Everyone who grows tomatoes on their plot knows about the benefits of top dressing. Strong vegetables can resist disease, parasite invasions. In order not to use a lot of chemicals, they are replaced with softer natural ingredients. Experienced gardeners find folk recipes very useful when caring for tomatoes. One of these proven methods is to feed tomatoes with iodine. He, like any element, is very useful. But the dose of its use must still be sustained. Otherwise, excessive feeding of tomatoes with iodine will lead to an overdose. It is important to remember that in small doses iodine is harmless to humans and plants. Its effect on plants has a lot of positive aspects.
Usually garden crops have enough of the amount of the element that is contained in the soil. Therefore, it is impossible to find special preparations with its content. Why, then, summer residents actively use iodine to feed tomatoes? This culture needs additional nutrition and is very responsive to top dressing. Iodine solutions improve the growth of seedlings and help save plantings from a formidable enemy – phytophthora.
Usually use iodine for tomatoes as a fertilizer. It is noticed that its beneficial effect on plants is very extensive:
- improves nitrogen metabolism in plants;
- seedlings watered with a solution grow stronger and healthier;
- a large number of ovaries are formed;
- adult plants produce larger and tastier fruits;
- the risk of mosaic disease and root rot is reduced;
- the harvest ripens ahead of schedule.
You need to feed tomatoes with a medicine correctly. The need of plants in this element is very small. You need to know the signs of how iodine deficiency manifests itself in tomatoes. And if these are not noticed, then top dressing must be strictly dosed and a time interval must be observed between them. It turns out that it is able to replace nitrogen components. Gardeners successfully replace saltpeter with iodine solutions. It is possible to feed tomatoes with a solution of a medical preparation according to the schedule, but sometimes plants need such an additive. When is it necessary to feed tomatoes with iodine? How can a gardener determine that a plant is deficient in an element?
The main sign will be external manifestations:
- Yield decline. For example, you planted a proven tomato variety in its usual conditions. When a decrease in the number of ovaries or fruit size is noticed, then iodine supplementation for tomatoes is necessary.
- Delayed onset of the fruiting phase in an adult plant. If they are not fed during this period, the harvest will be low, and the fruits will be small.
- Weak immunity of tomato seedlings. If seedlings grow poorly, get sick, are affected by diseases, iodine is needed.
- When tomatoes are affected by mosaic, root rot, brown spot or late blight, spraying with iodine solution is used.
- The appearance of characteristic signs of iodine deficiency in tomatoes – thin stems, pale and sluggish leaves also signals the need for top dressing.
It is known that tomatoes are able to absorb iodine compounds from the surrounding atmosphere. But how much element is needed for a good bush development? Tomatoes do not have the most obvious characteristic sign of iodine deficiency, so you need to carefully monitor the plants from the first days of life. This will help you notice in time that it’s time to feed the tomatoes with iodine. It is best to carry out pre-sowing processing of tomatoes.
How to feed tomatoes with iodine
There are two ways to effectively feed a tomato – root and foliar. The effectiveness of feeding increases with the alternation of these methods. Experienced gardeners feed tomatoes in a certain phase of development.
Root feeding
Root application is very good when the root system is strong and well supplying nutrients to the plant. Works best for seedlings.
The first feeding with iodine is carried out when the second pair of leaves appears on the seedlings. The leaf area is still very small to absorb useful components, so it is better to apply them through the root system.
A nutrient solution for feeding a tomato is prepared in the ratio – 1 drop of the drug per 3 liters of warm water.
Pre-water the soil around the stems, and then moisten the soil with a solution. Even a one-time top dressing of a tomato with iodine gives a tangible result. If you shed adult tomatoes during the fruiting period again, they will thank you with a good harvest of large fruits.
The second time the plants are fertilized in the phase of tying brushes. In this case, 3 drops of iodine per bucket of clean water will be enough.
For tall plants, one liter of solution is needed for each bush, for undersized plants, 0,7 liters is enough.
It is desirable to carry out the third root top dressing of a tomato during the fruiting period.
This time, along with iodine, the tomato is fed with boric acid. Heat five liters of water to a hot state and dissolve 3 liters of wood ash (sifted) in it. Cover the container and infuse the ashes for one hour. Then dilute to a volume of 10 liters with warm water and add 10 ml of medical iodine and 10 g of pharmacy boric acid. Mix and insist overnight. To fertilize tomatoes, one liter of this infusion is diluted in 10 liters of warm water and the bushes are watered under the root. Feeding tomatoes with boric acid with iodine will well strengthen the resistance of plants at the time of fruiting.
Foliar top dressing
The foliar method is alternated with tomato root dressing. For ten square meters of area, 1,5 liters of the composition are consumed. The solution for spraying is prepared with milk. It is prepared from 250 ml of milk (low-fat), 5 drops of medical iodine and 1 liter of water.
Spray tomatoes in the morning or evening when there is no bright sun. Use a hand sprayer or a sprayer with a nozzle that sprays the liquid with a fine mist.
And do not get too carried away with feeding tomatoes with iodine and boric acid. An excess of elements will lead to deformation of the fruits and brushes of the plant.
A very interesting method of dealing with late blight tomato in a greenhouse. Gardeners hang open jars of iodine all over the square. This disinfects the room well, however, you can’t stay in the greenhouse for a long time. Iodine is a volatile element, and its overdose is dangerous for humans.
Another proven fertilizer for tomatoes is whey. Only you need to take whey when curdling milk, and not from making cottage cheese. Tomatoes are sprayed with whey diluted in water (1:10) very often, which is tiring for some gardeners. You can reduce the number of sprays to one per week.
Reviews
Thus, it should be noted that timely feeding of tomatoes with iodine can significantly improve the yield and taste of fruits, reduce the incidence of plants.
Reviews of gardeners using iodine fertilizing are very optimistic:
