Placing tomatoes in greenhouses, gardeners primarily want to gain time. In artificially created conditions, the culture grows faster and forms fruits. The ripening time of tomatoes is significantly reduced, as a result, the harvest is harvested much earlier. However, such a rush carries with it additional care and maintenance of the plants. First of all, attention is paid to maintaining the optimum temperature. Failure to comply with the main conditions increases the risk of death of vegetable crops.
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Why overheating is dangerous
Tomato is a light-loving and heat-loving vegetable, it adapts perfectly to the heat, but it is necessary to control the temperature regime in greenhouses. Acceptable minimum is 10 ° C. Temperatures below this indicator will not allow the plant to absorb nutrients from the soil. Temperature jumps also harm the culture, they are especially dangerous for young bushes.
It is best to control the temperature with several thermostats. They are fixed in the greenhouse at three levels:
- On the ground.
- At a distance of a meter from the ground.
- On the roof of the greenhouse.
To stimulate the growth of tomatoes, the soil is recommended to be warmed up to 15-25 ° C at night, and during the day the greenhouse must be ventilated. This is the easiest way to maintain the optimal regime.
The heat in the greenhouse is fraught with a halt in the growth and development of tomatoes, since in an emergency situation, cultures redirect all their forces from development to breathing. As a result, photosynthesis decreases and pollination stops.
How to protect plants from heat in a greenhouse
There are several signs that a tomato bush has overheated:
- The leaves took on a pale shade and began to wither.
- Flowers and foliage are falling.
Already 5 hours after overheating, such destructive signs will appear. Therefore, you need to think about protection in advance. It is necessary to increase the humidity of both the air and the soil in the greenhouse. Constant irrigation will not work. Tomatoes do not tolerate frequent and abundant watering, since the water washes away the protective layer of the soil and exposes the roots. Moisture retention is the main task of any gardener when growing tomato bushes in a greenhouse. To do this, the soil in the greenhouse is mulched with hay or dried freshly cut grass. They successfully use tree bark, thick paper, cardboard and any covering material purchased from a gardening store. Before mulching, the soil is thoroughly loosened.
Loosening and hilling bushes is a great way to retain moisture. The procedure must be carried out to a depth of no more than 5 cm, so as not to damage the roots. Thus, it will be possible to maintain moisture both in the soil and in the air. In a hot season, loosening makes it possible to protect the roots from overheating, and also creates conditions for the formation of side branches near the bushes, which allows to increase productivity.
Shading is another way to protect tomato bushes from the heat. For this purpose, special materials or structures are used, created from improvised means, which should not interfere with the passage of direct sunlight. Such structures are planned even before the placement of tomatoes.
An alternative to shading can be a simple spraying of the greenhouse roof with chalk solution. The moisture will evaporate and leave a thin chalky layer on the surface. He will be able to protect plants from the daytime stuffiness. This solution is easily washed off with water and reapplied if necessary. But it is not recommended to use paint for such purposes, otherwise you will have to change the greenhouse roof every season. Cut spruce branches can be placed on the roof, remembering to remove them at night.
We will be glad if our tips were useful for you, and the tomato harvest will turn out to be generous.
Do you know how to protect tomatoes from overheating in a greenhouse?
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