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It is difficult to find a person who would not like tomatoes in any form: fresh, canned or in salads. As for gardeners, they try to select fruitful varieties with different fruit sizes.
The tomato variety Babushkin’s secret is already intriguing with its name. In recent years, a new variety has been winning more and more hearts due to its amazing properties. Gardeners write reviews, post photos about a new variety of tomatoes, and do not stop asking questions regarding the features of growing and caring for tomatoes.
A little about the creation of the variety
Grandma’s secret tomato has Siberian roots. It was created by breeders V.N. Dederko and T.N. Postnikov from the Siberian Federal District in 2007.
The variety is included in the State Register of the Federation. Tomatoes are recommended for open ground only in the south of the country, while in other regions it should be planted in a greenhouse or under film shelters.
Description of tomatoes
The characteristics and description of the Babushkin Secret tomato variety are very important for understanding the benefits. It should be noted that the plant belongs to indeterminate varieties.
Bushes
- Grandmother’s secret tomatoes are powerful, but the bushes are not sprawling. The height, if not limited, reaches two meters. As a rule, gardeners stop at a height of 130-150 cm.
- The stems of the tomato are strong, with medium foliage. Dark green leaves are large, with wrinkles, pubescence is absent.
- Inflorescences are simple, formed with an interval of 2 leaves. The first brush of a tomato is formed over the eighth leaf. On inflorescences 5-6, sometimes 7 fruits are formed.
Despite the power of the bush, the formation of brushes should be limited to eight, otherwise the tomatoes will be small, and the ripening period will increase.
- From sowing the seeds of the Babushkin secret variety to harvesting, 4 months pass, that is, the ripening period is medium early. The yield of tomatoes is high, when grown in a greenhouse, one bush produces up to 8 kg of large tomatoes, a little less in open ground.
- Tomatoes have a powerful root system, it is located near the surface and grows to the sides and provides food for the plant.
Features of the fruit
Tomatoes, according to the description of the variety and the reviews of people who grow Babushkin’s Secret tomatoes, have a flat-round, ribbed shape. The weight of each tomato ranges from 300 to 500 grams. The diameter of the fruit is 10 cm or more.
Seed chambers from 3 to 6, but there are few seeds. Fruits with a smooth, thin, but dense skin. Unripe tomatoes are pale green in color, in technical maturity they are bright raspberry, as in the photo below.
Tomatoes are dense, fleshy, there is little liquid in them. The pulp is raspberry, on a cut sugar. Tomatoes taste sweet with almost no sourness, in addition to sugar, they contain a lot of dry substances.
Tomatoes are universal, but they are not suitable for canning because of their large size. But for salads, lecho, adjika, tomato paste, it is better not to find raw materials.
The shelf life of fruits is limited, and it can be difficult to transport them due to the loss of presentation.
Characteristic features of the variety
Characteristics of tomatoes Grandma’s secret follows from the description. Here are the main advantages of the variety:
- The mid-ripening of tomatoes allows you to taste the first fruits after 94-118 days from the moment of sowing the seeds.
- Fruiting is long, almost the entire growing season. After all, the formation of inflorescences on a tomato continues until the tops are pinched. That is, the last fruits from the tomato bush Grandma’s secret can be collected before frost.
- The yield of tomato Babushkin’s secret amazes even experienced gardeners who grow tomatoes of this variety for the first time. One bush can give, with good care, about 10 kg of large tasty tomatoes.
- Another advantage is large-fruited. The weight of tomatoes varies between 300-500 grams, and sometimes even higher, as gardeners indicate in reviews.
- Tomatoes have excellent taste.
- Resistance to some fungal diseases, such as tobacco mosaic, late blight, powdery mildew.
As you can see, there are a lot of excellent qualities in the Babushkin Secret tomato variety, according to reviews and descriptions.
But there are also disadvantages:
- cracking of fruits at high humidity, temperature changes, with irregular irrigation;
- a small amount of seeds in a tomato Grandmother’s secret complicates the preparation of seed;
- the complexity of transportation is that the tomatoes burst, crumple.
Peculiarities of growing
Growing tomatoes of this variety will not cause difficulties even for beginners. Almost all agrotechnical norms are the same.
Seedling
Soddy land is used for sowing seeds, which is mixed with humus or sand. You can also take ready-made soil in the store. Some gardeners use peat tablets to grow seedlings of large-fruited tomatoes or sow seeds in a snail.
Before sowing, seeds and soil are treated. The soil is shed with boiling water, dissolving potassium permanganate in it. The seed is soaked in potassium permanganate or Zircon, Epin. Tomato seeds are deepened into moist soil by 2 cm, there should be at least two centimeters between them if they are planted in a box.
The seed container is placed on a sunny window; to accelerate germination, the temperature should be at least +25 degrees. A cellophane film is stretched over the box. When the first sprout appears, it is removed, and the temperature is reduced to +16 degrees so that the seedlings of Grandma’s secret are not stretched.
Picks
When 1-2 true leaves appear on small tomatoes, they should be planted one at a time, that is, dive. Use small cups or peat pots. Transplanting tomato seedlings Grandma’s secret should be done carefully so as not to injure the roots.
Landing at the main place
To a permanent place, in a greenhouse or open ground, tomato seedlings are transplanted at the age of 50 days. For two weeks, they harden her, accustom her to new conditions.
After digging and adding fertilizers, the earth is shed with a hot dark pink solution of potassium permanganate. The holes are placed at a distance of 0,5-0,6 meters so that there is enough space for the development of the plant.
After planting tomatoes, they immediately tie the bushes to strong supports.
If in previous years the plants were sick, after planting, the tomatoes are treated for preventive purposes with special fungicidal preparations or iodine solution. Some gardeners hang tea bags soaked in iodine in the greenhouse, they say, it saves tomatoes from fungal diseases.
Care after landing
Watering plants both in the open field and in the greenhouse should be done regularly, but it should not be waterlogged, as this affects the growth of tomatoes. But most importantly, the fruits can crack.
Weeds are weeded in the greenhouse and in the soil, the soil is loosened after each watering. The greenhouse must be ventilated to reduce air humidity.
Tomato Grandmother’s Secret is grown in one stem, therefore, all stepchildren are removed, as well as leaves. First to the first brush, then as the brushes form. When the eighth flower brush appears on the stem, pinch it to stop further growth. This will give the tomato strength to ripen the fruit.
For top dressing, organic matter, mineral fertilizers are used. Bring food 2 or 3 times per season. As gardeners write in reviews, fertilizing with mullein, chicken manure, green manure has a positive effect on the size and taste of fruits.
Tomatoes in the greenhouse:
