If you let the tomato plants grow freely, the beds will turn out to be too dense, which will make them more difficult to care for. In addition, thickened tomatoes get sick much more often and produce small fruits. Therefore, it is imperative to form bushes. In this article I will talk about the features and rules for the formation of low-growing varieties of tomatoes.
Stepson procedure
Often, novice gardeners do not attach importance to this procedure, which is important for fruiting, because they do not have the appropriate knowledge and do not have practical experience.
Stepchildren are lateral shoots growing from the main stem. They form in the axils between the leaf and the trunk. Pinching is the removal of such processes.
There are 2 main manipulation methods:
- Hands, after putting on rubber gloves. You need to tilt the process from side to side until it breaks off. This is a simple and fast way. That's how I do my stepchildren. I perform the procedure in the morning.
- With a sharp knife, scissors or secateurs. It is necessary to cut with precise movements. After each cut, the instrument must be wiped with a swab moistened with a disinfectant solution so as not to spread the disease (the infection may not yet manifest itself). At the cut site, I leave a process 1.5 cm long to prevent the formation of new stepchildren.
I carry out pinching before the processes reach a length of 5 cm. Otherwise, it can injure the bushes and reduce yields.
Pasynkovanie undersized tomatoes
There are no differences in the procedure for pruning stepchildren in the greenhouse and in the open field. There are differences in the principle of the formation of bushes.
In unprotected ground
Growing tomatoes in street beds, the first time I remove stepchildren 2 weeks after transplanting seedlings to a permanent place. I repeat the manipulation with an interval of 10 days.
I form bushes in this way:
- I take the main stem (the first inflorescence should appear on it).
- Between the stem and leaves I find a shoot with foliage. If its length is 4–6 cm, I remove it. If shorter than this length, I leave it to grow.
- If more than 4 inflorescences have formed on the main stem, I remove the extra ones.
- I take out the cut parts outside the site.
In open ground, undersized tomatoes are usually formed into 2 or 3 stalks. When forming in 2 stems, it is necessary to remove all stepchildren. Only the one that appeared under the inflorescence remains. When forming into 3 trunks, I leave the strongest lower stepson and the one that first appeared under the brush.
in the greenhouse
In the greenhouse, I usually form tomatoes into one stem. The cutting technology is the same as I described above. Only pinching should be done more often - 2 times a week.
Tomatoes that do not need to be shaped
There are quite a few low-growing varieties of tomatoes that do not require pinching a bush:
- Agatha. Suitable for growing both indoors and outdoors. The yield is about 2 kg from 1 bush.
- Watercolor. Plant height reaches 50 cm. A variety with an average ripening period. Tomatoes are small (only 55 g), red when mature, elliptical in shape. Variety Aquarelle is able to bring up to 7 kg from 1 m².
- Adeline. The plant reaches about 40 cm in height. The fruits are cylindrical. From 1 bush you can collect up to 3 kg.
- Explosion. The variety was bred recently, but has already managed to become popular with Russian summer residents. The height of the bushes can reach 45-60 cm. In greenhouses, they become higher. The variety is early. Due to early ripening, late blight infection can be avoided. The yield is up to 3 kg from 1 bush.
- Raspberry Viscount. The variety is early ripe, characterized by abundant fruiting. Up to 6 kg of fruit can be removed from a bush.
- Nevsky. An early variety, reaching a height of 50 cm. Ripe fruits are orange in color. Their mass is from 40 to 60 g, yield - up to 8 kg per 1 m².
- Sanka. Ultra early variety 60 cm high. Tomatoes are round saturated red color. Gardeners remove up to 2.5 kg of fruit from a bush.
- Aztec. Grows up to 40 cm, early ripening, yield - up to 5 kg per 1 m².
- Amber. Early variety (reaches maturity 80-100 days after germination). The height of the bush is about 60 cm, the yield is 6 kg per 1 m².
Low-growing varieties are great for beginner gardeners and those who do not want to spend a lot of time growing them. Such tomatoes do not require special conditions and forgive many mistakes in care. However, they should be formed in any case if you want to get a decent crop of tomatoes.
If you have any questions, ask them in the comments.
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