Contents
Tomato seedlings are considered less whimsical among gardeners than peppers or eggplants.
But sometimes this culture also causes a lot of trouble. Gardeners complain that tomato seedlings do not grow. This trouble overtakes not only novice vegetable growers, but experienced summer residents also face a similar problem. You can solve any problem when you know the reasons for its occurrence. What factors lead to the fact that tomato seedlings grow weak, its leaves dry or turn yellow, spots appear on the plant?
Among the main reasons should be highlighted:
- violation of the diet;
- insufficient lighting;
- cultural diseases;
- invasion of parasites;
- illiterate picking of seedlings.
To help tomatoes in time, you need to carefully examine the seedlings. This is especially important if you are growing your own seedlings for the first time. Timely action is the key to your success with problems with small plants.
Finding a possible cause
First, let’s determine what factors lead to stunting or poor appearance of tomato seedlings.
Tomato seedlings grow poorly if they:
Is undernourished
This is an assumption, but certain signs indicate a lack of useful components. Carefully inspect the tomato seedlings.
When there is not enough nitrogen, the stems are thinned, the leaves are small and pale, the whole seedling is very weak. Feed well with urea (4g per 10l).
Reddening of the underside of tomato leaves is observed with a lack of phosphorus. We feed with superphosphate (12g per bucket).
The ends of leaf blades curl and turn yellow with potassium deficiency. Potassium sulfate will help. They acquire a marble color when they have little magnesium, and stop growing from a lack of iron. For the same reason, tomato bushes begin to turn yellow from chlorosis. Treatment for seedlings – we remove it in the shade and apply iron-containing fertilizer along the sheet, as well as magnesium sulfate (25 g per bucket).
Illiterately ripped off
Carrying out this operation requires attention and quality from the gardener. If you relax your vigilance a little, you can bend the roots of a tomato or damage or cut off during transplantation, as well as allow air space between them. Any of these factors will lead to poor establishment, stunting or death of the plant. To avoid this, carefully inspect the root system of tomato seedlings and carefully plant it in the ground, observing all the requirements. If it was not possible to transfer the seedling with a clod of earth, carefully position the root system in a new hole and tamp the earth after transplanting.
Violations in the care of small tomatoes
This point, first of all, should include watering. Many vegetable growers believe that the soil should be moist all the time. However, because of this, the seedlings experience waterlogging. The soil in the pot should dry out a little so that diseases do not develop due to stagnant moisture, and the roots have access to oxygen. Make sure the seed box has good drainage.
The second factor of care, in violation of which seedlings of tomatoes do not grow, is the temperature regime. As soon as shoots have appeared, the boxes are placed in a cool room. Daytime indicators – 16°С-18°С, at night we maintain 14°С-15°С. After a couple of weeks, the indicators change – up to 20 ° C during the day and 16 ° C at night. A month later, there should be three leaves on the tomato seedlings and they are preparing it for picking.
The third is lighting. Tomato seedlings in short spring days must be illuminated. Light day is maintained for at least 14 hours. However, if seedlings are exposed to direct sunlight, they can get “sunburned”. And then transparent or white spots appear on the tomato seedlings. This happens when cloudy weather lasts for a long time, and then the bright sun comes out. Shade the plants and spray with Epin.
Diseases and pests
These factors cannot be ignored, so we will consider them in more detail below.
Not suitable soil for tomato seedlings
This option should be allowed if all the parameters are met, the care is competent, there are no diseases, and the tomato seedlings are sick.
In this case, only the replacement of the substrate will help.
The list cannot be considered the most complete. The reasons that are most often fixed by gardeners are given. Among the rest, there may be an illiterate choice of variety or non-application of the recommendations of the lunar calendar.
What diseases and pests stop the growth of tomato seedlings
The defeat of diseases or the impact of parasites can not only slow down the development of seedlings, but also destroy entire colonies of seedlings.
Blackleg
Often among the seedlings there is a fall of a number of specimens. The reason is the “black leg” – an infectious disease not only of tomato seedlings, but also of other crops. The stems darken below, they form “perezhabinki”. Then the seedlings wither and lie down, the roots begin to rot. Diseased plants will have to be removed. The rest must be transplanted at a greater distance than before. The soil is prepared new, ash (wood) and calcined sand are added to it.
After transplanting, the seedlings are sprayed with “Fundazol” and do not water until the soil is completely dry. Be sure to ventilate the room. Fighting this disease is much more difficult than preventing it. It is important at the stage of soil preparation to add wood ash to the soil mixture, during the period of seedling growth, protect it from waterlogging and elevated temperatures. Inspect tomato seedlings daily. At the first sign of a “black leg”, use biological preparations (“Fitosporin”, “Baktofit”), dust the soil and seedlings with ashes. In a running form, it is better to remove the plants.
Rot (root and basal)
Here, the cause will be seedling overflow in combination with low soil or ambient temperature. You will have to act very quickly. It is necessary to transplant tomato seedlings into another soil. Before planting, the roots are washed in solutions of potassium permanganate or Fitosporin.
Septoria (white spot)
Dirty white spots with a darker border signal the disease. This is a type of fungal disease. It is transferred with the soil, and develops at high humidity and temperature. Diseased plants are removed, the treatment is very problematic and lengthy. It will be more important not to forget to warm up and disinfect the soil before sowing a tomato.
spider mite
The main pests that can harm seedlings at the time of seedling growth are spider mites, earwigs, and wood lice. Even if you do not know what parasites that are dangerous for seedlings look like, having noticed any colonies, carry out processing. The Fitoverm, Aktellik and karbofos preparations work well.
Conclusion
We looked at the possible reasons that lead to poor seedling growth. But, it is necessary to carefully look for unfavorable factors in each specific case. You can understand why seedlings do not grow by constantly monitoring the seedlings. The best way to keep seedlings from problems:
- study recommendations for growing tomatoes;
- think over in advance the possibility of observing the temperature regime, lighting parameters and humidity;
- take care of good soil;
- choose stress-resistant varieties;
- find information on the rapid identification of diseases and pests of tomato seedlings;
- get rid of doubts.
The last point is very important. Growing strong, healthy tomato seedlings is much easier than you might think.
This plant is highly adaptable, with a good survival rate. Follow the recommendations and your tomato seedlings will grow without problems.
