Tomato has been an indispensable vegetable on our tables for many years. But in order to properly plant and grow this culture, it is necessary to adhere to all the rules. Proper preparation of tomato seeds before sowing will enable each gardener to get stronger and more viable seedlings, which will have strong immunity to various kinds of diseases.
Why do you need to soak
Experienced gardeners rightfully consider the correct preliminary preparation and treatment of seeds before planting to be the basis of a good and rich tomato crop in the future, from which good quality seedlings will then grow. Experts say that soaking tomato seeds can perfectly disinfect them and increase yield by 25 – 30%. First you need to select the seeds, removing all the weak and empty. After sampling high-quality tomato seeds, they must be warmed up, then disinfected, after which they are treated with nutrients and soaked.
If you sow unprepared tomato seeds properly, then seedlings may well appear non-simultaneously, and seedlings will become very sick with such ailments as root and stem rot, white and gray, phomosis, black leg and many others. Pre-sowing soaking can reduce the likelihood of diseases by 50%. That is, answering the questions of novice gardeners, we can safely say that it is necessary to soak the seeds! Since after this procedure, the seedlings will be more stable, and the faster they germinate, the less likely it is that the seeds will die in the ground – they are quite capable of being eaten by pests.
How to
You need to select seeds that are large in size and heavy in weight – this will mean that they contain many useful substances, which means that strong and viable tomatoes can grow from them. Before proceeding with the selection of tomato seeds, it is necessary to prepare a solution of table salt – a tablespoon in a glass of water. Then you need to pour the seeds there and let them stay there for a short amount of time. The empty ones will be on the surface, and the suitable ones will certainly fall down.
Before soaking, they should also be warmed up; at home, you can do this on a battery for a couple of days. Also, before soaking, you need to disinfect the seeds. You can do this by placing them for 20 minutes in a solution of potassium permanganate or in a solution of hydrogen peroxide heated to a temperature of 40 degrees. Now you can soak the tomato seeds. It should be taken into account the fact that the volume of water should be 50-100 times larger than the volume of seeds. The likelihood that the seeds will be able to suffocate while under the water column is small, since they do not need oxygen when they swell.
Tomato seeds should be put in a small gauze bag and immersed in warm water, the temperature of which does not exceed 20 – 25 degrees. During the soaking of tomato seeds, they should be stirred periodically. The time depends on how quickly the seeds swell. If a brown substance is released from them into the water, it must be changed. Typically, tomato seeds may take approximately 18 hours to swell. It is impossible to soak before planting in extracts from ash, saline solutions, as this can inhibit the plant. After soaking, the planting material is slightly dried, and then either laid for germination, or sown in seedling boxes prepared in advance.
What is the best way to soak? In addition to water, today there are solutions that contain bioactive substances (solution of humate, zircon, epin). For example, epin is a herbal preparation that will help the seeds adapt before planting and will stimulate their normal growth. Humate is a salt of humic acid, which is obtained as a result of alkaline hydrolysis of peat or brown coal. It also has an anti-stress and stimulating effect. Zircon will help tomato seeds in growing a strong root system and enhanced germination.
Other processing methods
In addition to the well-known pre-soaking, there are some other ways to process tomato seeds. Bubbling is the soaking of seeds in water that is saturated with oxygen. To carry out this procedure at home, it is advised to use compressors – the same ones that are used for aquariums. Air or oxygen is supplied to the bubbler under the required pressure – for tomatoes, the time is approximately 18 – 24 hours. After this kind of processing, future seedlings, from which strong tomatoes will grow, can be expected to have an excellent rich harvest.
In the course of drageeing, the creation of granules by building up mixtures of protective, nutritious and stimulating substances around the seeds around the seeds. Dragee planting material begins 3 to 6 months before the intended sowing. Most often, such a procedure is usually carried out for large batches in production conditions.
Stratification is another method of preparing tomato seeds for sowing. It is best suited for those seeds that tend to grow for a long time. Indeed, in natural conditions, in autumn, seeds fall to the ground, then they are covered with a layer of leaves, and in the winter season – with snow, they are overcome by frost. It is in such conditions that they are until the onset of spring, after which they already germinate. The same, close to natural, conditions are created artificially in the course of stratification. To do this, the seeds are mixed with wet sand, peat is also suitable because of its good breathability and ability to retain moisture.
Then all this is placed in a container in the cold – the temperature will be from minus 3 to zero. The duration of the procedure is three to six weeks. If necessary, the seeds in a bowl are mixed and slightly moistened. Immediately before sowing, the planting material must be slightly dried.
Seeds that have a fairly hard shell should be dipped in a gauze bag in boiling water for 10 to 20 seconds.
After that, they need to be quickly placed for a couple of seconds in the cold. Or vice versa – first freeze, and then scald several times with boiling water. This procedure contributes to the fact that the shell bursts, and the seed gets the opportunity to germinate normally. It is permissible to slightly incise or file the shell; rubbing such seeds with gravel or coarse sand has also proven itself.
Video “Soaking seeds”
On the recording, a man talks about the correct soaking of tomato seeds before planting and about the procedure for planting in the ground.
