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It’s nice to grow your own tomatoes on your own plot. In addition, there is always confidence that the vegetable has not been fed with harmful fertilizers. What should a person living in an apartment do? Of course, grow tomatoes on the balcony or windowsill. About when they plant balcony tomatoes, and how they are cared for, we will now talk.
Are all tomato varieties suitable for balcony growing?
Before considering the agricultural technology of the crop, it should immediately be noted that not all varieties of tomatoes are able to bear fruit under indoor conditions. First of all, if you want to plant tomatoes on the balcony, you need to pay attention to low-growing varieties. Typically, indoor plants are characterized by a compact bush structure. The fruits will be small, and you shouldn’t even count on large tomatoes.
Regular varieties of tall tomatoes cannot be grown on the balcony for two reasons: the plant requires a special formation of the bush, and the large root system will not have enough space to develop in a flower pot.
Many tomatoes have been bred that can be grown on the balcony. Let's look at some of them:
- The balcony greatly limits the space for the development of culture. Under such conditions, varieties have proven themselves well "Tiny Tim", "Florida Petit" and "Minibell". All these tomatoes are undersized, one might say dwarf. The fruits ripen together and quite early. The first flower is formed over 6 leaves, all subsequent ones go through 1 leaf. Usually one shoot produces no more than three flowers and stops growing. His stepson immediately follows him. A maximum of 7 small spherical tomatoes, weighing up to 20 g, are tied from the inflorescence. When ripe, the fruits become red.
- A popular balcony variety is the tomato. "Angelica". The culture is very early, allowing you to enjoy ripe fruits after 80 days. The tomatoes ripen together, all at once. The first flower is placed above the 7th leaf, and all subsequent ones after 2 leaves. Shoot growth stops after the formation of three flowers. From him comes his stepson. Each inflorescence can produce up to 10 tomatoes. For an indoor variety, the fruits are quite large, weighing up to 70 g. An egg-shaped vegetable with a sharp nose turns red when ripe.
- Small balcony tomato plant "Pearl" grows only 40 cm in height. The inflorescence produces up to 7 small tomatoes weighing 20 g. The spherical-elongated fruits acquire a pink flesh color when ripe. An unripe vegetable is almost white with a faint green tint. The variety gained popularity due to its ease of care and delicious sweet fruits.
- The early hybrid has proven itself well "Balcony Red F1". As soon as the first shoots appear from the soil, ripe tomatoes can be expected after 90 days. The small bush, 30 cm high, is so compact that it easily grows in a flower pot. Balcony tomatoes grow small, but very sweet and tasty.
- Quite a popular hybrid "Balconies Yellow F1" has a low-growing bush, maximum height of 45 cm. Fruit ripening is early. A bush with small lemon-colored tomatoes will decorate your windowsill. Tomatoes grown indoors are even used for canning.
In addition to the tomatoes discussed above, there are many more indoor varieties. Each owner can choose a suitable balcony crop in a seed store.
The video shows how to compactly plant tomatoes on the balcony:
Preparing soil with seeds and performing proper sowing
In order for tomato seedlings to grow well on the balcony and bring a bountiful harvest in the future, it is necessary to properly prepare the soil. It is best to buy ready-made soil. It already contains the entire complex of mineral supplements. If you want to save money, you can collect turf soil yourself and mix it with humus. Looseness is important here. If the soil is dense, add peat or sawdust. The nutritional value of the soil will be ensured by the addition of superphosphate, potassium, wood ash, and ammonium nitrate.
To grow good tomatoes on the balcony, it is optimal to sow the seeds before the end of February. Each vegetable grower has his own secrets for processing and immersing grains in the ground, but usually this is one of two ways:
- The first method involves sowing dry tomato seeds directly from a pack.. To do this, prepare a container with a volume of about 200 ml. This can be any plastic glass, cut PET bottle, flower pot, etc.The main thing is that the walls of the container are not too thin. Drainage holes in the bottom are not needed. There is little soil, and the plant itself is able to absorb all the moisture. The glass is filled with soil, poured boiling water, and then everything is left until it cools completely. When the soil reaches room temperature, make 3 holes 15 mm deep and put 1 seed each, cover it with earth on top. The seeded cups are tightly covered with PET film and placed in a warm place for germination. The film is removed only after all shoots have appeared. It is important not to immediately lower the ambient temperature. When the tomato sprouts become stronger after 4 days, the cups are taken to a cooler place. If all 3 seeds have sprouted in each container, leave the strongest tomato sprout and remove the rest.
- The second method involves sowing already sprouted balcony tomato seeds in cups.. To do this, the grains are disinfected with a weak solution of potassium permanganate. A damp cotton cloth or gauze is spread on a saucer, a single layer of tomato grain is spread on top, and then covered with the same damp piece of cloth. Tomato seeds stand in this form until they germinate. It is important to keep the fabric moist and keep the seeds warm. As the grains hatch, they are planted one at a time in the soil of each cup. Further steps are identical as for the first method. Cover the containers with film and wait for the shoots to emerge. There is no need to remove only excess plants, since only one tomato seed was sown in each glass.
A balcony or window sill is considered a cool place where mature tomato seedlings will be placed. Plants need to be provided with good lighting, plus regular watering with warm water.
Optimal conditions for the growth of balcony tomatoes
To obtain strong tomato plants from tender sprouts, it is necessary to create optimal growing conditions for the crop. Daylight is usually enough for the plant. However, a window located on the shaded side of the house is not able to optimally provide tomato seedlings with light. Here you will have to take care of artificial lighting with a lamp. It is enough to turn it on for 3 hours over tomatoes in the early morning and at dusk.
Coolness usually comes from the window. If at night the temperature drops below +15OC, above the tomato seedlings, arcs are made of wire, on which a film is placed. In the morning they take it off again. Water the plants only with warm water. Moreover, make sure that the soil around the tomato stem is slightly moist. Excess moisture should not be allowed. This will cause the roots of the tomatoes to rot.
Above we looked at two optimal ways to sow tomato seeds in cups. Sometimes housewives like to sow grains of balcony tomatoes in boxes with soil. In this case, further care of tomato seedlings involves picking. After two full leaves appear, the plants are carefully lifted with a spatula and removed from the box along with a lump of earth. There should be a prepared pot of soil nearby. The picked tomato is buried in the soil 20 mm lower than it grew in the box. The tomato seedling is watered generously with warm water and transferred to a warm, shaded place. The plant will get stronger in about a week. Then the tomato can be taken out to the balcony or placed on the windowsill closer to sunlight.
Watering and fertilizing tomato seedlings
The frequency of watering plants depends on air humidity. Usually, tomato seedlings are watered at the root twice a day: in the morning and in the evening. 40 days after sowing the tomato seeds, the plants are fed with humus. Moreover, this is done 3 times before transplanting to their permanent place of growth. Humus can be bought at any specialized store. It is enough to pour a layer 20 mm thick under the root of each plant. Fertilizing will strengthen the tomato root system and saturate the soil with useful substances.
We transplant tomatoes to a permanent place of growth
Small cups are not the containers where a balcony tomato will grow all the time. After about 1 month, the tomato root system will become large and it needs a large area for further development. It should be noted right away that the tomatoes on the balcony will continue to grow and bear fruit at a distance of at least 250 mm from each other. It is impossible to place pots of tomatoes closer because the plants become crowded.
Before transplanting balcony tomato seedlings A drainage layer is placed at the bottom of the flower pot. Any stones or broken tiles will do. Fill a third of the container with soil purchased or independently enriched with fertilizers. The growing tomato is removed from the glass along with a lump of soil, after which it is placed in a pot.If the container is large and the tomatoes are short, you can plant 2 or 3 plants. Next, fill the voids between the roots of the tomato and the walls of the flower pot with soil, but its level should only reach the third upper part of the container. The transplanted tomato is watered abundantly with water, after which it is sent to its permanent place of growth.
Further care for balcony tomatoes requires shaping the bush, but this depends on the variety. In many crops, only 2 shoots are left above the first tomato cluster, all the rest are removed. Dry and diseased foliage from the plant must be torn off. It is allowed to pick off the flowers from the top of the plant after the first tomato ovary appears. This will allow the fruits to receive more nutrients. Balcony tomato varieties are self-pollinating. If desired, you can still help pollinate by alternately passing the brush over the inflorescences.
The video talks about growing balcony tomatoes:
In this simple way, even a city dweller can grow fresh tomatoes on the balcony. You just need to put in a little effort, and fresh tomatoes will be on the table.
