The subtleties of the process of planting tomatoes in a greenhouse
Tomatoes love sunlight and warmth. Without greenhouses in Siberia, beyond the Urals, in Yakutia, it is almost impossible to grow tomatoes - during the short and hot Siberian summer, they do not have time to fully ripen. In the middle lane, tomatoes grown in a greenhouse in winter and early spring are a source of vitamins and microelements. Pasta made from tomato juice is an indispensable component of many culinary recipes.
Night frosts in early spring can cause damage to a garden plot comparable to a natural disaster. Strong gusty winds, rain with hail, morning frosts can completely destroy a tomato crop in a matter of hours. Greenhouses or greenhouses will help save plants from the adverse effects of mother nature.
We select a greenhouse
Planting vegetables in a greenhouse is done in early spring. Taking into account night frosts on the soil and low air temperature during the day, for the normal growth and development of plants, it is necessary to bring heating to the greenhouse from the country house or equip an autonomous heating system.
Most modern greenhouses and greenhouses are built from polycarbonate. It is produced in the form of double sheets of a cellular structure. Polycarbonate can be used to build gazebos and awnings.For the manufacture of greenhouses, a material of increased transparency with protection from ultraviolet rays is produced. It transmits up to 90% of visible light while blocking up to 99% of UV rays. Withstands temperatures from -30°C to +100°C. It is 12 times lighter than window glass in density and 50 times stronger than window glass. Resistant to aggressive chemical environment, has good thermal insulation properties. Does not burn, does not conduct electricity.
Prepared tomato seedlings are planted in a greenhouse and covered with two layers of reinforced polycarbonate film. Growing tomatoes, absorbing nutrients from the soil, change the acidity of the soil. Two weeks before planting seedlings in a greenhouse, the beds are sprinkled with quicklime, ash, powdered dolomite. Processing is carried out before the rain. About 350 grams of these minerals should be added per square meter of beds. After backfilling, the soil is raked with a cultivator.
The greenhouse "Country kopeck piece" is very popular among summer residents. Frame - iron corner with zinc coating. Assembly is carried out according to the drawing using a wrench and a drill, individual parts of the reinforcement are fastened with screws, nuts and sprockets. The installation of the frame is so simple that a person who does not even have the skill of plumbing can assemble it. It is installed on the ground without a foundation. The width of the greenhouse is 2.2 meters, the height is 2 meters, and the weight is 30 kg.
Coating - double reinforced polycarbonate with UV protection, fire resistance up to 40 minutes. The design is resistant to wind gusts up to 20 meters per second, withstands temperatures down to -42°C, snow layer pressure up to 240 kg/sq. meter.
Rules and deadlines
It is better to grow tomatoes from seeds yourself.Ready-made seedlings bought in a store or on the market cannot be processed at home with high quality. When using it, there is a real threat to introduce eggs or aphid larvae, powdery mildew, and late blight into the soil. Before planting seedlings for the prevention of late blight, vertex rot and fungal diseases, the soil at home must be treated in one of the following ways.
- Soak the seeds for 5 minutes in a solution of copper sulfate. To prepare the solution, take 100 grams of crystalline copper sulfate per bucket of water.
- Keep for a day on the top shelf of the refrigerator at a temperature of +2°C.
- Treat with infusion of shag. To do this, pour 200 grams of tobacco or shag with 10 liters of boiling water, cool in air, strain through a thick cloth. Immerse the seeds in the cooled broth and soak for 30 minutes.
- Pickle tomato seeds in a solution of potassium permanganate. To do this, dissolve 10 grams of potassium permanganate in 10 liters of water, then soak the seed in the solution for 20 minutes.
To obtain the maximum yield of tomatoes in a greenhouse, when planting seedlings in the ground, the following simple rules must be observed. Tall hybrids should be planted in two rows in a checkerboard pattern with a gap between rows of about 50 centimeters, the interval in a row between seedling holes should be about 40 centimeters.
Tall varieties should be planted around the perimeter of the beds, undersized ones - in two rows in a checkerboard pattern with an interval between bushes up to 25 centimeters. Tall varieties of tomatoes can be planted in one or two stems. Planting in one stem - row spacing up to 80 centimeters, distance between holes - up to 60 centimeters.
Planting in two stems - row spacing up to 75 centimeters, intervals between bushes - up to 75 centimeters. When planting different varieties on the same bed, it is necessary to take into account the height and size of the bushes so that neighboring plants do not create shadows for each other.
When using last year's beds for growing tomato seedlings, the top layer of soil about 10 centimeters thick is cut off with a sharp shovel or cultivator in advance for 10-14 days, pest larvae, fungi and bacteria multiply in it. If the layer of earth on the bed is very thin, instead, a layer of black soil or peat of about the same thickness can be poured on top.
After adding a layer of fresh soil, the beds are watered with a 3% solution of copper sulfate or Bordeaux liquid - copper kills fungi and bacteria. After that, the soil must be dug up or loosened with a cultivator, sprinkled on top with fresh sawdust, wood ash, and nitrogen fertilizers. When using ammonium nitrate as a fertilizer, the dose must be strictly observed. An excess of nitrates is harmful to the human body. When using combined fertilizers, superphosphate, nitrogen and ammonium nitrate for plant nutrition, never exceed the recommended dose.
The main problem when growing vegetables in a cold climate is sudden temperature changes during the day. This greatly complicates the cultivation of vegetable crops in the Urals, Siberia and Yakutia. In spring and summer in these regions, the temperature difference during the day reaches 20°C. On a clear sunny day, overheating of plants is possible, so the windows and doors in the greenhouse must be kept open during the day, this must be done in any weather.Plants need fresh air at night for breathing - in the dark, the process of photosynthesis does not take place, plants absorb oxygen and release carbon dioxide.
Under the influence of short-wave solar radiation, a small amount of ozone is formed in the upper layers of the earth's atmosphere. Ozone enters the greenhouse with the air. It kills microorganisms, fungi, pest larvae.
Standard Requirements
Growing heat-loving crops in a sharply continental climate is quite difficult. Temperature fluctuations reaching 20° during the day, cyclones, hurricane winds, short hot and dry summers - these weather features make it difficult to grow vegetables. During the summer period, according to meteorological observations, there are no frosts for only two months. To get a crop under these conditions, gardeners grow early ripe varieties of tomatoes. Seeds are hardened before germination by placing them in the bottom of the refrigerator for 10-14 days.
Ancient farmers determined the moment of planting plants in the ground according to the phases of the moon. The growing moon in the first quarter has a beneficial effect on the leaves and the growth of the aerial parts of plants. You need to sow seeds and dive seedlings of tomatoes during the young moon. According to the lunar calendar, the optimal time for sowing tomato seeds in the Urals is May 24, 25 and June 2, 7, 11.
Vegetable growers of the Ural region grow early varieties of tomatoes in greenhouses. This guarantees a harvest within two warm months. In these difficult climatic conditions, the following varieties have proven themselves well: Dobrun, Agata, Vigor, Dana, Dachnik, Region, Beloved.The high content of solids, vitamins, resistance to fungi, vertex rot, late blight, aphids make these varieties very popular among vegetable growers.
Soil preparation
The resistance of plants grown in a greenhouse to diseases and pests largely depends on the soil. The ideal soil for growing tomatoes is free of weed seeds, pest larvae and fungi. It is well saturated with moisture and freely passes air to the root system. It has a pH in the range of 6.5-7. Contains a sufficient amount of nitrogen fertilizers. It should also contain biohumus and minerals that maintain the acid-base balance. These are perlite, vermiculite, charcoal, expanded clay.
Soil for the greenhouse is best purchased at a specialized store. In the Tomato and Pepper soil, the proportions between all the necessary microelements are optimally calculated. It is sold in plastic bags of 4 kg, the consumption rate is 3 kilograms per 1 square meter. Before selling, it must be treated with ultraviolet rays, checked for the presence of fungus, bacteria, foreign chemicals. A crop grown on such soil is tasty, healthy and safe.
On the purchase of soil for a greenhouse, you can significantly save money, for which you can later purchase nitrogen fertilizers. Good soil for a greenhouse can be found in a deciduous or pine forest. Before taking the soil, you need to pay attention to the surrounding vegetation, fuel spills, areas after picnics, the proximity of landfills, the smell of water and soil. It is advisable to choose a place remote from automobile and dirt roads.
Sod removed from the soil surface does not need to be thrown away - it can be used as organic fertilizer.The soil brought from the forest must be treated with a solution of potassium permanganate.
Steaming the soil on a fire helps very well against fungi and bacteria. The earth is leveled with a thin layer on a flat surface. Thin branches of deciduous and coniferous trees are placed on top and a fire is made. Heating with an open fire destroys fungi and pest larvae
The ash that remains after burning the branches can be used as a mineral fertilizer.
Clean river sand for the greenhouse can be collected in the river at a shallow depth. Collecting sand on the beach is not recommended - it may contain garbage, household chemicals and food waste.
In the spring, before planting seedlings in a greenhouse, in order to protect tomatoes from late blight and fruit rot, the soil, walls and ceiling are sprayed with a solution of quicklime at the rate of 3 kilograms per 10 liters of non-chlorinated water and copper sulfate - 500 grams per 10 liters of non-chlorinated water. For a 100% guarantee, the seeds are treated with a weak solution of potassium permanganate - 5 grams of KMnO4 per 10 liters of water.
It is advisable to additionally treat the land collected independently in the forest or in the field with formaldehyde vapors. Processing is carried out on a sunny day. The formalin solution is poured into a bowl and placed on the bed. After that, all windows and doors in the greenhouse are closed and left in this form for 12 hours. At the end of the treatment with a steam-formalin mixture, the greenhouse must be well ventilated.
The optimal soil for growing tomatoes in a greenhouse will be the following mixture: 60% peat, 20% sand and 20% mixture of sawdust, straw, needles. When preparing soil components yourself, you need to take into account the pH of the soil. For normal growth and development of tomato seedlings, the acidity index should be in the range from 6.5 to 7.5 - that is, neutral or slightly alkaline. If this norm is violated, the seeds will germinate very weakly and may wither.
To increase the permeability of the soil with air and moisture, the composition of the soil must necessarily include small shell rock or sand. From organic fertilizers, it is better to choose peat and compost. Humus, even in a rotted form, has a very unpleasant odor, which is especially noticeable in a greenhouse. To maintain the alkaline reaction of the soil, twice a year, before the rain, you can sprinkle the soil with quicklime. This will correct the acidity of the soil and will have a depressing effect on the larvae of parasites.
Potatoes are a bad neighbor for tomatoes. Both plants belong to the nightshade family, so they have the same diseases and pests. Tomatoes and potatoes are affected by late blight and the Colorado potato beetle. Tomatoes in the process of growth change the acidity of the soil - therefore, it is advisable not to grow them annually in the same place.
Several times a year, you need to feed the plants with a mixture of fertilizers:
- 20 grams of saltpeter;
- 50 grams of superphosphate;
- 20 grams of potassium chloride.
Fertilizers should be applied to moist soil to a depth of 15-20 centimeters.
How to plant?
Seedlings for growing in a greenhouse are best done by yourself. In this case, it is possible to guarantee the purity of the variety, the quality of the seedlings and the absence of bacteria, fungus and pests. Tomato seeds for breeding are best purchased at the store. Before packing in bags, they go through a full cycle of disinfection and processing.If tomato seeds are bought on the market from a random seller or obtained independently from overripe fruits, they must be processed before planting in the greenhouse. Otherwise, you can infect the plants in the greenhouse with bacteria, viruses or fungus.
You can process and disinfect the seeds with a light solution of potassium permanganate or a decoction of wormwood. When using potassium permanganate, a light pink solution of potassium permanganate is prepared, the seed is immersed in it for 3-5 minutes, wiped with blotting paper and dried in air. It is impossible to keep the seeds in solution for longer than the specified time, so as not to burn the seedlings.
A decoction for dressing seeds is prepared from fresh wormwood bushes. For a ten-liter bucket of water, you need to take 2-3 bushes of wormwood, boil for 25-30 minutes, cool the broth. Pour the broth over the tomato seeds and soak for 20-30 minutes. After that, the seeds must be air-dried.
Tomato seeds prepared for germination for seedlings are placed on blotting paper, which is impregnated with a weak solution of potash or phosphate fertilizers. From above, the seeds are covered with another sheet of blotting paper and placed for a week in a dark, damp place at a temperature of +16 +18 ° C. Blotting paper with seeds is moistened every day with water or a weak solution of potassium fertilizers from a pipette.
After 10 - 12 days, the seeds germinate. Flower pots, plastic boxes after sour cream or cottage cheese are 2/3 filled with peat or wet soil. Along the length of the box with a pen or a sharpened stick, grooves are made in the ground to a depth of one centimeter. The distance between the grooves is from 3 to 4 centimeters. Along the length of the groove, every 2-3 centimeters, two sprouted tomato seeds are placed and sprinkled with fresh earth.
After sowing all the germinated seeds, a layer of fresh earth or peat about one centimeter thick is poured into the soil from above, and placed in a dark place for growing seedlings.
4-5 days before the dive, the seedlings are no longer watered. Dry earth lags behind the walls of the pots and, after tipping the sprouts down, easily falls out. A tablespoon of superphosphate is poured into the prepared hole in the greenhouse in the garden, about a liter of water is slowly poured in order to dissolve the fertilizer. It is correct to dive seedlings like this - take a pot of seedlings in your hand, carefully turn the sprouts down and remove the container with a smooth movement. The soil, together with a bush of tomatoes, is immediately transplanted to a garden bed in a greenhouse, a teaspoon of superphosphate is poured into it and about a liter of water is poured. Wait until the water is absorbed, after which the procedure is repeated 4-5 times. In total, about 5 liters of water enter the hole.
The soil in the greenhouse should be warm - when planting in cold soil, the roots of seedlings can rot. The optimum soil temperature for planting is + 12-15°C. To warm the soil to the desired temperature, cover the ground in the greenhouse with black plastic wrap, after watering it with warm water.
No need to bury seedlings deep - this interferes with their growth and development. It is impossible to exceed the rate of application of fertilizers to the soil - this can cause the rapid growth of green tops and the development of small inedible greenish-brown tomatoes.
Remove diseased yellowed leaves - they can become a source of infection with late blight or vertex rot. Seedlings are best planted in a greenhouse in the evening before sunset or on a cloudy day. For disinfection, the soil can be poured abundantly with a hot 3% solution of potassium permanganate the day before and treated with formalin vapor.
The width of the greenhouse beds is 60-100 centimeters. For plant care and harvesting, paths 60-70 centimeters wide are left between the beds. The location of the bushes in the garden depends on the variety of tomatoes. Low-growing varieties are planted in two rows, row spacing - 55-60 cm, between bushes - 35-40 cm.
Tall varieties are planted more densely. Row spacing - 45-50 cm, between bushes - 25-30 cm. Bushes should not be planted very close to each other. This will lead to a decrease in yield and to a delay in the development of plants. Tomato requires a lot of sunlight, so tall varieties are planted in a greenhouse in a checkerboard pattern. Row spacing - 75-80 cm, between tomatoes - 60-70 cm.
Planting and growing tomatoes in a greenhouse requires a competent approach. Throughout the entire process, from preparing the soil to tying up branches that bend to the ground with pouring fruits, the vegetable grower needs to know a lot of subtleties, ignorance of which can be detrimental to the future harvest.
It is possible to grow a crop of tomatoes with your own hands in the Urals. Low-growing frost-resistant varieties are best suited:
- "Bull's heart";
- "Ural F1";
- "Nevsky";
- "Siberian precocious";
- "Intuition F1";
- Niagara F1.
These varieties withstand morning frosts, sudden temperature changes, strong winds. For a short Siberian summer, they give 8-10 kilograms from one bush or more. To increase the yield of tomatoes, you need to follow certain rules. It is possible to plant tomato seedlings on the beds only after reaching a temperature of 13 ° C at a depth of 20 cm. The daytime air temperature at this time reaches + 20-25 ° C, there is no more morning frost on the soil.
To pollinate tomatoes, you need to bend one inflorescence to another until they touch and shake them slightly. To obtain a high yield, it is necessary to regularly water the soil and fertilize the soil. The soil must not be allowed to dry out; leaves and shoots running at soil level must be removed.
Bushes must be regularly hilled, this contributes to the development of a deep root system. Pots with growing tomato seedlings are turned several times a day, otherwise the growing shoots will stretch towards the sun and grow crooked. A week before planting in a greenhouse, seedlings should be sprayed with a 5% solution of copper sulfate and fertilized with a solution of urea. One tablespoon of urea is taken on a bucket of water and half a glass of this solution is poured under each seedling. Next, the seedlings are transferred for a week to the basement or to the lower shelf of the refrigerator at a constant temperature from + 5 ° C to + 10 ° C.
Seedlings in a cold and dark place stop growing, leaves and shoots become dark green with a lilac tint. At the end of the week, the tomato seedlings are returned to their original place. Before planting seedlings in open ground, it must be treated with ultraviolet light. A lamp from a stationary currency detector or a quartz burner from a street lighting lamp of the DRL type can serve as a source of ultraviolet radiation.
Now the seedlings are ready for planting in the greenhouse, it remains only to loosen the soil, treat it with a solution of potassium permanganate, add mineral fertilizers to the soil, add fresh peat and sand, and make a bed. If, immediately after planting, the seedlings "go into the tops" - you need to immediately fertilize with superphosphate. To do this, three tablespoons of granular fertilizer are dissolved in a bucket of water.The solution is carefully poured under the roots, preventing it from getting on the leaves. The air temperature at this time should be + 20-22°C at night, up to + 24-26°C during the day.
After that, the plants are not watered for several days to dry the soil. If the seedling begins to grow normally, it is returned to its original place. If the seedlings have stopped growing, they need to be fed with growth stimulants. In the spring, as soon as the first bud appears, the seedlings are sprayed from the fungus with a solution of boric acid. To prepare a solution, 0.2 grams of powdered acid is diluted in one liter of water.
Care
The future harvest, the viability of tomato bushes depends on proper care. It consists of the following required steps:
- watering;
- pollination;
- ventilation.
Following the rules of agricultural technology, you can grow a quality crop in a greenhouse. Subject to the diving technology and accuracy during transplantation, the seedlings begin to grow in the third week after the dive. For irrigation, about 4 liters of water are poured into each well.
Water must be poured strictly under the root, avoiding drops on the leaves - drops of water, like lenses, collect the sun's rays and lead to burns.
The first watering of seedlings is done immediately after diving. Saplings are watered in small portions so that the water has time to enter the soil. Do not allow water to get on the leaves. In the process of watering, you need to check the depth of water penetration into the soil using a wooden or metal probe. Water should enter the soil to a depth of 30 centimeters. This will ensure reliable absorption of moisture by the roots. If this is not done, young seedlings can develop slowly, get sick for a long time or completely dry out.
The second time young seedlings are watered after 8 - 12 days, then - as a dry crust forms on the soil. After each watering, the top layer of the earth must be fluffed up, this will ensure the flow of air deep into the earth to the roots. It is very important to ventilate the greenhouse after watering. Excess moisture, evaporating from the soil surface, settles in the form of condensate on the surface of the polycarbonate film from the inside. This can lead to supersaturation of the air with water vapor. The air humidity inside the greenhouse can increase to unacceptable limits, disrupt the process of gas exchange in the leaves, stimulate the development of fungus, blossom end rot, and powdery mildew.
Tomato bushes are tied with an elastic band to the outer support. There are two ways to fix tomato bushes on an external support - individual and trellis.
Individual way
A bush with an elastic band or a strip of material is attached to a wooden peg, a metal pin, a plastic corner. Tomato bushes are tied to pegs with an ordinary pharmaceutical rubber band.
Tapestry method
At the beginning and at the end of the row, a metal pin is driven into the soil. A thick copper wire or twine is pulled between the pins. The bushes are tied to twine with a rubber band or a thick wax thread. Tied bushes grow better, get more sunlight and fresh air, and are less likely to suffer from fungal diseases.
During the period of flowering and the formation of the ovary, it is necessary to restrain the growth of leaves, which take away nutrients from the developing ovary. The violent development of the tops during the ovary period leads to a sharp decrease in the size of tomatoes and the loss of their taste. For this, the one-time watering rate is reduced to 1-2 liters per bush, and the interval between waterings is increased to one week.Such a supply of moisture stimulates the growth and development of fruits, and does not allow the tops to develop quickly.
Very often, summer residents cannot constantly be near the greenhouse in order to ventilate it in case of temperature rise. A real, but not very cheap way out of this situation is to purchase an automated temperature control system in the greenhouse. With the help of servomotors, the windows in the greenhouse open automatically if the temperature rises to dangerous limits. Powerful fans after opening the windows ventilate the greenhouse.
Particular attention should be paid to the pollination of flowers in the greenhouse. Under natural conditions, tomatoes pollinate themselves - this is helped by bees. There are no bees in greenhouse conditions, so experienced vegetable growers pollinate plants in a greenhouse on their own in one of two ways.
natural way
During a strong wind in the greenhouse, all windows and doors are opened, creating a strong draft. Flower pollen with air flow flies from one flower to another. For greater pollination efficiency, bees and bumblebees can be lured inside the greenhouse. At the entrance to the greenhouse, you can put jars with the remains of natural honey, sugar syrup, jam, natural fruit juices and jam. Near the front door you can put pots with lemon balm, roses, acacia and linden branches.
artificial way
If there are few bees and other insects in the location of the greenhouse, it is necessary to pollinate the plants manually. To do this, tilt the inflorescences towards each other and shake them slightly. If the tomato bushes are far apart, you can transfer pollen from one flower to another with a paint brush, cosmetic disc, or cotton wool.
During the development of a tomato bush, a large number of small shoots grow from the main stem. These shoots, which gardeners call stepchildren, not only spoil the appearance - they divert the nutritious juices from the ovary. If they are not removed, instead of tasty tomatoes with juicy pulp, many small, grape-sized fruits with hard, fibrous membranes will grow. Inside such fruits there is no juicy pulp, they are dry and tasteless.
To prevent this from happening, you need to remove extra stepchildren with your hands or pluck with nail clippers. For the prevention of fungus, rot, powdery mildew, places after a remote escape are covered with charcoal, ash or soot. You can also lubricate them with a weak solution of quicklime or Bordeaux mixture.
So that the plant does not go into the tops, in tall tomatoes, the stem is pinched after the seventh fruit brush, in undersized ones - above the third flower brush. After that, abundant flowering appears on the growing bushes and the ovary is formed.
To increase productivity, in addition to foliar top dressing, it is necessary to regularly ventilate the greenhouse. Together with the air, ozone enters the greenhouse, which is formed naturally in the upper atmosphere under the influence of ultraviolet radiation from the sun. Ozone disinfects the air in the greenhouse, stimulates the process of photosynthesis, disinfects the soil, and kills harmful pathogenic fungi.
When planting tomatoes in a greenhouse on the same beds, you can never get a good harvest even with expensive fertilizers and advanced technologies. By absorbing water-soluble compounds of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium from the soil during growth, tomatoes change the pH of the soil, the soil becomes acidic.To restore acidity, quicklime and fertilizers can be applied once every three months.
Chemically synthesized fertilizers are extremely effective in terms of their effect on greenhouse tomatoes. Industrially produced fertilizers contain nitrates, ammonium phosphates and urea in large quantities. They stimulate the rapid growth and ripening of fruits, increase the resistance of plants against fungi and pests. The disadvantages of such top dressing: the high cost of fertilizers, the increase in the content of nitrates in greenhouse tomatoes.
An alternative to organophosphate fertilizers used in growing tomatoes has long been found and used by experienced amateur vegetable growers. The composition of these nutrient mixtures includes organic substances that are safe for humans. When using these mixtures, you can freely and without restrictions consume fruits and vegetables from neighboring beds on the day of treatment. All components of folk recipes are much cheaper than industrial fertilizers.
Below are proven recipes for the most popular nutritional formulas.
- Iodine and milk. For 10 liters of water, take 1 liter of milk and 15 drops of iodine.
- Top dressing from brewer's yeast. In a bucket of water, a tablespoon of dry brewer's yeast and a few teaspoons of sugar are diluted.
- Wood ash. One tablespoon of crushed ash is taken per liter of water, insisted for 10-12 hours, after which the infusion is boiled. The cooled solution is diluted in a bucket of water.
- Nettle decoction. Young nettle leaves are boiled for 10 minutes in one liter of water, insisted for one hour. The broth is diluted with a bucket of water and allowed to cool.
Tomatoes during flowering are treated with copper sulfate or "Funlazol". From folk remedies, garlic tincture is used.One kilogram of garlic is crushed in a garlic press and poured with one bucket of water. Insist for a week, after which they filter and spray the tomatoes. To prevent blossom end rot, you can spray with a solution of calcium nitrate - 40 grams per 10 liters of water.
Neighboring cultures
In the process of growth, tomatoes absorb compounds of nitric acid, potassium and phosphorus salts from the soil, while the pH of the soil decreases, and the acidity increases. Kohlrabi cabbage, corn, potatoes noticeably lag behind in growth when grown on the same bed with tomatoes. At the same time, next to the tomatoes, asparagus, basil, and beans grow and develop well. Good neighbors in the garden for tomatoes are cucumbers, carrots, dill, celery. You can also grow lettuce, melons, onions, parsley, peppers. Squash, spinach, thyme feel good next to tomatoes.
Cucumbers are 95% water, they do not impose requirements on the acidity of the soil and the composition of groundwater. Fertilizers that are used to feed tomatoes can also be used when growing cucumbers along with tomatoes.
Pepper grows on soils rich in organic matter, does not tolerate an acidic environment. For normal growth and development, he needs a high humidity of 60 - 75%. The ideal soil for pepper is loam. Peppers are affected by aphids and slugs. Their roots are sensitive to lack of moisture. To retain moisture under the roots, it is convenient to use a hydrogel.
Despite the apparent similarity of these plants, tomatoes and peppers belong to the nightshade family, cucumbers to the pumpkin family. These plants have completely different optimal conditions in the greenhouse.Gardeners have their own professional secrets so that when grown together on the same bed, both crops feel good.
The technology for caring for tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers is as follows:
- different optimal air humidity in the greenhouse;
- cucumbers need waterlogging up to 85-95%;
- tomatoes do not tolerate high humidity above 60-65%;
- pepper can easily adapt to different conditions in the greenhouse.
Watering will also be different:
- cucumbers need to be watered watered very often, when watering the leaves are moistened with water;
- pepper should be watered under the root;
- Tomatoes do not like moisture on the tops.
The greenhouse needs to be ventilated. Different moisture requirements can be adjusted with hydrogel poured into the hole - it compensates for insufficient watering and drying out of the soil.
Each vegetable has its own favorable temperature regime and soil moisture. When growing different crops in the same greenhouse, this point must be taken into account. The placement of bushes in the garden also affects the yield and development of plants. When planting plants with different bush heights, one should not allow shading of some plants by others.
In regions with a cold climate and a short summer period, planting in trenches is practiced using the Mitlider method. Shallow trenches are dug along the beds, boxes with sand and sawdust are placed in them. Tomato seedlings are planted in these boxes. The main convenience of this method is that in case of a sharp deterioration in the weather or sudden frosts, seedlings can be very quickly transferred to a warm room. The use of the Mitlider method allows you to grow vegetables in permafrost and cold climates. It is used for growing vegetables in greenhouses in the Far North, the Urals, Siberia and the Far East.
Recommendations
You need to take care of tomato seedlings from the moment the seedlings are planted in the garden. The growth and development of plants, and, ultimately, productivity depend on the air temperature in the greenhouse, the quality of the seed, the composition of the soil, the presence of pathogenic fungi and pests in the soil, the quality of mineral nutrition, the irrigation regime, the influx of fresh air. A large harvest can be obtained by growing the recommended varieties of tomatoes and strict adherence to the terms of work - up to 20 kilograms of juicy ripe tomatoes from one bush per season.
Before germination, tomato seeds are soaked for two days. Then they are placed in a freezer for 72 hours at a temperature of -3°C. This treatment gives immunity to frost, which is not uncommon in the Urals. Cold-hardened seeds are planted in a box with a mixture of 3 parts of garden soil and 2 parts of sawdust. Add 0.5 kilograms of ash and 15 grams of superphosphate to a bucket of the mixture. Before planting seeds, the planting soil mixture is well mixed and moistened with water.
Growing vegetable crops in the Urals is a difficult, but still doable task. Tomato seedlings can be transplanted to a bed in a greenhouse when the temperature at a depth of 15-20 centimeters reaches 12-14°C. During the summer season, which lasts about 60 days in this region, more than 20 kilograms of fragrant red fruits can be harvested from 1 m² of greenhouse area.
Caring for growing tomatoes is a rather responsible task that requires a lot of knowledge, time and effort. It is necessary to take into account many factors, to know the features of growing vegetables in greenhouses. For a beginner vegetable grower, it is much easier to buy ready-made seedlings in a store. Many summer residents grow tomato seedlings on their own.Care and observation of plants brings them real pleasure.
If you do not have the time and desire to grow tomato seedlings for a greenhouse, you can buy seedlings in a store or market. When buying seedlings, you need to pay close attention to the shape of the bush, the color and condition of the leaves, the root system. Seedlings should not have dry leaves, powdery mildew or mold. Pay attention to the state of the root system - there should be no nodes, rot, extraneous growths on the roots. Remember - the appearance of seedlings, and talking with the seller will not help identify fungus and pests. Therefore, in order not to bring the fungus and parasites along with the purchased seedlings and not to infect the plants in the greenhouse, the purchased seedlings must be treated with a solution of potassium permanganate.
If you want to grow a tasty and healthy crop of tomatoes in your home greenhouse for pest control, never use industrial pesticides and herbicides. Without deep knowledge of the technology, the use of these substances can cause serious harm to health. In order to harvest tomatoes from the greenhouse all year round, fertilizers must be regularly applied to the soil and substrate in the beds.
Tomatoes, in the process of growth and ripening, together with ground moisture, potassium and nitrogen, “pull” phosphorus out of the soil. It is best to bring it into the ground in the form of granular superphosphate, which contains this essential trace element in a simple form. When feeding plants with phosphorus, you need to carefully monitor the growth of young shoots.
After planting, as soon as thick shoots of a bright salad color begin to grow, phosphorus feeding should be stopped immediately.Otherwise, you will get two-meter bushes, on which small cherry-sized tomatoes will ripen, which are a storehouse of concentrated nitrates.
To prevent an overdose of phosphorus, ammonium nitrate should be used as a source of nitrogen when feeding. The first time top dressing is made when the first leaf appears. For a liter of water, you need to take a teaspoon of complex fertilizer. The second time the seedlings are fed after diving. In a bucket of water, dilute 4 grams of urea and 35 grams of nutrient mixture for growing tomatoes. After that, you need to feed after 10 days. After each top dressing, the soil is loosened with a cultivator to allow air access to the roots.
How to plant tomatoes in a greenhouse, see the video below.