What to do to make tomatoes in the greenhouse turn red faster: the best tricks and life hacks of experienced summer residents
Due to the high content of the "happiness hormone" - serotonin - tomatoes improve mood as well as chocolate. They are beneficial for heart health, youthful skin and strong bones.
Almost every summer resident grows them - mainly in greenhouses. But even under favorable conditions, tomatoes do not always have time to ripen. In this article, we will tell you what to do to make tomatoes in the greenhouse turn red faster.
The content of the article
Natural ripening cycle of tomatoes in the greenhouse
Tomatoes ripen at different rates - it depends not only on the variety, but also on the growing conditions.
Duration and stages
About a month after the formation of the ovary, the green fruits reach the size corresponding to the variety. At the second stage, which lasts 10-25 days, the tomatoes become ripe.
It can take 40-56 days from the beginning of flowering to full maturity of vegetables.... But it also happens that even early varieties are in no hurry to please summer residents with ripe fruits. Therefore, it is important to know how to speed up the reddening of tomatoes on bushes.
Read also:
When and how to properly plant tomatoes in a greenhouse
When and why redness of tomatoes may slow down
Certain growing conditions inhibit crop maturation. Let's list the main ones.
Temperature
This is the main reason, due to which the collection of ripe tomatoes is delayed.
Important! When the air temperature in the greenhouse is less than + 15 ° C, the natural color of the fruit slows down significantly. If the night temperature drops to + 8-9 ° C, green tomatoes will no longer be able to ripen. At air temperatures above + 34 ° C, ripening also stops.
This is explained simply: at too high or low temperatures in vegetables decreases production of the pigment lycopene, which is responsible for the red color of ripeness.
Lighting
With a lack of sunlight (or artificial lighting) greenhouse plants will not give a ripe crop soon. With a dense arrangement, the bushes do not have enough lighting and the fruits do not turn red for a long time.
Nutrients
Slow maturation can be is caused by an excess or lack of nutrients.
For example, with an excess of nitrogen on tomato bushes, green mass begins to grow rapidly. Excess leaves and stepchildren pull off most of the nutrients, and as a result, the fruits ripen much more slowly.
With a lack of potassium in the soil the delivery of useful elements to fruits stops.
Excess tomatoes on the bush
After partial ripening, large fruits are removed from the bush.so that all the forces of the plant are thrown into the pouring of the main crop. Partially ripe tomatoes can ripen in boxes at home or in the country.
Ways to accelerate the ripening of tomatoes
In most of our country, summer is short, therefore without additional help, heat-loving vegetables will ripen for a long time... Various tricks will help to speed up ripening.
Traditional methods
One of the favorite methods of gardeners is spraying the entire bush with a weak iodine solution (40 drops in a bucket of warm water).It is harmless and effective not only to speed up the filling, but also to protect against diseases.
A less common method is using alcohol... 0.5 ml of alcohol is injected into each green fruit through the stalk, after which the ripening time is reduced by 5-10 days. This method will not change the taste of ripe tomatoes.
To get ripe vegetables on bushes faster pick the first tomatoes at the stage their partial maturation. This will unload the bush and allow the remaining volume to ripen faster.
Harvested brown or milky ripeness tomatoes store at + 22-25 ° С mixed with red. Even one reddened tomato lying among unripe ones accelerates the ripening of the rest.
Purchased funds
It is recommended to spray brushes with ovaries and leaves with a superphosphate extract. For this, 2 tbsp. l. superphosphate, pour 2 liters of hot water, stir. After a day, add 8 liters of water to the finished solution, then start spraying.
Effective feeding with potassium humate once every 10 days (prepared according to the instructions). It is a natural and inexpensive fertilizer for accelerated ripening of tomatoes. A solution of potassium humate is poured strictly at the root.
Agrotechnical techniques for the early ripening of tomatoes
We advise you to use these recommendations:
- Timely pinching (without waiting for the stepsons to become longer than 5 cm) and pinching the tops - this is done in early August.
- Gradual removing excess leaves on bushes (2-3 leaves per week), starting from the lowest ones.
- Plant restriction in nutrition... To do this, at a height of 3 cm from the ground, the stem is pulled with copper wire or small cuts are made in it, where a match or a toothpick is inserted. This method is more suitable for experienced vegetable growers.
- The "fast food" method... From the second half of July, all watering and feeding are stopped. Then the plants will throw all their strength into the accelerated filling of tomatoes. But for a hot summer, this method will not work.
How to make tomatoes ripen quickly
The optimal temperature for fast ripening is + 22-26 ° С... To maintain this regime in hot weather, the greenhouse is ventilated all day. It must be closed at night, and when it gets cold they turn on the heater.
A lot of light is needed. Seedlings are planted at a distance of at least 40 cm from each other. When forming a bush, always remove the lower leaves and stepsons, which interfere with the receipt of light and nutrition. In August, pinch the top. Daylight hours should last at least 15 hours. If it is shorter, additional lighting is provided.
In July and August, all the bushes are sprayed from top to bottom weak iodine solution, and once every 10 days, potassium humate is poured under the root. It is also effective to spray brushes with ovaries and leaves with a superphosphate extract.
The first tomatoes - both small and large - are picked at the stage of partial ripeningwhen the pulp is pink inside.
Into green greenhouse vegetables 0.5 ml of alcohol can be injected once for accelerated redness.
Experienced summer residentsuse the method of overtightening or injury stem.
If the summer is not hot, from the second half of July, some gardeners deliberately stop watering and fertilizing tomato beds in the greenhouse.
Tips, secrets and life hacks of experienced gardeners
In addition to the above techniques, in August, they practice the removal of flowers and small ovaries. - in any case, they will not have time to ripen, but will only delay the ripening of ready-made fruits.
Some experienced gardeners in the process of ripening the crop, they like to slightly damage the rootpulling the bush towards you. In this case, all the nutrients will go to the fruits.
Sometimes summer residents in August they pull out bushes from the garden, hang in a barn or garage with the root up and get red vegetables faster.
Conclusion
Even from such a fastidious culture as tomatoes, it is not difficult to obtain ripe tomatoes if you know for what reasons full ripeness is delayed. By applying several suggested methods of accelerating ripening, you will get ready-to-eat tomatoes even ahead of schedule.