Growing cherry tomatoes at home is attractive for supplementing the diet with fresh fruits in winter and spring. Culture becomes an unusual decor for the premises, the care of which allows you to practice your favorite hobby after the end of the garden season. You can plant and grow a tomato not only in a large apartment, but also on an ordinary balcony or windowsill.
Table of contents
- Is it possible to grow cherry tomatoes at home on the balcony or windowsill
- Varieties and hybrids of cherry tomatoes for decorative cultivation at home
- High-yielding varieties with fruits for fresh consumption and canning
- Sowing seeds
- Care
- Top dressing
- Forming and trimming
- Disease prevention
- Pollination of tomatoes
Is it possible to grow cherry tomatoes at home on the balcony or windowsill
Many gardeners are trying to grow cherry tomatoes at home. However, not everybody can harvest. The problem is the wrong choice of varieties and errors agrotechnology.
With the advent of new varieties and hybrids, this task is a bit easier. Plants are focused on growing in indoor conditions: relatively resistant to low light, illnesses and almost no stepson. Fruits in winter and spring.
Gardeners blunder - the wrong choice of dates of cultivation. There are two periods of extended tomato culture, in which the plants will develop and bear fruit normally.
The first term allows you to get a harvest by mid December, and with proper care and selection of varieties to extend it until February. In this case, the seeds are sown in late August. In the second term - winter, the seeds are sown in November - December. Crop harvested in March or April.
With a lack of light, tomatoes begin to die in the short winter months. To the death of plants and leads to a decrease in air temperature of more than +5 degrees.
Varieties and hybrids of cherry tomatoes for decorative cultivation at home
Compact cherry varieties are mainly attractive for decorative cultivation. They quickly stop growing, many no longer bear fruit after the first harvest. These plants shade-tolerant, practically do not require shaping and have a high percentage of fruit set.
Grades:
- Balcony miracle;
- Pinocchio;
- Bonsai;
- Pygmy;
- Mascotka;
- Minibell.
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- Balcony miracle
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- Pinocchio
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- Bonsai
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- Pygmy
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- Mascotka
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- Minibel
Suitable for long-term harvest indeterminant varieties and hybrids. They are characterized by continuous growth, capable of repeatedly tying the fruit.
High-yielding varieties with fruits for fresh consumption and canning
Lycopa F1
The plant forms at the same time simple and complex brushes of 12 fruits each. Medium Fruits 40 g, rich red color and sweet-sour taste.
Ripening through 90 days after the emergence of shoots. It has a high content of lycopene in the fruit.
Maksik F1
The plant has short internodes, therefore it grows into a compact bush and takes up little space. Begins to fruition through 90 days after germination. Fruits are mass 25 gbright red with a sweet taste.
Cyrus F1
Fruiting begins through 90-95 days after germination. Medium weight red-orange fruit 40 g. They have a sweet taste, a pronounced fruit aroma and the ability to be stored for up to 2.5 months.
Sowing seeds
Work on the cultivation of cherry tomatoes is better to plan in stages. It will save time, besides important details will not be forgotten.
Preparation of soil and tanks
Sowing tomatoes for home cultivation is best done right in the vases. For one tall plant you will need a pot of 8-10 liters, for a compact one - 3-5 liters.The containers are disinfected with 1% potassium permanganate solution (potassium permanganate), a drainage layer is laid on the bottom (15% of the volume).
Often cherry tomatoes are dying at the age of seedlings. The problem lies in the soil, which can be infected with pests and fungal spores. Convenient and relatively safe to plant plants in finished steamed substrateswhich can be bought in garden centers.
Independently, the soil mixture is prepared from equal parts:
- garden land
- peat
- river sand
Seed preparation
Tomato seeds are best purchased from well-known agrofirms for a period of not more than 3 years after production. At the time of purchase, pay attention to information about how to treat seeds, if it does not, ask the seller.
Questionable or self-selected seeds disinfected. They are wrapped in gauze and immersed in a 0.5% solution of potassium permanganate for 15 minutes. To speed up the germination process seeds immersed in a growth stimulator: Epin or Zircon for the time specified in the instructions.The treated seeds are planted within 12 hours.
Sowing
Before sowing seeds, the substrate is watered abundantly with warm water. 2-3 seeds are sown in one pot at a depth of 3 cm. The soil surface is covered with a film. Tanks place in a warm place with a temperature of + 20 + 25 degrees.
Shoots appear 5-7 days after sowing. After that, remove the film, the tomatoes are placed on a permanent place of cultivation.
Care
Since the emergence of shoots tomatoes need lighting at least 12 hours a day. Fluorescent lamps, installed in a limit of 30 cm from plants, help to solve this problem.
Required air temperature +20 degrees during the day, + 15 + 17 degrees at night. To achieve this optimum installation helps on the window sill. It cuts off the flow of hot air from the batteries and retains the necessary coolness coming from the windows.
Tomatoes are watered only after the earthen coma is completely dry. On average, every 3 days. To do this, use warm distilled water.
After the appearance of two true leaves take the strongest plant, the rest are removed. The root of the remaining tomato pinch on 1/3 and planted with the deepening of the cotyledon leaves.
Top dressing
Since tomatoes have a small amount of soil, they are fertilized every 10 days. In room conditions, plants need more potassium and a minimum of nitrogen. A complex fertilizer is selected with the ratio of minerals N: P: K = 5:15:45, options:
- Plantafol
- Aqua drop
- Plantafid
Root top dressing of tomatoes is combined by spraying the leaves and stems with Megafol. This is an anti-stress drug that contains all the necessary substances for tomatoes.
Forming and trimming
As the bushes grow, the stems that grow from the leaf axils (stepchildren) are removed. For the formation of bushes in the 2-3 stem leave the lowest stepsons. When they begin to set fruit on each stem leave 4-5 brushes. Others are removed. At the same time, pinch the growth point of tall plants by 3-4 cm.
With plants regularly remove all yellowed and diseased leaves.
Disease prevention
For the prevention of disease, a month after the emergence of shoots, the bushes and the soil surface are sprayed with a 1% solution bordeaux mixture. After the fruit is set, it is processed infusion of garlic.
To do this, a slurry of garlic (100 g) is infused in water (0.5 l) for one day. Strained infusion diluted in 5 liters of water, add 20 g of soap. Processing plants spend every month.
Pollination of tomatoes
All varieties and hybrids of cherry tomatoes, recommended for home cultivation, - self-pollinated. However, in the home, where there are no fluctuations in air, this process is hampered. The fact that the flower is not pollinated can be seen on the petals. After pollination, they bend back.
Homemade tomatoes need help. With a brush the pollen of one flower is transferred to the pistil of another. You can put a fan with warm air near the plants for a few minutes or just shake the bushes.
The pollen ripens at night, so the procedure is planned. in the morning. Pollination spend the entire period of flowering tomatoes, regularly examining the state of the flowers.
Ripened tomatoes are torn off immediately before use. They have a special taste and aroma, much healthier than lain in storage of tomatoes. For preservation, tomatoes are harvested twice a week, recharging the underripe in a dark room.