Tomatoes are one of the most popular crops grown by gardeners. They are planted both in greenhouses and in the open field. This is a rather capricious plant that requires attention and care not only in adulthood, but also at the stage of growing seedlings. That is why newcomers to the world of gardening are afraid to mess with tomatoes, preferring to tackle other, easier-to-care crops. But you should not be afraid to cultivate these plants - experience will come with time, but you need to start with something. And we will start by learning how to properly grow tomato seedlings and how to care for them so that they grow into strong and strong fruiting plants.

Growing tomato seedlings is troublesome

Good quality soil is perhaps one of the most important conditions for the correct cultivation of high-quality seedlings. At the same time, when choosing a soil, you can go in two ways. The first is to buy a ready-made one at a gardening store. The advantage of such a soil is the optimal content of all substances necessary for young plants. However, such soil also has its drawbacks - it is often infested with midge larvae and other "living creatures" that can harm the seedlings. Therefore, it is better not to use such a soil or use it only after the disinfection procedure, but we will talk about this later.

Soil prices for tomato seedlings

soil for tomatoes

The second way is to make the soil mixture yourself. It has been harvested since the fall. One of the main requirements for the soil for tomato seedlings is lightness and looseness. It is also important to check that the soil is not only loose and nutritious, but also has a pH in the range of 5.6-6. Therefore, simply picking up a bag of land from the garden would be a wrong decision.

Seedlings can be grown on several types of soil mixtures.

1. Sod soil, pressed peat, humus are mixed in a 1: 2: 1 ratio, and two matchboxes of superphosphate and about 500 ml of ash are added to them (additives are calculated per 1 large bucket of soil).
2. Sod land, black peat or compost, coarse sand are mixed in a 1: 1: 1 ratio, and then spilled with a solution of carbamide, potassium sulfate and superphosphate (10 g, 20 g, 30 g, respectively).

On a note! Since peat increases the acidity of the soil, a little chalk should be added to the soil mixture. You can replace peat with humus soil.

In general, there is no single recipe for preparing soil for tomatoes - each gardener uses his own time-tested techniques, but any of the above recipes will suit a beginner. Over time, everyone will learn to improve soil mixtures in their own way.

On a note! Seedlings love coconut substrate, they rarely rot and develop well. Coconut fiber can be purchased at a gardening store. You can also purchase and for growing tomato seedlings.

Coconut substrate prices

coconut substrate

After the soil has been harvested in the fall, it is removed to where it will be very cold - the next stage of preparation begins, called "disinfection". In the cold, the ground will freeze well, most of the fungi and bacteria that can harm your plantings will die in it.

A few days before planting the seeds, the soil is subjected to heat treatment. It is carried out in different ways. The most popular are steaming and roasting.

Steaming is done very simply - the soil is placed in a metal container with holes in several places (usually in an old bucket) and placed on bricks laid in another, more voluminous metal tank, filled with water about 5 cm.Having closed the large container with a lid, it (container ) is put on fire and kept on it for about two hours.

You can also steam the soil a little differently. To do this, the soil is poured into a cloth bag, which is placed on a grate installed above the water tank. By heating the tank on fire, we get steam, which envelops the bag of earth. So it takes about 45 minutes to disinfect the soil.

Now a few words about how the calcination takes place. To do this, the soil mixture is poured into a metal container, poured with boiling water, mixed and poured onto a baking sheet. The latter should be placed in a hot oven for 25 minutes.

Attention! After heat treatment, be sure to keep the ground in frost for about a week so that it can rest. Only then use it.

The last stage of soil preparation for tomatoes is its disinfection with a solution of potassium permanganate. This method will help protect young plants from disease. We dilute about 3 g of potassium permanganate crystals in a bucket of water and spill the soil with the resulting solution.

On a note! The soil from the store must also go through the disinfection process. Even if there is a note on the package that the soil has been disinfected, it is better to play it safe and carry it out again. There will be no harm for sure.

There can be any container for tomato seedlings - boxes, plastic and peat pots, homemade containers and so on. It is very convenient to plant seeds in small plastic pots with a bottom that resembles a round plate. It is convenient to remove plants from such containers in the future and plant them in the ground. In addition, individual planting will save you from picking seedlings.

One of the most important steps is the disinfection of the seedling container. It doesn't matter if you bought new pots or use old boxes - you need to process everything. The easiest way is to wash the containers, and then immerse them in a potassium permanganate solution for 30 minutes and rinse again with clean water.

Choosing seeds and preparing them

Very often the frustration of trying to grow tomatoes happens when the grower simply chooses the wrong seeds. First, you need to decide what you need tomatoes for - for salads, for pickles or for other needs. The choice of the variety will largely depend on this.

It is also important to pay attention to indicators such as ripening time, yield, keeping quality, endurance. Usually, all this information is written on the seed package, and it will not be difficult for you to choose the variety that is best for you.

When shopping, pay attention to how well the seeds are packaged and their shelf life. Do not take old ones - tomatoes remain viable for about 4-5 years, no more. Give preference to those varieties that are adapted to the climatic conditions of the region in which you are going to grow them.

Growing tomatoes in greenhouse conditions allows you to get a good and (if necessary) early harvest. Not all varieties are suitable for greenhouses. It is necessary to give preference to those of them that are resistant to diseases. More details - in.

Before planting tomato seeds for seedlings, you should test them for germination. It so happens that even the best manufacturers make mistakes and there are "dummies" in the packaging with the planting material. Pouring the seeds with salted water (10 g per glass) for 5-10 minutes will help to weed out the marriage. All the bad ones will emerge, but the good ones will remain at the bottom.

This procedure is followed by seed disinfection. Don't be surprised - even the best quality seeds can be contaminated with pathogens. Disinfection is carried out as follows: tomato seeds are placed in a solution of water and hydrogen peroxide for 10 minutes, which is easy to prepare - for this, 3 ml of a disinfectant is diluted in 100 g of water, then heated to 40 degrees.

The next stage is seed germination. This will require a soft cotton cloth that is moistened with water. Seeds are laid out on one edge and covered with the second, the fabric is placed in a container, covered with polyethylene so that there is a gap for air access. Every day 3-4 times the film is removed completely so that the planting material can breathe. You can plant seeds in 4-5 days.

Prices for tomato seeds

tomato seeds

Planting seeds

Usually, tomatoes for seedlings are planted around the end of February or mid-March, but, depending on the variety chosen, the timing may vary. Therefore, it is best to check the planting schedule shown on the packaging of the planting material.

Step 1. Fill the washed and disinfected seedling container with treated and prepared soil.

Step 2. Level, compact and moisten the soil with water at room temperature.

Step 3. Make neat grooves about 1 cm deep on the soil surface at a distance of at least 3-4 cm from each other. Make indentations 1 cm deep in individual pots.

Step 4. Place the tomato seeds in the grooves at least 2 cm apart. Place one seed at a time in the pots.

On a note! Remember that the less often the seeds are planted in the boxes, the longer you will not have to resort to the picking procedure.

Step 5. Gently cover the pits or furrows with soil.

Step 6. Cover the containers with plastic or a piece of glass to keep them dry and warm.

Step 7. Place containers in a warm place - for example, near a battery.

On a note! The air temperature for tomato seeds to sprout must be at least 25 degrees.

Step 8. Wait for shoots. The first shoots will appear within 3-5 days.

Video - Sowing tomato seeds for seedlings

Caring for tomato seedlings involves the provision and maintenance of several environmental factors. These are humidity, temperature, fresh air, lighting.

Table. Conditions for growing tomato seedlings.

Factor	Required level
	While the seeds have not yet hatched and sprout, the moisture content of the soil should be checked daily, and when it dries, spray the ground with a spray bottle. The first shoots are watered very carefully with warm water, while the second watering is done after about a week. It is important to remember that young shoots should always be kept moist, otherwise they will die, so the timing of watering is very relative. Watering the seedlings is done with a pipette under the stem, you cannot pour on the leaves.
	Pots with tomato seedlings should be in the most luminous place - usually the lightest window sill. It is also important to organize additional illumination with lamps. It is recommended to light the plants around the clock for the first 3 days after germination, and then at least 16 hours a day.
	In order for the seeds to sprout, it is necessary to maintain the air temperature at + 25-28 degrees, a week after the sprouts appear - + 20-25, and after a couple of weeks the temperature can be reduced to room temperature.
	While the plants are under the film, it must be lifted periodically to remove excess moisture. Remember that too much moisture can cause mold. To get rid of the latter is simple - remove the affected soil and pour potassium permanganate over the ground. The film is completely removed only 1-2 weeks after the first entries, while during this time the plants should be taught that soon the container with them will be completely open. For this, the film or glass is lifted daily for a while.
	The first feeding is done approximately 10-14 days after the appearance of the first shoots, then weekly. It's time to fertilize the soil when one leaf with cloves appears at the sprouts. Top dressing can be done with the “Effect” preparation, using it according to the instructions on the package.

Diving is a procedure for planting seedlings growing in boxes in individual containers of 10 * 10 cm. A diving is carried out when young tomatoes have 2-3 true leaves.

When diving, you can use a regular teaspoon

At this time, sick and frail plants are discarded. When transplanting, the stems of the bushes are buried almost under the very leaves.

Greenhouse landing

Before the most important thing happens - transplanting tomato seedlings into a greenhouse or open ground, it is important to harden the plants. To do this, the seedlings should be taken out onto the balcony or open veranda. The first "walk" is carried out on a calm and warm sunny day and lasts no more than 5 minutes. Further, the terms are increased daily by 5 minutes.

When growing seedlings at home determining the exact time of sowing seeds is of great importance, otherwise, by the time the tomatoes are planted in the ground, the seedling material will be either still immature or already overgrown.

When to plant tomatoes depends on latitude and weather conditions. Therefore, most often:

• in the southern regions of Russia tomatoes are sown from February 20 to March 15;
• in the central regions- from March 15 to April 1;
• in the northern regions (Siberia, Ural)- from 1 to 15 April.

If tomato seedlings are planned to be planted in a greenhouse, then the sowing time can be shifted by 2 - 3 weeks.

Before sowing seeds, it is necessary to foresee where the seedlings will grow... It is better if these are the sills of the south or southwest windows. Perhaps, in bad weather conditions (constant cloudiness), additional illumination of seedlings will be required, therefore, a phytolamp should be purchased.

Seed selection

The choice of seeds should be approached responsibly. It is advisable to purchase them in specialized stores or from sellers who have all the necessary documents to guarantee the quality of the goods. It is not worth buying on street trays or in crossings: similar storage conditions for seeds are not consistent with the norm (temperature regime, humidity level, etc.).

Before you go for seeds, you need to decide: which tomatoes you should buy (tall or short), which varieties to give preference to, how much seed you need. Naturally, all conclusions are made based on the characteristics of the personal plot or greenhouse (area, soil composition, etc.).

In the store, attention should be paid to the manufacturer, and most importantly, to the shelf life. Seeds that are over two years old are best not to buy... If there are no other options, then the seed will need to be carefully examined and low-quality rejected.

The following method will help to successfully cope with this task:

1. Stir 30 - 40 grams of sodium chloride in 1 liter of water;
2. immerse the purchased seeds in the resulting solution for 10 minutes;
3. the seeds that have floated to the surface must be thrown away, and the drowned ones must be selected and rinsed with clean running water.

Culling must be carried out on the eve of sowing seeds in the ground.

Processing and preparation for disembarkation

Seed material from well-known manufacturers usually does not need additional processing, but seeds collected with your own hands or bought on the market should be pre-disinfected.

• This can be done by immersing them in a 1% solution of potassium permanganate (1 g per 100 ml of water) for 20 - 30 minutes, after the expiration of time, the seeds must be rinsed with water.
• Another option: for a day, the seed is placed in a 0.5% solution of soda (0.5 grams per 100 ml of water).
• You can treat the seeds with a solution of liquid Fitosporin (1 drop per 100 ml of water), keeping them in the liquid for 1 - 2 hours.

To increase the percentage of germination of seeds, they can be kept in a solution of a growth stimulator (Epin, Zircon, Heteroauxin, etc.); the method of dilution and the duration of the procedure - according to the instructions. Some gardeners use the folk method: they immerse the seed in a solution of aloe juice (1: 1) or honey water (1 tsp in a glass of water).

You can sow seeds dry and germinated. but the second option is preferable. For germination you will need:

• saucer;
• cloth, gauze, or paper towel.

1. The cloth is moistened, placed flat on a saucer, tomato seeds of the same variety are poured onto it and spread over the surface, the container is covered with a plastic lid or plastic bag and placed in a warm place for 10-12 hours.
2. Swollen seeds must be sown in the ground immediately.
3. You can keep them on a saucer for 3 to 5 days, in which case the seeds should germinate, and when planting, you must be extremely careful not to break fragile shoots.

The soil

The main component of the purchased substrate is peat., which has high acidity, therefore, experienced vegetable growers add to it garden soil or universal soil for flowers in a 1: 1 ratio, as well as dolomite flour or chalk (1 - 2 tablespoons per 10 liters of substrate).

Seedlings grown on the basis of land from their own garden, when transplanted into open ground, experience less stress, and, therefore, take root easier and faster.

For those wishing to prepare a potting mix with their own hands, the following options can be offered:

• Garden soil, peat, humus are mixed in equal parts, a little ash and complex fertilizer are added to the mixture.
• Peat, sod land, mullein (4: 1: 0.25). For every 10 liters of the mixture, 3 liters of coarse sand, 10 grams of ammonium nitrate, 1 - 1.5 grams of potassium chloride, 2 - 3 grams of superphosphate are added.
• Mix 1 part of humus, peat, sod land, adding 1.5 tbsp for every 10 liters of the mixture. ash, 3 tbsp. superphosphate, 1 tbsp. potassium sulfate and 1 tsp. urea.

Recommended soil acidity level - 5.5 - 6.0 pH... The earth must be decontaminated! For this purpose, the soil can be calcined in the oven (+ 180C - + 200C for 30 minutes), spilled with boiling water or a bright pink solution of potassium permanganate, treated with fungicides according to the instructions.

The soil is usually pre-treated, 10 to 12 days before the expected sowing date. After disinfection, the soil should be moistened and left at room temperature for beneficial microorganisms to multiply in it.

Choice of capacity

As a container for sowing seeds, you can use special cassettes, peat tablets or pots, as well as improvised means: plastic cups and containers for food products, shallow boxes, independently knocked down from planks or plywood. In any case, in all containers, drainage holes must be made at the bottom, which will ensure the drain of excess moisture.

The optimum height of the seedling boxes should be 8-10 centimeters.... You should not give preference to overly bulky containers, since during the entire period of seedling growth, they will need to be rearranged from place to place several times.

Disposable containers do not need disinfection, and used containers should be wiped with alcohol before use.

How to sow?

In peat tablets

This method makes it possible to grow strong and healthy seedlings, bypassing the dive stage. When planted in open ground or in a greenhouse, the plant can be transplanted with the tablet.

Watch a useful video about growing tomato seedlings in peat tablets:

Into a container or other container

The classic method of sowing, which provides for the stage of diving into separate containers.

1. A layer of drainage 0.5 cm thick (small pebbles, eggshells) should be poured onto the bottom.
2. Soil 8 - 10 cm thick is poured into the container, well moistened with warm water.
3. On the surface, grooves are made with a depth of 1 cm, the distance between them is 3-4 cm.
4. The seeds are spread out along the grooves at a distance of 1 - 2 cm, sprinkled with soil on top and moistened with a spray bottle.
5. The container must be covered with glass or a lid, then placed in a warm (+ 25C - + 30C) place.

We offer you to watch a video about growing tomato seedlings in the classical way:

Sowing in a "diaper"

This method will make it possible to save space: a large amount of seedlings can be grown in a relatively small area.

Watch a video about sowing tomato seedlings in a "diaper":

Of course, you can buy ready-made seedlings, but the taste of tomatoes grown from seeds with your own hands is much sweeter and tastier.

If you find an error, please select a piece of text and press Ctrl + Enter.

To get a rich harvest of tomatoes in your summer cottage, you need to know how to grow tomato seedlings at home. Some gardeners prefer to buy bushes from the market, but there are many disadvantages to this. There is no certainty that you are getting exactly the grade you need. In addition, such seedlings are often sick and do not take root well in the open field.

Seed preparation

The key to a good harvest is the right seeds. You can get them yourself by selecting from the best fruits grown last year. In order for them to germinate, they must be thoroughly dried and properly stored.

When buying seeds, carefully read the data on the package, which allows you to determine the percentage of germination, ripening dates, frost resistance and much more. Choose varieties that suit your climatic conditions, and be sure to check the expiration date so as not to purchase an expired product.

Having decided on the variety, you need to prepare the seeds for sowing. This is an important condition for growing strong tomato seedlings.

• Place the seeds on a sheet of white paper and sort carefully.
• Discard deformed and small ones.
• Fill the remaining material with salt water. Good seeds will sink to the bottom, and empty ones will float up.
• Collect quality seeds, rinse with running water and dry.

The selected planting material must be disinfected. A weak solution of manganese is suitable for processing. Stir a few crystals in warm water. You should get a light pink liquid. Pour it over the seeds for 15 minutes. This time is enough for the pathogenic bacteria to die, and the future seedlings become resistant to diseases.

Many summer residents germinate seeds before planting. This significantly increases germination and makes the seedlings stronger. It is useful to use aloe juice, an excellent natural growth stimulant. It increases yields and carries out additional disinfection of seeds.

You will need the leaves of an adult plant. Rinse them with water, chop and squeeze out the juice. Mix it with boiled water in equal proportions. Put the seeds in cheesecloth, tie tightly and dip into the solution. After a day, take it out, wrap it in cellophane and place in a warm place. Check the seeds periodically. When they hatch, proceed to planting.

You can plant seeds without germination, but then germination will decrease, and the seedlings will grow longer.

Landing dates

Novice gardeners are interested in how to properly grow tomato seedlings. It is important to time your boarding accurately. Remember that the seedlings should not be in the apartment for more than 60 days. If it outgrows, it will be difficult for it to root in the garden bed, and if planted in open ground, it may freeze too early.

To get good tomato seedlings, consider your climate. When warm weather usually sets in in early May, count from that time 55 days ago. This will be the time when you need to start preparing seeds and planting.

If you listen to the lunar calendar, sowing tomatoes cannot be done on the full moon and new moon. This impairs their development. It is recommended to plant seeds in the second phase of the growing moon, which improves the growth of tops, makes the seedlings stronger and stronger.

Soil selection

Experienced summer residents advise harvesting soil for planting in the fall. It is necessary to collect soil from the garden, combine in the same proportion with fine sand and humus. Stir, add a couple of tablespoons of powdered chalk and wood ash to each bucket of the mixture. The soil should be airy and loose in order to quickly pass moisture and oxygen.

When it is not possible to prepare the ground in advance, you can use another recipe. Take:

• 70% sod soil;
• 15% humus;
• 15% ash, chalk and peat by mixing the ingredients together.

Any substrate must be disinfected before sowing in order to remove pathogens. There are several proven methods.

• Ignite the soil in the oven for a quarter of an hour, setting the temperature to 200 degrees.
• Pour boiling water over the ground.
• Put the mixture in the microwave and turn on the unit for 2 minutes.
• Cover the soil with a strong manganese solution.

Choose an appropriate method, decontaminate, moisten the soil if dry, and place it in a warm place for 2 weeks before planting.

If you do not have time to work with soil, purchase soil mixture at the store. High-quality products go through all stages of cleaning, so they do not need additional processing.

Sowing seeds

Find a suitable container for your seedlings. It can be:

• plastic cups;
• yogurt or milk cartons;
• small pots.

You can build wooden crates or buy special pallets with cassettes. The main thing is that the container has good drainage. In cups, boxes, pots and boxes, several holes must be made for the water to exit.

Cover the prepared soil, dig holes 3 cm deep and place the seeds about 3 cm apart. Pour gently with warm water, cover the seeds with earth, cover the container with glass or stretch the film. It is needed to create a greenhouse effect. When mass shoots appear, the cover can be removed.

• If you need a way to grow healthy tomato seedlings, purchase peat seed pots at your local grocery store.
• These are small rounded containers.
• The seedlings grown in them do not need to be removed for transplantation.
• This significantly reduces trauma to the root system and plant death in the open field.

The cups are made of peat with the addition of paper and humus. They need to make holes in them, pour broken eggshells on the bottom for drainage, put nutritious soil on top, water and sow seeds. When the seedlings grow and are ready for rooting in the garden, you need to transfer them there along with the pot. Peat will quickly begin to decompose, fertilizing the soil and increasing the yield of tomatoes.

When growing seedlings in peat pots, do not forget that it needs to be watered much more often than the one that sits in plastic trays and cups. The moisture in this container evaporates quickly.

Temperature regime

Until the shoots appear, you need to maintain the air temperature at about 27-30 C. Usually, seedlings hatch for 4-5 days. Then the degree must be reduced so that the seedlings do not begin to stretch up. The optimum temperature is 16 C.

During this period, tomatoes need good lighting. Place them on the windowsill. If there is not enough natural light, you need to make additional lighting. At first, it is advisable to leave it on around the clock.

Remove the airing film daily, otherwise mold may develop on the seedlings. When most of the bushes sprout, remove the protection and increase the temperature in the daytime to 22 C. At night it should be less by 4-5 C. Protect the seedlings from drafts and sudden temperature changes.

Watering and feeding

Watering requires clean water at room temperature. It needs to be passed through a filter or defended in a jar. The seedlings should be moistened carefully, the roots can rot from the excess of moisture. Lack is also dangerous and can destroy the plant.

• Check the soil regularly and water it as it dries.
• Watering should be done every 5-6 days.
• Spray water under each root with a spray bottle.
• When the seedlings grow and they have more than 5 leaves, it is recommended to increase watering and carry out every 3-4 days.

Whether it is necessary to fertilize the seedlings is evident from their appearance. We feed the plants when the nutrients are insufficient. In this case, the leaves turn yellow, the trunk looks stunted. To know how to feed the sprouts, you need to understand what trace elements are missing.

• Brittle yellowish leaves signal a lack of nitrogen.
• A purple shade of seedlings indicates a lack of phosphorus.
• Rolling leaves is a sign of a lack of potassium.
• White spots on the tops form when there is no iron in the soil.

For the first time, seedlings can be fed two weeks after they have emerged. The frequency of fertilization is once every 10 days. It is best to use commercially available complex preparations. Agricola Vegeta, Kornerost and Effekton-O have proven themselves well for tomatoes. Use them according to the instructions and try to prevent liquid from getting on the trunk and leaves during processing.

Seedling picking

How to grow good tomato seedlings? At a certain stage of development, you will need to dive the plant. This means that it needs to be transplanted into a new container. The procedure is necessary for the development of the root system. It can be avoided by initially planting the seeds in peat cups.

When three full-fledged formed leaves appear on the sprouts, you can start diving.

• Prepare containers with a volume of 500 ml, make holes in them and pour some earth inside.
• Water the seedlings, carefully remove them from the ground and pin the main root to a third of the length.
• Place in a prepared pot, sprinkle with soil, lightly tamp it with your fingers and pour water over it.
• Take the dived seedlings to a brightly lit place and increase the room temperature to 25 C.
• After two days, the temperature regime must be lowered again to 22 C.

Some gardeners use an interesting way to get strong tomato seedlings from seeds. To do this, they are dived and planted in 2 pieces in one pot next to each other. The trunks are tied together with a nylon thread. Plants grow together quickly. Then the tip of the weaker trunk is pinched, and the thread is removed. The result is a powerful seedling with developed roots.

Landing in open ground

Landing in the garden occurs when warm weather is firmly established on the street, excluding night frosts. It is impossible to overexpose tomato seedlings in an apartment. When she is one and a half months old, you need to prepare for a transplant. Plants need to be hardened.

• To do this, gradually reduce the temperature in the room.
• Decrease it daily by 2-3 degrees and bring it to 14-16 C.
• When there are 4-5 days left before the transplant, start taking the seedlings out onto the balcony.
• Leave the plants outside for 2 hours on the first day.
• In the second - for 4 hours, and then do not bring the sprouts home around the clock, so that they fully adapt to the new temperature conditions.

Seedlings are considered to be ready for rooting in the ground when they are about 30 cm long. They have at least 7 leaves, a powerful stem 1 cm wide and have a flower cluster.

Every person can have a strong, healthy tomato seedling, but how to grow it is entirely up to you. You can use any method available and provide yourself with powerful seedlings that will give a bountiful harvest.

The tomato is the most popular vegetable garden. Growing tomatoes in personal plots using the seedling method is practiced today by many vegetable growers - our compatriots.

Summer residents who do not have information: how to plant tomatoes for seedlings at home, often purchase seedlings from market traders. Purchased seedlings have a number of disadvantages. Young plants do not always correspond to the variety declared for sale. Due to the fact that a different soil was used to grow purchased seedlings, there is no guarantee that they will adapt to the soil conditions in the new garden. As a result, in order to obtain an excellent harvest of high-quality tomatoes, it will be preferable to plant tomato seedlings, carried out by a vegetable grower on his own.

Successful cultivation of tomato seedlings directly depends on an informed choice, successful preparatory processing of seed material. Initially, you need to decide on the optimal varieties of tomatoes.
To this end, you need to pay attention to the study of information about interested varieties, hybrids; determine the timing of their ripening, frost resistance, yield, germination percentage, etc. It is extremely important to give preference to seeds of varieties adapted to the climatic conditions of the area in which the suburban area is dampened.

It is imperative to find out the expiration dates of the seeds, the use of expired seed material is strictly prohibited.

Purchased seeds should be examined in order to reject unnecessarily small, broken specimens. By placing the seeds in salt water, you can get quality planting material. Good seeds will be at the bottom, and empty ones will float. Next, the selected tomato seeds should be rinsed under running clean water.

Gardeners with experience are advised to carry out the procedure for disinfecting seeds in a weak aqueous solution of manganese (the color of the liquid is pale pink) or hydrogen peroxide (for 1 liter of water - 2 teaspoons of the product). Recommended solution temperature: about + 40 ° C. The seeds are immersed in a disinfecting liquid for 15 minutes.

Germinating tomato seeds

Modern summer residents use aloe juice when germinating tomato seeds, which is an excellent natural growth biostimulator. Its use provides acceleration of germination, stimulation of metabolic processes, disinfection of seed. For this procedure, leaves of a plant aged from three years are suitable - they need to be crushed using a meat grinder. The resulting mass will need to be squeezed out to get juice, which must then be diluted with warm water in a 1: 1 ratio.

The prepared seed is placed in cheesecloth, dipped into the resulting solution. After 17 - 18 hours, the gauze is removed from the liquid, wrapped in a plastic bag and placed in a warm place until the seeds have hatched.

Recommendations for the preparation of soil mixture and containers for seedlings

When deciding how to plant tomato seedlings correctly, you must definitely take care of preparing the soil in advance. Ideally, a similar procedure should be performed in the fall, mixing equal parts of garden soil, humus, clean river sand. Add to the resulting mixture (1 bucket): ground chalk or eggshells (100 gr.), Ash (150 gr.).

Many summer residents recommend another composition of the soil mixture for tomato seedlings: sod land (up to 70%), humus (up to 50%), additives in the form of ash, chalk, peat, urea, potassium sulfate, superphosphate (up to 15%).

Whichever of the two proposed methods is chosen, as a result, it is desirable to obtain an air-permeable, loose, moisture-absorbing, non-acidic soil rich in nutrients. The planting soil prepared in autumn should freeze well in winter so that no harmful larvae and bacteria remain in it.

If it is impossible in advance, it is allowed to buy ready-made potting soil in a specialized store. Such a measure justifies itself if there is not very fertile soil on the site.

Studying recommendations on how to plant tomatoes for seedlings in an apartment for open ground, vegetable growers are often interested in the size and material of the required container. Summer residents actively use wooden boxes, plastic containers, polystyrene cassettes, cut washed cardboard bags from dairy products, peat pots.

Each gardener chooses the most convenient container for seedlings, and also determines the place of its installation (on the windowsill, on the floor, on the table near the window, etc.).

Dates of sowing seeds for seedlings

Most vegetable growers are concerned about the question of when to plant tomatoes for seedlings, in what numbers, so as not to be mistaken with the sowing dates? It all depends on the selected variety of tomatoes, as well as the planned date of planting seedlings to a permanent place in the garden or in the greenhouse. Summer residents, whose plots are located in the northern regions, practice sowing seeds 75 days before the planting date. Gardeners from more southern regions are engaged in sowing seed in 60 days.

As a rule, sowing for seedlings of early maturing varieties of tomatoes is carried out in 45 - 55 days. Mid-season varieties are sown in 55 - 60 days. Late-ripening varieties, tall hybrids need about 70 days to form seedlings. A later planting of seedlings does not justify itself, since the plants become too tall, their flowering occurs slowly, they do not adapt well to constant growing conditions.

Planting tomato seedlings

A gardener who is interested in how to properly plant tomatoes for seedlings at home, what number, you need to fill the prepared containers for crops with drainage holes with a wet soil mixture. When deciding at what depth to plant tomato seedlings, you should know that it will be optimal to perform grooves in the soil with a maximum depth of 1 cm. The interval between grooves is 3-4 cm. Seeds are laid out in them at a distance of 2 to 3 cm and sent by soil.

The container with the planted seeds is covered with glass or foil, located closer to the heat source in order to ensure the optimal (+ 25 ... + 30 º С).

Seedling tomato "in Moscow"

A vegetable grower worried about how best to plant tomato seedlings can adopt very original sowing methods, invented and successfully practiced by many gardeners. It is quite possible to get good seedlings using toilet paper, as well as plastic bags. The grown seedlings of tomatoes on toilet paper are in no way inferior in quality to seedlings obtained by planting in traditional ways.

Gardeners claim that it is very easy to plant tomatoes for seedlings in toilet paper. Toilet paper (napkins) is moistened with water, laid on polyethylene (in 3 - 4 layers), seeds are placed on it with an indent equal to the length of a matchbox. The package is wrapped in a tube, fastened with an elastic band, placed in a jar of water. Knowing on what day the tomato seedlings grow (5-6 days), you can observe the germination of seedlings.

This method is justified if there are problems with the allocation of sufficient area for the installation of containers with seedlings. As true leaves appear in the seedlings, they are transplanted into large containers with soil.

Seedlings in "swaddling", "snail"

From experienced gardeners, you can hear many other interesting tips: how to plant tomato seedlings at home in unusual ways. In particular, grown tomato seedlings in diapers and snails are popular.

This method involves dipping the seeds into lumps of moistened soil, followed by wrapping them in cut pieces of oilcloth, called "swaddling". The resulting rolls, often called "snails", are installed in an upright position on the windowsill. In a similar way, tomato seedlings are grown in a snail, when the functions of the film are performed by the substrate under the laminate.

Seedlings of tomatoes in a greenhouse

There are quite a few summer residents who know how to plant tomato seedlings at home, nevertheless, they prefer greenhouse planting of seed. Information on how to sow tomatoes for seedlings in a greenhouse in such cases will come in handy.

Having prepared the soil in a heated greenhouse, you need to make grooves 3 - 5 cm deep on the ridges, the distance between which will be 15 - 20 cm.A vegetable grower interested in how to plant tomato seedlings in a greenhouse will need to put seeds in well-watered furrows with an interval of 1 - 2 cm , followed by backfilling with peat or wet sand.

The temperature regime in the greenhouse is maintained at a level of + 25 ... + 30 º C. Knowing how long it takes for tomatoes to grow on seedlings, after the massive appearance of sprouts, you need to gradually reduce the temperature in the greenhouse so that during the day its values ​​are + 20 ... + 22 º C, and at night they were within + 16 ... + 18 º C.

Picking tomato seedlings

Not all summer residents approve of the picking of seedlings, considering it stress for the seedlings.

At the same time, many growers practice this procedure in order to subsequently get strong bushes. The indisputable advantage of picking is to provide better conditions for the development of the roots of seedlings.

When planting seeds in spacious containers, the dive can be omitted. Otherwise, you will have to plant the seedlings using cups, cut plastic bottles, and other prepared containers. Studying the information on how to properly plant tomatoes in cups, you need to pay attention that the optimal time for picking is the presence of three true leaves in seedlings.

The seedling is carefully removed from the previously watered soil using a small garden trowel. The lower third of the spine is pinched off from him. Then the plant is lowered into a new container, sent by soil, slightly compacted. After making the pick, you will need to increase the air temperature in the home room or greenhouse by several degrees. In a room with matured sprouts, the previous temperature is restored.

Watering, feeding seedlings

It is very important to carry out proper watering of seedlings, since waterlogging of the soil can cause rotting of plant roots. In the presence of soil that retains moisture well, it is allowed to water the seedlings after 5 - 7 days using settled or filtered water. If soil drying is noted, the plant root system is moistened by spraying water from a spray bottle. It will be necessary to exclude the ingress of drops on the seedlings when spraying.

The decision on implementation must be made with an eye to the appearance of the seedlings. Seedlings with thick stems, bright green leaves do not need feeding - they have enough soil nutrients. In the presence of frail seedlings, it can be concluded that it does not receive enough nutrition. A purple shade of foliage indicates a lack of phosphorus, a yellowish one - nitrogen. A sharp wrinkling of the leaves is a signal of potassium starvation; the appearance of white spots on the leaves, yellow tops on the shoots - about a lack of iron.

A competent approach to the cultivation of seedlings will be the key to obtaining subsequently strong tomato bushes, which will certainly give an excellent harvest of fruits of high commercial quality. The main thing is to correctly apply the knowledge gained in practice in order to delight households with delicious tomatoes throughout the season, to make excellent homemade preparations from grown tomatoes, and to sell surplus fruits at a profit.

Tomatoes are one of the most popular and sought-after vegetable crops. Many gardeners try to grow this crop themselves, but not everyone has an idea of ​​how to plant tomatoes for seedlings. This is a very long process, in which it is important to comply with agrotechnical standards of care and carry out timely procedures (watering, feeding, picking, etc.). We will tell you in more detail about each stage of planting and growing tomato seedlings in this article.

To get a bountiful harvest of tasty and aromatic fruits, you should try to go through the following steps:

1. Selection of tomato varieties and selection of seeds.
2. Choosing a suitable container for planting.
3. Soil preparation.
4. Seed preparation for planting.
5. Correct sowing of seeds.
6. Dive seedlings.
7. Preparing seedlings for planting in a permanent place.

Selection and preparation of seeds

Seed selection is an important step. Even knowing how to plant tomatoes for seedlings, you can get quality seedlings only when the tomato seeds are of good quality. Planting success depends, first of all, on the correct and reasonable choice of the variety. We need to weigh the pros and cons.

It is necessary to choose a variety of tomatoes according to the following criteria:

1. Growing region. Today, tomato varieties are very diverse. There are sun- and heat-loving tomatoes that will die in cold, humid conditions. And there are varieties that love coolness and moisture, so they will develop poorly in the climate of the southern regions. On the market, you can pick up varieties for almost any region. The choice is huge.
2. Open ground or greenhouse? Immediately you need to decide where the tomatoes will be grown. As a rule, greenhouse tomatoes are more demanding: they need to create the right microclimate, a comfortable temperature, and also provide regular maintenance. But for this they present the gardener with a rich harvest of beautiful fruits. Tomatoes grown in the garden are less capricious to care for, more resistant to temperature extremes. Their fruits are aromatic and tasty. True, they bear fruit later, and their appearance is often inferior to greenhouse tomatoes.
3. Fruit appearance. Taste is important, but external characteristics also need to be remembered. There are special varieties for pickling and preservation. Their skin is dense, the fruits are strongly elongated, of medium size. There are salad (table) tomatoes. They are large, their flesh is juicy, sugary and aromatic. And there are varieties with small rounded fruits that decorate table dishes. Color is also an important characteristic. There are varieties with black, purple, green and yellow fruits.
4. The height of the bush. This criterion is practical. In the open field, taller bushes need more intensive care. In order to save space and money, they are best grown in greenhouses. It is easier to harvest from them. Medium and short growing tomatoes are ideal for outdoor cultivation. Unlike tall bushes, they do not need to be pinned, pinched, protected from the wind and made hinged structures for tying up to 3 m high.

Processing and preparation of seeds for planting

Before sowing seeds at home, the planting material must be processed. This is done for disinfection purposes and in order to improve the quality of the seedlings. But first, they should be taken away. Small and damaged seeds are not suitable for planting.

Dissolve salt in water, immerse seeds in this solution, mix thoroughly. Let them stand in it for 5-7 minutes. Those that have surfaced should be removed. The rest of the seeds (those at the bottom) are washed with clean water and dried, and then placed in cheesecloth.

Disinfection of seeds is as follows: prepare a 0.8% solution of acetic acid. Seeds are lowered there for a day. For the prevention of viral diseases, a 1% solution of potassium permanganate is used. The seeds should be in it for about 20-30 minutes.

Or they can be soaked in aloe juice solution for 1-2 days. Bushes grown from such seeds have high immunity, good yields and tasty fruits. After processing, the planting material is washed with clean water.

The onset of fruiting can be accelerated by soaking the seeds for a day in a solution of soda (1 g of substance per 200 ml of water). To increase the yield, they can also be dipped in a 4% solution of ammonium nitrate for a day.

You can improve seed germination with ordinary water. They are heated with hot water for 2-3 hours. The most convenient way is to lower the gauze bags with seeds into a thermos. After that, they are kept for two to three days at a temperature of +25 degrees.

At the same time, the gauze should be damp. During this time, the seeds are pecked. Then they are planted in the soil, and after 2 days shoots appear. However, at first, germinated seeds can be placed in the refrigerator for a day in order to harden them and facilitate the acclimatization of seedlings when transplanted into open ground.

Instead of the solutions listed above, complex growth stimulants are used. They activate the growth of seeds, disinfect them, improve the taste and nutritional value of the fruit. The seeds are kept in solution for 6 hours. The liquid temperature should be 18 degrees Celsius. After processing, they should be dried.

Soil preparation

Before sowing seeds at home, you should prepare the soil. The land must have the following characteristics:

• light composition;
• water permeability;
• breathability;
• no weeds;
• looseness;
• the presence of nutrients and organic elements;
• acidity in the range of 5.5-6.0 pH.

The substrate is best prepared with your own hands. There are several options. The first involves mixing garden soil, humus, black or pressed peat in a 1: 1: 1 ratio. Wood ash (0.5 kg per bucket of substrate) and superphosphate (2 matchboxes per bucket) are used as fertilizers. The soil must be moistened with water.

The second option differs from the first in one component. Garden soil is mixed with black or pressed peat, river sand is used instead of humus (the components are taken in equal proportions). Fertilizer is prepared in the form of a liquid solution: 20 g of potassium sulfate, 30 g of superphosphate and 10 g of urea per 10 liters of water.

Seedlings can be planted in peat tablets. 2 seeds are planted in each peat tablet with a diameter of 3.3-3.6 cm. After root formation, the plant is transplanted into a 0.5 liter container.

At home, you can also use ready-made soil mixtures purchased at the store. This is very convenient, especially if the cultivation of tomato seedlings takes place in an apartment. The soil already has all the necessary substances, it remains only to find a container, moisten the mixture and plant the seeds correctly.

Choice of capacity

What containers can you plant tomato seeds in? On the market today there is a huge range of containers for growing tomatoes. You can buy ordinary plastic pots, peat tablets and cups, wooden boxes, snails, etc.

But the container can be easily found in your own household, you can create it yourself. For example, you can put together a box from unnecessary boards at home, and "snails" and "diapers" are created from dense polyethylene.

Even cardboard boxes, plastic cups of yogurt, curds, pastries and cakes can serve as a container - any container that can be found in the house. The exception is metal dishes. It is not recommended to grow tomato seedlings in them.

Before planting tomatoes for seedlings, the container must be disinfected. This even applies to new purchased cups and pots. The container is immersed in a strong manganese solution for several minutes, and then allowed to dry. A drainage layer must be laid out on the bottom of the container (crushed shells or small crushed stone are suitable).

Planting instructions

Proper planting of seeds at home implies, first of all, adherence to the sowing time. Sowing seeds of late-ripening and tall varieties occurs in the second half of February (from 15 to 25). Seedlings at the age of 70-80 days in early May (1-10 days) are planted in a greenhouse.

Mid-season varieties are sown on March 5-10, seedlings aged 60-65 days are transplanted to a permanent place on May 10-20. Early ripe tomatoes are sown between 15 and 25 March. Ripe seedlings at the age of 55-60 days are planted in open ground on June 5-10.

How to plant tomatoes for seedlings? Sowing dry or swollen seeds is somewhat easier than sprouting seeds. Planting seeds in a box or other large containers is carried out by the method of ditches.

Any suitable object on the soil makes furrows 1-1.5 cm deep, the distance between the grooves is 3-4 cm. The seeds are planted every 2-2.5 cm. After that, they are buried in earth. Planting too thick will cause the seedlings to grow weak due to lack of nutrients. Before this procedure, the soil should be watered.

If the seeds were germinated in advance, then planting is best done with tweezers. Each seed is lowered into the soil strictly vertically, sprouts up. Then the seeds are sprinkled with soil, but the earth is not pressed down. After that, the soil must be moistened from the sprayer (it should settle).

After sowing the seeds, the container is covered with plastic wrap and placed in a warm, bright place. The air temperature should be around 22-23 degrees. After the appearance of green shoots (this happens about 5-10 days after planting), the film is removed so that the seedlings do not overtake.

The container itself is placed in a cooler place for 5-6 days (no higher than 15-16 degrees Celsius). A week later, the matured shoots are moved back to a warm place. The temperature in the daytime should be 24 degrees, and at night - 12 degrees.

Seedling care

Picking

If tomatoes grow in one container, then at the stage of two or three true leaves, they should be dived into separate containers with a volume of 0.5 liters each. They can also be transplanted into separate cups with drainage holes. Tomatoes tolerate transplanting to a new place well.

The dive stage has two positive aspects: firstly, this procedure hardens the seedlings. She becomes more sturdy and squat. Secondly, picking makes it possible to slightly reduce the growth of elongated seedlings. For this, the seedlings are deepened into the soil in cotyledon leaves.

Before picking, the seedlings are watered with warm water. The cups are prepared: wet soil is poured into them, the earth is tamped, a deepening is made in the center.

The seedlings are carefully removed, the main root is pinched by a third. Weak or damaged seedlings must be removed from the garden bed. The plant is lowered into a depression and sprinkled with earth. For 3-4 days, the air temperature is increased by several degrees, and after acclimatization, it is again lowered to the previous one. During this short period, the lighting should be less intense.

Watering

Seedlings need to be watered as needed. It is very easy to overdo it, the roots in the early stages are easy to rot. If the soil holds moisture well, then it is better to postpone watering until the first true leaf appears. If the substrate is dry, then the seedlings are moistened with a spray bottle. It is convenient to water the seedlings with a teaspoon.

After the appearance of the first true leaves, the seedlings are watered once a week. During the period when the plant has developed five true leaves, the earth is moistened every 3-4 days. The seedlings are watered with warm, settled water, the temperature of which is several degrees higher than room temperature. By the way, the room should be ventilated 2 times a day.

Lighting

Tomatoes need good lighting. In low light conditions, the seedlings stretch out, become frail and weak. Daylight hours for seedlings should last at least 12 hours.

It follows that they need to provide additional illumination. And in the first few days after sowing, artificial lighting should work around the clock. The best solution is a fluorescent lamp. It is placed 20-25 cm above the seedlings.

Top dressing

If all agrotechnical standards were observed during planting, if the seeds are of high quality, then the seedlings can not be fed. Do seedlings need feeding? Appearance will give the answer.

Plants with a strong, thick stem and juicy bright green leaves do not need fertilization. If you still have doubts, then it is better to feed the seedlings. In any case, fertilization will not be superfluous.

The first time fertilization is applied 10 days after the pick. For 10 liters of water, take 30 g of superphosphate, 3 g of urea and 10 g of potassium sulfate. Two weeks later, a similar feeding is carried out. The finished fertilizer can be purchased at the store. Observe the dosage carefully. After each feeding, the seedlings are watered and the soil is loosened.

How to determine the quality of seedlings?

The leaves of a properly grown seedling should be green, juicy, free of spots and bloom. The development of a weak plant is slow, the seed coat is not always shed. The seedling has an irregular shape, the edges of the leaves are curled up.

However, the reason for the late germination may be different. For example, the seed was sown deeper than it should be. And the plant does not shed the seed coat due to the loose soil. Therefore, to identify weak seedlings, all seeds must be planted at the same depth and the soil must be compacted.

Tomato seedlings can be bought on the market, but the best seedlings will be the one that is grown with your own hands at home.