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Despite the fact that tomatoes are thermophilic, many gardeners in Our Country grow them in open ground. To do this, choose special varieties and hybrids of tomatoes, which have a short fruit ripening period and can successfully bear fruit even in rainy and cool summer weather. Growing tomatoes in the open field also requires compliance with a certain technology that will allow you to get the maximum crop yield and prevent the development of various diseases. A detailed description of all the nuances of growing tomatoes in the open field, as well as current photos and videos are given below in the article. Having studied the proposed material, even a novice gardener will be able to grow a lot of tasty and healthy vegetables without the use of shelters.
Spring troubles
The success of growing tomatoes in open ground largely depends on how carefully the soil and seedlings of tomatoes were prepared in the spring. With the advent of warm weather, the farmer needs to sow seeds and take proper care of young plants to obtain high-quality planting material. Soil preparation for tomatoes is also an important point, which will reduce the stress of seedlings after planting and speed up the process of rooting.
Variety choice
In open ground, you can grow both low-growing tomatoes and medium-sized, tall varieties. The technology for growing tomatoes of these species will be somewhat different, however, in general, the cultivation rules are the same and apply to all varieties of tomatoes.
For open ground, early and mid-ripening hybrids and varieties are excellent. Among them, a number of the best tomatoes can be distinguished, depending on the tallness of the plant:
- good tall tomatoes for open ground are “President”, “Mikado pink”, “Tolstoy f1”, “De barao royal”;
- among medium-sized tomatoes, the leaders of sales are “Abundant f1”, “Atlasny”, “Krona”, Kyiv 139″;
- when choosing undersized tomatoes, you need to pay attention to the varieties Lakomka, Moment, Amur Shtamb.
An overview of other varieties of tomato for open ground is shown in the video:
Tomato seedlings for open ground
In the open ground of Our Country, it is customary to grow tomatoes only in seedlings. This technology allows plants with a long growing season to grow in a short period of warm summer. Given the climate of central Our Country, it should be said that planting tomato seedlings in open ground is possible only in early June, when there is no likelihood of frost. Based on this, the gardener must draw up a schedule for growing seedlings, calculated taking into account the ripening time of the fruits of a particular variety. For example, the widely known and beloved by many indeterminate tomato variety “President” begins to bear fruit only after 70-80 days from the day the seedlings appear. This means that it is necessary to sow tomato seeds of this variety for seedlings in mid-April and plant grown tomatoes in the ground at the age of 40-50 days.
Before sowing tomato seeds for seedlings, it would be useful to harden them, warm them up and treat them with antiseptic substances:
- Warming up makes tomatoes drought tolerant. To carry out the procedure, tomato seeds are suspended in a cloth bag for 1-1,5 months in advance of all other treatments.
- Hardening of tomatoes is carried out by the method of variable temperatures, placing the seeds in a damp piece of cloth in the refrigerator for 12 hours. After cooling, the seeds are heated at a temperature of +20-+220C for several hours, after which the seeds are again placed in a refrigerator. You need to continue hardening for 5-7 days. This measure will make the tomatoes resistant to low summer temperatures and possible frosts.
- Outdoor conditions suggest possible infection of plants by various viruses, fungi and bacteria. Harmful microflora can be on the surface of tomato seeds. To destroy it, before sowing, tomato seeds are treated with a 1% manganese solution for 30-40 minutes.
Healthy seedlings are the key to a good harvest in unprotected conditions. To grow it, young tomatoes need to be regularly watered and fed, to provide them with the necessary light regime by highlighting.
At the early stage of growing tomato seedlings, it is necessary to use fertilizers with a significant nitrogen content as top dressing. Before picking (2-3 weeks after seed germination) and planting seedlings in unprotected soil, it is necessary to use substances with a large amount of phosphorus and potassium. This will allow the tomatoes to quickly take root in the new conditions.
Outdoor conditions are characterized by unstable atmospheric temperatures and solar activity, which can damage the leaves of young plants. Before planting tomatoes in open ground, seedlings must be adapted to such conditions by hardening. The event is carried out gradually.
First, in the room where the seedlings grow, you need to open a window or window for a while to ventilate the room and slightly lower the temperature in it. The next hardening step is to take the seedlings outside. The period of stay of plants in the open air should be gradually increased from 10-15 minutes to full daylight hours. In this mode, tomato leaves will be able to get used to the scorching sun and fluctuating temperatures. After planting in open ground, hardened tomatoes will not slow down their growth and will not get burned.
Planting seedlings is an important point
You can prepare the soil in the garden for growing tomatoes in the fall or immediately before planting tomatoes in the spring. To do this, rotted manure, humus or compost is introduced into the soil in the amount of 4-6 kg for every 1 m2. The amount of fertilizer can be changed depending on the initial fertility of the soil. Organic fertilizer will bring the necessary amount of nitrogen into the soil, which will activate the growth of tomatoes. It is necessary to supplement this microelement with other equally important minerals: phosphorus and potassium. To do this, superphosphate and potassium sulfate are added to the ground in the spring.
It is advisable to plant seedlings grown in open ground in the place where legumes, radishes, cabbage, cucumbers or eggplants used to grow. The plot of land should be well lit by the sun and be protected from drafts and the north wind.
The scheme of planting seedlings in open ground can be different. The distances between the tomatoes depend on the tallness of the bushes. So, two schemes for planting tomatoes in open ground are most often used:
- The tape-nested chess scheme involves dividing the site into ridges. The distance between two adjacent furrows should be about 130-140 cm. Tomatoes are planted on the resulting ridge in two rows (ribbons) at a distance of 75-80 cm in a checkerboard pattern. Wells on one tape are located no closer than 60 cm from each other. Two tomato bushes are planted in each hole or so-called nest at once, which makes it easier to tie the plants.
- The tape-nested parallel scheme also involves the creation of ridges and furrows between them. The difference of this scheme is the placement of tomatoes on tapes parallel to each other. In this case, the distance between the holes can be reduced to 30 cm. 1 tomato is planted in each hole, thereby obtaining squares.
You can see a good example of placing tomatoes in the open field according to the described schemes below.
Tomato seedlings on open land are best planted in the evening after sunset. The day before planting, the seedlings need to be watered with warm water, the soil on the ridges is watered after creating the planting holes. Subject to the rules of soil preparation after planting, tomato seedlings will feel cheerful, will not wither and will not significantly stop their growth. In this case, for two weeks after planting, tomatoes in the open field do not need special care. They only need watering.
Basic rules for growing tomatoes in open ground
The technology of growing tomatoes in the open field involves the implementation of a whole range of various activities. Tomatoes need not only to be watered and fed, but also to form tomato bushes, tie them up, and regularly inspect them for pests and diseases. We will talk in detail about the rules for caring for tomatoes.
Watering plants
Tomatoes should be watered in open ground as needed with warm water. So, in the absence of rain, watering the tomatoes must be provided every 2-3 days. Tomatoes need to be watered under the root in large quantities. Droplets of moisture on the plant stem and leaves are undesirable, as it can provoke the development of fungal diseases.
In areas with high groundwater, in wetlands, growing tomatoes is not at all desirable, as this can lead to the development of a fungal disease – black leg. This disease of tomatoes can also develop in the case when artificial watering of plants is carried out very often, “flooding” the roots of tomatoes.
Top dressing of tomatoes with minerals and organic matter
Delicious tomatoes in large quantities cannot be grown without fertilizers. Farmers actively use organic fertilizers and minerals. Organics, represented by manure or compost, are saturated with nitrogen. It can only be used to build up the green mass of tomatoes until flowering.
In the process of flower formation and fruit ripening, tomatoes require potassium and phosphorus. These minerals can be applied using universal complex fertilizers or simple minerals, wood ash. A sufficient amount of potassium in the soil makes the taste of tomatoes saturated, increases the amount of sugar and dry matter in vegetables. Microelements also accelerate the process of fruit formation and ripening. An approximate schedule for the application of mineral fertilizers is given below.
When growing tomatoes in open ground, it is necessary to apply mineral and organic fertilizers at least 3 times per season. In addition to the usual organics (mullein, slurry, chicken manure) and minerals, gardeners often use organomineral fertilizers and improvised means, such as yeast. Many farmers claim that the secret to growing tomatoes lies in choosing the right fertilizer for each specific stage of the plant’s growing season.
This type of top dressing is recommended to be used when observing a deficiency of trace elements.
Shrub formation
The process of formation of tomatoes in open ground directly depends on the tallness of the bushes. For undersized tomatoes, the usual removal of the lower leaves is sufficient. The measure allows you to make plantings less thickened and improve the natural circulation of air flows, preventing the development of fungal and viral diseases. Remove the lower leaves of tomatoes to the nearest fruit brush. The removal procedure is carried out every 10-14 days, while 1-3 leaves are removed from the bushes at once.
A feature of low-growing standard tomatoes is the limited growth of the bush and the short time of fruiting on one shoot. You can extend the fruiting process of such tomatoes by forming bushes in 1-3 stems, leaving the appropriate number of stepchildren.
Growing tall tomatoes in open ground should provide for the correct formation of bushes. It consists in removing the stepsons and lower leaves of the tomato bush. Closer to autumn, approximately a month before the onset of frost, the top of the main stem must be pinched, which will allow existing tomatoes to ripen quickly. Growing tall tomatoes in open ground, in addition to careful shaping, requires some additional nuances, which you can learn from the video:
Tying tall tomatoes in open ground is difficult because the main shoot of an indeterminate variety can grow above 3 m. In this case, the shoot is tied to a high trellis and as soon as the tomato becomes higher than the support, it is pinched, leaving the stepson located in the middle of the bush as the main stem .
Due to the difficulties with garter and shaping, many gardeners refuse to grow tall tomatoes in the open field, since indeterminate varieties with an unlimited fruiting period do not have time to give the crop in full in a short warm period. The greenhouse in this case is able to maintain favorable conditions for such tomatoes much longer, increasing their yield.
Disease protection
Growing tomatoes and caring for them in the open field is complicated by the fact that the plants are not protected from the vagaries of the weather. With the onset of low temperatures and high humidity, one should be wary of infecting tomatoes with various fungal and viral diseases. They can damage plants and fruits, reducing crop yields or destroying them completely.
The most common fungal disease in open ground is late blight. Its fungi are carried by wind and water drops. Getting on the wounds of a tomato, the fungus causes blackening and drying of the leaves, trunks, the appearance of black, dense spots on the surface of the fruit. You can fight late blight and other diseases with the help of preventive measures. For example, spraying bushes with a whey solution every 10 days will reliably protect tomatoes from fungus and will not damage the quality of ripening tomatoes. Among chemical preparations, Fitosporin and Famoxadone show high efficiency against phytophthora fungus.
In addition to phytophthora, other diseases can develop in open areas of the soil, the main prevention of which is to follow the rules for forming a bush, watering and feeding. When tomatoes are infected with various diseases, it is necessary to take measures to treat them, if necessary, remove the plants from the ridges. In the new year, before planting other crops in this place, it will be necessary to disinfect the soil by heating it over an open fire or watering it with boiling water, a manganese solution.
The main secret of growing tomatoes lies in the careful and regular inspection of plants. Only in this case, it is possible to timely detect signs of any disease and the effects of pests. Monitoring the condition of tomatoes also allows you to identify early symptoms of nutrient deficiencies and the need for top dressing.
Conclusion
Thus, growing tomatoes in the open field requires a lot of care and attention from the gardener. Only by taking proper care of the plants can you get a decent harvest of vegetables. Regular feeding, proper watering of tomatoes and the formation of bushes allows plants to develop harmoniously, direct their forces to the formation and maturation of tomatoes. In turn, tomatoes with strong immunity are able to independently resist some pests and diseases. In the open field, a video of growing tomatoes can also be seen here:
