Sowing tomatoes for seedlings | Website about growing plants

Tomato is a plant of tropical origin and requires a long warm period for active growth and fruiting. The optimal temperature for the growth and development of this crop is 22-24 degrees, naturally, subject to good lighting. At temperatures above 30 degrees, growth slows down, and above 35, it stops.

To grow good tomato seedlings, you need to create optimal conditions for them.

Optimal conditions for growing seedlings

To create reproductive organs (flowers, fruits), the tomato requires a warmer microclimate than we have on the balcony in the spring. 10 degrees can be considered sufficient for the night hours, and during the day, in order for the plants to lay flower clusters, it must be above 15 degrees for at least two weeks.

The worse the lighting conditions, the later the flower clusters are laid. The difference in the time of flower cluster formation in plants of the same variety sown at different times can reach 30-45 days.

Tomatoes also need good lighting - 12-14 hours a day. That is why, in the absence of additional lighting, the later tomatoes are sown as seedlings, the faster they begin to form reproductive organs. For example, tomatoes sown in April can form the first inflorescence after 4-5 leaves, and plants sown in winter - after 10-11 leaves and even later.

That is why, to obtain an early tomato harvest, it is not so much early sowing that is important, but good lighting conditions, comfortable temperature conditions, and a balanced diet.

Dates for sowing tomatoes

When determining the timing of sowing tomatoes for seedlings, it is assumed that the first 15-20 days after emergence, tomatoes grow slowly (during this period they grow roots). Then they grow more actively, and after 40 days they increase the vegetative mass by leaps and bounds.

Sowing tomato seeds in a container

If such seedlings are not transplanted to a permanent place in time, they will quickly lose their qualities: the lower leaves, not receiving enough light and nutrition, begin to turn yellow and die, the stems stretch.

Tomatoes can be grown in seedlings and without seedlings

Summer residents who grow tomatoes not only by seedlings, but also without seedlings, have long been convinced that the same variety in different conditions requires different times from germination to fruiting. For example, from a seedling plant the first fruits can be obtained in 100-110 days, and a bush that grew from a seed sown immediately in a garden bed will begin to produce a harvest after 80 days.

It is difficult to create optimal conditions for seedlings in a room. But you still need to try to get closer to them.

In the initial period, a seedling plant does not have enough light, the temperature may be higher or lower than optimal, but a tomato without seedlings immediately finds itself in favorable conditions and develops rapidly. Therefore, the time frame from sowing to harvest, which is indicated in the descriptions of any variety or hybrid, is arbitrary: they can range from 10 to 30 days. Significant difference.

Before germination, the temperature of the tomatoes is maintained within 22-25 degrees. After the emergence of mass shoots, it is advisable to reduce the temperature of the seedlings for 4-5 days during the day to 15 degrees, at night to 8-10 degrees, thereby helping to develop a good root system and preventing the seedlings from stretching out.

The seedlings were not kept in proper conditions; they became very elongated.

In the future, 20-25 degrees during the day and 8-12 degrees at night are considered favorable for the development of tomato seedlings. Hardening off seedlings in the open air begins at a temperature of at least 10 degrees.

Don't keep seedlings crowded

If you have enough space on well-lit windowsills, you can immediately sow tomatoes in separate cups or cassettes to avoid picking. Another option is possible - sparse sowing of seeds (5-7 cm apart) in seedling boxes.

It is better to sow two seeds in cups and cassettes so that some of the seedling containers are not left without seedlings. From the cups in which both seeds sprout, you can later plant one plant at a time. But often summer residents plant two plants in one hole in open ground.

The earlier the seeds are sown for seedlings, the larger the volume of the cups or cassettes should be.

When filling seedling containers with soil mixture, take into account that you will have to add fresh soil mixture to the growing plants 2-3 times to give them additional nutrition and create conditions for the formation of additional roots.

The soil mixture is usually added for the first time two weeks after germination. After ten days, soil is poured into the seedling containers again.

Sowing on seedlings that are going to be grown without picking can be done a week later than on seedlings that are planned to be picked. Growing seedlings without picking is beneficial for two reasons.

Firstly, later crops always develop in more favorable conditions: in spring the sun becomes more active every day.
Secondly, plants are not injured during picking.

But growing seedlings without picking already in March requires a lot of space. But there is not always enough of it on the window sills of city apartments.

Therefore, gardeners often first sow seeds in small containers. By the time the tomatoes are picked, some of the seedlings from the window sills (for example, cabbage) can already be taken out onto the glassed-in loggia, thereby freeing up additional space for more spaciously planted heat-loving crops.

The densely sown seedlings are picked at the stage of 1-2 true leaves.This is done in order to increase the feeding area for plants, improve their ventilation and illumination.

Without meeting these conditions, it is impossible to grow strong seedlings that can resist diseases.

From seedlings that developed in cramped conditions, low-productive plants are formed: their yield can be two times lower than those tomato bushes that grew freely from germination to planting in a permanent place.