the store.

But for several years now, the taste of purchased tomatoes has ceased to please. If earlier Krasnodar cream was quite tolerable, then a couple of times I came across some “left” ones: it looks like a picture, but not a gram of juice inside. Just dry, impossible to eat. Well, what is a salad without juicy tomatoes?

A couple of times I came across incomprehensible tomatoes: no taste, no smell, and when cut they leave completely indelible spots on the oilcloth. He doesn't even take chlorine! Question: if these vegetables are not washed off even from oilcloth, what will happen to the human stomach? But my kids eat them mostly. Somehow scary. And the prices for this “delicacy” are also not small now.

So we decided to make our own. They grew up with our mothers, and in the 90s I successfully grew them .. Somehow, by common efforts, we will grow tomatoes for children.

Now I'll digress a little from the topic. A terrible picture: the summer of 2018, Alexander and I are in the garden. Alexander is my future husband, so to speak. He pulls out tomato bushes, and on them are large beautiful tomatoes affected by late blight - inside there are already huge holes from the disease. He sadly pulls them out and puts them in a cart, and I, like a mother whose children are taken away, run around with bulging eyes and try to save at least something ... But the disease has already gone too far, every fetus is affected. Wonderful, beautiful tomatoes - and entirely in black holes. What a pity! There were just no words...

On that day, I made a promise to myself that not a single tomato would be wasted from me again. None is a matter of honor.

FROM SEEDLING TO TOMATO HARVEST

After carefully reading everything, I understood what I need to do in the future. First, the seeds. They are ordinary, from the store, but, as recommended by readers, they have been super-hardened.

It's simple. We take cotton pads, lay out the seeds of the desired variety (I have the simplest early maturing), 5-10 pieces for each disk, moisten with water on top, cover with a dry disk, sign the variety and put it on the battery for 12 hours. I put the disks in a small container - a night on the battery, a day in the refrigerator on the shelf, then again a night on the battery, a day in the refrigerator, and so on for three days. All you have to do is rearrange the container. Well, occasionally open to air - a matter of five minutes.

Three days have passed - sowed in a box. The earth is the most common. So they grew there until they landed in the ground.

The seedlings were distinguished by their strength and good appearance. Landed under a double layer of film for growing in early May. Then, on June 10, they were transplanted into the open ground: we don’t have a greenhouse!

Is it possible to grow tomatoes without losses in the open field, without a greenhouse - that was the purpose of the experiment. The climate is normal - the middle lane.

They planted it and didn’t even tie it up, slightly loosened the soil, cut off the stepchildren a little, didn’t cover it with anything, but brought copper sulfate on the tip of a knife under each root.

They didn’t bother with top dressing, they poured nettle infusion a couple of times - that’s all. During flowering, I sprayed all the flowers with a solution of boric acid for better set, otherwise there were few bees.

PHYTOPHTHORA? PAST!

It's harvest time. A lot of tomatoes were born, the harvest was plentiful and was stored without any processing just in cardboard boxes. None have deteriorated.

Then came the second, third, fourth wave of harvest! We planted a lot of tomatoes, about 120 roots, so we had to shoot two buckets at a time.

But cold nights with fogs were already approaching, and this is a sure sign that phytophthora is on the threshold. Especially in the open field… How to be?

I bring two buckets of tomatoes into the house. I put a tank of water, heat it up until my hands endure, and throw green tomatoes in there for 2-3 minutes. I add 2-3 drops of iodine to 7 liters of hot water: there will be no harm, as they say, but phytophthora, you see, will scare away.

Then I spread the tomatoes on a sheet or towel, dry them and store them in cut cardboard boxes - a bucket in each. At the bottom of the box I lay a newspaper and sprinkle a few drops of iodine on it. Oh, where ours did not disappear ...

So, the crop is harvested: twenty 15-liter buckets. Oh, and I got tired, I really got tired. But I am a thorough person: if I undertake something, I bring it to the end. Each tomato is redeemed in hot water and placed in a box. All. Now we will wait.

Only the first harvested tomatoes of the first and a little of the second wave of the harvest remained unprocessed, there were already three little things showing signs of illness.

But all the tomatoes bathed in hot water were kept just fine, more precisely, perfectly. Absolutely nothing got damaged!

Thus, the entire crop was eaten, processed, distributed. Not a single tomato grown by me was lost. None! I kept my word.

The experiment on growing tomatoes in open ground was a success. And yes, it wasn't all that hard. But I really got tired of processing them, and we ate, just ate too much - yes.

And one more touch. Everyone's tomatoes turned black - the neighbors, even my mother, but we just lay handsome and waited in the wings.

Conclusion: it is quite possible to grow tomatoes in open ground without losses. The main desire. Well, plus four processing of tomatoes.

1. Seed hardening.
2. Single application of copper sulphate under the root.
3. Treatment of flowers with boric acid.
4. Treatment of harvested fruits with hot water with iodine.

Yes, to be honest, there was not much work, but I got so much pleasure! Moreover, the taste of homemade tomatoes grown in the village in the fresh air cannot be compared with anything! It took time for all the processing - minutes, only I had to tinker with boiling water, but it was worth it.

My soul rejoiced! After all, I haven’t grown tomatoes for 25 years for sure: I planted the last time when my eldest daughter was a year old, which means in 1997. That's how long it's been since the first try. And now, after a quarter of a century, everything turned out without problems.

Oh, how they began to respect me in the village! She, they say, knows all sorts of conspiracies so that vegetables do not spoil ... Although I also want a greenhouse; I would have grown other varieties there. Particularly valuable, so to speak. But that's in the future.

---

Reference by topic: Seed hardening - how right?

---

STORY TWO - EXPIRED TOMATO SEEDS AND WHAT GROWN FROM THEM

The coronavirus is rampant. This misfortune also touched us: in the spring I fell ill, suffered hard, the consequences were terrible - I lost my child. Well, what to do. No one to blame. The mood, of course, is at zero, there is no strength. But you have to plant.

I couldn't go shopping. I took out my old seeds - they were five years old, and some even more. The varieties are the simplest, early ripening - Siberian early ripening, Rocket, cream and here's another Persimmon found - I wanted to plant it for a long time, but there was not enough time. In general, I collected all the seeds that were in the house, soaked and hardened according to the heat-cold system - 12 hours. How could - planted.

The germination period of the seeds has long expired, but the seedlings sprouted surprisingly well: there were almost no empty nests.

Only that year I did not pay the necessary attention to her, Alexander and his mother were planted under the film. But they landed not in my opinion. 1-Gadot had to deepen the root at least a little - the seedlings stretched out a lot. She just lay on the beds long, long - well, I piled up a little, sprinkled as much earth as I could.

Time passed, summer was coming. Rather, summer came already in May: the heat just rolled over. Even during the flowering of the bird cherry, when the temperature usually drops sharply for several days, not the slightest cold snap was observed. Bird cherry, having blossomed at a temperature of 25-30 °, simply burned out in two days. There was no rain at all. Neither in May, nor in June, nor in July, the heat did not let go, there was neither wind nor rain. Nature seemed to be waiting for something ...

Yes, it's not that simple. I remember there was a feeling that some important event was about to happen. Nature froze in anticipation: the apple trees did not even bloom, the strawberries took only one crop. There were no blueberries, raspberries, mushrooms, cabbage. Watered twice a day, morning and evening. Otherwise it was impossible - everything would have burned down.

The poor potato was neither alive nor dead, it was based solely on fogs. Near the river, and the fogs are thick in the morning. This is how she was saved, potato.

But I'm talking about tomatoes. The seedlings were transplanted into holes in open ground as usual. They just seated me, well, and here I already deepened it, of course. And yes, she did. They did not tie up - neither the strength nor the time was enough.

Oddly enough, the tomatoes liked such a hot summer, and at the end of July they began to harvest together. Old expired seeds turned out to be surprisingly good!

I didn’t take much care of them: I cut off my stepchildren a little, sprinkled a little blue vitriol and sprayed the flowers with boric acid. All. Done in 40 minutes. Then I was not in the village for about a month. Tomatoes were picked without me.

There were so many of them that there were not enough boxes: they collected 15 boxes, and there was not enough. I had to mess around with blanks for a whole month. Tomatoes were mostly small, but all smooth and tasty. The hot summer turned out to be a gift for them! Never processed them. No hot water, no iodine baths, nothing. I just didn't have the energy to do it.

---

Reference by topic: Treatment of expired seeds to increase germination

---

TOMATO YEAR

However, none of the tomatoes went bad. They lay in boxes like soldiers, delighting with an incredibly beautiful view! Phytophthora ordered to live long. The heat was 40° and above, and it rained once, maybe twice, all summer long. Yes, and then only moistened the leaves.

Beloved husband picked all the tomatoes in August. He said we've had enough. It was possible, of course, to shoot a couple of crops, but this one was rather big. For a month and a half I fought with him and won: not a single tomato was lost. Everything is twisted, rolled up, eaten, distributed. It was the tomato year 2021. And all without exception.

In October we ate all the tomatoes. A neighbor gave two buckets of late - they also ate. Although we pulled out our bushes ahead of time, we were not left without tomatoes. Thank you kind people! My grandson's birthday was October 22, and we also ate fresh salads thanks to a neighbor.

This is how I grow my tomatoes - and nothing happens. Constantly with his cream and Persimmon. By the way, it turned out to be a very good variety - sweet, it is stored perfectly, and you can take your seeds: the grade of Persimmon is preserved.

And if my seeds that have expired many times have pleased me so much, then they will please me again. Everything will be fine.

---

See also: Overdue tomato seeds - to plant or not: reviews of the summer residence

---

© Author: Nadezhda Krylova Mari El

ORDER QUALITY AND CHEAP SEEDS AND OTHER PRODUCTS FOR HOME AND COTTAGE. PRICES ARE BOTTLE. CHECKED! JUST LOOK FOR YOURSELF AND BE AMAZED. THERE ARE REVIEWS. GO >>>

Below other entries on the topic "Dacha and garden - with their own hands"

---

Subscribe to updates in our groups and share.

Let's be friends!