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When choosing determinant varieties of early ripening tomatoes, it is necessary to pay attention to whether they are intended for southern or northern regions.
southern varieties differ in dense powerful foliage that can protect tomatoes from the scorching sun. The growing season for southern tomatoes is long. Life processes are not as intense as those of the northern ones, but the “southerners” are more resistant to climatic conditions.
Northern varieties of tomatoes adapted to a hot, but short period. They grow, develop and produce very quickly. But in the south it is not recommended to grow these tomatoes with all the external advantages. In the southern latitudes, they will not please either with a good harvest, or with high-quality fruits, or with a long growing season.
Northern tomatoes have a small amount of foliage, arranged so that the fruits receive maximum sunlight. Under the southern sun, such bushes quickly grow old and cannot provide the fruits with the necessary nutrients. In addition, the tomatoes themselves often get sunburned and grow ugly and small. Often half dry.
Producers often do not bother to indicate which region the tomato seeds are intended for, which sometimes leads to failure when buying a new tomato variety. Agricultural firms located in Siberia produce tomato seeds for their region. These are usually superdeterminant and determinant tomatoes.
Tomato seeds from foreign firms and those produced by firms in the European part of Our Country are more suitable for the Middle Strip. But northerners can grow these varieties of tomatoes in greenhouses on “warm” beds.
Determinant varieties of tomatoes can be ultra-early, early-ripening and mid-ripening.
Early ripe varieties of determinant tomatoes
Holland annually offers many new early ripe tomato varieties that are hybrids of the first generation and suitable for greenhouses and open ground. Some of them give good yields when grown in open ground, even in the northern regions of the Federation.
Sort “Townsville F1”
Vigorous determinate bush, producing medium-sized rounded tomatoes weighing up to 200 g. When ripe, the tomatoes are red in color with excellent taste. Can be stored up to three weeks.
The height of the tomato bush reaches 1,2 m. The variety is high-yielding, so the bush needs a garter. Branching and foliage are average. The variety is recommended for cultivation in almost all of Our Country, including the Urals and Siberia. In the southern regions it can grow in open ground, to the north it needs greenhouse conditions.
Vegetation period 67 days. Up to 1 kg of tomatoes are removed from 9 m². Resistant to pathogenic factors.
Agrotechnics
Hybrid seeds are sown in March, covered with foil and placed in a warm place. The film is removed after seed germination and the tomato seedlings are moved to a well-lit place, maintaining the temperature at 17 ° C for a week. Later upgraded to +22. Forty-day seedlings are planted in a permanent place.
“Polonaise F1” variety
New early determinant hybrid. The tomato bush is very powerful. It is recommended to plant at the rate of 3 bushes per square meter. Suitable for cultivation in the south of Our Country. When grown outdoors, the variety produces good ovaries.
Tomatoes weighing up to 220 g. Ripen 65 days after planting seedlings. A ripe tomato of uniform red color without a green spot at the stalk. The pulp is dense. It has good taste qualities.
The variety is resistant to major diseases, has good transportability.
Variety “Polbig F1”
The earliest of the Dutch determinate hybrids. Harvest can be harvested after 58 days.
The height of the bushes reaches 0,8 m. Tomatoes are round, red, medium in size. In open ground, the weight of a tomato is up to 130 g, in greenhouses it can grow up to 210. The yield per bush is up to 4 kg with a planting density of 5-6 bushes per unit area.
The purpose of the variety is universal. It can be used as a salad tomato or for processing and preservation.
The variety can be grown in open beds, in greenhouses or film shelters. Relatively cold-resistant, shows good formation of ovaries even at low temperatures.
The advantages of this variety of tomatoes include:
- early ripening of tomatoes, due to which the crop is removed before the appearance of phytophotorose;
- resistance of the tomato bush to low temperatures;
- resistance to pathogenic microflora (it simply does not have time to multiply);
- good keeping quality of tomatoes and resistance to cracking;
- high transportability of tomatoes;
- flattened fruits.
The gardeners ranked the disadvantages as the need to tie up the stem and fruit-bearing shoots that can break under the weight of tomatoes.
Variety “Torbay F1”
A mid-early hybrid bred by the Dutch in 2010. Certified in Our Country in 2012.
A tomato bush in the open air grows up to 85 cm, in a greenhouse it can be up to 1,5 m high. The growing season is 65 days. Stamp variety.
Ripe Torbay tomatoes are pink, round, weighing up to 210 g, sweet and sour in taste.
Advantages of the variety:
- friendly return of the harvest;
- the ability of tomatoes for long storage;
- high transportability;
- resistance to pathogenic microflora;
- high ability of tomatoes to ripen during storage.
The disadvantage of the variety is the need for increased attention to the bushes at the initial stage of cultivation: top dressing and loosening the soil.
The yield of the variety is up to 6 kg per bush. Planting density: 4 bushes per unit area.
Variety of tomatoes for general use. Tomatoes are used both for salads and for cooking and processing into juices. They are good for winter preparations.
Features of agricultural technology
The variety grows very well outdoors in the southern regions of Our Country, showing the best results in this climate. In the Middle lane, it requires film shelters, and in the northern regions it can only be grown in greenhouse conditions. Greenhouses must be heated.
Bush “Torbay” requires a mandatory garter and strengthening the branches with props to prevent them from breaking off. You can form a tomato bush into two stems, but it is usually formed into one to get larger tomatoes.
At the initial stage, the variety requires a large amount of phosphorus and potassium. Later, it is fed along with other tomatoes.
Features of agricultural technology of Dutch varieties of tomatoes
- Dutch determinate hybrids are intended for industrial cultivation. Of course, they can also be grown in subsidiary plots, but, for example, in a greenhouse, hybrids will show the best result when using hydroponics, which is unlikely to be used by a private trader.
- The hybrids are self-pollinating, but for best results, the manufacturer recommends using bumblebees. For a private trader, this is also not very convenient.
- Using Dutch agricultural technology, 65 kg of tomatoes are obtained from one square meter. With normal cultivation, available to an amateur gardener – 15 kg of tomatoes.
- Proper cultivation of seedlings of hybrid varieties is mandatory: a mixture of peat and sand is used for sowing, and seedling cassettes equipped with drainage are placed in a well-lit place with optimal temperature and humidity.
Of the firms, perhaps the earliest varieties of tomatoes are offered by Siberian producers. At least, the bulk of varieties of such tomatoes, which is due to the conditions for their breeding.
Variety “Far North”
An early standard variety with a vegetation period of 90 days. Tomato bush standing, powerful. Tomatoes are round, up to 80 g. Does not need pinching, perfectly adapts to adverse weather conditions. Even in areas of risky farming, this variety can be sown directly into the soil, bypassing the seedling stage. Used in salads and marinades.
Resistant to pathogenic microflora.
Variety “Legionnaire”
Early ripe. The bush is determinant, sprawling, slightly leafy. You can grow it in greenhouses and open beds, but the tomato is zoned for the southern regions. North grows only in greenhouses. The variety is productive. Gives up to 17 kg/m².
Ripe tomatoes are pink in color, round, weighing up to 150 g. In the presence of good taste, it is recommended for fresh consumption.
The advantages include a friendly return of the crop and resistance to pathogenic microflora and cracking.
Variety “Parodist”
Early maturing, growing season 85 days. Bushes up to half a meter high. Suitable for greenhouses and open beds, but the method of cultivation is slightly different: in the ground the variety does not need to be formed, in greenhouses the tomato is grown in three stems.
The variety is included in the State Register as zoned for the North Caucasus and Central Black Earth regions. It is recommended there for cultivation in subsidiary plots.
Relatively frost-resistant, it forms ovaries well in almost any natural conditions. Does not suffer from fusarium and cladosporiosis.
Planting scheme for this tomato: up to 6 bushes per sq. m. The yield is 3,5 kg per bush, that is, up to 20 kg / m².
Ripe tomatoes are red. The shape is rounded, flattened from the tops. Weight up to 160 g. Taste for early ripe tomatoes is good. They belong to the group of lettuce tomatoes.
What do tomatoes need to form a good crop?
Of course, the nutrients that tomatoes get from the soil and fertilizers. There are three main elements: phosphorus, potassium and nitrogen.
Phosphorus
Stimulates root growth and improves frost resistance. Along with potassium, it is necessary for tomatoes from the first day of planting seedlings in the ground. Up to the point that a pinch of phosphorus is placed directly in the holes prepared for seedlings, sprinkled with a little earth so that the phosphorus does not touch the bare roots.
With a lack of phosphorus, the stems and leaves become red-violet.
Tomatoes grow sickly. You can correct the situation by adding liquid superphosphate. With a lack of phosphorus, nitrogen and potassium are not absorbed well enough, so it is advisable to add phosphorus to all top dressings.
potassium
The element also improves frost resistance, it during planting seedlings. In addition, the simultaneous introduction of potassium and phosphorus stimulates the vegetation of tomatoes and accelerates fruiting.
It is advisable to additionally add potassium during the “milky” ripeness of tomatoes to improve the taste of tomatoes and their keeping quality.
With a lack of potassium, the foliage first becomes dark green, and then a yellow-brown border of dead tissue forms along the edges. The stems stop growing, spotting also appears on the fruits, the crop ripens unevenly.
Nitrogen
The most important element for tomatoes. Without it, there will be no harvest, since nitrogen contributes to the formation and growth of tomatoes. Nitrogen is applied to the soil several times during the growing season of tomatoes. For productive varieties, this is done somewhat more often.
On poor soils, tomatoes are fertilized every two and a half weeks with a solution of mullein. If you do not want to mess with organic matter, you can feed the tomatoes with ammonium nitrate or urea. Even in chernozem regions, it is necessary to apply nitrogen 2-3 times during the growing season.
With a lack of nitrogen, the lower leaves turn yellow and die.
It is equally important not to overdo it with nitrogen fertilizers. With an excess of nitrogen, tomatoes drive the green mass and do not tend to form ovaries.
And removing an excess of an element from the soil is much more difficult than adding it. At the same time, if you completely overdo it with the introduction of nitrogen, then the tomato will even lose its decorative appearance. Young leaves will begin to curl and tear when you try to unfold them by hand.
Calcium
Usually, this element is not given much attention, but with its deficiency, neither potassium, nor phosphorus, nor nitrogen, nor magnesium are absorbed. This problem is especially acute in suburban areas over 10 years old, since by constantly introducing the first three elements, summer residents usually forget about calcium and magnesium. The land of old dachas contains a very small amount of Ca and Mg.
With a severe lack of calcium, the leaves and flower brushes of tomatoes begin to curl. Old foliage becomes dark green, young leaves appear light yellow spotting. The fruits are affected by blossom end rot.
In this case, the tomato must be fed with calcium nitrate in a foliar way.
If all the troubles associated with the lack of elements have passed you and the tomatoes promise you a good harvest, help them grow it. Tomatoes bloom almost “to the last.” Flowers and ovaries that appear too late will not have time to ripen, but they will take away the nutrients they need from growing tomatoes. As a result, the harvest will be worse and the tomatoes smaller. Excess flowers and ovaries are best cut off. How to do it right can be seen in the video.
Conclusion
Thus, when choosing a tomato variety that is productive and suitable for specific purposes and conditions, it is important not only to describe the variety on the manufacturer’s packaging, but also to regionalize it, as well as to comply with the agricultural practices necessary for a particular tomato variety.
Dutch varieties of tomatoes, with their high yields, are rather capricious and are more suitable for greenhouses. Domestic ones are often less productive, but are able to grow in the open without any problems.