Good afternoon, my reader. Many gardeners are trying to grow tomato seedlings at home. The most difficult task in this case is the picking of young shoots. You need to understand that when using certain techniques, you can easily do without this operation.
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Why do you need a pick
When sowing tomatoes in a general container, it is difficult to calculate the optimal density of future seedlings. Timely and competent picking is required. This operation is the extraction of young plants from the soil and transplanting into an individual container. It helps to improve nutrition and strengthen shoots.
But when picking, it is important not to miss the moment when the seedlings will most easily transfer it. Shoots can get damaged during this operation, and even with a successful outcome, they need time to adapt.
It will be possible to do without these problems if you practice growing seedlings in accordance with techniques that do not require picking. With the right approach, the seedlings develop strong and viable.
Pros of cultivating tomatoes without picking
Before deciding on a way to grow tomato seedlings on your own, you need to find out their strengths. Of interest are the advantages of cultivating tomatoes without picking:
- simplification of care;
- saving time;
- reducing the risk of damage to the root system and fragile stems of young seedlings;
- lack of stress, ensuring further rapid adaptation to new conditions;
- the formation of a strong root, which ensures the high-quality development of tomatoes after transplantation.
Growing methods without picking tomato seedlings
It is more convenient to use ready-made universal loose soil for sowing. If the soil mixture was harvested on its own, then it needs to be warmed up or frozen, you can spill it with an insecticide solution.
It is recommended to pre-soak the seeds for 25-30 minutes in a pink solution of potassium permanganate. Since development is activated without picking, sowing work can be carried out even in May.
You will need to prepare individual sanitized containers with drainage holes. They should provide enough space for a fast growing seedling, so the recommended volume is 500-1000 ml.
The soil is poured, filling at the initial stage 1/3 of the total volume of the container. Moisten and spread 2-3 seeds in a shallow hole. Such a reserve is necessary in case not all the seeds hatch. If extra shoots appear, then the strongest specimen is selected, and the rest are carefully cut off at ground level with scissors or, if necessary, transplanted into other cups.
As the plants develop and grow, soil is gradually added to the container. This measure contributes to the formation of a branched root system, which in the future ensures rapid survival after transplantation.
You can use materials at hand for individual containers. A bag is made from a flap of non-woven material or a dense film, tucking up the upper edges. Fill them completely with potting soil and set tightly in a suitable box. It remains to plant seeds. When it is necessary to supplement the crops with soil, the edges are simply deployed to the desired height.
With a shortage of individual containers, sowing is successfully practiced in a common container, making sure the intervals between individual seeds are 5-8 cm. After the emergence of shoots, plastic (plywood, cardboard) dividers are installed between them - partitions that will not allow the roots of individual plants to intertwine. The soil is then also poured as needed.
Care of tomato seedlings grown without picking
Young seedlings need to be provided with sufficient lighting by equipping phytolamps if necessary.
It is important not to allow the soil to dry out excessively by timely watering with settled water. It is recommended to fertilize with the mineral complex three times, starting from the moment of development of several leaves.
Tomatoes that have not passed the picking stage are moved to a permanent place at a height of about 25-30 cm. By this time, after the development of seedlings, about 35-40 days have passed. They are transplanted without injuring the seedlings, with a clod of earth.
Since tomatoes grown independently at once in individual containers do without picking, they suffer less when conditions change and demonstrate a qualitative further development. It is worth taking this method into service.
Do you pick plant seedlings?
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