Picking tomatoes: when and how to do it right, timing

Picking of tomato seedlings is carried out in order to improve the condition of the root system, to slow down the growth of the plant. Tomatoes undergo this procedure after the appearance of 2 cotyledon or 2 true leaves on their stalk. Picking is always stressful. This procedure cannot be postponed until later. At a young age, plants tolerate transplanting and root pinching more easily. Subsequently transplanted tomatoes develop better and yield more.

What is picking tomatoes: how does it affect plants

Picking - transplanting young seedlings from one container to another with a peg.Tomatoes are transplanted two weeks after sowing seeds. On a plant that has grown to 5 centimeters, there should be 2 cotyledons or 2 true leaves. The seedling is carefully removed from the box along with a clod of earth, without touching the stem. The operation is carried out with some sharp object, for example, a toothpick. In this way, densely growing plants are thinned out. They are transferred to another, more spacious box.

Before picking, the ground should be slightly moistened and loosened. The sprout is removed from the box so as not to damage the roots. During a pick, the central root is shortened by 1/3. This procedure stimulates the development of lateral roots. Subsequently, a more powerful root system is formed in the plant.

Before transplanting the seedling, prepare the soil mixture. It should consist of garden, leaf soil, peat, sand, organic and mineral additives. The prepared soil is poured into a special container, moistened with water and holes are made in it with pegs.After transplanting the seedling, the ground around it is lightly pressed with a toothpick. After picking, the sprout is watered with water and placed in a warm room so that it takes root.

Immediately after transplanting, seedlings freeze for a while. Then they grow more actively than those who did not transplant. Depending on the variety, seedlings are transferred to boxes of different sizes. Low-growing tomatoes are planted in containers with a volume of 200-500 milliliters (large plastic cups can be used). Tall tomatoes are planted in deeper pots. Seedlings can be transplanted from boxes into plastic bags filled with substrate.

During transplantation to the garden, such a bag is carefully cut with scissors and lowered into a hole, and then it is pulled out of the ground.

This method of transplanting does not injure the root system of tomatoes. Exactly the same effect can be achieved by diving seedlings into peat pots.Picking stimulates the development of slow growing crops such as tomatoes. Due to the penetration into the ground during transplantation, the plants are less stretched. After all, seedlings develop for about 2 months before planting in the garden. During this time, it should grow only up to 30 centimeters. If the seedlings are too long, they will take root worse later.

Picking allows you to reject diseased and frail plants. Pinching the central root by 5 millimeters accelerates the formation of lateral roots. Subsequently, picking leads to an increase in tomato yields.

Advantages and disadvantages of the method

The pick has its positive and negative aspects. Such agrotechnical technique requires caution. If you rush and pull the seedlings out of the dry ground, they may be damaged.

Pros of picking:

• seedling condition improves;
• weak and damaged plants are rejected;
• elongation of the subcotyledonous knee of seedlings is eliminated due to its deepening into the ground;
• a fibrous root system is created due to pinching the main root;
• improving conditions for growing seedlings;
• after transplanting to the garden, the yield increases.

Cons of a pick:

• slight delay in seedling development;
• death of transplanted sprouts due to improper picking.

Methods of picking

There are several ways to transplant tomatoes. The essence of all these methods is the same - plants from one container are transplanted into another. True, the transplant is carried out in different ways.

Classic

The essence of the classical method is as follows: plants are lightly watered 2 hours before picking.Prepare the containers where they are going to transfer the seedlings. Glasses are filled ¾ with earth. Then, with a peg, a recess is made in it for the length of the root. The sprout is carefully, using a spoon or a peg, removed from the container along with an earthy clod. The longest spine is pinched off by 5 millimeters. The stalk is buried in the soil almost to the cotyledon leaves. From the surface of the earth to the leaves should be a distance of 1-2 centimeters. The seedling is sprinkled with soil and watered.

From film to diaper

Tomato seeds can be sown in plastic boxes covered with a strong greenhouse film. The containers are covered with fertilized soil mixture. When the seedlings grow a little, they are transplanted into diapers made of plastic film. The grown sprouts are watered, taken out together with polyethylene from the box.

They take one plant at a time with a spoon and wrap it in cups made from greenhouse film.

In each diaper, the earth is poured up to the cotyledon leaves. If there are still real leaves on the sprout, they should remain above such a glass. All rolls with seedlings are tightly packed into a container, and the ground is watered with water.

How to dive tomatoes planted in tablets

Tomato seeds can be sown in peat tablets. These containers must be placed on a plastic pallet and irrigated from time to time. When 3-4 leaves appear on the plants, the seedlings need to dive. To do this, take deeper cups and pour some fertile soil into them. Drainage holes should be made in the glasses themselves.

Peat tablets, along with sprouts, are inserted into such cups. Previously, the mesh is removed from the tablets. Seedlings transplanted into large containers are sprinkled with earth almost to the cotyledon leaves. In new containers, seedlings grow until they are transplanted to the garden.

When to dive tomatoes after germination

Tomatoes dive when 2 cotyledons or 2 true leaves appear on the stalk. Usually the first leaves grow 7 days after sowing the seeds. Correct picking improves the quality of the sprout. Seedlings are transplanted into large containers at the age of two or three weeks. If you tighten the pick, neighboring plants will be intertwined with each other by roots, and it will be difficult to separate them.

Optimal dates in 2022-2023

Seeds sown in mid-March dive in the last days of March or early April. You can transplant plants at a later date, when up to 4 leaves have developed on them. Weed seedlings that are too thick beforehand.

Auspicious dates according to the lunar calendar

When picking tomatoes, it is advisable to pay attention to the lunar phase.Transplantation of seedlings is carried out only on the growing moon, that is, from March 7 to 13 or from March 15 to 20. On such days, the juices from the roots move upwards. Seedlings transplanted to the growing moon are he althier and stronger. It is undesirable to transplant tomatoes on the waning moon (from 1 to 5, from 23 to 27, from March 29 to 31), on the new moon (March 6) and full moon (March 21).

Preparing tomatoes for picking

Transplantation of tomatoes from one container to another takes place in several stages. At first, the ground in which the seedlings are sown is slightly moistened. Then the seedlings are taken individually from the box and transferred to separate cups with a previously prepared nutrient soil mixture. After picking, the plants are watered with water.

Preparing tomatoes for picking

2 hours before transplanting, the ground with seedlings is slightly moistened. It is undesirable to flood the soil heavily with water. It is difficult to remove seedlings from such soil, plants can break. If the soil is not watered and loosened, the soil crust will not allow the sprouts to be pulled out without damage.

Preparation of containers

Tomatoes can be transplanted into wooden boxes, plastic cassettes, peat cups, peat tablets, plastic cups, yogurt boxes, sour cream, homemade boxes, plastic bags. Previously, wooden or plastic containers are scalded with boiling water and washed with a weak solution of potassium permanganate. In the bottom you need to make holes for moisture to escape.

Peat pots or tablets are placed in a disinfected tray. The seedlings planted in them after picking a month later are transplanted to the garden along with a glass. The root system with this method is not injured during the transplantation process. Peat decomposes and serves as additional fertilizer for tomato sprouts.

What land is needed for picking tomatoes

It is advisable to transplant the grown seedlings into well-fertilized soil. Suitable for transplanting garden and turf land, mixed with peat, sand, rotted mullein in equal proportions.The soil mixture can be watered with a solution of fertilizers (20 grams of superphosphate and potassium sulfate are taken per 10 liters of water). The earth is preliminarily disinfected with a weak solution of potassium permanganate.

Determining where the tomatoes have two true leaves

Picking is carried out in the phase of two true leaves or when two cotyledon leaves appeared on the stalk. True leaves appear immediately after the cotyledons. Be sure to shorten the root of seedlings during transplantation.

Principle of pinching the root

The seedling extracted from the ground should be shortened a little. They pinch the main one, that is, the longest spine. It is shortened by 5 millimeters. This procedure stimulates the growth of lateral roots.

Technological process of picking

Step-by-step picking technology: first prepare the land into which the transplant will be made, then the seedlings are taken out of one container and transplanted into another.

The soil mixture should consist of garden, leaf or sod land, peat, sand and rotted humus. The soil is poured into cups disinfected with a weak solution of potassium permanganate. It is desirable to pre-fertilize the earth with a solution of superphosphate and potassium sulfate.

Tomato care after

Tomatoes ambassadors picks need to add and put in a warm place. The seedlings will stand for a while, and then they will begin to grow. Seedlings should be watered regularly. It is necessary to ensure that the earth in the cups does not dry out and is not too wet. Plants are kept in a well-lit area.

As they grow, the seedlings turn towards the sun so that the stems grow evenly and do not lean to one side.

It is important to ensure that the seedlings do not stretch too much. To do this, the temperature in the room is reduced from 22 degrees to 18, and then to 15 degrees Celsius.

What to do if tomato seedlings are stretched to pick?

If there is little light in the room where the seedlings grow, but it is too warm, the tomato stalks are strongly drawn out. A long thin stem is obtained if the sprouts are watered abundantly with water and a lot of top dressing is applied. Strongly elongated seedlings during a pick are deeply immersed in the ground (at a distance of 1-2 centimeters from the cotyledon leaves).

Picking up stretched tomato seedlings

If the seedlings are very stretched before transplanting, they can be saved. The sprouts are carefully removed from the ground, then transplanted into large cups. A long stem is covered with loose soil up to 2 cotyledon leaves.

What problems can arise and how to deal with them

After picking, sometimes there are various problems with seedlings. Seedlings can slow down growth or even die. It is important to find out the cause of the problem situation and fix it.

Seedlings do not grow

If the seedling does not grow immediately after picking, it's okay. This is a normal process. After a week, he will come to life and begin to grow little by little. The main thing is to provide the plant with maximum light and minimum heat. At high temperatures, seedlings are strongly stretched until they are transferred to the garden, which is highly undesirable.

Plants are dying

If the transplanted seedlings begin to die, it means that the soil did not suit them or the roots were damaged during the picking. Dead tomatoes cannot be restored. The seeds will have to be sown again.

Seedlings are falling

If the transplanted plants start to fall, then the soil is not suitable for them. Perhaps the earth was not disinfected, and pathogens were activated in it. Seedlings lower their heads if the watering regime and the maintenance of tomatoes are not observed. Cultures should be kept in well-lit rooms, regularly, but not abundantly watered.

Is it possible to grow seedlings without picking

Tomatoes can be grown without prior picking. Thus, the period of development of plants is reduced. True, with such agricultural technology, it is desirable to fertilize the soil well with nitrogen, potassium and phosphorus. When grown without a pick, the seeds are sown immediately in peat pots or half-liter plastic cups.

For seedlings, a soil mixture is used, consisting of garden and sod land, peat, steamed sand, sifted rotted humus and wood ash. The soil must be disinfected with a weak solution of potassium permanganate. You can sow 2-3 seeds in one container, and then discard the weak ones, leaving the strongest sprout.

As they grow, seedlings are sprinkled with earth. Seedlings are spudded so that a large stem forms in the tomatoes. A seedling grown up to 30 centimeters in the second half of May is transplanted into the garden.

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