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It's hard to find a person who doesn't like tomatoes in any form: fresh, canned or in salads. As for gardeners, they try to select productive varieties with different fruit sizes.
The tomato variety Grandmother's Secret is already intriguing with its name. In recent years, a new variety has been winning more and more hearts due to its amazing properties. Gardeners write reviews, post photos about a new variety of tomatoes, and never stop asking questions regarding the features of growing and caring for tomatoes.
A little about creating a variety
The Grandmother's Secret tomato has Siberian roots. It was created by breeders V.N. Dederko and T.N. Postnikov from the Siberian Federal District in 2007.
The variety is included in the State Register of the Russian Federation. Tomatoes are recommended for open ground only in the south of the country, and in other regions it should be planted in a greenhouse or under film covers.
Description of tomatoes
The characteristics and description of the Grandma's Secret tomato variety are very important for understanding the benefits. It should be noted that the plant belongs to indeterminate varieties.
Bushes
- Grandmother's Secret tomatoes are powerful, but the bushes are not spreading.The height, if not limited, reaches two meters. As a rule, gardeners stop at a height of 130-150 cm.
- The tomato stems are strong, with medium foliage. The dark green leaves are large, wrinkled, and lack pubescence.
- The inflorescences are simple, formed with an interval of 2 leaves. The first brush of a tomato is formed above the eighth leaf. The inflorescences produce 5-6, sometimes 7 fruits.
Despite the power of the bush, the formation of clusters should be limited to eight, otherwise the tomatoes will be small and the ripening period will increase. - From sowing the seeds of the Babushkin Secret variety to harvesting, 4 months pass, that is, the ripening period is mid-early. The productivity of tomatoes is high; when grown in a greenhouse, one bush produces up to 8 kg of large tomatoes; in open ground, a little less.
- Tomatoes have a powerful root system, it is located near the surface and grows to the sides and produces food for the plant.
Features of the fruit
Tomatoes, according to the description of the variety and reviews of people who grow Babushkin Secret tomatoes, have a flat-round, ribbed shape. The weight of each tomato ranges from 300 to 500 grams. The diameter of the fruit is 10 centimeters or more.
There are from 3 to 6 seed chambers, but there are few seeds. Fruits with smooth, thin but dense skin. Unripe tomatoes are pale green in color, but at technical maturity they are bright crimson, as in the photo below.
Tomatoes are dense, fleshy, and have little liquid. The pulp is raspberry, sugary when cut. Tomatoes taste sweet, almost without sourness; in addition to sugar, they contain a lot of dry substances.
Tomatoes are universally used, but are not suitable for canning due to their large size. But for salads, lecho, adjika, and tomato paste, you can’t find better raw materials.
The shelf life of fruits is limited, and it can be difficult to transport them due to loss of presentation.
Characteristic features of the variety
Characteristics of tomatoes Grandma's secret follows from the description. Here are the main advantages of the variety:
- The mid-ripening of tomatoes allows you to taste the first fruits within 94-118 days from the moment of sowing the seeds.
- Fruiting lasts for almost the entire growing season. After all, the formation of inflorescences on a tomato continues until the tops are pinched. That is, the last fruits from the Grandma’s Secret tomato bush can be collected before frost.
- The yield of the Grandma's Secret tomato amazes even experienced gardeners who are growing tomatoes of this variety for the first time. With good care, one bush can produce about 10 kg of large, tasty tomatoes.
- Another advantage is large fruit size. The weight of tomatoes varies between 300-500 grams, and sometimes even higher, as gardeners indicate in reviews.
- Tomatoes have excellent taste.
- Resistance to some fungal diseases, such as tobacco mosaic, late blight, powdery mildew.
As you can see, the Babushkin Secret tomato variety, according to reviews and descriptions, has many excellent qualities.
But there are also disadvantages:
- cracking of fruits at high humidity, temperature changes, and irregular irrigation;
- the small number of seeds in the Grandma’s Secret tomato complicates the preparation of seed;
- The difficulty of transportation is that the tomatoes burst and become wrinkled.
Features of cultivation
Growing tomatoes of this variety will not cause difficulties even for beginners. Almost all agrotechnical standards are the same.
Seedling
For sowing seeds, turf soil is used, which is mixed with humus or sand. You can also buy ready-made soil in the store. Some gardeners use peat tablets to grow large-fruited tomato seedlings or sow seeds in a snail.
Before sowing, the seeds and soil are treated. The soil is poured with boiling water, dissolving potassium permanganate in it. The seed material is soaked in potassium permanganate or Zircon, Epin. Tomato seeds are deepened into moist soil by 2 cm, there should be at least two centimeters between them if planting is carried out in a box.
The container with the seeds is placed in a sunny window; to speed up germination, the temperature should be at least +25 degrees. A cellophane film is stretched over the box. When the first sprout appears, it is removed, and the temperature is reduced to +16 degrees so that the seedlings of Grandmother’s Secret do not stretch out.
Picking
When 1-2 true leaves appear on small tomatoes, they should be planted one at a time, that is, picked. Use small glasses or peat pots. Tomato seedlings need to be replanted Grandma's Secret carefully so as not to injure the roots.
Boarding at the main seat
Tomato seedlings are transplanted to a permanent place, in a greenhouse or open ground, at the age of 50 days. Within two weeks, it is hardened and accustomed to new conditions.
After digging and adding fertilizer, the earth is spilled with a hot, dark pink solution of potassium permanganate. The holes are placed at a distance of 0.5-0.6 meters so that there is enough space for the plant to develop.
After planting the tomatoes, the bushes are immediately tied to strong supports.
If in previous years the plants were sick, after planting the tomatoes are treated for preventive purposes with special fungicidal preparations or an iodine solution. Some gardeners hang tea bags soaked in iodine in the greenhouse; they say it saves tomatoes from fungal diseases.
Care after landing
Plants should be watered regularly, both in the open ground and in the greenhouse, but should not be over-watered, as this affects the growth of tomatoes. But most importantly, the fruits can crack.
Weeding in the greenhouse and in the ground weeds, loosen the soil after each watering. The greenhouse needs to be ventilated to reduce air humidity.
The Grandmother's Secret tomato is grown in one stem, therefore, all the stepsons are removed, as well as the leaves. First up to the first brush, then as the brushes form. When the eighth flower cluster appears on the stem, it is pinched to stop further growth. This will give the tomato strength to ripen the fruit.
Organic matter and mineral fertilizers are used for feeding. Feed is supplied 2 or 3 times per season. As gardeners write in reviews, fertilizing with mullein, chicken manure, and green fertilizer has a beneficial effect on the size and taste of the fruit.
Tomatoes in a greenhouse:
