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Recently it turned out that the thoughts of a significant part of the population of the Russian capital are not occupied by iPhones, but... homemade cheese recipes. But homemade cheese requires animals that provide milk. On the balcony You can’t house such animals, but you can provide yourself with homemade tomatoes growing right on your apartment window without much difficulty. The “Balcony Miracle” variety is tomatoes that are well adapted to growing at home.
Description with photo
This is a determinate standard variety of tomatoes with a height of no more than 0.6 m. The “Balcony Miracle” tomato is well suited for growing on loggias and balconies. The variety is early ripening. It takes 3 months from the appearance of the first true leaves to the harvest of tomatoes. One bush can produce up to 2 kg of tomatoes weighing 50-60 g each. The fruits of this tomato variety are not large, but these tomatoes have an excellent taste.
The advantages of the Balcony Miracle tomato variety are the ability to grow fresh tomatoes even in winter, if you provide the plant with enough light. The variety is resistant to late blight. The tomato also does not require pinching or tying.
How to grow a variety indoors
“Window gardening” is gaining popularity in cities, but not all plants can be grown on a windowsill. Caring for “Balcony Miracle” tomatoes at home is not difficult, you just need to comply with certain conditions:
- the pot must be large enough for the plant;
- the soil in the growing container should be superior in fertility to garden soil;
- sufficient daylight hours;
- compliance with the feeding regime.
These conditions, which dictate how to grow the “Balcony Miracle” tomato, are due to the limited space in which the plant’s root system can develop. There are also advantages to growing a “Balcony Miracle” tomato from seeds on a windowsill: you can immediately plant the seeds in the desired container and not worry later whether the seedlings will take root.
So, how to grow a “Balcony Miracle” tomato on a window:
- calculate the time frame by which you need to get the harvest;
- buy special soil for tomatoes in the store or make it yourself;
- take a container of a suitable size;
- sow seeds;
- wait for shoots;
- provide the necessary daylight hours;
- During the period of flowering and fruit set, feed the plant with potassium-phosphorus fertilizers.
With deadlines everything is quite simple. Since the bush begins to bear fruit 3 months after germination, then in order to get fresh tomatoes for the New Year, you need to sow the seeds in early to mid-September. Not later than.
Regular soil for flowers will not work for tomatoes. Flower shops sell special mixtures, one of which is called “Tomatoes”. You can also make the soil yourself. To make soil, take 1 part chernozem and 1 part humus.
According to reviews of the balcony miracle tomato, when growing a bush in soil with fresh humus, the plant began to wither due to a lack of magnesium.
In addition to chernozem and humus, you can add ash and superphosphate to the soil to increase the nitrogen content. But you should be careful with these fertilizers. Their excess can lead to the death of the sprout. It is better to add fertilizers little by little during the watering process.
Next you need to choose a pot. A container of less than 5 liters does not make sense, since in it the root system cannot develop to the desired size.
From the reviews and photos of the owners of the “Balcony Miracle” tomato, it is easy to conclude that the bush requires a fairly large pot volume. The photo shows 10 liter containers. Those who received a good harvest did not grow tomatoes in pots less than 8 l.
Sometimes reviews from those who planted the “Balcony Miracle” tomato are unflattering, but the photo shows that the issue is most likely in the volume of the flower pot.
After you have selected the soil and soil, it is time to sow tomatoes. There are tricks on how to grow the “Balcony Miracle” tomato.
Preparation, sowing and growing young shoots
To activate the soil, it must be moistened a few days before sowing. Since tomato seedlings are not required to be grown in this case, tomato seeds are not soaked for faster germination. Dry seeds are immediately sown in moist soil.
After sprouting, tomatoes need to be provided with sufficient lighting. With a short winter day, this can only be done with the help of electric lamps. Today you can buy special phytolamps that can provide tomato sprouts with the required dose of ultraviolet radiation.
Unless the loggia for the garden was glazed with expensive quartz glass, the plants will need an additional dose of UV rays.
But infrared rays pass through home windows without problems, and placing a tomato plant too close to the glass can lead to leaf burns.
Description and photo of the tomato variety “Balcony Miracle” recommend placing pots with tomato bushes on window sills. But the problem with growing indoor “Balcony Miracle” tomatoes on a windowsill is that modern houses have thin walls and, as a result, small window sills.
Only very small containers can be placed on such window sills. Tomatoes will try to grow and bear fruit even in such conditions, but you can’t count on yield. Reviews about the yield of the “Balcony Miracle” tomato in containers like in the photo are negative. A few tomatoes, instead of the promised 2 kg, are disappointing. But the tomato variety is not to blame for this.
If you make drainage holes in them, they will quickly get wet. If you do not do this, there is a risk of flooding the roots of the tomato bushes with water. In addition, in the future, the proximity of the plant to the glass can play a cruel joke on tomatoes.
After the tomato shoots appear, the container must be positioned so that in the future the plants will not be crowded and will not have to reach for the sun. If the windowsill is wide, you can place the pot on it. If it is narrow, it is better to place the bushes a little further from the window on a stand that is level with the window.
In winter, you will have to use phytolamps to provide balcony tomatoes with the required length of daylight.
Sometimes cold air can blow into the cracks between the window sill and the window frame. In this case, the plants begin to hurt. Also, the earth ball in the pot should not dry out due to exposure to the heating radiator under the windowsill. Heating appliances dry out the air greatly. To maintain the required level of humidity, place a container of water next to the tomato plants.
The easiest way to determine humidity is to buy a hygrometer. Calculating humidity from a table of temperature differences between dry and wet bulbs can be overwhelming.
In summer, it is best to grow tomatoes on an open balcony.
Flowering and fruiting period of tomato bushes
If the plant needed nitrogen fertilizers during growth, then after flowering begins, nitrogen must be reduced. At this time, the plant needs more potassium.
Such a bush will “drive out” the green mass. There will be few flowers and low yields. In order not to overfeed the plants with fertilizers of any kind, it is better to buy ready-made ones and use them according to the instructions.
Pitfalls when growing tomatoes at home
There are also factors that are often overlooked.
The temperature on the loggia is too low. Tomatoes are heat-loving plants. Comfortable temperature for them is +22° during the day and +16² at night. In winter, on an unheated loggia, the temperature can drop to sub-zero.
Lack of opportunity for pollination. In the windless space of the loggia, pollen cannot get from one flower to another. There are no pollinating insects either.Therefore, during flowering, it is recommended to periodically shake the balcony tomato bushes so that the pollen scatters and pollinates the flowers. You can also use hand pollination.
Late blight disease. In the description of the Balcony Miracle tomato variety, one of the characteristics was “resistance to late blight.” In fact, this is not entirely true. More resistant to disease, a tomato bush of this variety may become diseased if the humidity in the room is too high. If dark spots appear on the leaves of the plant, it is better not to take risks and immediately get rid of the diseased tomato bush. If you start the problem, the bacteria will multiply and infect not only garden plants, but also “ordinary” indoor plants.
Unsettled water. When growing tomato bushes at home, you cannot water them directly with tap water. Although they are now moving to more advanced water purification systems, in many cities there is still chlorine in the water. In addition, the tap water is too cold. It should warm up to room temperature and the chlorine should evaporate from it. The water must stand for at least 3 days.
fattening plant. If the tomato plant is too tall, dense and has dark green foliage, it means it has been overfed with nitrogen fertilizers. Such a plant will not bloom or bear fruit. To make it bloom, you need to stop watering for a decade and raise the temperature on the loggia by a few degrees. After the flowers appear, pollination is done manually.
The appearance of stepchildren. This variety of balcony tomatoes should not produce stepsons, but sometimes they appear. You can immediately cut off the sprout. You can wait until it grows up and then root it separately.
Although the Balcony Miracle tomato variety is well suited for growing in apartment conditions, it gives a good harvest when planted in open ground, as in the video.
Reviews
Conclusion
The “Balcony Miracle” tomato variety may be of interest to lovers of “own” vegetables who do not have a summer house, and just flower growers. But it is not suitable as an “industrial” tomato variety due to its low yield, although it grows well in open ground like a regular tomato.
