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The summer is still far away, but the gardening season begins much earlier. Work is already underway to select seeds for various vegetable crops. Each gardener tries to choose such varieties so that everything is in line: taste, size, versatility of use, disease resistance and much more.
One of the varieties, Metelitsa tomato, was created at the Siberian Research Institute of Plant Growing and Breeding of the Agricultural Academy in the early years of the XNUMXst century. The plant has already managed to find its admirers. And there is nothing to be surprised here, since its characteristics meet almost all the requirements of gardeners.
Description
Tomato Metelitsa F1 is a hybrid. He, fortunately, does not have “namesake”, so you can safely purchase seeds that will match the description and characteristics. The variety is included in the State Register of the Federation and is recommended for outdoor cultivation. Although in greenhouses it gives a good harvest.
Bushes
Tomatoes from Siberian breeders from the group of vegetables of medium early ripening. The first mature fruits can be removed in 105-108 days from the moment of sowing seeds for seedlings.
The hybrid is undersized, about 50-60 cm high, it is compact. Bushes are not standard. Juicy green leaves are small, but it is still better to remove them as the fruits form. The first flower tassel appears above 6-8 leaves, all subsequent ones – after 1-2. Inflorescences are simple, 5-6 fruits are formed on each of them.
Fruit
Variety Metelitsa is a tomato with flat-round fruits that have ribbing, but it is weakly expressed, noticeable only upon close examination. The resulting ovaries are light green, in biological ripeness they become scarlet-red.
Medium-sized tomatoes, usually 60 to 100 cm, are just right for canning whole fruits. But there are instances on the lower brushes weighing up to 200 grams. Fruits with a glossy, dense, but not hard skin, do not crack during ripening, and retain their integrity during canning. This quality is confirmed by the photo below.
Each fruit has four seed chambers. The pulp of tomatoes Blizzard F1 is fleshy, pale red in color, sweet with a slight sourness, because sugar is from 1,9 to 2,9%. Dry matter in fruits is 4,2-4,6%. Around the pulp is a dense shell that allows you to maintain a marketable appearance.
culinary destination
Metelitsa tomatoes, according to the description of the variety and reviews of gardeners, have a universal purpose. Summer salads are made from fruits. There are tomatoes for preparing various preparations for the winter, where pieces of fruit are used. In addition, tomatoes can be salted, pickled, dried, and even boiled tomato jam.
Metelitsa tomatoes, gardener’s opinion:
Characteristics
Since gardeners need to understand the characteristics of the variety, in addition to the description, they will also need a characteristic of the Metelitsa tomato
First, let’s talk about the advantages of a hybrid:
- Harvest. From 17 to 20 kg of delicious ripe fruits are harvested from one square meter. The yield of Metelitsa tomato is confirmed by reviews and photos.
- Unpretentiousness. Growing tomatoes is easy. In addition, due to the high immunity, plants feel great even in the zone of risky farming.
- fruiting characteristics. When creating comfortable conditions and observing agricultural technology, the fruits are harvested until the very cold.
- Purpose versatility. The description indicated that the fruits can be consumed fresh and processed.
- Marketable condition. The fruits ripen perfectly, transported without loss. Commodity yield of fruits is not less than 97%. That is why large agricultural producers pay attention to varieties of tomatoes. Tomato Metelitsa is stored almost until the New Year, and the taste and useful qualities not only are not lost, but, on the contrary, increase, as our readers write in the reviews.
- Attitude towards disease. The variety is resistant to the most common tomato diseases, has high immunity.
About the shortcomings, despite the fact that Metelitsa has been grown for more than 15 years, nothing is known yet. This is what attracts gardeners.
Features of growing seedlings
Tomatoes of any variety love to bathe in the sun, so they choose a well-lit, not shaded place for them. Planting plants along the fences and walls of the house is not recommended.
Since tomatoes of early and medium ripening are grown to obtain vitamin products in the first half of summer, you will have to get healthy seedlings. Seedlings of Metelitsa tomatoes are planted in the ground at the age of 50-60 days. Therefore, the seeds are sown in late March, early April.
Soil Preparation
The soil is prepared as usual: soddy soil is mixed with humus or compost, a little sand and wood ash are added. Today you can use store-bought formulations designed for growing seedlings. A big plus of such soil is that all the nutrients are balanced in it.
A week or two before sowing tomatoes Metelitsa, the soil must be shed with boiling water with the addition of potassium permanganate or a solution of boric acid. This helps to get rid of spores of various diseases and pests wintering in the soil. But most importantly, such heat treatment kills the black leg. During this time, bacteria will begin to work in the soil, which have a beneficial effect on the growth of seedlings.
seed Processing
First, an audit of the seed is carried out, all feeble seeds are removed. Then they are dipped in a saline solution (1 full tablespoon of salt per liter of water). Unsuitable for sowing specimens will float, the rest will sink to the bottom. Here they should be processed.
Tomato seeds are washed in clean water from salt, put in a gauze bag and dipped in a dark pink solution of potassium permanganate for 15 minutes. After that, rinse with water and dry. You can harden the seeds of the Metelitsa variety in the refrigerator, putting them for a day in a bag on the bottom shelf, where vegetables and fruits are stored.
Sowing
Seeds can be sown in a common container or in individual cassettes or cups. When using the latter option, picking tomatoes is not required.
The seed is placed in grooves or dimples to a depth of not more than 1 cm. The containers are placed in a lighted place at a temperature of 22 degrees. The first hooks appear in 5-6 days, sometimes even earlier. Small tomatoes need good lighting and timely watering.
Picks
When 2 or 3 leaves appear on the seedlings, the seedlings planted in a common container dive into separate cups. Caring for seedlings is not difficult. You can feed them with an ash solution, or pour a pink solution of potassium permanganate.
Before planting in open ground or a greenhouse, Metelitsa tomato seedlings are hardened off and accustomed to new growing conditions.
Agrotechnics of cultivation in the ground
Plants are planted in open ground after the establishment of round-the-clock positive temperatures in early June. Planting in greenhouses is carried out earlier. No more than six plants are planted per square meter.
It is not difficult to care for the Metelitsa hybrid, almost all operations, such as when growing other varieties of tomatoes:
- watering, weeding;
- loosening and hilling;
- nutrition and disease prevention.
Although tomatoes have their own characteristics. Plants require pinching and removing leaves to the first flower brush.
In wet weather, to prevent planting diseases, they are treated with fungicides, antifungal and antiviral drugs.
When watering Metelitsa tomatoes, you need to make sure that moisture does not get on the leaves. The amount of moisture is reduced during fruit ripening to prevent cracking.
Cleaning of tomatoes
Fruiting, and, consequently, the ripening period of tomatoes is long, almost a month and a half. Harvesting is carried out gradually, as the fruits ripen. Since the tomatoes of the variety are perfectly transported, this creates additional convenience for gardeners who grow vegetables for sale.
Based on the description and characteristics, the fruits can be harvested in milky ripeness, as they are ripened without losing their useful qualities. For harvesting, you need to choose dry and sunny weather, in this case, you can avoid the occurrence of diseases.
For long-term storage of fruits, the refrigerator is not used. It is best to put Metelitsa tomatoes in a box and put them in a room with room temperature.
As you can see, if desired, the Metelitsa variety can be grown by any novice gardener. We are just sure that once you plant these tomatoes, you will never refuse them.