Tomatoes all year round - this is no longer a wonder. But if not from the supermarket package, but from the window sill in your own apartment, this is exclusive. Juicy, ripe, sweet and, most importantly, environmentally friendly fruits on your table will delight the whole family. At the same time - no cost, no money, no time. This review describes and characterizes the best varieties of potted tomatoes.
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Tomatoes on the windowsill: is it real?
Thanks to the efforts of breeders, a variety of different hybrid varieties of tomatoes, unpretentious but very productive, appeared easy to grow on the windowsill at home in an ordinary flower pot. By maintaining a microclimate that is suitable for the growth of the tomato, you can pamper yourself in the winter with the unique taste of homemade tomatoes.
Because the ripening time of various early ripening varieties varies from 90 before 110 days it is easy to calculate the date of planting the seeds so that fragrant fresh tomatoes are ripe for the New Year's table. The main thing - to choose the right variety that meets all your wishes. You will get the opportunity to harvest a large crop from a limited area at any time of the year.
The best indoor varieties for the mini-garden at home
For the window beds of tomatoes suitable stem and ampelnye varieties. They develop in height by no more than 35-45 cm, they do not branch out, which means they should not be tied up. Many hybrids have an adaptation to a short day of light and lack of sunlight, good resistance to the most common diseases (black leg, leaf mold).
With neat little bushes you get 1-2 kg of fruit per season. If you plant in batches in several bushes with an interval of 20-30 days, you can provide yourself with vitamins for the whole winter. In addition, indoor tomatoes have excellent taste and a high content of sugar and vitamins in the pulp (compared with the usual).
The best standard hybrids for growing on the window at home are:
Balcony miracle
Forms standard bushes about 0.5 m in height, tolerates a lack of light, fruits are round, red, weighing 70-100 g, with a high sugar content. Tomato Balcony miracle begins to bear fruit after 80 days after germination.
Micron NC
The smallest of the known varieties, the height of the bush barely reaches 15 cm, sweet fruit red or bright yellow in weight 10-12 g, ripening period 100-110 days. This variety is more decorative and is completely independent of the length of daylight.
Pinocchio
Compact bushes, one of the best indoor tomatoes, fruits are sweet, round, weight up to 20 year You can grow it in the summer in the garden, and in the fall, by transplanting it into pots, bring it home. And if you sow the seeds after September 20, by the New Year you will harvest the first harvest. Pinocchio - mid-season, matures in 105-115 days.
Bonsai
Early variety (matures for 85 days), unpretentious to the light, yield is not the highest - 0,5 kg, but the fruits are very tasty and sweet;
Honey bunch
Early shtambovy bush with a dense crown, height - 40 cm, fruits are sweet, juicy, yellow. Differs in high productivity.
There are a lot of room and balcony varieties, and all of them are deservedly popular: Cheripalchiki F1, Balconi Yellow, Pearl Yellow, Bonsai Micro, F1 Balcony red, Room surprise, etc. A unique feature is that they can grow more than one season. Dried bushes can be left in pots, occasionally watered, and after a while green leaves will begin to appear again. Tomatoes are able to grow until 5 years, but the yield will decline. The bushes most abundantly bear fruit during the first 2-3 years.
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- Balconi Elow
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- Micro bonsai
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- F1 Balcony red
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- Yellow pearl
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- Cheripalchiki F1
Proper seed preparation for planting at home
The principle of growing tomatoes at home is no different from growing in the garden: first we get seedlings from the seeds, then we pick them in pots in a permanent place. Advance should be concerned about the preparation for planting seeds and soil.
But still, before planting, it is better to once again check and sort the full-fledged kernels from empty ones. To do this, for 10 minutes, put them in salted water (1 teaspoon per 200g of water). Semi-dried or empty seeds will float, and healthy, full-grown seeds will sink to the bottom. They need to dunk on 20-30 minutes in a solution of manganese, to protect future plants from late blight.
To speed seed germination for a couple of days, you can put them in a damp cloth for “pecking”. The tomato kernels prepared in this way are sown in a tank for seedlings in a moist soil to the depth 1 see and at a distance 3 see from each other. After that, the soil is lightly tamped down, covered with plastic wrap and cleaned in a warm place until germination. The film needs to be punctured in several places so that excess moisture does not accumulate under it, since this can cause seedling diseases. Daytime temperature is desirable to withstand + 22-25 degrees, night - + 15-17.
About a week later, the first leaflets appear (false), the temperature at this time is lowered to 20 degrees and the room is occasionally ventilated. It is also necessary to monitor the humidity - not to overdry, but not to overwet, so that the seedlings do not get sick with a “black leg”.
The soil can be prepared independently or buy a ready substrate. For a healthy plant growth and a good harvest, the following mixture is most suitable:
- the soil itself must be composed from 50% of humus, 45% of black soil, 5% of sand;
- for enrichment on one bucket of soil make 1 glass of wood ash, 1 matchbox of superphosphate, potassium sulfate, urea.
Fill the containers with this mixture - plastic cups with drainage holes or wooden boxes with pallets 10-12cm high.
Transplanting tomato seedlings and further care
After appearing on the shoots of 2-3 true leaves, it is necessary to pick the seedlings, i.e. you need to choose the strongest and most developed sprouts and plant them in pots or other containers specially prepared for this. The size of the container should be 8-10 liters, for the smallest decorative varieties of tomatoes, you can take a container with a size of 4-5 liters. In the process of caring for plants, it is necessary to follow the elementary rules and technologies of agricultural technology:
- Lighting. Pots with tomatoes are placed on the windowsills on the south side. Once every two days they are turned 180 degrees so that the plant is level and does not lean in the sunny direction. In case of cloudy weather, as well as in the mornings and evenings, it is necessary to provide the plants with additional illumination - fitolamp or even ordinary light bulbs (except for those varieties whose growth does not depend on the length of the daylight hours).
- Watering. Indoor tomatoes are very sensitive to watering. Regular soil moistening promotes good growth, formation of ovaries and ripening of fruits. The lack of moisture will lead to the fall of the fruit, but the excess of it leads to the spread of various diseases - rot, late blight, fungal infections. You need to water 2 times a week, moderately and not irrigating the stems.With the beginning of flowering, watering should be stopped and resumed with the appearance of ovaries.
- Top dressing of tomatoes. Three weeks after the dive of the seedlings and then every 10-15 days we fertilize the plants with special mineral and organic fertilizers, which we apply to the wet soil on the second day after watering.
- Tying lashes. Low shtambovy bushes with a steady trunk usually do not need a support. The branches of medium-sized tomatoes are tied to pegs, which are stuck into the ground, trying not to damage the root system.
- Masking Be sure to conduct pasynkovanie, i. removal of shoots, “stepchildren” in the axils of the leaves throughout the entire growth of plants for its proper formation. Pasynki zagushchayut plant, take away nutrients, reduce the yield of tomatoes.
- Pollination. Potted varieties produce a fairly good yield without pollination, but if you wish, you can carry out pollination with a brush, carefully running it through the flowers.
Growing hybrid varieties of tomatoes on the windowsill in the winter - This is not only a benefit, but also a great pleasure, a very interesting activity. Paying a little attention and free time, you get a harvest of exclusive varieties of bright, sweet and very useful tomatoes from your window sill. To care for such a plant will be easy, even for novice gardeners.