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Spring is coming, and you will have to think about choosing tomato seeds for planting. The range of varieties of these vegetables is rich, so often even experienced gardeners can not always make a choice. We propose to pay attention to the variety of tomato Honey Spas.
These tomatoes have many unique qualities that gardeners will love. You can grow them both in open and protected ground. The features of tomatoes, the beneficial properties will be discussed in the article. To better understand the features of the Honey Spas tomato, we will present photos and reviews of those who planted the variety on their plots.
Description
Tomato Honey Spas is a young variety created by breeders from Novosibirsk. The head is V.N. Dederko. Culture was recorded in the State Register of the Federation in 2004. A new variety is recommended for cultivation in any regions of Our Country in open ground and greenhouses.
Gardeners in their reviews note that the Honey Spas tomato, according to the characteristics and description of the variety, completely coincides with the properties declared by the breeders.
Let’s look at the description in detail.
Bush
Tomato Honey Spas belongs to indeterminate tall plants. Gardeners are happy to grow productive tomatoes, despite the fact that this salad variety has to adjust the height of the stem throughout the growing season. Variety Honey Spas must be tied to a support.
In addition, in areas of risky farming, it should only be planted in a greenhouse due to the long period of fruit ripening. The first tomatoes are removed after 110-115 days from the moment of germination.
Tomatoes of this variety are powerful, about 130-175 cm high, with medium foliage. The leaves on the tomatoes are light green. Grow tomatoes Honey Spas in 1-2 stems, a maximum of three.
Tomatoes are powerful because they have a well-developed root system. The roots get food not only at the surface: the central root goes to a great depth.
Fruit
Tomatoes are glossy, with dense skin, do not crack when ripe. The shape of tomatoes, even on one bush, according to gardeners, is different. Some look like a heart or a kidney, others, on the contrary, are round or slightly flattened. Look at the photo, here they are varieties of tomatoes in all their glory.
The fruits of tomatoes of the Honey Spas variety are large, the weight of one is up to 200 grams. There are also their champions, growing up to 500-600 grams with excellent agricultural technology. It is impossible not to notice tomatoes during the ripening period, because they have an unforgettable and incomparable warm orange-honey or bright yellow color.
Tomatoes Honey Spas according to the description of the variety are dense, juicy, fleshy, sugary on the cut. Seeds are few and small.
According to gardeners and variety lovers, the consistency is a little oily. The amount of sugar is large, but the acid is small, so tomatoes are not suitable for canning.
Tomatoes taste sweet with a pleasant honey aroma, do not crack.
Productivity
Looking at the photo, it is not difficult to judge the yield of Medovy Spas tomatoes. Peduncles strong, strong. Up to 5 fruits are poured on one flower brush. This is how many ovaries you need to leave to get large tomatoes. In this case, the tomatoes do not interfere with each other, grow and fill up to the desired size. From each bush you can collect 4-6 kg of delicious fragrant fruits.
Characteristics
Like any variety of tomatoes, Honey Spas has its advantages and disadvantages. Let’s look into them.
Advantages
- According to the description, the variety is productive and in demand among gardeners, despite the fact that fruits are not suitable for canning due to their large size and low acid content. But you can cook salads from fresh tomatoes, prepare fragrant juice for the winter.
- The ripening cycle is extended, you can harvest until the end of the warm season, which is also convenient. Tomatoes Honey Spas, harvested in blange ripeness, are perfectly ripened indoors. Keep picked fruits in a warm and dark place so that they do not reduce the amount of sugar.
- Tomatoes of this variety can lie for several months without losing their useful qualities and presentation. Transportability is excellent, but gardeners who leave reviews of the Honey Spas variety advise picking unripe tomatoes for such purposes. Then they will get to the consumer in the right condition.
- Tomato juice of this variety in medicine is called purified water and fruits are recommended for dietary and baby food. The benefits of yellow tomatoes can hardly be overestimated, but the most important thing, perhaps, is the absence of substances that cause allergies. It is useful to use tomatoes for diseases of the gastrointestinal tract, as well as for people who have problems with the kidneys and liver.
- Abroad, there is a special attitude towards tomatoes with yellow and orange fruits. It is believed that with regular use of a tomato of this color, including the variety described, it is possible to delay the onset of old age. It is not for nothing that the inhabitants of the Mediterranean coast call the honey spas tomatoes a golden apple.
- Tomatoes can be grown in open and protected ground. In the southern regions, they produce excellent outdoor crops, as they are able to adapt to adverse conditions, including extreme heat or a slight decrease in temperatures. But in the zone of risky farming, it is preferable to grow tomatoes of the Honey Spas variety under the film. After all, the harvest (see photo below) in the greenhouse will be much larger than in the open field.
- Since this is a variety, and not a hybrid, you can get your own tomato seeds. Although, as it was indicated in the description, there are not so many of them.
- Gardeners like the tomato variety Honey Spas for its special resistance to diseases of nightshade crops: late blight, gray rot, and tobacco mosaic.
Disadvantages
Despite the obvious advantages, this variety also has disadvantages:
- Best of all, the fruits of tomatoes of this variety are tied at a temperature of + 20-25 degrees. If the temperature is below +15 degrees or rises above +35, then empty flowers may appear due to pollen sterility. Experienced gardeners shake tomato bushes in the open field or greenhouse for better fertilization.
- Some gardeners in the reviews call the impossibility of preserving fruits for the winter as a disadvantage.
Tomatoes with yellow fruits:
Cultivation and care
Tomatoes of the Honey Spas variety are propagated by seedlings. It is not difficult to calculate the timing of sowing seeds, because they depend on the time of planting plants in a permanent place. Tomato seedlings are considered mature at the age of 50 or 60 days. Seedlings should be thick-legged and stocky, with a uniform arrangement of leaves.
Seedling
- Tomatoes already at the seedling level need fertile soil. You can use ready-made soil or cook it yourself. In any case, the soil must be disinfected for two days before sowing the seeds. To do this, the earth is heated on a stove or poured with boiling water with the addition of potassium permanganate. It is necessary to disinfect not only the soil, but also planting containers.
- Tomato seeds are also prepared for sowing. As a rule, this is the end of March or the beginning of April. First, the seeds are placed in salt water to select good material (underripe seeds will float to the surface). After that, the seed is washed in clean water and soaked in a pink solution of manganese or boric acid. The seeds are washed again and dried to a free flowing state.
- Growing tomato seedlings of this variety can be with or without a pick. If you are not a fan of planting seedlings, then the seeds should be germinated and sown in separate pots of 1-2 seeds. After the tomatoes grow up, the strongest seedling is chosen, and the second one is removed.
- Seeds should be planted to a depth of no more than 1 cm. Then the container is covered with a film so that tomato seedlings appear faster, they are removed in a warm and bright place. After the appearance of the first hook (and this happens in 4-5 days), the film is removed and the temperature is slightly reduced.
- In the phase of 2-3 true leaves, seedlings of tomatoes of the Honey Spas variety dive. When transplanting, plants are deepened to cotyledon leaves, well shed and harvested for 2 days in partial shade.
You can determine that the tomatoes are rooted by the turgor of the leaves: they become elastic, and their color corresponds to the variety.
- Seedlings are watered without waiting for the topsoil to dry, but it should not be poured either. If you are not a fan of mineral fertilizers, you can feed the tomatoes of the Honey Spas variety with an infusion of wood ash.
In-ground care
Seedlings are planted in open ground or a greenhouse when night temperatures stop dropping below 15 degrees. The soil is prepared in advance: humus, compost or mineral fertilizers are added. Wood ash is one of the essential components. It contains a lot of micro and macro elements necessary for tomatoes.
The lower leaves, and then those that grow above the formed brush, are gradually removed. This will ensure air circulation and sufficient illumination. Stepsons also clean, form a bush with 1-2 or in extreme cases 3 stems.
Watering the bushes should be plentiful, no more than 2 times a week. Top dressing is desirable to combine with watering. For a good fertilization of the ovaries, the tomato variety Honey Spas, as gardeners write in the reviews, is sprayed with a solution of boric acid. This is an excellent top dressing.
An infusion of mullein or freshly cut grass (without seeds!) is very popular with tomatoes, they respond to such top dressing with an excellent harvest. You can from time to time dust the tomatoes and the soil around them with wood ash: both food and protection from diseases.
And, of course, the prevention of fungal and viral diseases, despite the fact that, according to the description, the variety is resistant to them. Spray chemicals are not recommended. It is better to hang tea bags soaked in iodine in the greenhouse or spray plantings by dissolving 1 tablespoon of iodine in a bucket.
Harvest tomatoes as they ripen. But so that the fruits do not slow down growth, it is advisable to shoot them in blanche ripeness.