DIY tomato seedlings

The climate of Russia is distinguished by its moderation, and tomatoes are very thermophilic plants, so it is important to properly grow seedlings from seeds and monitor them. Due to the fact that the vegetative period in tomatoes is long enough, it is important to plant not seeds, but seedlings. Otherwise, you will be left without a crop and your tomato seedlings will not ripen until the autumn cold.

This article will focus on tomatoes intended for cultivation in greenhouses and answers to frequently asked questions.

Why tomato seedlings

Of course, you should start with the choice of tomato variety. Besides size, they differ in taste, color, and use equivalent.

To choose a variety, it is important to decide what you are going to do with the fruits: canning, eating fresh, or making soaked spicy tomatoes. And so, after we have decided we need to prioritize and choose varieties with the following qualities:

• The variety, this is important, must be intended for cultivation in a greenhouse or in a greenhouse. If the variety is not selected correctly, then you will not see a good harvest or a high-quality tomato product at the exit.

• You need to find out what is the ripening period for this variety. Early or late?

• In a closed greenhouse, tomatoes must be able to self-pollinate, otherwise there will be no fruit ovaries. Therefore, make sure that this variety belongs to self-pollinating crops.

• High humidity in greenhouses. In such a "wet" environment, there is a risk of fungal diseases. Therefore, check out whether the variety is capable of repelling fungal sores, and if not, then what needs to be done to keep the seedling healthy. Gardeners are advised to choose only those varieties that have increased resistance to such diseases.

• The peculiarity of greenhouse varieties is that they are compact and do not grow in width. Therefore, the responsibility for the harvest falls entirely on your shoulders.

• Tomatoes should not exceed the height of the greenhouse, otherwise there is no point in greenhouse conditions. Pay attention to the characteristics of the variety.

• And most importantly, vegetables are mainly grown in greenhouses for sale or pickling, and the guarantee of a large turnover is the quality of products, including taste. Therefore, the variety you choose should produce tasty fruits and have a high yield.

After you have chosen and bought seeds, you should start preparing and planting seeds for seedlings. Take care of the capacity and purchase a soil mix in advance. You can buy ready-made soil mixture for tomatoes, it is called that. This will make life easier for you and in such an individual soil, tomato seedlings will grow healthy. Also at this stage it is worth preparing a greenhouse for further transplanting seedlings into it.

Tomato seedling calendar

Vegetation is the period during which the seeds "hatch" and sprout. In mid-ripening and early-ripening tomatoes, this period reaches 90-100 days. Temperature is also very important for tomatoes, so during the day the optimal temperature for tomatoes is 24-26 ° C. 16-17 ° С at night. But in our climate, this temperature does not last long, only a month or two. This causes some inconvenience, since half of the growing season, tomato seedlings are in the house or are grown in a greenhouse with heating.

If you live in the south or in central Russia, then tomato seedlings are boldly planted at the end of April and beginning of May, as the night cold recedes.

If you live in the northern part of the country, tomato seedlings can be planted in a greenhouse in the second decade of May without fear of losing the harvest.

In addition to the planting period, it is important to know how many days the fruits will ripen. Since for each variety, the ripening time is different. This can be found on the seed label or by consulting your dealer.
This is how we know when we can plant seeds for seedlings and when we can transplant our shoots into the ground.

For tomatoes with late ripening, tomato seedlings are prepared in February, for tomatoes with early ripening, seedlings are planted in mid-March.

When choosing seeds, it is important to pay attention to the climate in the region. After all, the temperature even in neighboring cities can vary significantly. Based on the meteorological observations of his region, the gardener must analyze the change in temperature over the past few years.

Tomato seedlings are transferred to a permanent place only when weather conditions are good. Indeed, it depends on the air temperature, on the level of illumination, whether the tomato seedlings will take root or not. Even the strongest and healthiest plants will not be able to grow and produce a harvest without proper effort and weather conditions.

Planting tomato seedlings

To plant seeds, you need to get containers in advance. For this, plastic cups are suitable, cups from under yoghurt, you can also purchase special tablets for seedlings. But there is only one caveat. Cookware should not be deeper than 15 centimeters.

Tomatoes are a culture that loves slightly acidic soil. It is worth making a note of this. After purchasing the seeds and calculating the optimal planting time, start preparing the soil for sowing. The earth must be crumbly and porous. You can prepare the soil yourself, but if your time is dear to you and you have money, you can purchase a ready-made mixture for tomato seedlings.

There is one little trick. When planting seedlings, use the soil from the greenhouse in which you intend to plant your seedlings. Thus, the seedlings will take root faster, because there will be no stress during transplanting, but the already familiar environment will remain.

It is important to loosen the soil if it is too dense. To do this, you can take ordinary river sand, it must be thoroughly mixed with the ground.

It is very important to decontaminate the soil before the tomatoes are planted in it. This is necessary in order to prevent tomato disease, otherwise fungi and microorganisms living in the soil can infect an unprotected seedling.

There are a lot of ways to disinfect the soil, so every gardener can find one that does not hit the pocket and will be the most optimal.

So, now let's take a closer look at each of the methods:

• Freezing of the soil. Of course, you cannot freeze the entire soil, because it is impossible, but if you collect part of the soil, about 15-20 centimeters in depth, then disinfection will go off with a bang. This takes time. The excavated soil is put in a bag in advance, it is advisable to do this in the fall, right before frost. The bag is hung on the balcony and the ground freezes in the winter season.

• Calcining. This is a very interesting way. The earth is heated in portions in a microwave oven or in an oven, so harmful microbes die under the influence of temperature. The soil is calcined for 30 minutes.

• There is such a way as living with boiling water. Usually, soil is poured in this way, which has already been scattered into the boxes, but this method is also suitable for greenhouse processing. The earth is spilled with boiling water several hours after the tomatoes are planted.

• For the next method we need manganese permanganate. It is diluted to a dark purple color and the resulting liquid is poured over the seedlings in cups or boxes.
After disinfection of the soil, it is mixed. Water is added to the cups or boxes for seedlings to keep the earth moist, and later a year they pull out grooves up to 2 centimeters deep, where tomato seeds are subsequently planted.

How to plant tomato seedlings

 In fact, this is a very important question, because if the sequence is wrong, you simply may not have a harvest.

The timing of planting seeds is taken into account with the timing of the entry of seed material. So, tomatoes sprout within 7-10 days. And dicotyledonous leaves appear 20 days after planting.

You should adhere to the rules of seed preparation for their further "pecking".

• You need to buy seeds only from reputable producers. It is not advised to save money, since elite seeds are in capsules, which, due to their nutritional properties, contribute to the fastest hatching of seeds. Tomato seeds from good producers are pre-processed and disinfected, which gives a guarantee of yield later. After buying the seeds, you should not delay planting, since after two weeks of laying, they lose the promised rapid germination.

• If you have stocked up on seeds from your past harvests, then remember that two to three year old seeds are distinguished by the qualities of good producers. Therefore, do not use last year's seeds. It should also be borne in mind that seeds cannot be harvested from hybrid varieties, and only the first varieties are required for planting.

• Seeds are also carefully selected. All seeds should be approximately the same color and size.

• Germination can be tested. 2-3 boats of salt are dissolved in water, seeds are dipped into the resulting solution, after half an hour they are examined. So for planting, only those seeds are suitable that have sunk to the bottom of the glass or cup. The floating seeds are hollow, nothing will grow out of them.

• Even seeds require disinfection. They are placed in a manganese solution for 30 minutes. The seeds are pre-tied in a piece of gauze. Later they are thoroughly washed with water.

• Pecking of seeds can be accelerated. For this, the disinfected seeds are placed in a thermos and the temperature is maintained at 50 °. So the seeds should lie for two or three days.

• There is an opinion that the seeds must be planted dry. Not all gardeners and gardeners listen, but still, if it is important for you that the seeds are dry, put them after a thermos in cheesecloth and in a resealable container, and hold for two or three days. It is important to air it twice a day, otherwise it will get moldy.

• It is not a bad idea to harden the seeds as this will serve as some preparation for cool nights. To harden, place the tomato seeds in the zero chamber for several hours.

But such processing needs to be carried out only with homemade, self-collected seeds. Purchased seeds do not need to be processed, since they have already passed all the stages.

Planting tomato seedlings

Already germinated seeds require a reverent attitude, since young sprouts are very fragile and break easily. Therefore, it is necessary to germinate the sprouts on a cloth or cotton pad, otherwise the seeds can easily get tangled and break.

Transfer the seeds into the dug grooves with tweezers.

They are laid at a distance of about 2-2.5 cm from each other - this is approximately the width of two fingers of an adult hand folded together.

Later, the seeds are sprinkled with dry soil and lightly tamped. The land does not need to be watered abundantly; it can be irrigated with a spray bottle, but nothing more. After this procedure, the seeds are covered with a bag of transparent or transparent glass. Further, until germination, you need to keep the pots or box at a constant temperature of 26-28 ° C.

After about 10 days, sprouts will hatch, and this is a sign that you need to let them breathe.

Watering tomato seedlings and other care

Seedlings need constant attention and care. Caring for her is a painstaking and very long-term business. Every detail is important in care.

In order for your tomato bushes to be strong when they grow up, you need to adhere to the following rules:

• Be sure to put the seedlings on the windowsill after the first shoots appear, which is brightly illuminated by the sun.If the shoots do not receive enough sunlight, they will grow tall and be weak and frail.

• Until two or three sprouts appear, the seedlings should not be watered.

• After the formation of cotyledon leaves, the seedlings are transplanted into separate containers. But this must be done carefully, trying to grab all the roots from the ground.

• Seedlings can be watered immediately after diving. But not fresh water, there are a lot of impurities in it. It is advisable to use melted or boiled liquid. The water temperature should be no more than 20 ° C, otherwise you can burn the sprout. But cold water also cannot be watered, as it is a breeding ground and provocateur of diseases and infections. Leaves and stems that have not yet matured cannot be watered, therefore, using a Watering can, seedlings are watered at the root.

• Tomatoes require a certain amount of feeding. You can feed tomatoes only after the cotyledon leaves appear. This procedure should be carried out as follows. Dissolve the top dressing in warm water and water the seedlings with it. This is all very simple. But do not water the sprouts with nitrogen fertilizing, this will lead to violent growth and excessive foliage of the bushes.

• If the tomato does not have enough light, they will let you know. If the leaves turn yellow, they fade - this is a bright sign of a lack of light. Also, if the seedlings are strongly elongated, Tole is the reason for the lack of light or temperature.

• Tomatoes require a temperature of 22-26 ° during the day, and up to 18 ° in the evening. If this condition is not met, the seedlings will be lethargic and weak. Tomatoes will wither before your eyes.

Seedling tomato in a greenhouse

Tomatoes are planted in the ground when the outside temperature stabilizes. By this time, the tomatoes must meet the following requirements:

• The low-growing variety should be about 15 centimeters high, the tall one 30.

• By the time of transplanting, the stems must have at least 8 leaves.

• The stem should be like a pencil in diameter, this is a guarantee that it will grow further.

• The stem should have ovaries of buds, but still lack fruits and flowers.

• Leaves should be dark green and intact.

• Advice from experienced gardeners.

• As you know, experience is always a good teacher. Therefore, here are some tips from experienced gardeners who have been growing tomatoes from seeds for many years.

1) To increase yields, the ovaries are dived two sprouts into one pot. After 20 days, the strongest sprout is chosen and it is he who is planted. Natural selection, so to speak. The top is pinched to the second sprout. Then two sprouts are tied with a nylon thread. What for? You ask. This is necessary to improve the qualities of the plant's fertility. If you do this, you will end up with one hybrid (double) root plant.

2) There is an opinion that the land must be thoroughly watered before planting, but this only hurts. When you remove the seedlings from the glass, the roots break off and remain on the walls. Therefore, it is better not to water the seedlings at all for several days. This will allow the soil to fall away from the walls and you will not damage the roots.

3) Since the seeds are not very fond of transplanting, it is better not to dive the seedlings, but immediately sow in disposable cups.

4) Tomatoes must be tied up even in greenhouse conditions. The crossbar is called the trellis. So immediately after planting, the tomatoes are tied up, this helps them grow in the right direction and not interfere with other bushes.

Thus, we conclude that the budget is to grow their own seedlings from their own seeds. You can also understand from the article that growing seedlings is a difficult, but surprisingly exciting business.