Bull's heart tomatoes will not leave anyone indifferent. Almost everyone likes the huge and very tasty fruits.
And here are these beauties themselves:
It's nice to grow tomatoes like this |
Unfortunately, not all summer residents can boast of good harvests of these tomatoes. Sometimes it is possible to remove only 2 - 3 medium-sized fruits from a bush.Many of our readers are interested in whether there are any tricks in growing Bull's Heart tomatoes? How should they be fed? How to form bushes?
How to grow tomatoes Oxheart
Of course, there are no tricks, but only competent agricultural technology. Favorable conditions for growing the Ox Heart tomato are created taking into account the fact that tall plants This variety produces very large fruits. And for this they need to be provided with food. And you need to start not in the spring, but in the fall - with deep (shovel-level) digging with the application of fertilizers: half a bucket of humus or compost and 2-3 tablespoons of superphosphate and 2 tablespoons of potassium sulfate per square meter. m.
Planting seedlings
Strong, hardened tomato seedlings they begin to plant it in open ground in May, having treated it with a solution of phytosporin-M a day or two before.
Bull's Heart bushes grow up to one and a half meters and higher, so they are grown on a trellis about two meters high. It is better to place the trellis from north to south so that the plants are well illuminated by the morning and evening sun, and the burning midday rays slide along the trellis without causing burns to the plants. If several rows of trellis are installed, a distance of 80-100 cm is maintained between them. Plants in a row are planted every 50 cm.
If the soil was not fertilized during the autumn digging, a teaspoon of complex mineral fertilizer, for example, nitrophoska, is added to each planting hole. When planting, plants are buried to the top leaves. This is done so that additional roots begin to form on the stem underground, which can ensure active growth of the plants.
Feeding tomatoes
To grow powerful bushes with large fruits, plants need to be fed well. After ten days, when the seedlings have taken root in the garden bed, the first fertilizing is carried out. The best option is an infusion of bird droppings or mullein, green grass. The container is half filled with fresh organic matter (litter, manure) and filled with water. You can also add superphosphate extract prepared from a tablespoon of fertilizer. No organic matter - use purchased organic-mineral or humic fertilizer.
After fertilizing, you should mulch the root area with compost or dried grass to maintain optimal soil moisture and protect the roots from overheating.
The tomatoes are fed the second time ten days after the first cluster blooms: a tablespoon of complex fertilizer, for example, fertiki, is added to the organic infusion.
The third feeding is carried out already during the fruit harvesting period: organic infusion and complex fertilizer.
During the period of fruit formation and growth, in order to prevent the development of blossom end rot, Ox heart plants are sprayed with a solution of calcium nitrate every 7-10 days (a tablespoon of fertilizer per 10 liters of water).
The quality of fruits, their keeping quality, and yield are positively affected by fertilizing with potassium monophosphate - 15 g per 10 liters of water. Foliar feeding of the following composition will accelerate the formation and ripening of fruits: 10 g of boric acid, 2-3 crystals of sodium humate, a tablespoon of urea per bucket of water. Foliar feeding is carried out in the morning or evening.
How to water tomatoes Bull's heart
Water Ox's Heart and other tall tomatoes at the root. Water should not get on leaves and fruits.In hot weather, water up to three times a week; in cool weather, once a week is enough. During the ripening period, the crop is watered once a week to prevent the fruits from cracking.
When growing tomatoes on a trellis, the soil in the tomato bed is loosened shallowly throughout the season, since vertically positioned stems do not interfere with this.
Formation of bushes
The bushes are tied to a trellis several times a season. They form plants on which they want to get large fruits, into 1-2 stems. In addition to the main stem, another one is left - from the first stepson. The rest are plucked out as they appear. If this is not done, there will be more fruits, but they will grow smaller and will begin to sing later.
Growing Oxheart tomatoes must begin by preparing the seeds for planting. This video shows in detail how this is done:
Tomato varieties Ox heart
There are several varieties of this famous variety: