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Tomatoes are plants that require considerable effort from the gardener when growing. This includes preparing seedlings, preparing the greenhouse, watering and, of course, fertilizing. The tomato belongs to the third group of plants in terms of nutrient consumption, namely, it has average needs. During the growing season, the nutritional needs of a tomato change. Plants need the most different substances during the period of flowering, fruit set and fruit filling. That's why Feeding tomatoes during the fruiting period - an important event without which you cannot get a good harvest.
The tomato diet consists of macro and microelements. The first group consists of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium. Each of them plays a role in the life cycle of tomatoes.
The role of macroelements in the development of tomatoes
- Nitrogen is very important for all plants. It is a constituent element of all plant tissues. Both a deficiency and an excess of this nutrient are harmful to tomatoes. A deficiency slows down plant growth, and an excess causes rapid growth of green mass to the detriment of fruiting.
- Phosphorus. Without it, the root system grows slowly, the growth of plants and their transition to fruiting slows down.
- Potassium.Tomatoes are very demanding on the potassium content in the soil, especially during the fruiting period. Potassium not only actively participates in the metabolism of tomatoes, but also stimulates their immunity and resistance to diseases.
For successful growth and fruiting, tomatoes need magnesium, boron, molybdenum, calcium, zinc, copper and iron.
To diagnose the condition of the plant and its lack of basic nutrients, the following table will be useful.
All plants receive nutrition from the soil. Its supply with fertilizers is an important component of their successful development. For tomatoes, it is very important to have all the nutrients in full. Only then will the tomatoes take the nutrients they need during each period of development. But if we want to get not green mass, but a fruit harvest, we need certain restrictions on the nitrogen content in fertilizers and the organic content in the soil.
If tomato seedlings are planted, as it should be with the first flowering cluster, subsequent fertilizing should be aimed at ensuring fruit set, accelerating their filling and improving the quality of the tomatoes.
It is then that the small plant develops its first flower cluster. Fertilizing is carried out with potassium sulfate. To carry it out, you need to dilute a quarter tablespoon of potassium sulfate in 2.5 liters of water.
First feeding of tomatoes
For rapid growth of planted plants and successful flowering, it is very good to carry out the first fertilizing with green fertilizer. It is prepared as follows.
- A fifty-liter plastic, but not metal, tank is filled one-third with green grass with a predominance of nettles.
- Add half a bucket of fresh mullein.
- Pour out a liter jar of wood ash.
- Add a half-liter jar of fermented jam.
- Add half a kilogram of compressed yeast.
This mixture should sit for at least a week. It is better not to keep the tank in the sun. The contents must be stirred daily. When fermentation is complete, add one liter of the liquid fraction to a ten-liter bucket of water and pour a liter under the root for each tomato bush. This fertilizer will enrich the plants with both organic and mineral substances. It will allow him to build up the root mass and set fruit on the first cluster.
Feeding with boric acid
During the flowering stage, it is very important that the tomato does not have a deficiency of boron, which is responsible for ensuring that each tomato flower becomes a full-fledged ovary. Boron is a sedentary element, so it cannot reach the stem and leaves of the plant from the roots. Therefore, foliar feeding with this element will be required.
This is quite easy to do. You will need to dilute a tablespoon of the drug in a ten-liter bucket of water and spray the tomato plants with a spray bottle. This amount of solution should be enough for the rest of the foliar feeding, which must be carried out when forming each flower cluster of tomatoes: the second and third. You can add 10-15 drops of iodine to a bucket of solution. This will compensate for the deficiency of this element in tomatoes.
Feeding tomatoes during fruiting period
Feeding tomatoes during fruiting must include potassium, since at this time the plant's need for it is maximum. Even if fertilizing is carried out with a complete complex fertilizer, it is necessary to additionally add 20 grams of potassium sulfate per ten-liter bucket to the main solution.
If there are signs of potassium starvation, foliar fertilizing with a one percent solution of potassium sulfate should be carried out to quickly fill the fruits.
Instead of potassium sulfate, you can also use tree fertilizer Ash. It not only contains a lot of potassium, but also a variety of microelements also necessary for fruit growth. Ash can be sprinkled on the soil under the tomatoes and then carefully loosened. But then useful potassium will flow to the plants slowly.
Feeding with ash extract is much more effective. You can watch the video to see how to do this correctly:
To quickly fill fruit, tomatoes require nitrogen, and on sandy and sandy loam soils also magnesium. Therefore, it would be useful at this time to fertilize with a complete complex fertilizer with microelements. The consumption rate is 40 grams per ten-liter bucket. Such fertilizing should be carried out every ten days during the period of active flowering of tomatoes and the fruiting of them. Each plant will require about 700 milliliters of solution. For tall plants, the watering rate is increased.
The role of humate for feeding tomatoes
At each feeding, it is necessary to add humates in dissolved or dry form to the working solution. Dry humate requires one teaspoon per bucket of working solution, and liquid humate 25 milliliters. Humate promotes the growth of roots, which actually feed the tomatoes. In addition, humic preparations are produced with the addition of microelements, so they can eliminate the lack of various microelements in tomatoes.
With root and foliar feeding of tomatoes you need to remember that the plant will still take all the necessary elements from the soil, of course, if they are in it. The gardener’s task is to carefully monitor the tomatoes and provide them with a complete diet.
The Mittleider method, which many gardeners follow, involves the use of massive doses of mineral fertilizers. And at the same time, fruits grown using this method do not contain any harmful substances, including nitrates. Under natural conditions, wild tomatoes are not programmed for a large harvest; it is enough if at least one fruit ripens to continue the race. Therefore, wild tomatoes use nitrogen to grow green mass. For gardeners, the main thing is to get the maximum harvest, and they don’t need extra leaves and especially stepchildren. Therefore, for the development of a tomato, an excess of any fertilizer except nitrogen is not dangerous.
Feed tomatoes during flowering and fruiting is correct, and a rich harvest will not keep you waiting.
