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Tomatoes are a rather fastidious, heat-loving crop, but despite this, they are grown by many domestic gardeners. In an effort to get a good harvest of vegetables, farmers begin to work in early spring, preparing planting material for growing seedlings. Unprepared seeds in this case can cause non-germination of plants, poor yields and low quality of fruits, which is why experienced vegetable growers advise selecting and deep, thorough processing of tomatoes before planting seedlings. It may include thermal effects, disinfection, bubbling, as well as saturation of seeds with nutrients.
Seed selection
Before processing, soaking and germinating tomato grains, you should carefully select them, removing empty and ugly specimens. The primary selection of tomato seeds involves visual inspection. So, hollow, too small and large tomato grains should be removed. The shape of a high-quality seed should be even and symmetrical. This visual calibration allows you to select the best seeds that will give a good, high-quality harvest of vegetables.
In addition to visual inspection, experienced farmers use a saline solution to select full-bodied seeds. To do this, dissolve 1 teaspoon of salt in half a liter of water. It is necessary to immerse the tomato seeds in the resulting liquid and mix them thoroughly. After 15-20 minutes, low-quality, hollow tomato grains should remain on the surface of the water, and those suitable for sowing should sink to the bottom of the container. They must subsequently be thoroughly washed and dried for further use.
Heat treatment methods
Having passed visual selection, full-bodied, evenly shaped seeds can be used for further processing and sowing for seedlings. Thus, heat treatment of tomato grains can be primary. It includes hardening and warming up. These measures require time and effort from the farmer, however, they will subsequently allow you to obtain a high-quality, rich harvest of tomatoes.
Warming up
Warming up tomato grains improves the quality and quantity of seedlings. Heated seeds germinate quickly and evenly and guarantee a rich harvest of vegetables. You can warm them up long before sowing. For example, during the heating season, when the radiators are hot, the seeds can be wrapped in a cotton bag and hung near a heat source. It is recommended to carry out such heating for 1.5-2 months.
You can quickly warm up the planting material using the oven.To do this, the seeds should be spread out on parchment paper, then placed on a baking sheet preheated to 600With oven. Seeds must be kept in such conditions for 3 hours. This will increase the crop's resistance to drought.
Hardening
Hardening of tomato seeds is not a mandatory procedure and is more of a recommendation, but it is worth remembering that it is hardening that allows young and adult plants to further adapt to sharp fluctuations in night and day temperatures, as well as heat and frost.
You can harden tomato seeds as follows: place the grains in a damp cloth and keep at room temperature for 2 days, after which the package with tomato grains should be placed in the refrigerator for 6-8 hours. Such a contrast should be created for the seeds for 10-15 days, until they hatch.
The use of thermal methods for processing grains does not require a lot of effort, time and money from the farmer, however, it gives quite a noticeable positive result in the process of growing crops, which is why many experienced and novice gardeners resort to hardening and heating the seeds.
Seed disinfection
Regardless of whether tomato seeds were purchased or prepared independently, harmful microbes and spores of pathogenic fungi may exist on their surface.They can cause various plant diseases and negatively affect the growth, volume of fruiting of tomatoes and the quality of vegetables. Early wilting and death of tomatoes in some cases can also be the result of exposure to parasites, the larvae of which were located on the surface of the tomato seed even before the grains were sown in the ground. Larvae and bacteria that are invisible to the eye can be removed by treating the planting material. The most common methods of disinfecting tomato grains are given below.
Use of potassium permanganate
Solution potassium permanganate most often used to disinfect tomato grains before sowing seedlings. The method consists of preparing a 1% manganese solution (1 mg per 1 liter of water). Place tomato seeds in the prepared light pink liquid for 15 minutes. After soaking, the seed must be thoroughly washed with water and soaked for further germination or dried for short-term storage.
Hydrogen peroxide
Unlike potassium permanganate, hydrogen peroxide not only disinfects tomato seeds, but also accelerates the process of their germination. It is worth noting that experienced housewives recommend various ways to use this substance. So, immediately before sowing, tomato seeds can be soaked in a 3% hydrogen peroxide solution for 20 minutes. This measure does not require much time and does not cause much trouble.
Hydrogen peroxide Can also be used for long-term soaking and germination.So, a substance at a concentration of 6% should be diluted with water in a ratio of 1:10. Tomato seeds must be placed in the resulting liquid for 3 days.
Biological products
Specialized agrotechnical stores offer a number of means for disinfecting tomato seeds. Among them there are chemicals that are undesirable to use, since they are implanted into the planting material and are subsequently partially contained in vegetables. An alternative to such “harmful” substances are biological products, which are absolutely harmless to humans and at the same time effective in the fight against pathogens of most diseases.
Fitosporin
The substance is a microbiological preparation that can be used to disinfect tomato seeds. Fitosporin can be used at different ambient temperatures, for example, during seed hardening. The drug is non-toxic and can be used in an apartment.
Fitosporin is produced in the form of paste, powder, and liquid. To disinfect tomato grains, depending on the form of the preparation, you should follow the following instructions:
- Half a teaspoon of powder must be diluted in 100 g of water. The seeds are soaked in the resulting solution for 2 hours immediately before planting;
- the paste contains a high concentration of substances, so it is used in a ratio of 2 drops to half a glass of water. Seed soaking time is 2 hours;
- Liquid phytosporin is offered to the consumer in finished and concentrated form. The concentrated substance is diluted in a ratio of 10 drops per glass of water. There is no need to dilute the prepared solution.
This harmless biological product can be used at different stages of plant growth, including during flowering and fruit formation. Protection extends not only to the above-ground green part of the plant, but also to its root system.
Baikal EM
This drug contains a lot of beneficial bacteria and microelements that “survive” pathogenic pests. Baikal EM contains lactic acid, nitrogen-fixing, photosynthetic bacteria and yeast. This complex allows you to disinfect tomato seeds and saturate them with nutrients for subsequent successful growth and fruiting of tomatoes.
“Baikal EM” is a highly concentrated liquid that must be diluted 2 hours before use in water in a ratio of 1:1000. So, 3 ml of the substance should be added to a liter jar of water. To activate the growth of bacteria, it is recommended to add a teaspoon of sugar, molasses or honey to the solution. You can soak tomato seeds in the solution for germination. This measure will remove pest larvae from the surface of the seeds and saturate the tomato grains with nutrients. "Baikal EM" can be used to protect tomatoes from pests at all stages of the growing season.
Experts in the vegetable growing industry recommend disinfecting the seeds of any vegetable crops before germination or sowing in the ground. This allows you to prevent the negative impact of pests at the earliest stage of cultivation. The choice of disinfection method always depends solely on the preferences of the farmer. A description of some methods for disinfecting tomato seeds is given in the video:
Bubbling
Sparging is acceptable for those farmers who have an aquarium at home. The method is based on many hours of movement of seed material in an oxygen-saturated aquatic environment. So, to carry out bubbling, you should fill a high container (glass, jar) with water to a third. It is necessary to place tomato seeds and a tube connected to an aquarium compressor. A regular supply of oxygen will force the seeds to constantly move, harmful microorganisms will be naturally and mechanically removed from the surface of the grains, the planting material will be saturated with moisture and oxygen, which will have a beneficial effect on the germination and viability of tomatoes. Bubbling should be carried out for 15-20 hours, after which the tomato seeds can be used for further germination or sowing directly into the ground.
An example of how to properly bubble tomato seeds is shown in the video:
Enrichment with microelements
To get a good tomato harvest, you should take care not only of the rich microelement composition of the soil in which the crop will grow, but also of the saturation of the tomato seeds themselves with these very useful substances. So, in the process of pre-sowing preparation, you can soak tomato grains in a nutrient solution. For this you can use, for example, wood ash. One teaspoon of this “ingredient” must be dissolved in a glass of water and left for 24 hours. Tomato seeds are immersed in the resulting mixture in a gauze bag for 5 hours. After this procedure, the tomato grains should be washed and then used for germination or dried for storage.
To enrich seeds with micronutrients, you can also use nitrophoska or nitroammophoska. These substances are diluted in a ratio of 1 teaspoon per 1 liter of water. It is necessary to keep tomato seeds in the resulting solution for 12 hours, after which they are washed and immersed in a humid environment until complete germination. The optimal temperature for the appearance of tomato sprouts is +24-+250C. Under such conditions, tomato grains germinate in 3-4 days.
In addition to the above folk methods of enriching tomato grains with nutrients, you can also use ready-made microelement compositions, for example “Zircon”, “Epin-Extra” and some others. Also, a growth stimulator and a means of disinfecting tomato seeds is undiluted aloe juice, in which tomato grains can be soaked for germination.
Conclusion
The work of a vegetable grower is quite complex and painstaking, especially when it comes to growing tomatoes. Even at the pre-sowing stage, it is necessary to take care of the health of the seeds, because high-quality planting material is the key to a good, abundant harvest of tomatoes. Using a number of measures described in the article, you can select the strongest tomato grains, thoroughly disinfect them and nourish them with useful microelements that will allow the plants to sprout together, actively develop and bear fruit. Heat treatment allows you to prepare future tomatoes for climatic disasters: heat, drought, frost. In a word, tomatoes whose seeds have undergone a full range of preparation are practically invulnerable and are guaranteed to provide the farmer with a good harvest of tasty tomatoes.
