Tomatoes grown from seedlings are distinguished by good taste qualities of the fruits and give a high yield. The first important step in sowing seeds is called soil preparation by gardeners. You also need to be able to take care of the shoots and know how to strengthen the immune system and protect the seedlings from insects, diseases.
Dates of sowing tomato seeds for seedlings
Orientation, when it is better to sow tomato seeds for seedlings, will help plan dates when the sprouts will be transplanted into the open ground. Growing tomato seedlings takes no more than a couple of months. You need to wait until the first real leaves appear.
Transplanting shoots into the ground is affected by the weather conditions of the region:
- In the southern regions, warm weather pleases in March. It turns out that grains can be safely planted in late January or February.
- In the north, frost gives way to heat at the end of May. Therefore, tomato seeds are harvested for sowing in early April.
It does not hurt to see favorable days for sowing planting material for seedlings in the lunar calendar.
It has been proven that fast sap flow occurs on the growing moon in vegetable crops.
If you sow seeds for seedlings these days, shoots will appear in a few days. On the full moon, the fruits are poured with juice and smell delicious. In this phase, it does not hurt to harvest, but it is better to refuse from pruning leaves.
Secrets of preparing tomato seeds
In order for the tomatoes to show good germination and to be resistant to diseases in the open ground, it is important to properly prepare the seeds for sowing. The first step is to select high-quality planting material. Large and heavy grains mean a high content of nutrients in them.
To determine which seeds are suitable for sowing and which are not, planting material is placed in a solution with the addition of salt. In 1 cup of warm water, 1 teaspoon of salt is diluted. The solution is allowed to infuse for 10 minutes.
Next, the summer resident looks to see if there are any seeds that have surfaced on the surface of the water. They are removed, and those that remain at the bottom are washed with running water and spread on gauze on a windowsill for drying.
If the seeds were collected from the last tomato crop and in the winter lay in a cold room, it is recommended to warm them for a week to revive. The initial temperature adhered to is plus 18 degrees. Gradually, the temperature is increased and brought to 80 degrees. The procedure is carried out 1 month before sowing.
Disinfection Will Help Avoid Disease. The most famous option for disinfecting seeds is to fill them for 20 minutes with a weak solution of potassium permanganate. It will not be superfluous to lower the planting material for 7 minutes in a 2% solution of hydrogen peroxide, which was previously heated to 45 degrees.
If the gardener thoroughly approaches the preparation of tomato seeds for growing seedlings, you need to take care of increasing the yield before sowing. Soak the seeds in a nutrient solution; fertilizer is bought at a store. Immunocytophyte, Virtan-Micro, Epin, humates of sodium and potassium are considered effective.
If it is not possible to purchase industrial compounds, you can get by with folk remedies: aloe juice and freshly squeezed potato juice. After processing the nutrient mixture, the grains do not need to be washed, it remains only to dry on the window.
Soaking tomatoes in water at room temperature is considered the easiest way to prepare planting material. The duration of the manipulation is 12 hours. Every 4 hours, gardeners are advised to drain the water and replace it with fresh.
If you missed the deadline for planting tomato seeds for seedlings, this is not a reason to worry. Grains will sprout faster if wet gauze or toilet paper is spread on a saucer. Air temperature should not be lower than plus 20 degrees. Do not allow the gauze to dry, but do not arrange a swamp.
Specialists do not get tired of repeating: tomatoes are heat-loving seedlings. After planting in open ground, it is difficult for plants to tolerate drafts and climate change, they begin to hurt. As a result, the crop leaves much to be desired.
Strengthen the immunity of tomato seeds for seedlings procedure called hardening. Hardening involves alternating temperatures. Hacked grains are placed for ½ days in the refrigerator at a temperature of +2 degrees. Over the next day, tomatoes are stored at a temperature of 15 to 20 degrees with a plus sign. The number of repetitions of the manipulation 2-3 times.
In the presence of a compressor, a summer resident should barbotage. Seeds are soaked in warm water, into which oxygen enters. One end of the hose is fixed at the bottom of a can of water and the seeds are lowered inside. Compressor and hose pass air into a glass container. As a result, the grains are mixed. Processing takes 12-13 hours, then there will be a visible effect. Then planting material is taken out and thoroughly dried. Then they begin to sow.
What is the best soil for sowing tomato seeds
A standard soil mixture suitable for sowing tomato planting stock in a tank consists of the following components:
- Peat - Provides excellent drainage, allows air to pass through the roots of tomatoes, absorbs moisture and keeps it in the ground for a long time. To peat will not hurt to add deoxidants, chalk. To neutralize acidic soil, dolomite flour is suitable. So that large fibers do not appear in the glasses, tangling the fragile roots of a developing seedling of seedlings, peat is sifted.
- Sheet soil - although it is light and friable, it does not have the required amount of nutrients. But as a basis for soil under tomato seedlings, leafy soil is quite suitable. The only caveat is that you should not take the earth under the oak and willow, a large number of tanning components can be stored in it. Tomatoes cannot stand them and can die.
- Sand - An excellent baking powder, but only if it is clean river. Clay in the sand should not be. The sand is washed in water and then placed in a preheated oven.
- Perlite - apply if it was not possible to find sand without impurities. The material turns the soil into loose and easily absorbing moisture.
- Humus take rotted. If the composition has not decomposed completely, this is fraught with the death of tomatoes. The humus is harvested in advance by mixing manure, twigs and cut green mass.
- Sawdust used instead of peat, sand. Before mixing with other components, sawdust is scalded with boiling water.
It is unacceptable to add the following components to the soil for tomato seedlings:
- Organic dressing at the stage of decay. They emit a significant amount of heat, which is more likely to destroy grains. Even if the first shoots appear, the shoots will disappear due to too high a temperature.
- Stop using clay primers. Clay turns the soil mixture into heavy and dense, seedling roots cannot breathe.
- The soil can not be taken for seedlings tomato near a busy road or near a chemical, industrial, metallurgical plant, even if it has not been functioning for a long time. The soil retains the accumulated heavy metals for decades, seedlings must absorb them.
Tomato seedlings are tender, therefore, before planting seeds, the soil must be decontaminated. Gentle, but at the same time effective ways, summer residents call:
- Freezing. The soil components indicated above are prepared in the fall and left in a bucket on the balcony for wintering. A few days before excavation, the soil is brought in so that it can warm up to room temperature.
- Steaming in a water bath. Destroys bacteria, but keeps microflora useful for seeds. Pour water into a large pot or basin, covering a distance of 5 cm from the bottom. Lay the bricks and, using a tripod for cast iron, place a bucket of earth, and then cover with a tight lid. Steaming takes 2-3 hours.
- Pour boiling water over the ground abundantly and let it dry completely.
Soil mixtures, which are considered the best for tomato seedlings:
- To 1 part of the land taken on the bed, add the same part of the sheet soil, sand and humus. In a bucket of water, add 10 grams of carbamide, 25 grams of potassium sulfate and 30 grams of superphosphate. This nutrient solution should saturate the soil with the missing trace elements.
- Mix turf soil with peat and sand. If peat is not available, replace with purchased soil, but pay attention to the composition. If there are no additives in the purchased soil mixture, ½ liter of wood ash and 2 tablespoons of superphosphate are added to the bucket.
- Add 2 parts of humus and river sand to 2 parts of soddy soil. Add ½ liter of kiln wood ash to the mixture in a bucket.
How to choose a capacity for sowing tomato seeds for seedlings
The quality of future seedlings depends on the capacity where the tomatoes are grown. There are many containers in which you can sow planting material for tomatoes, ranging from plastic glasses from yogurt to peat pots. If you choose plastic boxes for seedlings, give preference to containers placed on window sills with drainage holes.
Boxes are made of wood with their own hands. 10 cm are laid in the height of the boxes. Before placing the grains in a container, lay a plastic film on the bottom. Then, water will not leak through the walls and bottom. Although the pallet also does not hurt to make.
Caring for tomato seedlings in wooden crates is simple. The containers, if necessary, are transferred to the right place and turned with the right side to daylight. When the sprouts hatch and grow up, the seedlings are transplanted into separate cups. If you do not dive seedlings on time, they can grow into wood or become too tangled.
Gardeners also grow seedlings in trays. Outwardly they look like boxes, only across and along them pass partitions. The advantages of the trays are:
- ease and practicality of use;
- low price of cassettes, durability of use (for 10 years);
- compactness;
- recesses are provided in the cells for draining the liquid to avoid overmoistening;
- guarantees the lack of factor overgrowing limited space.
Experts advise to bypass cartridges made of polyvinyl chloride, polystyrene. They contain toxic substances that, when overheated, damage the human health.
The list of disadvantages of using trays for growing tomato seedlings includes the following:
- A small volume of containers provokes drying of the earth. Cassettes are fragile, their walls are unstable.
- Wanting to get the stem from the tray so as not to damage the earthen lump, you will have to make an effort.
Peat tablets are made from pressed material made up of nutrients. For tomato seedlings, it is better to choose containers with a diameter of 9 cm. By gradually absorbing water, the containers increase by 7 times. After abundant watering and water absorption, the tablets are ready for use. The seeds are sown by making a recess at the top of the tablet.
Now about containers that are inexpensive and have optimal parameters for growing tomato seedlings. These are plastic pots with holes in the bottom for drainage. For tomato shoots, it is better to buy plastic containers 12-17 cm wide and 12-17 cm high.
Step-by-step sowing of tomato seeds
Sowing tomato seeds for growing seedlings in a common box and in separate glasses suggests a certain sequence of actions:
- Fill the container with a pre-prepared and slightly damp substrate.
- Form small grooves with your fingers in the box, keeping the distance between the rows from 3 to 4 cm. If we are talking about pots, 1 tomato seed is buried in each glass.
- In the total capacity, try to retreat between grains of 1-2 cm. Then the roots will not weave too closely and the pick will pass without unpleasant consequences.
- Fill the seeds with a small layer of earth, water the pot.
Optimal conditions for growing tomato seedlings
Tomato seedlings prefer such growing conditions:
- Plenty of light. Place the pots on the windowsill. In February, plants do not have enough daylight, so use fluorescent lamps. The first 2 days after the shoots appear, it is advisable to highlight the boxes without turning off the lamp. Then adhere to the usual format of lighting - no more than 16 hours a day.
- High percentage of humidity. Irrigate the seedlings a couple of times a day from the spray gun. It also does not hurt to cover a common box or tray with a piece of glass. So you can recreate at home the greenhouse conditions for seed growth. Glass is removed a couple of weeks after sowing tomatoes. An alternative is to use a humidifier. Soil moisture is checked in the morning. If the sprouts are drooping and look stale, water them immediately. If this is not done, at 12 noon the shoots will dry completely and die.
- Daytime indoor temperature 25 degrees, 15 degrees at night with a plus sign. Do not expose seedlings in direct sunlight - burns of stems and leaves can happen.
- When the first shoots of tomatoes are formed, fertilizing is applied to the soil. Repeat the procedure every week. The best composition is considered organic fertilizer based on organic matter, for example, made from manure or grass. If you trust industrial fertilizers more, choose biohumus, humic top dressing.
Diving and hardening tomato seedlings
If tomato seeds were planted in one box, it is better to separate the seedlings from each other after the appearance of real leaves on the shoots. This occurs a week after germination. Separating the roots from the earthen coma is not necessary. A new container is chosen with a volume of 200 ml. After a couple of weeks, the transplant is carried out repeatedly, in pots up to 1 liter.
About 1.5 months after sowing on tomato seedlings, brushes with flowers will appear. After 2 weeks, the seedlings will be transplanted to the garden. If you miss this moment, the yield will be weak. Tomatoes are taken out to the balcony, gradually increasing the time spent in the fresh air, so that the plantations are accustomed to the growing conditions that await them in their summer cottage.
How to protect seedlings from pests and diseases
The sticky surface of tomato leaves will indicate aphids. The main part of the insects is collected by hand, the remaining individuals are disposed of by spraying with a solution of laundry soap. 25 grams of soap are diluted in 1 liter of water. You can also try treatment with Decis, Inta-Vir, Kinmix, Fitoverm drugs.
Thrips are determined by silver spots on the foliage. Destroy them will help Fitoverm, Akarin or Vermitek. Spraying with drugs is carried out 3 times. The interval between sprays is a week.
Moth whitefly causes drying of tomato seedlings. Pests can be removed with the help of garlic infusion. 2 cups of garlic cloves without skin are passed through a meat grinder. The mixture is laid out in a jar and 1 l of water is added. Next cover. After 5 days, the infusion can be used after diluting 1 teaspoon in 1 liter of water.
Growing tomato seedlings is a painstaking process. But, paying due attention to the preparation of seeds, soil and creating optimal conditions for growing plants, you will collect a tasty and rich harvest that any experienced gardener would envy.