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Spring is coming, and you will have to think about choosing tomato seeds for planting. The range of varieties of these vegetables is rich, so often even experienced gardeners cannot always make a choice. We suggest paying attention to the Honey Spas tomato variety.
These tomatoes have many unique qualities that gardeners will enjoy. They can be grown both in open and protected ground. The characteristics of tomatoes and their beneficial properties will be discussed in the article. To better understand the features of the Honey Spas tomato, we will present photos and reviews of those who planted the variety on their plots.
Description
Tomato Honey Spas is a young variety created by Russian breeders from Novosibirsk. Head - V. N. Dederko. The culture was recorded in the State Register of the Russian Federation in 2004. A new variety is recommended for cultivation in any region of Russia in open ground and greenhouses.
Gardeners in their reviews note that the Honey Spas tomato, in terms of the characteristics and description of the variety, completely coincides with the properties declared by the breeders.
Let's look at the description in detail.
Bush
The Honey Spas tomato is an indeterminate tall plant.Gardeners are happy to grow productive tomatoes, despite the fact that this salad variety has to adjust the height of the stem throughout the growing season. The Honey Spas variety must be tied to a support.
In addition, in areas of risky farming, it should only be planted in a greenhouse due to the long period of fruit ripening. The first tomatoes are harvested 110-115 days after germination.
Tomatoes of this variety are powerful, about 130-175 cm high, with medium foliage. The leaves on tomatoes are light green. Honey Spas tomatoes are grown with 1-2 stems, maximum three.
Tomatoes are powerful because they have a well-developed root system. The roots obtain food not only at the surface: the central root goes to great depths.
Fruit
The tomatoes are glossy, with thick skin, and do not crack when ripe. According to gardeners, the shape of tomatoes, even on the same bush, is different. Some look like a heart or kidney, others, on the contrary, are round or slightly flattened. Look at the photo, here they are tomato varieties in all their glory.
The fruits of tomatoes of the Honey Spas variety are large, weighing up to 200 grams per one. There are also record holders, growing up to 500-600 grams with excellent agricultural technology. It is impossible not to notice tomatoes during the ripening period, since they have an unforgettable and incomparable warm orange-honey or bright yellow color.
According to the description of the variety, Honey Spas tomatoes are dense, juicy, fleshy, and sugary when cut. There are few seeds, they are small.
According to reviews from gardeners and fans of the variety, the consistency is a little oily.The amount of sugar is large, but the acid is low, so tomatoes are not suitable for canning.
The tomatoes taste sweet with a pleasant honey aroma and do not crack.
Productivity
Looking at the photo, it’s easy to judge the productivity of Honey Spas tomatoes. Peduncles are strong and strong. Up to 5 fruits are poured onto one flower brush. This is exactly how many ovaries need to be left to get large tomatoes. In this case, the tomatoes do not interfere with each other, they grow and fill to the desired size. From each bush you can collect 4-6 kg of delicious aromatic fruits.
Characteristics
Like any variety of tomatoes, Honey Spas has its advantages and disadvantages. Let's look into them.
Advantages
- According to the description, the variety is productive and in demand among gardeners, despite the fact that the fruits are not suitable for canning due to their large size and low acid content. But you can prepare salads from fresh tomatoes and prepare aromatic juice for the winter.
- The ripening cycle is extended; the harvest can be harvested until the end of the warm season, which is also convenient. Tomatoes Honey Spas, picked at blanche ripeness, are perfectly ripened indoors. Keep the picked fruits in a warm and dark place to prevent the sugar content from decreasing.
- Tomatoes of this variety can sit for several months without losing their beneficial qualities and presentation. Transportability is excellent, but gardeners who leave reviews about the Honey Spas variety advise picking unripe tomatoes for such purposes. Then they will reach the consumer in the required condition.
- Tomato juice of this variety is medically called purified water and the fruits are recommended for dietary and baby food.The benefits of yellow tomatoes can hardly be overestimated, but the most important thing, perhaps, is the absence of substances that cause allergies. It is useful to consume tomatoes for gastrointestinal diseases, as well as for people with kidney and liver problems.
- Abroad, tomatoes with yellow and orange fruits have a special attitude. It is believed that with regular consumption of tomatoes of this color, including the variety described, you can delay the onset of old age. It is not for nothing that residents of the Mediterranean coast call Honey Spas tomatoes a golden apple.
- Tomatoes can be grown in open and protected ground. In southern regions, they produce an excellent harvest outdoors because they are able to adapt to unfavorable conditions, including extreme heat or slightly lower temperatures. But in the risky farming zone, it is preferable to grow tomatoes of the Honey Spas variety under film. After all, the harvest (see photo below) in the greenhouse will be much greater than in open ground.
- Since this is a variety and not a hybrid, you can get your own tomato seeds. Although, as stated in the description, there are not many of them.
- Gardeners like the Honey Spas tomato variety for its special resistance to diseases of nightshade crops: late blight, gray rot, tobacco mosaic.
Flaws
Despite the obvious advantages, this variety also has disadvantages:
- The fruits of this variety of tomatoes set best at a temperature of +20-25 degrees. If the temperature is below +15 degrees or rises above +35, then barren flowers may appear due to the sterility of the pollen. Experienced gardeners shake tomato bushes in open ground or a greenhouse for better fertilization.
- Some gardeners in reviews cite the inability to preserve fruits for the winter as a disadvantage.
Tomatoes with yellow fruits:
Growing and care
Tomatoes of the Honey Spas variety are propagated by seedlings. The timing of sowing seeds is easy to calculate, because they depend on the time of planting the plants in a permanent place. Tomato seedlings are considered mature when they are 50 or 60 days old. Seedlings should be thick-legged and stocky, with leaves evenly spaced.
Seedling
- Tomatoes already at the seedling level need fertile soil. You can use ready-made soil or prepare it yourself. In any case, the soil needs to be disinfected for two days before sowing the seeds. To do this, the soil is heated on a stove or poured with boiling water with the addition of potassium permanganate. It is necessary to disinfect not only the soil, but also the planting containers.
- Tomato seeds are also prepared for sowing. As a rule, this is the end of March or the beginning of April. First, the seeds are placed in salt water to select the good material (unripe seeds will float to the surface). After this, the seed is washed in clean water and soaked in a pink solution of manganese or boric acid. The seeds are washed again and dried to a powdery state.
- Growing tomato seedlings of this variety can be done with or without picking. If you are not a fan of planting seedlings, then the seeds should be germinated and sown in separate pots, 1-2 seeds each. After the tomatoes have grown, the strongest seedling is selected and the second one is removed.
- The seeds need to be planted to a depth of no more than 1 cm. Then the container is covered with film so that the tomato seedlings appear faster; they are put away in a warm and bright place. After the first hook appears (and this happens after 4-5 days), the film is removed and the temperature is slightly reduced.
- In the phase of 2-3 true leaves, tomato seedlings of the Honey Spas variety are picked. When replanting, the plants are buried down to the cotyledon leaves, watered well and removed for 2 days in partial shade.
You can determine that tomatoes have taken root by the turgor of the leaves: they become elastic, and their color corresponds to the variety. - Water the seedlings without waiting for the top layer of soil to dry, but you shouldn’t overwater them either. If you are not a fan of mineral fertilizers, you can feed the Honey Spas tomatoes with an infusion of wood ash.
Care in the ground
Seedlings are planted in open ground or a greenhouse when night temperatures no longer drop below 15 degrees. The soil is prepared in advance: humus, compost or mineral fertilizers are added. Wood ash is one of the required components. It contains many micro- and macroelements necessary for tomatoes.
The lower leaves, and then those that grow above the formed brush, are gradually removed. This will ensure air circulation and sufficient lighting. Stepchildren are also removed, forming a bush with 1-2 or, in extreme cases, 3 stems.
The bushes need to be watered abundantly, no more than 2 times a week. It is advisable to combine fertilizing with watering. For good fertilization of the ovaries, tomato variety Honey Spas, as gardeners write in reviews, is sprayed with a solution of boric acid. This is an excellent foliar feeding.
Tomatoes really like an infusion of mullein or freshly cut grass (without seeds!); they respond to such fertilizing with an excellent harvest. You can dust tomatoes and the soil around them with wood ash from time to time: both nutrition and protection from disease.
And, of course, prevention of fungal and viral diseases, despite the fact that according to the description the variety is resistant to them. Chemical preparations for spraying are undesirable. It is better to hang tea bags soaked in iodine in the greenhouse or spray the plantings by dissolving 1 tablespoon of iodine in a bucket.
Tomatoes are harvested as they ripen. But so that the fruits do not slow down their growth, it is advisable to pick them at ripeness.
