Planting tomato seeds for seedlings - as we, gardeners, are waiting for this moment! Already in January, I start sorting out bags of seeds not only tomatoes. Pretending to be planted in the coming season. What kind of seeds is enough, and what else you need to buy. I take out my notebook — the names of varieties of vegetable or flower crops are recorded there, about which I read something good and decided that I also need to have them in my area. But now I would like to share my experience in planting seeds for seedlings.
- What are the seedlings to grow - planting tomato seeds in peat tablets
- Plastic cassettes with soil in cells for planting seeds
- What air temperature do seedlings need to plant?
- What kind of seedlings to buy
There is no big difference - we are talking about planting seeds of tomatoes, peppers or eggplants. All seeds are planted almost the same. The difference is only in terms of landing. This science was not immediately given to me. I did not know much. .. When, after how many days do shoots appear? The size of peat tablets for seedlings of peppers, eggplant, tomatoes? How to transplant plants from peat tablets? How many roots of seedlings need to be planted on 1 square.meter? When planted in open ground?
↑ to content ↑What is the seedlings to grow - planting tomato seeds in peat tablets
Peat tablets 4.4 mm in diameter Very convenient for planting seeds on seedlings peat tablets. They are available in various sizes - from 2.5 cm to 7 cm in diameter. Tablets most convenient for growing vegetable seedlings with a diameter of at least 4 cm.
It is best to buy special plastic cassettes with cells for them at the same time as tablets.
Each cassette should have a pallet, and some can be sold with transparent covers, thanks to which you can maintain a certain humidity, a peculiar microclimate, which is very necessary for seed germination. The side walls of the cassette cells will not allow peat tablets to dry out.
Tablets before sowing seeds are placed inside the cell and watering so that they are saturated with water. Moisturized, they greatly increase in height, but the diameter does not increase much. Each peat tablet in the middle has a small depression for the seed.
In the middle of a well-moistened tablet, I increase the indentation - 1-1.5 cm, put a seed there. I pinch the ground lightly on top with my fingers so that the seed is covered. Then I cover the tape with a film. I use for this purpose food wrap. It is thin, plus everything is well fixed at the edges by simple pressing. I do not open it until shoots appear. After that, I remove the film and put a cassette with seedling shoots on the window sill. In the evening, after sunset, for example, a glazed loggia is well suited for this purpose.
If you are sowing seeds into peat tablets of small diameter, you will have to do it after some time( when you notice that the roots have come out) to cross the plant along with the soil of the tablet into a large container, for example, a plastic cup. Remove the tablet shell is not necessary. Seedlings grown in large-diameter tablets can be immediately planted to a permanent place without an intermediate picking.
содерж to content ↑Plastic cassettes with primer in the cells for planting seeds
Cassettes can be used not only for peat tablets. I successfully grow seedlings of tomatoes, peppers, or eggplants, filling its cells with nutritious soil. The soil is usually slightly looser, so I “trample” it. Fill the hole of the cassette is not up to the top.
The soil is moistened, I make a hole with a depth of 1-1.5 cm and put a seed there. If I sow my seeds, in which germination I am sure, then - one cell - one seed, and if these are purchased seeds, then two.
Tomato seedlings - 6th day after sowing I also cover the cassette with the top with a film and do not remove it until the first shoots appear.
Tomatoes 10 days after germination 
Tomatoes 15 days after germination What air temperature do you need seedlings
In order for seedlings to develop properly, it is very important to observe the temperature conditions. When growing early varieties of white cabbage and cauliflower, celery, onion, and cabbage lettuce( before germination), the temperature should be about 20 ° С, with the appearance of shoots 5-7 days - about 6-10 ° СWhen it is overcast - 14-16 ° С, when it is sunny - plus 16-18 ° С, and at night 8-12 ° С.Seedlings of tomatoes, cucumbers, zucchini, pepper, eggplant are grown at a temperature of 6-8 ° C higher.
We must ensure that the earth does not dry out, there is good lighting, otherwise the plants will stretch.
↑ to content ↑How many plants to plant per 1 m²
Per square meter of open ground requires:
- 5-6 roots of early cabbage;
- mid-season cabbage - 3-4 plants;
- late cabbage - 2-3 plants;
- tomatoes - 4-5 pieces;
- pepper, eggplant - 7-8 pieces;
- cucumber - 1-2 plants;
- zucchini - 1-2 plants;
- cabbage lettuce - 16-20 pieces;
- Rhubarb - 1-2 roots.
Processing and preparation of tomato seeds for sowing
Let's talk about tomatoes specifically. Selected seeds should be etched with a 1% solution of manganese for 30 minutes, rinse them with clean warm water, soak for 24 hours so that they swell. Then they need to harden. To do this, keep the plate with wet seeds for 12 hours at a temperature from 0 ° to + 4 °.Then, also hold for 12 hours at a temperature of + 18-20 ° C.
So you need to temper for a week. After that, the seeds are sown. When the first leaflet appears, seedlings should be disarmed. Shorten the tip of the main root to make adventitious roots grow. Under each plant, place 1 granule of superphosphate.
↑ to the content ↑Care for seedlings
At night, seedlings are carried out to where the temperature is below - 8-10 ° С( balcony, loggia, veranda).After 2-3 days, the plants are watered with water at room temperature, and if they are weak, they make fertilizing with a fertilizer mixture with microelements - 20 g per 10 l of water.
At the onset of stable heat( above 10 ° C), seedlings are carried out to fresh air( 3-4 hours), and then left overnight. Then again transplanted into a large box and put on the south window before landing in the ground.
содерж to content ↑What kind of seedlings to buy
If you buy seedlings on the market, take one with dark green leaves, squat, with short internodes( 6-8 leaves).Cabbage, cucumber, zucchini - 4-5.Overgrown tomato plants are laid down, sprinkled with lower leaves. It is best to plant seedlings when it is cloudy or rainy, or in the evening.
