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Many novice gardeners are hesitant to start growing vegetables. V greenhouse, considering it a difficult and troublesome task. In fact, it is not much more difficult than growing a plant in open ground.
One of the most important stages in growing greenhouse tomatoes is planting seedlings. Mistakes made when transplanting to a permanent location can significantly affect the harvest.
Types of shelters
Most often, the following types of shelters are used for growing tomatoes:
- Capital glazed greenhouses, usually heated;
- Polycarbonate greenhouses can be heated or unheated;
- Covered with plastic film, with or without heating;
- Temporary shelters, as a rule, use film; heating is not used.
The preferred type of greenhouse is determined based on the goals. For example, for growing tomatoes in winter, a glass or polycarbonate heated greenhouse is used. To protect tomato seedlings from spring frosts, use temporary film cover.
To reduce costs, to temporarily shelter tomato seedlings from night frosts, polyethylene film is stretched over arches. You can use metal or plastic. The film is stretched over arches dug into the ground and secured.It is advisable to cover the ends of the film with soil so that the film is not blown away by a gust of wind. When consistently warm weather sets in at night, the shelter is removed and stored until autumn.
Timing for planting seedlings
To determine when to plant tomato seedlings in a greenhouse, you need to take into account one general rule - the soil temperature should be at least 15 degrees Celsius.
This is incorrect, because the roots of tomatoes will develop at a depth of about 35-40 cm, and the temperature of this layer must be measured.
The timing of planting tomato seedlings in a greenhouse depends not only on the region, but also on the number of sunny days. In cloudy weather, the earth warms up much more slowly. To speed up the time for planting tomato seedlings in a greenhouse, you can additionally warm the soil. Several methods are used for this.
If you use a heated greenhouse, it is not difficult to warm up the soil, but you need to keep in mind that in short daylight conditions it is impossible to get tomatoes to flower and bear fruit. If you plant grown seedlings in a greenhouse when daylight hours are still short, it is necessary to provide the tomatoes with additional lighting; the total number of daylight hours should be at least 14 per day.
To warm the soil in an unheated greenhouse, you can cover the soil with black film. Black color attracts the sun's rays, so you can increase the temperature by 4-5 degrees. You can also line the greenhouse with water bottles for these purposes. Water retains heat longer, gradually releasing it to the environment. Using this method can increase the temperature in the greenhouse by 2-3 degrees.
Another method is to spread damp straw or other organic matter over the soil. As organic matter decays, heat is released. In this way, you can increase the soil temperature in the greenhouse by 3-6 degrees, depending on the amount of organic matter.
Be aware of nighttime temperatures, which can significantly cool the air in the greenhouse. For normal development, tomatoes need a temperature of about 18 degrees. Planted tomatoes will tolerate short-term cooling down to 12-15 degrees without loss, but lower temperatures can cause irreparable harm to planted tomatoes.
Greenhouse preparation
Preparing the greenhouse for the spring planting of tomato seedlings must begin in advance. Advice! It is advisable to dig up the soil in the greenhouse in the fall and apply complex fertilizers, as well as treat the soil with pesticides, destroying harmful insects and pathogens of infectious diseases.
If the greenhouse cover has not been used for the first season, be sure to thoroughly wash it both inside and outside, using disinfectants. From the inside, pathogens of various diseases could remain on the walls of the greenhouse, which subsequently, together with condensation, could get on the leaves of the tomatoes and cause unpleasant consequences.
The outside coating must be washed to remove dust and dirt, which significantly reduce the amount of sunlight reaching tomato seedlings. If tomatoes receive insufficient sunlight, the growth and development of the bushes slows down, and the formation of ovaries stops.
Before planting tomato seedlings in the greenhouse, you should check the serviceability of windows and doors and, if necessary, lubricate moving parts. In wooden greenhouses, after wintering, the base of the window frames may become damp and increase in size; they must be repaired and dried. If you can’t open them, you can remove part of the covering to open air access.
Soil in a greenhouse
When preparing a greenhouse for planting tomatoes, special attention must be paid to the soil. Tomatoes prefer light soils with acidity closer to neutral. Soil with high acidity must be treated with deoxidizing substances, for example, lime, dolomite flour, ash. In addition, the ash contains a large amount of potassium, which is necessary for tomatoes.
Often, when laying a greenhouse, the top layer of soil is removed to a depth of 40-50 cm. Straw or manure is placed in the resulting depression, which, when decomposed, raises the ambient temperature by 2-4 degrees.
The first symptoms of carbon dioxide poisoning are dizziness and burning eyes. If you feel dizzy, you need to leave the room as soon as possible. To avoid poisoning, it is necessary to regularly ventilate the greenhouse.
If fertilizers were not applied in the fall, it is necessary to add nutrients when planting tomato seedlings.You can use ready-made complex fertilizers for seedlings. They can be applied as dry matter into the hole, by watering at the root, or by spraying the green parts of the tomatoes. Many gardeners are against the use of chemicals when growing tomato seedlings, preferring natural fertilizers. Natural nutrients used:
- Humus - contains a significant amount of nitrogen;
- Manure is a source of nitrogen compounds, magnesium, sulfur, calcium;
- Ash - contains a large amount of potassium, manganese, magnesium;
- Tinctures of organic substances - contain all the necessary nutritional elements.
Natural fertilizers are applied to the planting hole, mixed with soil, to avoid burning the tomato roots. You can use several fertilizers at the same time.
If tomatoes have been grown in the same soil for several years in a row, it is advisable to change the top fertile layer of soil. The depth of this layer is about 40 cm. To avoid this complex process, you can sow the greenhouse with green manure for one season.
Preparing seedlings
Proper preparation of tomato seedlings for planting in a greenhouse is very important. Unprepared seedlings will require a lot of time to recover, significantly delaying the time of fruiting.
To reduce transplant stress, it is necessary to harden off tomato seedlings before the horse system is disturbed. To do this, tomato seedlings are placed for 1-2 weeks in conditions as close as possible to those in which the tomatoes will grow.This is especially important for seedlings that were grown in an apartment on a windowsill.
If possible, tomato seedlings are placed in a greenhouse where they will grow for several hours, gradually increasing the residence time. After one week, it is advisable to leave the tomatoes overnight so that the seedlings can get used to lower temperatures at night.
After 3-4 days, the plant will get used to bright light, and the shading cover can be removed.
If it is not possible to place tomato seedlings in a greenhouse in advance, you can start hardening in an apartment using a balcony or other well-lit room with a low air temperature.
Seedling age
The ideal age of seedlings for planting in the ground depends on the varietal characteristics of tomato fruiting. Experienced plant growers recommend the following timing:
- Ultra-early ripening tomatoes - 25-30 days;
- Early ripening - 30-35;
- Early and mid-early 35-40;
- Mid-late and late 40-45.
It is often difficult for novice gardeners to determine the age of purchased tomato seedlings; sometimes the variety of tomatoes does not correspond to the declared one. In this case, you can focus on the number of leaves.
If there are flowering buds on it, it means that the tomato seedlings are a little overgrown; adaptation of such plants is difficult.
Sometimes it is not possible to follow recommended planting times exactly. In this case, you need to follow the rule: “Better sooner than later.” Planted earlier than the recommended time, tomatoes get used to new conditions quickly enough and easily restore intensive growth.
Overgrown tomato seedlings requires a whole range of measures aimed at restoring seedlings and facilitating adaptation to a new location.
Disembarkation rules
There are two ways to plant tomato seedlings - in dirt and in dry soil. For the first method, the holes are filled with water, the seedlings are placed in the hole filled with water, and sprinkled with soil. Tomato seedlings continue to be poured until the soil becomes homogeneous and all lumps should dissolve.
For the second method of planting tomato seedlings in a greenhouse, leave the holes dry and water the earthen ball in which the tomato seedlings were grown before transplanting. Tomatoes are watered a week after transplantation. The advantage of this method is that dry soil more easily allows oxygen to pass through, which is necessary for the development of the tomato root system.
In any case, it is advisable to water the seedlings in the greenhouse only with warm water, the temperature of which should not be lower than 15 degrees. Irrigation with cold water can significantly reduce soil temperature. A drip irrigation system can solve this problem. By the time the water reaches the roots of the tomatoes, it will have time to heat up.
The holes in the greenhouse are prepared in advance about a week before planting. The depth of the hole should correspond to the root system of the seedlings. If a tomato is about 40 cm long, you can deepen the stem by 10-15 cm, the hole should be about 40 cm deep. In this case, the seedlings are planted vertically. The width can be 20-30 cm.
If overgrown tomato seedlings with a length of more than 40 cm are planted in a greenhouse, it is recommended to position the stem of the plant obliquely so that additional roots are formed. In this case, the hole is made smaller, but wider. 30 cm deep and 40 cm wide is enough.
The distance between the holes is determined taking into account the size of an adult tomato bush. Tomatoes planted too close will produce significantly less fruit. If you place the bushes too far apart, you will waste soil in the greenhouse.
Recommended spacing for different tomato varieties:
- Low-growing - 40 cm;
- Medium - 45 cm;
- Tall - 50-60 cm.
The holes are made in a checkerboard pattern, not forgetting to leave a passage every two rows. To care for tomatoes, a distance of 60 cm is sufficient.
You should not place the holes too close to the edge of the greenhouse; mature tomatoes will not have enough space to grow.
The rules for planting tomato seedlings in the ground are not difficult to follow, the main thing is desire and attentive attitude towards the plants. All your efforts will pay off with an excellent, early harvest of tomatoes.
