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When choosing a variety of tomatoes, considering bags of seeds, the gardener subconsciously sympathizes with heart-shaped tomatoes, like Big Mommy. Judging by the “business card”, this is a strong bush of a plant with large fruits. Breeders didn’t call him that for nothing. Although this tomato variety is very young, registered in 2015, the plant is rapidly gaining popularity, thanks to a bunch of valuable properties. Initially, the bushes of these tomatoes were intended for growing in greenhouses, but in the south they ripen perfectly in open ground.
Clear advantages of the new variety
It is worth knowing in advance about the characteristics of the tomato plant itself and its fruits.
- Early maturity: greenhouse bushes give huge red berries already 85-93 days after germination;
- Determinacy: the growth of the Big Mommy tomato bush stops as soon as the fifth brush forms on the trunk. From this moment on, his task is the formation of fruits. Basically, plants of the Big Mommy tomato variety reach a height of 60 cm. With increased nutrition, the bushes rise another ten centimeters, very rarely up to a meter;
- Productivity: the weight of ripe tomato fruits starts from 200 g. In greenhouse conditions, subject to all the requirements of agricultural technology, the total mass of harvested fruits reaches 9-10 kg per 1 sq. m. In open ground, the fruits are smaller;
- Fruit quality: Big Mom tomatoes, according to enthusiasts who were the first to start growing a new variety, are excellent. Juicy pulp is balanced in sweetness and acidity. The plus is that there are few seeds in the fruits;
- Transportability: due to the presence of dry matter, the impressive red fruits of the tomato perfectly tolerate transportation;
- Resistance to pathogens of fungal and other diseases. Bushes of the Big Mom variety only in extremely unfavorable conditions and in the absence of care can be affected by spores of late blight, powdery mildew, rot, or tobacco mosaic viruses.
Characteristic features of the plant
The determinant tomato bushes Big Mom, according to reviews, were liked by many gardeners because of their rather low growth and, accordingly, a stable, strong stem. On the evenly spaced branches of the plant there are some light green, wrinkled leaves of medium size, similar to potato ones. Inflorescences are formed after 5 or 7 leaves, as a rule, they bear five or six fruits. The rhizome of the bush is horizontal.
Magnificent, bright red fruits are loved by a rich and pleasant taste.
- The berries of the Big Mommy tomatoes are slightly ribbed, elongated downwards, resembling a heart in shape. Often there are rounded or slightly narrowed, with a spout;
- The fruits have a smooth, dense, albeit thin skin that does not crack;
- The main feature of the Big Mommy tomatoes is the size of the berry, which weighs from 200 to 400 g;
- The fruits are tasty, with fleshy and juicy pulp, with a small amount of seeds, for which the berry forms 7 or 8 chambers.
Tomatoes of this variety are ideal for fresh salads. Fruits are convenient to use in cutting for canned blanks. In the stage of full ripeness, sauces and pastes are prepared from them.
The specifics of growing seedlings
The fruits of any plant begin with seeds and seedlings. Since the Gavrish breeding company developed the Big Mommy tomato variety, bushes that fully preserve the declared properties should grow from its seeds.
Seed sowing
If Big Mommy tomato seeds are sold already processed, they are simply carefully laid out in the soil, deepening by 0,5-1 cm. It is better to purchase the substrate in gardening stores. Garden soil is mixed with peat, river sand and humus, watered with a solution of potassium permanganate. The seeds are kept in the same disinfecting solution for about twenty minutes.
The containers are covered with a film, and after the first shoots it is removed, and during the week the optimum temperature will be 150C.
Sprout Support
Tender shoots of tomatoes need careful care.
- Seedlings of tomatoes Big Mommy require a lot of light for themselves to form a root system. If there is little natural light, they are illuminated with phytolamps;
- Tomato roots develop correctly even without additional illumination at a temperature not exceeding 160C. When the seedlings of tomatoes get stronger, they are transferred to heat – up to 250 WITH;
- With the development of two true leaves, the Big Mommy tomato seedlings are dived and transferred to individual pots, with a volume of at least 300 ml;
- Usually, tomato seedlings do not require top dressing, but if the plants are in a greenhouse, the seedlings are watered with a nutrient solution. In 1 liter of water put 0,5 g of ammonium nitrate, 2 g of potassium sulfate and 4 g of superphosphate.
Before planting in open ground, seedlings of tomatoes are hardened, taking them out into the air, into the shade, for two weeks.
Care of seedlings in the greenhouse
When the Big Mommy tomato seedlings reach 20-25 cm in height, there are already more than 6 sheets on it, it is transferred to a permanent place. Holes are made according to the scheme 40×50. Before planting young tomato plants, it is necessary to prepare a greenhouse.
Soil preparation
The soil needs to be dug up. Sometimes they remove the soil to a depth of seven centimeters to change to a new one. Usually, soddy soil and humus are used equally, diluted with vermiculite or sawdust. Supplements are necessary to maintain air-water balance. The soil mixture is treated by dissolving 2 ml of the biological substance Fitolavin per liter of water.
Shops offer ready-made soil for tomatoes. It is placed in the hole when planting the plant.
Top dressing of tomatoes
After digging a hole, you need to decide where the root will be located, and put 3-7 g of fertilizer for tomatoes, which are purchased in specialized stores, five centimeters from it. Potassium and phosphorus, necessary for the development of the plant and the formation of tomato fruits, are balanced in ready-made dressings. The preparations “Fertik”, “Kemira” and others are used.
Before flowering, the plants are fertilized with nitrogen fertilizing. Periodically, Big Mommy tomato bushes are watered with a nutrient solution. To prepare it, put 10 liters of liquid mullein and 0,5 g of nitrophoska in 20 liters of water. Often 5 g of potassium sulfate and 30 g of superphosphate are added to this mixture.
Flowering tomato bushes Big Mom are in dire need of potassium support. Foliar top dressing with wood ash is best during this period, which will give the seedlings the opportunity to quickly absorb valuable nutrients. One glass of ash is poured into 1 liter of hot water and insisted for 2 days. Then the infusion is diluted and the plants are sprayed.
Watering, pinching and garter
Greenhouse tomato bushes Big Mom love warm water, about 200 C.
- Water the plants only under the root once a week;
- You can not overmoisten the earth;
- The tomato plant needs more water as the fruit begins to form;
- Water bushes of tomatoes in greenhouses only in the morning.
After the earth dries, it is loosened and mulched. Greenhouses must be ventilated and monitor the humidity.
Branches that begin to grow on tomato bushes in the axils of the leaves must be removed.
- Pasynkuyu bushes of tomatoes every 15 days;
- On the plant, only one branch is removed at a time, otherwise the seedling will get sick;
- The lowest stepson, or two, are left to form a powerful bush in 2 or 3 stems.
In advance, you need to take care of the trellises, to which, as the tomato bush grows, branches are tied up. With the beginning of the growth of green fruits, the leaves from the bush are gradually cut off.
In greenhouses, the harvest of tomatoes is guaranteed even in cool summers.
