Growing tomato seedlings is what gardeners do as soon as the spring smells. In what only seedlings are not grown - in peat tablets, in self-made containers, in "diapers", in sawdust. In the Krasnodar region tomatoes - one of the leading vegetable crops. No wonder. Growing tomatoes is one of the main directions of development of Kuban agriculture. None of the private garden also can not do without tomatoes.
- Tomatoes - growing seedlings from seeds
- When to sow or how to accurately calculate the date of sowing tomato seeds for seedlings?
- Growing tomato seedlings in a greenhouse or under film cover
- A way to increase and maintain temperature in a greenhouse or under a film
- Growing tomato seedlings on sawdust
- Seedlings "in a film-diaper"
- Hardening method for growing seedlings
In terms of the amount of vitamins, mineral salts, tomatoes are superior to oranges, cherries, strawberries, peaches. Fruits of tomatoes contain up to 12% sugars, citric, malic acid. The more sugar with enough acid, the more pleasant the taste of tomatoes. The best sugar-acid combination is 8: 1.The fruits of tomatoes grown in the Krasnodar Territory, are among the best in the world.
↑ to content ↑Tomatoes - growing seedlings from
seeds In order to get good seedlings, you need to prepare the seeds for sowing. For this purpose, the required number of seeds is immersed in water or a 3-5% solution of sodium chloride, kept there for 3-5 minutes for separation by specific weight. All this time they constantly need to interfere, so that they are completely moistened. The fullest will fall down, and they should be used for planting.
After separation of the seeds in a salt solution, they must be thoroughly rinsed with running water. Then the seeds are pickled with a 1% solution of potassium permanganate( 1 g of potassium permanganate crystals: 100 ml of water) for 30 minutes. Instead of potassium permanganate, you can use a 2-3 percent solution of hydrogen peroxide; seeds can be aged for 7-8 minutes, a solution of boric acid( 1/2 tsp. Of boric acid powder: 1 glass of water) - the seeds can be aged for 2-3 hours. Then they must be rinsed under running water.
If possible, they can be enriched with oxygen( sparging), which accelerates the emergence of shoots. Especially this technique is necessary for tight germinating vegetable seeds( pepper, eggplant, parsley, celery, carrots, etc.).It is possible to use a compressor or a sprayer used for aquariums for this purpose. Instead of a compressor, an auto-pumped air chamber is used. Sparging tomato seeds spend 10-12 hours.
Before sowing, they are lightly dried and sown to obtain seedlings. On 1 square.meter sow no more than 10-12 g of seeds. To do this, make grooves through 4-5 cm depth of 1-1.5 cm, in which rows of seeds are sown.
When calculating the date of sowing of tomato seeds to obtain seedlings, it is necessary to know the dates of the onset of flowering and fruit ripening. At optimum soil temperature( 24-26 degrees) and sufficient moisture, good seeds sprout in 4-5th days. From germination to flowering usually takes 50-60 days.
↑ to content ↑When to sow or how to accurately calculate the date of sowing of tomato seeds in seedlings?
If you plan to plant seedlings on May 7-9, then from this date it is necessary to count back 55-60 days according to the calendar.55-60 days is the age of seedlings that produce buds. And we add 5 days - so much time is needed for the seedlings to emerge from the ground. We get the date of March 3-8.So, in this period of time you need to sow the seeds. And if you live in the south and want to plant seedlings, for example, in open ground on April 20-25, then counting back 60-65 days, we get dates - February 19-24.
содерж to content ↑Growing tomato seedlings in a greenhouse or under
film coverFor the central zone of the Krasnodar Territory, the best term for sowing tomato seeds for growing seedlings is the first decade of February. For the northern, northeastern regions - 10-15 days later, that is, the middle of February and the beginning of March. After sowing, boxes, cassettes with sown tomato seeds are installed in a room with a temperature of 22-25 degrees. As soon as single sprouts appeared, the boxes were brought to a cool, bright room( glazed balcony, veranda, the most well-lit window) with a temperature of 8-12 degrees. The decrease in temperature in the period of emergence of seedlings prevents the stretching of tomato seedlings.
After the emergence of shoots, the temperature regime should be as follows: in the daytime with sunny weather - 18-20 degrees, when it is cloudy - 16-18, at night - 8-10 degrees. Watering should not get involved. Tomatoes do not tolerate overmoistening of the soil. Tomato seedlings are rarely watered before you see that the plants are about to start to wither. The water temperature is 25-28 degrees.
If you do not have a greenhouse, but you want to grow strong tomato seedlings, then in the second decade of March, you need to start preparing a picking site. For this purpose, the brightest place is chosen, protected from the north and north-east by buildings and trees from cold winds. A trench is dug at a depth of 18–20 cm( on a spade bayonet) 70–90 cm wide or across the width of the film that will be used to cover the seedlings. The bottom of the trench for insulation from cold soil is covered with a heat-insulating layer 10-12 cm thick. Straw, sawdust, old leaves, other waste are excellent material for thermal insulation. From above fill a nutritious soil, same as was used for cultivation of seedling. In the absence of it, you can use the soil that was removed when digging a trench.
In order to warm up the ground, it is covered with a film 5-7 days before the pick. To this end, through 60-70 cm from each other set the arc of 6-8 mm wire, willow rods. After the ground warms up well, planting tomato seedlings, which have one or two true leaves, is planted.
Several years ago, I experimented with planting dates: the first landing is the beginning of the third decade of March( March 20-23), the second is the end of this decade( March 26-30).Experience has shown that tomatoes planted under film cover in the last days of March produce an earlier, higher yield. I think that this is due to a more favorable temperature and light conditions.
Seedlings grown under a film cover or in a greenhouse are more adapted to tolerate adverse climatic conditions when transplanted into open ground than those grown under glass.
In some years when growing seedlings of tomatoes under the film there is a danger of freezing it from low night temperatures. Now polyethylene film is being produced, which saves 1.5-2.5 degrees from frosts. In order to reduce heat loss, you can cover the second layer of film. To do this, install the second row of arcs so that between the first and second layers there is a space 5-8 cm wide. And as you know, air is a poor conductor of heat. With such a cover, the seedlings withstand freezing to minus 7-8 degrees.
↑ to content ↑The way to increase and maintain the temperature in the greenhouse or under the film
The Sochi Institute of Mountain Gardening and Floriculture has proposed an original method of increasing the heat-holding capacity of film covers. Its essence is that in the course of friction between two polymeric materials with different dielectric constant, an electric field is formed, which constantly holds air directly at the surface of the film. This layer of air retains the heat emitted by the soil, which increases the temperature difference between the air under the film and the surrounding air by 5-8 degrees, thus protecting the plants from dying at low temperatures.
For this, a mesh made of another polymeric material, for example, nylon, is placed on top of the film cover( greenhouses, tunnels).When the film and the nylon mesh oscillates from the wind, an electric field is created that retains the air.
The magnitude of the charge depends on atmospheric conditions, the size of the grid cells. The finer the mesh, the stronger the oscillations of the film or the mesh from the wind, the greater the charge, and, consequently, the heat-retaining properties of the film increase.
↑ to the content ↑Growing tomato seedlings on
sawdustIt is known that the cultivation of any seedlings in peat tablets, cups reduces the loss of the root system when transplanted into open ground. And transportation of plants in pots increases its volume and weight. In addition, it is necessary for peat or plastic cups to specifically procure or buy soil mixtures.
In this connection, an original method was proposed for growing tomato seedlings on a sawdust substrate, which is devoid of the above-noted drawbacks. Technology method of growing tomatoes on sawdust is simple. Here is her description.
In the seedling greenhouse, greenhouse, tunnel shelters, sawdust with a layer of 6-8 cm, pre-fermented and filled with full mineral fertilizer, is poured onto the leveled surface of the nutrient soil. Fermentation is necessary for fresh sawdust of coniferous species containing resinous substances that negatively affect tomato seedlings, other plants too. During fermentation, sawdust is moistened with a 2% solution of ammonium nitrate, kept wet for 10-12 days until the tar smell disappears. Old, old sawdust does not require fermentation.
Before laying on the ground, every 100 kg of sawdust is filled with fertilizers: 250-300 g of superphosphate, 180-200 g of ammonium nitrate, 150-200 g of potassium salt or 500-600 g of wood ash( preferably ash from burning stalks, baskets of sunflower)replaces potash fertilizers, at the same time neutralizes the acid reaction of sawdust. Better nitrogen fertilizers to make liquid, since they are difficult to evenly mix with sawdust.
Then, on a leveled layer of sawdust, the soil nutrient mixture is evenly poured with a layer of 4-5 cm, consisting of sod earth and humus, the ratio is 1: 1.Tomato soil is sown in this layer of soil or picking of 20-25-day-old tomato seedlings. Soil poured on top of sawdust, as a result of biological combustion is 1-2 degrees warmer than the soil without sawdust.
Initially, plants develop at the expense of the nutrients contained in bulk soil, and then the root system penetrates the fertilized layer of sawdust and develops freely there. Tomato seedlings ready for planting when sampling from a greenhouse or greenhouse almost never lose their root system. Therefore, it is almost as good as pot-grown or peat tablets, and even surpasses it in terms of yield in the early periods. Experience has shown that seedlings grown on sawdust July 10 yielded a harvest of ripe fruits 1.7 times more than on ordinary soil.
содерж to content ↑Seedlings “in the film-diaper”
This is a very simple, uncomplicated method of growing seedlings. It is necessary to cut plastic wrap, for example, from packages with which you come from the supermarket, ribbons, strips. The width is about 10 cm, and the length depends on the number of seeds of an individual variety. Cover the top of the film with a strip of toilet paper of the same width and length. Spray the water over the paper so that it is evenly wet. Wet toilet paper should be carefully laid out with tomato seeds after 2-3 cm, and the top should be retreated 1 cm. Then you put another piece of toilet paper on top of the laid seeds. The last layer is again film. The seeds are between two layers of toilet paper and between two pieces of film - this is our “diaper”.
Then fold the resulting tape, like a roll, and place it in any container so that the edge with the seeds is at the top, for example, in a plastic cup, into which you pour some water on the bottom. Water is needed to keep paper wet. Put an improvised greenhouse on the windowsill or another, not necessarily bright, place. Water is desirable to change periodically. Plant growth stimulant can be added to water( Heteroauxin, Cornevin, Appin, Zircon, and others).It is not added to the glass with seedlings, but first prepare the solution according to the instructions. I added a solution of HB-101( 1-2 drops per 1 liter of water).After 5-7 days, the first shoots will appear. Now for your "diaper" you need to choose a bright place.
After the appearance of two or three true leaves, you can swoop down in pots of soil. How to do it? Need to deploy our roll. Then remove the top strip of film. You will see that sprouted tomato seeds lie in diapers with roots 5–7 cm long. You can visually see which plants have strong stalks and which ones have weak ones. The paper is soaked so that it will not interfere. So dive with it
This method of growing seedlings "in diapers" is attractive because it does not take up much space. No dirt when picking.
Just do not twist the rolls too tightly. If the seeds do not receive oxygen, they can not ascend. In addition, water will stagnate in heavily twisted rolls - the seeds may rot.
содерж to content ↑Hardening method for growing seedlings of tomatoes
For very early planting of tomatoes, seedlings are necessary that can tolerate adverse conditions of early spring. When it is grown, the use of triple hardening is of great importance. This is a 5-6 day hardening of seeds by the Voronova method. To this end, tomato seeds are soaked in warm water( 25-28 degrees) for 6-8 hours. Then they are placed in a damp cloth in a warm place to a single naklevyvaniya seeds.
From this period, the actual tempering process begins. The tilted seeds are placed in a refrigerator for 16-18 hours at a temperature close to zero. After this time, they are removed from the refrigerator, kept for 6-8 hours at a temperature of 18-20 degrees. So harden the seeds no more than 5-6 days.
Then hardened seeds are sown in prepared boxes of sod-humus soil. After sowing, the box is placed in a warm room with a temperature of 22-25 degrees. With the emergence of mass shoots, the boxes with plants should be brought to a bright room( greenhouse, greenhouse, balcony, put on the window facing south), the night temperature should be reduced to 6-10 degrees, and the daytime temperature should be maintained at 18-20 degrees.
This mode is supported for 2 weeks, that is, until the first true sheet appears. It is necessary that plants receive a lot of light. Occurs temperature-light hardening seedlings.
Two weeks after emergence, the temperature at night is raised to 10-16 degrees until the plants form the second true leaf, that is, they will be ready for picking.
Then the seedlings of tomatoes dive into the ground of the greenhouse, greenhouse, tunnel shelter according to the scheme 7x7, 8x8 cm, patching it up to the very cotyledon leaves, watered with warm water, shading from the sun. After picking, especially after picking under a film cover, mulching between rows with humus, peat with the addition of fungicides Maxim, TMTD( tetramethylthiuram disulfide), or other disinfectants for disinfecting seeds or plants of the village of C.-kh.crops, or 3-5% wood ash, lime, which increases the resistance of tomato seedlings to defeat blackleg, other diseases.
After the picking, when the seedlings take root, the temperature must be maintained during the day when the weather is cloudy 18-20 degrees, at solar - 22-25 degrees, and at night - 10-12 degrees. When the seedlings will have 3-4 true leaves, it is again subjected to quenching at low positive temperatures: at night - 8-10, in the daytime - 18-20 degrees for 2-2.5 weeks. After that, the temperature is maintained at night - 14-16, during the day 20-22 degrees.
10-12 days before disembarking, the last quenching is carried out. The temperature is reduced if possible to 2-5 degrees. First, the film is opened or turned up, and after 2-3 days it is removed, first during the day, and then completely for the entire time before disembarking. With such upbringing, plants grow stocky, strong, with short internodes.
The temperature regime created during quenching is close to temperature fluctuations in open ground in early spring. Therefore, such a tomato seedling tolerates transplantation well, and the established plants withstand cooling, even short-term frost to minus 1 degree of air and minus 1.5-2 degrees in the soil. It can be planted in open ground for 7-10 days earlier than the standard terms.
But here it must be emphasized that the lighting when growing seedlings is important, greatly influences the early harvest. The most favorable light mode is formed under film covers, better than glass, which transmits ultraviolet rays.
Hardened seedlings are recommended to be grown with active ventilation and moderate water supply, that is, for the entire growing time, no more than 2-3 waterings should be carried out. With frequent, abundant watering( 5-6), it is more susceptible to the disease of the black leg, quickly outgrowing, the fruit yield is reduced by almost 20%.
↑ to content ↑Feeding tomato seedlings, taking care of it
As the plants grow, they are fed 2-3 times. The number of dressings depends on their condition. It is best to conduct top dressing, coinciding with watering.
The first dressing is carried out after the tomato seedlings after picking take root. For 10 liters of water take 8-12 g of ammonium nitrate, 40 g of superphosphate, 7-10 g of potassium salt. A bucket of solution is consumed by 2-3 square meters.meters.
The second dressing is carried out 8-10 days after the first one. It is better to spend it with fermented chicken droppings or slurry diluted 10-12 times, with 60 g of superphosphate added to a bucket of water or mineral fertilizers alone per 10 liters of water - 15-18 g of ammonium nitrate, 70-80 g of superphosphate, 20-25 g of potassium chloride or potassium salt.
The third dressing is carried out 3-4 days before the seedling is sampled( for 10 liters of water - 10 g of ammonium nitrate, 40 g of superphosphate, 60 g of potassium chloride. It must be kept in mind that superphosphate is very poorly soluble, therefore 2-3 days before feedingmake the hood out of it, that is, dissolve separately.
If the solution gets on the leaves during feeding, it should be washed off the leaves with clean water. When growing seedlings of tomatoes under the film, as a rule, the humidity is higher than under glass, therefore more attention is neededgive prophylactic treatmentsagainst diseases, it is more often to ventilate.
To prevent the seedlings from being pulled out if it is impossible to land them in time due to adverse weather conditions( rain, snow, late cold spring, etc.), it is treated in the 4-5 leaf phase with 0.1-0.2% solution of the preparation TUR( chlorocholine chloride) - 10 g per 10 l of water, or 0.07% solution of hydrol - 7 g per 10 l of water, any plant growth regulator, for example, Athlete, HB-101, Epin Extra. If necessary, spraying can be repeated in a week.
To prevent diseases of fungal and bacterial diseases, tomato seedlings are sprayed with a 1% solution of Bordeaux liquid with 2 g of manganese-sour potassium( potassium permanganate) per 10 liters of solution or any copper-containing drug, for example, Oxych, Tsineb. For better fertilization of flowers it is also useful to add 1-2 g of boric acid there.
The day before the sampling, the seedlings of tomatoes are watered abundantly, when sampling, underdeveloped, diseased plants are sorted, discarded. The root system is dipped in a solution of Heteroauxin, Kornevin.
