Caring For Indoor Tomatoes

2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38

In the autumn-winter period, many gardeners switch their attention from open-air beds to their indoor garden. And among the leaders of such a household is the cultivation and care of tomatoes. After the seedlings of indoor tomatoes are grown and transplanted into separate containers, an extremely crucial moment comes in caring for vegetables. In order to get the richest harvest possible, the plants need to provide competent feeding and carry out the formation of the bush

Top dressing indoor tomatoes

They do not start feeding tomatoes immediately, but only after they have taken root in their new place of residence. This usually happens around the fifth day, but this process can take a week.

To prepare a nutrient mixture for 1 liter of water, take:

• urea - 1 g;

• potassium sulfate - 1 g;

• superphosphate - 5 g.

When the bush enters the flowering phase and the formation of the first brush, the dose of top dressing should be doubled.

When the fruits on the first brush are already formed, dressing is prepared according to this recipe:

• urea - 4 g;

• superphosphate - 4 g;

• potassium sulfate - 3 g.

The consumption of fertilizing for each pot with one bush is 0.5 liters.

It is also helpful to fertilize the substrate with organic fertilizers. To do this, you can use both bird droppings (diluted with water in proportions of 1:12) and mullein (in proportions of 1: 8).

Formation of tomato bushes of low-growing varieties

An important agrotechnical technique for obtaining the maximum result that a plant is capable of is the formation of a bush. By regularly removing stepchildren, they regulate both the formation and ripening of the fruit.

Indoor tomatoes are recommended to be shaped and grown in one stem. To do this, you need to pinch off the stepsons 2-5 cm long.

There is a peculiarity in the formation of low-growing varieties of tomatoes, in which the determinative is indicated on the label. They grow slowly, with thick leaves and inflorescences. In such, when pinching, two upper lateral shoots should be left. A flower brush should then appear on one of them, and the other is needed to continue. When the flower brush does not appear, the shoot is broken off.

Growing tall varieties in indoor conditions

Tall tomatoes can also be sown indoors, but they are given a place on glazed balconies and insulated balconies. To start growing them in January, it is not too late to sow seeds in February. And they are "relocated" to the balcony when frost is not foreseen in the weather forecast.

Tall varieties will also have to be shaped. It is necessary to carefully monitor the stepsons appearing in the axils of the leaves and get rid of them in time. It is important not to miss the moment when 6-8 brushes are formed on the tomato. Then you will need to pinch the growth point above the second sheet after the top brush. With this structure of the bush, the tomato can bear fruit all summer, and then still yield in the fall in the room.

What varieties are suitable for indoor growing

Among the widespread undersized indoor crops - White filling 241, Nevsky, Talalikhin 86. Among the fruitful tall ones - Vnukovsky, De Barao, Moscow autumn. These varieties will not only delight you with a fresh harvest in indoor conditions, but also decorate the windowsill. For example, the De Barao variety can be picked up with yellow fruits, and with pink, and almost black tomatoes.

"Conservation of seedlings" for the winter harvest

To get a harvest of fresh tomatoes in winter, they begin to grow seedlings in late summer - early autumn. When the plants have 7-8 leaves, they begin to be kept in a cool room at a temperature of about + 10 … + 12 ° C. Watering is carried out once every one and a half to two weeks. In this state, seedlings are kept for about 3 months. And in November-December, the temperature is raised to + 20 … + 25 ° С. They will need to be provided with top dressing and supplementary lighting.