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Tomatoes are not only loved by everyone, but also a very healthy vegetable. A considerable amount of vitamins and minerals makes them useful in the treatment of many diseases. And the lycopene contained in them is not only a powerful antioxidant. It is also an antidepressant, comparable in its action to all known chocolate. Such a vegetable has every right to take pride of place in any garden. All gardeners want to grow it, but, unfortunately, this does not always work out. Tomato is susceptible to many diseases, the most dangerous of them is late blight. In the fight against it, as well as to increase the fruit set, the treatment of tomatoes with boric acid helps.
Tomatoes love heat, but not heat, they need watering, but excessive moisture provokes the appearance of phytophthora. In a word, to grow these whims you need to work hard. And the weather is not always suitable for growing this vegetable. Regardless of the weather (and why, if it’s always warm there), only wild tomatoes grow in their homeland without any care. But their fruits are no larger than currants, and we want to grow a weighty vegetable in order to admire ourselves and brag to our neighbors. To get this result, you need to monitor the health of your pets.
It is preventive, they should begin long before the possible occurrence of the disease. The most popular and effective immunostimulants are: epin, succinic acid, immunocytophyte, HB 101. They will be most useful for tomatoes if all the necessary components of proper nutrition, both macro and microelements, are available for plants.
A balanced diet is the key to a healthy and strong plant. Boron is not a macronutrient for tomatoes, but its deficiency can have a catastrophic effect on plant development. Tomatoes are one of the crops that are particularly sensitive to a lack of boron in the soil. For the proper development and abundant fruiting of this vegetable, it is very important.
The role of boron in the process of growing tomatoes
- Participates in the formation of cell walls of tomatoes.
- Regulates the supply of plants with calcium. A lack of calcium is the cause of a physiological disease of tomatoes – blossom end rot.
- Boron is necessary for the rapid growth of all parts of plants, as it is responsible for the growth of the tips of stems, leaves and roots. Accelerates the formation of new cells.
- It is responsible for transporting sugar from the mature parts of the plant to the developing organs.
- It promotes the process of laying new buds, the growth of tomato fruits, and most importantly, is responsible for the number of flowers and their safety, ensures successful pollination of plants and the formation of ovaries.
- Participates in the process of photosynthesis.
With a lack of this element, not only the growth of plants is disturbed, but also their ability to form a full-fledged crop.
How does a lack of boron manifest itself in tomatoes?
- The root and stem stop growing.
- At the top of the plant, chlorosis appears – yellowing and a decrease in size, if the deficiency of this important element persists, it dies off completely.
- The number of flowers decreases sharply, they are not fertilized, do not form ovaries and fall off.
- Tomatoes become ugly, corky inclusions appear inside them.
Contribute to it and long-term precipitation, intensive introduction of organic and mineral substances without boron. For growing tomatoes on sandy, alkaline soils, it is necessary to apply increased doses of boron fertilizers, since their content in such soil is low.
Spraying tomatoes with fertilizers containing boron
There are a lot of boron-containing fertilizers, but the vast majority of them are applied at the planting stage in a dry form, so they act slowly.
The easiest way to enrich tomatoes with boron is by spraying or watering with boric acid. When dissolved in water, boron becomes available to plants. Such a treatment of a tomato with boric acid will not only eliminate its deficiency, but will also be a preventive treatment of tomatoes from late blight and a number of other diseases.
Boric fertilizer is added to the wells during planting. It is better if it is in the form of a solution and at least a day passes between its application and planting of seedlings.
Boron is an inactive element. It practically cannot move from one part of the plant to another. As tomatoes grow, the growing vegetative mass needs new supplies of this nutrient. Therefore, tomatoes are sprayed with boric acid dissolved in water. It must be remembered that boron is very slowly excreted from the human body, and its high content in tomatoes can simply harm. Therefore, in this matter it is necessary to find a golden mean.
Preparation of a solution of boric acid for processing tomatoes
How much boric acid is needed to prepare the solution so that the tomatoes have enough of this nutrient, and the health of the gardener who will eat processed tomatoes is not in jeopardy?
It is optimal for the plant and safe for humans to fertilize with a 0,1% solution of boric acid in warm, clean, non-chlorinated water. That is, a standard bag of boric acid weighing ten grams must be dissolved in ten liters of water. In practice, so much solution for a single treatment will be too much. You can prepare half the amount or store the finished solution until the next treatment, since its properties do not change during storage.
Therefore, a bag of powder weighing ten grams is added to a liter of hot water, thoroughly mixed until the crystals are completely dissolved, and then the mixture is added to the remaining nine liters of water.
When and how to process
Root top dressing, that is, watering under the root, is needed for tomatoes during the period of active growth of the root mass. They will promote the growth of young roots. Therefore, it is advisable to carry them out at planting and in the initial stage of growth, but not more often than once every two weeks.
Foliar top dressing is most needed for tomatoes during the formation of flower brushes, bud formation, flowering and ovary formation. Therefore, the first spraying of tomato with boric acid is carried out during the formation of the first flower brush. For spraying plants in the open field, it is better to choose a calm and dry day. It is necessary to process so that the solution completely moistens the flower brush.
All the subtleties of such processing in the greenhouse can be seen on the video.
Spraying a tomato with boric acid for the ovary on the second brush is carried out when buds are formed on it, about two weeks after the first. In total, treatments should be carried out from three to four. Having sprinkled tomatoes correctly and on time, you can be sure that almost all tomatoes are tied, flowers and ovaries do not fall off.
Boric acid for tomatoes is not only a necessary fertilizer, spraying it during the growing season of plants is an effective remedy for disease with late blight.
Therefore, a ten-gram sachet of boric acid per five liters of water is used to prepare a working solution.
The effect of such a solution on tomatoes is enhanced by the addition of iodine – up to ten drops per bucket of solution.
If you want to increase the yield of tomatoes, speed up their ripening, and also improve the taste and beneficial properties of the fruit, spray them with a solution of boric acid, observing the terms and processing standards.