Tingling tomatoes, useful tips
June and the beginning of July are very hot for gardeners. The earth is well moistened, the air temperature day and night is quite high, weeds begin to actively emerge on the beds. Weeding and removing grass takes a lot of time. In addition, the active growth of tomato seedlings begins, and therefore - another problem arises - stepsons.
Content:
- What are stepchildren, how to detect them
- About the frequency of herding video
- About growing tomatoes without pinching
- Why tomatoes in early August? video
- What are the options for plant formation
- Proper stepsoning tomatoes in the greenhouse
- Choose varieties for planting
- Useful Tips
- We grow tomatoes according to the method of Maslov video
What are stepsons, how to find them
Under stepsons is meant the appearance on the bushes of secondary stems. They sprout from the sinuses of the leaves. Finding stepsons is not at all difficult, you should look closely at the places on the trunk of the bush, from which the flower brushes come. New branches growing from under them are stepsons.
The formation of stepsons usually begins after the complete formation of the first brushes, and sometimes the first flowers. The stepson is usually the most powerful, growing under the first flower brush. Removing stepchildren allows the plant to save nutrients and direct them to leaves and fruit-bound fruits.
If there is a desire to grow a tasty, large tomato, then the removal of stepsons should be made. It will also be possible to get an earlier crop.
It is advisable to remove the overgrowth during the period when the shoot length is about five centimeters, this will make the process almost painless for the plant.
Dry warm weather is suitable for the job. Dry air will contribute to the rapid drying of the wounds, therefore, the likelihood of pathogens entering them will be minimized.
If you perform the procedure in conditions of high humidity, it is advisable to process the tools used after processing each bush. As a disinfectant, you can use a 1% solution of potassium permanganate.
How often should a tomato be planted in open ground
If we talk about the frequency of the procedure, it should be noted that the ideal option is when it is possible to view tomato bushes a couple of times a week. This will remove the shoots of small length.
If you launched the processes, then:
- the plant will inevitably spend extra forces on their forcing,
- wounds obtained after removal of large processes will be much larger.
On how to properly plant tomatoes - in the video:
What will happen if you grow tomatoes without pinching
Although it is recommended to remove the stepsons, nevertheless, the stepsons themselves will not bring particular harm to the plant. Moreover, there are hybrid varieties of tomatoes that do not require pinching.
In fact, the need for pinching depends on the conditions in which the plants are grown, as well as on their variety, on the care option. Not removed shoots very quickly turn into thick additional stems, and then begin to form new shoots. High indeterminate varieties are prone to strong branching.
On some varieties of stunted hybrids, the formation of 5 to 7 inflorescences and the corresponding number of new shoots are also observed. During the appearance of fruits, the growth of leaves and shoots slows down, however, the fruits themselves increase slowly, their growth slows down the appearance of new flowers and ovaries, naturally, they need to be fed.
As a result, a rather large number of ovaries are obtained on such a bush, but there will be no large fruits, and the ripening process will slow down somewhat.
Why pinch tomatoes in early August
Here, it should be noted that only those tomatoes that are set by the end of July will have time to fully ripen. Later shoots and ovary will not be able to give a full crop. But nutrients will be distracted from already poured tomatoes and inhibit their ripening.
Naturally, this situation should be avoided. To do this, in the first days of August, they carefully examine each branch, remove all stepsons, break off the leaves from below, leaving 3 leaves above the fruit.
Reflections on whether to pick leaves, all the pros and cons - in the video:
In addition, you will need to pinch each productive shoot. It is also recommended to remove all newly emerging inflorescences. Large fructiferous processes do not touch.
Further care will consist in the systematic removal of the emerging stepsons, approximately once a week.
Plant Formation Options
With the help of the correct formation of the plant, you can get bushes in one, two or three stems. Formation in one stalk involves the removal of all stepsons. If you want to create a bush in two stems, you should leave one, the most powerful stepson, which is located under the first inflorescence of the bush. If bushes in three stems are planned, then the stepson should be left under the second inflorescence.
The decision on the shape of the bush should be made even before the appearance of the shoots, while it should be guided by the structural features of plants of the cultivated variety. For example, the formation of a two-stem bush will be the best option for undersized superdeterminant varieties.
The pattern for planting tomatoes for such plants will look something like this: from each stem from 3 to 5 inflorescences are formed. The formation of three stems will allow you to get a larger amount of yield. Since the development of inflorescences will occur in parallel, the fruits will receive an equal amount of nutrients. The ripening of the fruits will lag when compared with a bush with one stem.
Tip of experienced vegetable growers: to obtain a high-quality early crop on determinant and hybrid varieties, a bush in one stem with three inflorescences should be formed. On such bushes, you will need to pinch the growth points and remove the extra leaves. The appearance of ripe fruits can be expected about 15 days earlier than if the stepson were not performed.
Planting of plants that will be formed in one stalk can be made more closely. Weather conditions will also have an effect on the ripening speed of tomatoes, in particular, temperature and the number of sunny days.
Proper stepsoning tomatoes in greenhouses
To lengthen the fruiting period and at the same time get a better crop, tomatoes in greenhouses are also subjected to pinching. Determinant varieties are formed into two stems; for this, a substitute shoot is left under the first inflorescence.
When the inflorescence appears on the shoot and the leaves should be pinched. The cultivation of tomatoes of this variety for 4-5 months leads to the fact that the plant completely stops growing, you can extend the fruiting period, you will need to leave the stepson, which appears under the 3rd inflorescence. Then you will need to observe the development of this ongoing escape. If everything is normal, then the backup shoots can be removed, it is advisable to leave a new stepson, which will appear as close to the top of the plant. The formation of very tall bushes does not require the maintenance of a backup shoot.
If new inflorescences will not appear on stunted bushes, then the fruit will grow more actively. A low-growing variety in a greenhouse can actually produce more tomatoes in a shorter time frame. Plants formed in one stem are planted denser.
Vegetable growers argue that if you don’t make the proper stepsoning of tomatoes, then there will be many tomatoes, but their quality will not be high enough.
What sort of tomatoes to prefer
This question often arises among beginner gardeners. Often the fear that it will be too difficult to cope with tall plants, low-growing varieties are preferred.
Specialists argue that large plants are able to give a much larger crop.
In favor of tall varieties, the following can be said:
- their productivity is definitely higher
- they have high resistance to phytovtorosis,
- the period of fruiting with thoughtful agricultural care can be extended from mid-summer to the onset of cold weather, while the simultaneous ripening of the crop does not allow you to enjoy the taste of fresh tomatoes throughout the summer.
As for pinching, its scheme for tall varieties is not difficult to master, and the procedure itself is much simpler than if you would take care of low-growing varieties. Harvesting will not make you constantly bend over.
An aggravating moment will be the need for pinching and the systematic garter of a fast-growing bush. But compared with what quality the crop can be obtained, these are trifles on which you should not focus your attention.
If we return to the main question - about herding, then the answer can be unequivocal - it should be followed! Unless, of course, there is no desire to simply plant a howl in such a way. A larger bush does not mean increasing the quantity and improving the quality of the crop.
The mass of all tomatoes obtained from one plant is practically independent of the amount of ovary - if the tomato is plentiful they will be small, with a small number of fruits ripening on the bush, you can arrange them to be large.
To verify the validity of this, you can record data on the harvest from bushes that have been stepson and those that have not been stepson.
Some useful tips
After analyzing the above, we can recommend:
- Planting tomatoes that will be formed into one stalk can be produced at a distance of 0.25 - 0.3 m from each other.
- Determinant and hybrid varieties should be formed into one stem, leaving 2 or 3 inflorescences. In an extreme case, you can leave two stems, leave three is not rational.
- After the last inflorescence, pinch the growth point.
- If the summer in your area of \u200b\u200bresidence is not very happy with the heat, and the cold comes very early, then for cultivation in the open ground, you can use varieties that are grown without pinching and ripen very quickly, these are: Golden Stream, Watercolor, Eldorado, Supermodel, Red Fang and others.
- You should not refuse to remove the lower leaves, the procedure should be performed after the fruits begin to acquire a brown color.
- The best option for plant formation for open ground is two stems, if the plant is very active and looks healthy and strong, then you can form a bush in three stems.
- When engaging in stepsoning, you should be careful, you can remove the stepsons all in a row, but only those located up to the first flower brush, deleting the stepsons that are not sorted out, you can destroy the growth point, i.e. in any case, it is advisable to leave one of the stepsons.
If two equivalent stepson appeared near the first flower brush, i.e. the plant wanted to split up somehow, you have to decide whether to leave the shoot, or better to remove it. Follows the condition of the bush.
Growing tomatoes by the method of Maslov
For the sake of experiment, you can resort to a more natural version of growing tomatoes. Indeed, by their nature, they are not directly growing plants, they do not have special devices for clinging to supports.
The original technique involves the cultivation of tomatoes without pinching, seedlings are planted in the ground lying down, as they grow up, the stems creep in the beds. Direct proximity to wetted soil or contact with it leads to the appearance of new true roots on the stem, which will provide nutrition to actively growing stepsons.
If the root emergence points are well moistened and sprinkled with soil, then soon the shoots will turn into full-fledged bushes. Of course, subsequent shoots should be removed.
In more detail - when watching a video:
Growing tomatoes in this way allows you to increase productivity from a unit area to about a third.
