How to feed tomato seedlings to be plump and when is it better

Most experienced vegetable growers know that planting tomato seedlings is recommended to be accompanied by soil fertilizer. Some doubt whether it is necessary to engage in top dressing. This procedure must be carried out in order to grow he althy bushes in the future.

Also, regular feeding will increase the yield and provide good protection against various diseases. Before growing tomatoes, you need to figure out how to feed tomato seedlings.

Start feeding

Before feeding tomato seedlings after planting, you should find out when to do it. Many beginner vegetable growers do not know when to start feeding seedlings. To understand this, you need to understand the timing of fertilization in advance.

The first feeding of tomato seedlings should be carried out after the emergence of the first seedlings. Also, many experts advise fertilizing for tomatoes if it was not possible to create suitable conditions for growing.

The first feeding of tomatoes is carried out to protect them from diseases. If the vegetable grower does not want to feed tomato seedlings for the first time, then in the future it may suffer from late blight.

About a week later, tomato seedlings are fed a second time. To do this, you can use a complex fertilizer for tomatoes, consisting of organic substances. Many gardeners use Agricol, which contains nutrients that young tomato bushes need. All subsequent fertilizers for tomatoes are carried out after 10-20 days.

The amount of top dressing when growing tomatoes directly depends on the conditions under which they grow. There are only two required procedures:

• the first dressing of tomatoes is carried out during the formation of bushes a few weeks after transplantation;
• second run 2 weeks after first.

Signs of nutritional deficiencies

Before you start figuring out how to feed tomatoes and how to properly feed seedlings, you need to familiarize yourself with the main symptoms of starvation in young seedlings. To do this, it is recommended to regularly pay attention to the thick stems and leaves of tomatoes. This will help you understand what fertilizer is needed for tomatoes.

Nitrogen deficiency

When severe nitrogen deficiency grows pale tomato seedlings with yellow leaves at the bottom of the bush. This element is very important for grown tomatoes, as with its help the bush develops and grows faster.

Every vegetable grower should know how to fertilize tomatoes with nitrogen. It is necessary to introduce such top dressing into the soil very carefully so as not to overdo it.By adding a lot of nitrogen, thin seedlings will look better. Its stems will become much thicker and the leaves more beautiful.

However, such a bush will bear fruit very badly. In some cases, the use of nitrogen fertilizer for tomato seedlings adversely affects her he alth. Young bushes often begin to hurt and eventually die. Therefore, before feeding the tomatoes, you need to figure out in advance how to properly feed the seedlings and decide on the optimal dosage.

If tomatoes are overfed with nitrogen, their leaves will begin to curl and become more brittle.

Lack of phosphorus

Many don't know what fertilizer to feed purple tomato seedlings. Tomato bushes turn this color due to a lack of phosphorus. First, the color changes on the lower leaves and gradually spreads to the remaining leaves.Some believe that weak seedlings turn purple because they are cold. However, low temperature and lack of phosphorus are interconnected, since in cold conditions the roots are not able to absorb this substance.

Therefore, before fertilizing, it is recommended to make sure that the temperature is not too low.

Lack of potassium

Before you fertilize tomato seedlings with potassium, you need to familiarize yourself with the symptoms of its lack. First, the leaves located at the top of the bushes begin to change. They wrinkle and become curly. Over time, the symptoms begin to appear on the lower leaves, which gradually darken and dry.

Iron deficiency

Quite often this problem occurs in plants that are planted under bright lighting. Growing tomatoes under constant light can interfere with the processing and absorption of certain nutrients.It is because of this that iron deficiency appears over time. This leads to the fact that tomato seedlings gradually turn yellow, starting from the upper leaves. After the first signs appear, components containing a lot of iron are added to the tomato fertilizer.

Magnesium deficiency

The preparations used for feeding tomato seedlings must contain magnesium, as its deficiency can adversely affect the he alth of the bushes. The leaves from below begin to gradually darken. Some of them take on a purple or reddish hue.

Calcium deficiency

Most fertilizers for tomato seedlings contain a lot of calcium, so the deficiency of this component is not so common. Its lack is not always clearly manifested in the bushes. Most often, the first signs appear during the formation of fruits. Their top is gradually covered with brown or gray rot.

Organic fertilizers

Before you feed the tomatoes, you need to figure out what fertilizers to apply for spring and autumn top dressing.Quite often, minerals are used for this. This top dressing consists of natural ingredients that contain iron, nitrogen, magnesium, phosphorus and many other useful elements. After reviewing the various fertilizers, you can determine the best to feed the seedlings.

Dung

Many vegetable growers prefer to feed tomatoes after planting with manure. It is not recommended to use it fresh, as it can contain a large amount of harmful bacteria that will harm the bushes. It is better to use manure that has settled for 1-2 years. This product is ideal for enriching most soils.

When tomato seedlings are fed with settled manure for the first time, about 10 kg of the substance is applied per square meter of the area where it is planted. Also, such a fertilizer for tomato seedlings is also used in liquid form. To do this, 2-5 kg of manure is added to 10 liters of water and mixed thoroughly.It is necessary to prepare a mixture for tomato seedlings a few weeks before using it.

Manure is known to have an unpleasant odor that many do not like. To get rid of it, it is recommended to add 300 g of silica or 550 g of superphosphate to the fertilizer barrel.

Peat

Not everyone knows how they feed tomato seedlings so that they grow better. To do this, you can use peat top dressing, which tomatoes love.

Before feeding tomatoes with peat, you need to familiarize yourself with its features. This substance does not contain a large number of elements, but it improves the physiological properties of the soil and increases the amount of humus. Soil fertilized with peat becomes lighter and more porous.

Feeding for seedlings can be made from different peat. It differs in the degree of its decomposition and happens:

1. Lowlands. Consists of completely decomposed plants. Many gardeners use it during the creation of composts to feed the soil. It is recommended for growing exotic plants and vegetables.
2. Horse. It consists of parts of plants that are poorly decomposed. Most often, high-moor peat is used for mulching the soil, and not for top dressing.
3. Transitional. It is in an intermediate state between lowland and upland. It is used during the preparation of composts, which include manure, ash, bird droppings and mineral fertilizers.

If peat will be used for soil mulching, then before use it must be spread out in the sun and dried. Before being used as fertilizer, peat is composted in the spring and rots for several months. To improve the fertile properties of the soil per square meter of land, two buckets of peat are consumed.At the same time, it is necessary to bring it into the ground not in spring, but in autumn.

Bird droppings

Many people, when they think about what kind of fertilizer can feed tomato seedlings, remember bird droppings. It is a good fertilizer that is used quite often.

Before you feed the seedlings of tomatoes with droppings, you need to familiarize yourself with the features of preparing fertilizers. To do everything right, it is recommended to observe the following proportions:

• no more than 0.2 kg of dry manure is consumed per square meter of soil;
• about 0.5 kg of raw manure is consumed per square meter of soil.

The above norms are average and depend on the manufacturer. When using store bird droppings, you must strictly follow the instructions.

Compost

If a person does not know how to fertilize tomatoes, then you can recommend him compost. It contains various organic fertilizers that tomato seedlings need so much. Quite often it is used as the first feeding of seedlings.

During the preparation of compost, sawdust, leaves, peat and shavings are stacked on the bottom of the container in several layers. To increase the value of the fertilizer, you can add several kilograms of potassium s alt and superphosphate to it. The mixture is then moistened and stirred every day. You can only use the compost that has been infused for 5-10 months.

There are two main types of compost:

1. From manure. To prepare such a fertilizer for a tomato, it is necessary to mix manure with peat and soil in a ratio of 5: 1: 1. Then the mixture is poured with water and left to infuse for 5-7 months.
2. From plants. To create such compost, fallen leaves, weeds and any other grass are used. All components are mixed with soil, filled with water and covered with a lid. The mixture is used only a year after preparation.

Bone Meal

Quite often it is used during a lack of phosphorus or calcium. About three kilograms of flour are consumed per square meter of soil. You can also prepare an aqueous solution from it, which is most often used in the spring. To do this, one kilogram of the substance is poured with 10-15 liters of hot water. Then the mixture is thoroughly mixed and infused for a week. After that, the solution is once again diluted with water in a ratio of 1:10 and filtered with gauze. Fertilizer is applied during the day under the tomatoes once a month.

Drug use

Having figured out when to feed seedlings, you can start choosing the right fertilizer. Not everyone knows how to feed tomato seedlings so that the bushes have plump stems. Quite often, special preparations are used for this.

Crystal

Many vegetable growers use crystal in spring.The composition of this complex fertilizer includes phosphorus, potassium and nitrogen. This drug is sold in the form of a solution and in dry form. The first option is very convenient to use when fertilizing large seedlings. For younger seedlings, it is better to use dry crystal.

Emerald

If young tomato bushes begin to turn yellow from insufficient nutrients, it is recommended to use the Emerald. It has been developed to enhance seedling nutrition and remove yellowness. The main elements of the drug are magnesium and nitrogen. Emerald can be applied to the plant with a sprayer or used as a root dressing.

Fertica

The drug is very popular among many gardeners. It contains potassium, phosphorus, nitrogen and many other useful trace elements. Fetricia is a fairly strong remedy, so it must be diluted with water before use, according to the instructions.Properly prepared solution has a pale pinkish color.

Folk remedies

Many vegetable growers use folk remedies when fertilizing seedlings in the spring. There are some of the most common folk methods for feeding a tomato.

Yeast

Many people make their own yeast fertilizers. There are two ways to do this:

1. A tablespoon of sugar and a packet of yeast are added to a glass of warm water. Then the mixture is stirred and 15 liters of water are added to it. A liter of yeast is consumed per plant bush.
2. A small jar is half filled with bread and water. After that, 100 g of fresh yeast is added to the mixture. To obtain high-quality fertilizer, the solution must be infused for one week. After that, it is filtered with gauze and diluted with 5-10 liters of water.To feed one adult bush, you will need two liters of yeast mixture, and for a young one - half a liter.

Mullein

This solution is recommended to be used in parallel with other folk remedies. It is not so difficult to prepare top dressing from mullein. To do this, half a bucket of manure is poured with boiled water, covered with a lid and left to infuse in a warm room for about a week. Then the mixture is stirred and diluted with 15 liters of water. During feeding, no more than a liter of the mixture is consumed per bush.

Nettle

This remedy is prepared from young nettle leaves. To prepare the solution, nettle is poured with water and infused for two weeks. Before use, the infusion is diluted with 5 liters of water. One bush consumes about two liters of nettle liquid.

Conclusion

To grow tomato seedlings at home, you need to familiarize yourself with the features of its fertilizer. The tomato feeding scheme is quite simple, so everyone can handle seedling fertilizer. To do this, it is enough to carefully study when and how to feed tomato seedlings.

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