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Modern gardeners have a hard time choosing a variety, because breeders from different countries continue to improve the range. To choose the right tomatoes, you need to decide where you will grow the plants, in what climatic conditions. In addition, the choice will be influenced by the height of future plantings and the timing of ripening.
If you need tomatoes for open ground, not too tall, but productive, we advise you to pay attention to the General tomato. In the article, we will give not only a description and description of tomatoes, reveal the secrets of growing, but also present some photos to the judgment of our readers.
Description of tomato General F1
Tomato General F1 is a product of Japanese breeders. The originators include the seed company Sakata seeds corp. It supplies seeds of various varieties of tomatoes in 130 countries of the world. Products are popular due to their high quality, matching descriptions and characteristics with the real result.
Determinate hybrid General recommended for growing in private gardens and farms. Its name can be found in the State Register of the Federation for the North Caucasus region. Tests of the tomato variety General were successful, it was allowed for cultivation in all regions of Our Country.
The tomato is intended for an open ground, terms of maturing of 107-110 days from crops of seeds in soil. Early ripe tomato General F1 is undersized, its height is 60-70 cm, shoot growth is limited.
The leaves on the tomatoes of the variety are dark green, medium in size. Bushes of tomatoes with a large number of shoots, on each of which several simple inflorescences are formed. As a rule, 4 to 6 fruits are tied on them. There are articulations on the peduncle.
Stepchildren on a short-growing tomato General are not removed, so by the time the fruit ripens, the bush looks like a multi-colored ball.
Tomato General, according to gardeners involved in culture, has flat-round, smooth and dense fruits. Weight from 220 to 240 grams. There are also larger specimens weighing up to 280 grams. Before ripening, the tomatoes are green, in technical maturity they are even red in color without any spots.
By cutting the tomato in half, you can see that the flesh is evenly colored, bright red, yellow or white blotches are absent. There are few seeds in a tomato. This is clearly seen in the photo below.
The taste qualities of the tomato variety General are excellent, sweetish-sour. The pulp is firm, not watery. Sugar content from 2,4 to 4,4%, dry matter contained in the juice up to 6,6%.
Tomatoes of the General variety are universal, suitable for fresh consumption, salads, juice, tomato paste. Fruits are also good for preservation, but you only need to use containers with a wide neck.
Characteristic of the variety
Such attention of gardeners to the Japanese variety is not accidental, because the General tomato has many advantages arising from the characteristics and descriptions and confirmed photos.
Advantages
- The tomato variety General F1 is high-yielding (about 12 kg per square meter), even with low growth, many fruits ripen on it. After all, temperature fluctuations do not affect fruit set.
- The ripening of tomatoes of the General F1 variety is friendly.
- Tomatoes have not only excellent taste characteristics, but also an attractive presentation.
- The transportability of this variety of tomatoes is excellent, long-term transportation does not affect the fruits, they do not crack, do not flow.
- Breeders took care of the immunity of the hybrid General F1. It is resistant to many viral and fungal diseases that affect many nightshade crops. Verticillium, gray spot, fusarium, Alternaria, bronze and yellow leaf curl virus practically do not damage tomatoes, even without treatment.
Lack of variety
The characteristic of the tomato variety General F1 will not be accurate unless some shortcomings are pointed out. There are few of them, but when choosing seeds, they are still important:
- Seeds of the General variety have to be bought every year, since they are not worth collecting from hybrid tomatoes: varietal qualities are not preserved.
- If many diseases do not interfere with the cultivation of tomatoes, then it is not always possible to protect tomato bushes from late blight.
Features of growing seedlings
Determinate varieties and hybrids are most often grown in seedlings. Especially those gardeners who live in the zone of risky farming. The thing is that by the time the phytophthora are activated, the fruits have time to collect. But tomatoes grown by direct sowing of seeds into the ground most often fall at the very height of the disease, which affects not only the leaves, but also the fruits.
The same danger awaits the tomato General F1, according to gardeners and the description of the variety, its resistance to phytophthora is low. Therefore, early ripening tomatoes must be grown through seedlings to obtain a rich harvest of fruits.
Terms of sowing seeds
The question of when to sow seeds of the General variety worries many gardeners. Even the most experienced vegetable grower will not give a definite answer to it. It is necessary to focus on many factors:
- ripening dates for tomatoes, and for our variety, according to the description, they are within three months;
- climatic conditions of the region;
- features of spring in a particular year.
As a rule, good seedlings of tomatoes should be 35-40 days old by the time they are planted in a permanent place.
After you have decided on the timing of sowing the seeds of the early tomato variety General, depending on climatic conditions (this is March 15-20 or April 8-10 for the northern regions), you need to start preparing the soil and seeds.
Soil and seed preparation
Depending on how many seedlings of a particular variety you need to get, a planting capacity is selected: boxes, cassettes or snails.
Some gardeners buy ready-made soil formulations, but most prepare them on their own. The nutrient substrate for seedlings should consist of the following components:
- garden land – 1 part;
- humus or compost – 1 part;
- wood ash in a glass for each bucket of the mixture.
The containers are filled with earth and spilled with boiling water of dark pink color (dissolve potassium permanganate) to prevent the black leg. From above, it is desirable to stretch the film so that steaming gives the best effect.
As for the preparation of tomato seeds, most often they are already processed and covered with a protective shell. If the seed is ordinary, then it should be washed in a pink solution of potassium permanganate or a weak solution of boric acid. Then rinse in clean water and dry slightly.
When the earth has cooled to room temperature, grooves or holes are made half a centimeter deep and the General tomato seeds are planted in increments of at least 1 cm. The container is covered with cellophane and cleaned in a bright, warm place.
Video about sowing tomato seeds for seedlings:
Seedling picking and care
When 3-4 true leaves appear on your tomatoes, they need to be transplanted into separate containers. The soil is prepared in the same way as for sowing seeds. Tomatoes are selected carefully so as not to damage the root system and placed in the ground to the cotyledon leaves.
The earth is compressed to increase the adhesion of the roots and spilled with warm water. Tomatoes are placed on a bright window and shaded for three days so that the plants grab onto the ground. During cultivation, the seedlings are watered (do not let the earth dry out) and the containers are rotated so that the plants develop evenly. If the soil was fertile, then no top dressing of tomato seedlings is required.
But loosening the soil in cups with tomatoes is necessary to saturate the root system with oxygen.
A week and a half before planting, tomato seedlings are hardened. To do this, they take it out into the street or put it on the balcony (in urban conditions). The main thing is that there is no draft.
Outdoor care
The soil by the time the tomatoes are transplanted should warm up to a depth of 10 cm to 16 degrees. At a lower temperature, the root system of the tomatoes will suffer, which will slow down development. Consequently, at best, the ripening time will be postponed, at worst, some of the tomatoes planted in open ground will simply die.
Since tomatoes of any variety are demanding on lighting, a garden bed is prepared for them in an open area. The soil is prepared in advance, fertilized (full mineral fertilizer or compost is applied), dug up and allowed to settle.
Ridges are made in those areas where potatoes, peppers, eggplants and tomatoes have not been grown for several years. But after peas, beans, zucchini, the land is most suitable.
Wells are prepared in advance. Since the General variety is undersized, 4-5 bushes can be planted on one square. The best is considered a two-line landing. There should be at least 40 cm between rows. Fill the holes with Epin’s solution or another stimulant for root growth, sprinkle with soil and water again. Then we plant seedlings of tomatoes.
Further care for tomatoes General is simple: watering, weeding, loosening, hilling the bushes and top dressing. Tomatoes do not need to be pinched, but some of the leaves, especially from below, need to be removed.
Top dressing is applied simultaneously with watering. Before flowering, the bushes are fed with nitrogen and phosphorus fertilizers, and at the time of ripening, potash mixtures are used.