How to grow sweet tomatoes
The taste of tomatoes depends on the variety. For example, "Chumak" or "Cream" are used for rolling - they have elastic skin and dense pulp. But the first-class sugar varieties, such as "Bull Heart", "Persimmon", "Black Prince", have the qualities of sugar tenderness and increased juiciness. But the taste depends not only on the variety. Certain soil care for tomatoes affects the biochemical structure and taste characteristics of the fruit.
About how to grow sweet tomatoes, see our article.
The content of the article
Seat preparation
For growing tomatoes, choose the southeast or southwest sides of the plots... Tomatoes produce a good harvest if they are planted near the southern walls of buildings or a fence. It is possible to grow tomatoes in one place for several years in a row, but then the land should be cultivated with organic fertilizers for planting.
Ideal if the precursors of the crop were cabbage, onions, cucumbers, zucchini and corn... But growing tomatoes after physalis, peppers, eggplants and potatoes is undesirable. If these crops were cultivated on the site, then the tomatoes should be planted in three years. In the worst case, the plant will get sick. It is also not advisable to plant tomatoes after or near potatoes so that the plants do not undergo late blight.
The soil must be loosened and humus, sawdust, straw or peat must be added to it, one bucket per 1.2 m. Sod land or humus is added to the peaty soil. To warm up the finished beds, they are covered with a black film.
Prepare the soil for planting tomatoes in the fall. When the acidity of the soil is increased, with the autumn digging, add:
- 0.5-0.9 kg of lime;
- 40-60 g superphosphate;
- 4-6 kg of organic fertilizer (manure, bird droppings, compost or peat are good).
Reference.If such methods were carried out with previous crops, then the plot for growing tomatoes only needs to be dug up.
During spring tillage, it is necessary to apply 30 g of potash fertilizers to 1–2 m of land, as well as 30-50 g of superphosphate. Before the last loosening, directly under the planting, the soil is fertilized with 20 g of potash and 30 g of nitrogen components.
Selection and planting of tomato seedlings in the ground
For cultivation in greenhouse conditions, choose hybrid types of tomatoesas they are resistant to disease. In determinant or semi-determinant, growth is limited, and they are formed by 4-5 brushes on one stem, their active life reaches four months.
Tomatoes are planted in a greenhouse in the first half of May in a heated ground (at a depth of twenty centimeters, the ground temperature should be more than 13 degrees), when the stem height reaches 30 cm. At this age, plants can easily tolerate temperature changes and transplantation. High varieties are planted in rows at a distance of 50 cm, and medium-sized ones - 40 cm or in a checkerboard pattern.
Seedlings are planted vertically. Plants are laid obliquely with growth. and cut off the lower leaves, sprinkling with earth.
The wells for growing tomatoes are treated in the following way: dilute manganese with water in buckets in a ratio of 1 g / 10 l and water the soil using complex organomineral fertilizer. For rooting, tomatoes are not watered for two weeks after planting. Then watered at the root.When watering, you need to protect the leaves from moisture so as not to expose the plant to infection.
Good to know:
How to water tomatoes outdoors
How to grow tomatoes outdoors? Watering and feeding are two important aspects in the growing process.
The bushes are watered at intervals of 4 days... If the weather is dry, more often. The main thing is not to overdo it, so that the fleshiness and sugar content of tomatoes does not decrease and they do not become watery and sour.
Watering tomatoes in the evening, with a decrease in air temperature... On hot days - 2-3 hours before sunset. In the morning, you can also water it, but with warm water - at least 20 ° C.
To determine if the land is well watered, take a lump of earth from a 10-centimeter depth and shake it in your hand. If the soil is easy to mold and disintegrate, then the soil is moist enough.
You can use the subsoil drip method for watering tomatoes in the open field... This watering is done using plastic bottles. 2-4 holes with a diameter of no more than 2 mm are made in the lids with a nail.
Attention! The number and size of the holes in the bottles depends on the composition of the soil. Sandy soil will require 2-3 holes, and clay soil 3-4.
Better to buy pegs at a specialty store. They are put on the neck of bottles, thereby reducing the possibility of root damage when placed in the ground. The bottom of the bottles is cut off. The containers are driven into the hole to a depth of no more than 15 centimeters, with a 15-centimeter distance from the plant, at a 35-degree inclination with the plug down. During watering, the bottles are filled with water. With the required number of holes, the water goes away gradually.
If water is absorbed immediately when filling the bottles, the diameter and number of holes should be adjusted to suit the composition of the soil. With this method, water immediately flows to the roots, moisture does not evaporate, and the risk of developing infectious diseases is prevented... Also, using this device, you can fertilize plants with a nutrient solution.
If you are watering with a hose, remember to pour water at the rootbut do not erode the soil. Water gently so that the water does not get on the leaves and fruits, because droplets that do not dry on the tops can cause sunburn. With this method of watering, the temperature of the soil and air decreases, which leads to the loss of flowers and a delay in the formation of ovaries and fruits. A sharp increase in moisture in the air is the cause of fungal diseases.
Since tomatoes are heat-loving plants, it is difficult for them to perceive watering with cold and hard tap water. Tomatoes are watered with warm rain. You can also wait until the tap water has settled and pour it over... To soften the watering liquid, add manure, compost or weeds. For joint watering, feeding and protection from diseases, ash is added to the water - 1-2 pinches per 10 liters.
After the rains, it is advisable to loosen the soil. To bypass this procedure, the soil is mulched with cut grass. One undersized bush will need an average of 3-4 liters of water, and a tall one - about 6-8 liters per watering.
Top dressing of tomatoes in the open field
7 days after the tomatoes have found a new place, they must be fed with fertilizer: mix half a liter of liquid mullein with a bucket of water and add 1 tbsp. l. "Nitrofoski". Water at a rate of half a liter of nutrient fluid per bush. You can replace this fertilizer with such a solution: dilute one tablespoon of liquid "Ideal" into 10 liters of water and add the same amount of "Nitrofoski". One plant will need 0.5 liters of solution.
When the second flower brush begins to bloom, use the following solution: Stir half a liter of chicken droppings in a bucket of water. Add 1 tbsp. l. superphosphate and 2 times less potassium sulfate. Mix everything well, water with 1 liter of liquid per bush.
When opening the third flower brush, use this solution: dilute one tablespoon of potassium humate in ten liters of water (sodium humate or Ideal fertilizer in the same proportion is also suitable). Fertilizer consumption - 5 liters per 1 sq. m.
After fruit ovary, tomatoes are fed with the following solution: 1 tablespoon of superphosphate is stirred in 10 liters of water. For 1 sq. m use 10 liters of solution.
Plants need elements such as potassium, manganese, iodine and boron to form a large number of tasty and meaty tomatoes.... In the absence of these substances, use mineral fertilizers with trace elements or prepare top dressing yourself. To do this, stir 10 g of boric acid, 10 mg of iodine in 10 liters of water and add 1.5 liters of sifted ash. After mixing well, water each plant with 1 L of the mixture.
Attention! Remember that boric acid will not dissolve in cool water. Pour boiling water over it in a small amount, then pour the mixture into a container with water.
Why do you need foliar feeding of tomatoes
Foliar top dressing means spraying the leaves... Such feeding of tomatoes accelerates the setting and formation of fruits. The foliar method is used when the plants are in bloom.
At the initial blooming of the brushes, spray the tomatoes with a 0.5% superphosphate extract.... To prepare the hood, add 50 g of superphosphate to 10 liters of water, mix well twice. Insist the solution for a day, strain the resulting composition before use and apply 10 ml of top dressing for each young bush, and increase the dose by half as the plants grow.
Another way of foliar feeding: add 1 tablespoon of urea and the same amount of "Ideal" fertilizer in 10 liters of water, stir well and treat the leaves with a solution.
We feed correctly
The best time to feed is morning or evening.... The weather should be dry and cool. The culture is fed at the same time as watering. In order to distribute nutrients evenly, the types of feeding are alternated (root or foliar).
Top dressing based on potassium or phosphorus is used throughout the growing season and during autumn tillage. Nitrogen-based fertilizing - only in spring... The main thing is not to overdo it with the dosage of nitrogen, otherwise the stems and leaves will grow rapidly, but not the fruits.
It will be interesting:
How to spray tomatoes in the summer from diseases and pests
Tomato bushes are susceptible to black leg disease... To prevent disease, the soil is changed before planting tomatoes.
Another common pathology of tomatoes is late blight. To avoid illness three times a season perform preventive treatment with the following solutions:
- fungicide "Zaslon" (1 cap for 300 g of liquid);
- fungicide "Barrier" (5 tbsp. l. per 10 l of water);
- garlic infusion.
How to feed tomatoes with boric acid to protect them from late blight
Late blight and other fungal diseases are often taken by surprise. To avoid infection, tomatoes are treated with folk remedies - boric acid, potassium permanganate and iodine. If ovaries form, spray the plants with a weak pink manganese solution.... After a week, go through the boric acid solution (1 teaspoon per 10 liters of water). After another week, treat the tops with a mixture of iodine (1 teaspoon per 10 liters of water).
Harvesting
How and how much tomatoes grow depends on the variety of tomatoes, conditions of their cultivation, climate, frequency of watering and the amount of dressings.
Harvested at different levels of maturity of tomatoes - milk, green, red, brown-pink... It all depends on the purpose for which they will be used. Red tomatoes are chosen for making tomato juice, ketchup or tomato paste. Brown tomatoes are well suited for conservation.And to store or leave to ripen, tomatoes are harvested still green or dairy.
Unripe tomatoes (brown or dairy) torn off and stacked in several layers in a box, covering each layer with paper... You should not store tomatoes in bags, as vegetables deteriorate quickly in such a container.
Reference. To speed up ripening, several ripe ones are placed next to green tomatoes.
Conclusion
Tomatoes will grow sweet if certain planting conditions are adhered to, such as light exposure, proper neighborhood and fertilization. Subject to all the rules, your efforts will be rewarded with a rich and high-quality harvest.