One of the important stages in preparing for a future rich harvest is the stage of preparing tomato seeds for planting for growing seedlings. Gardeners and summer residents with experience begin to prepare seeds since February. They carry out various special measures that will further favorably affect the growth and development of seedlings, and also reduce the likelihood of infectious diseases to a minimum. Each individual procedure brings its own advantages to increasing yields.
Culling or sorting tomato seeds
The best seeds are visible to the naked eye. They differ in weight and size. Large seeds contain more nutrients, so they grow better quality plants that are well adapted to life.
For convenience and speed of sorting, the seeds are dipped in a saline solution (200 grams of water - a teaspoon of salt). Those seeds that settle to the bottom are the very first to go for planting. They need to be rinsed with clean water and dried. And those that surfaced are either empty or very small. Most of these small seeds are of poor quality. But it is worth looking for the best among them.
Warming up the seeds
This procedure does not apply to hybrid tomatoes. Warming up, first of all, is necessary for those seeds that have been in cool storage conditions for a long time. To do this, the seeds are placed in a small cloth bag and placed on a hot battery. Over the course of several days, the seeds are gradually heated to eighty degrees Celsius. It is advisable to hold this event a month before the day of planting.
Disinfection
On the surface of some seeds, there may be pathogenic microbes that will harm the seedlings in the future. Therefore, as a preventive measure, the seeds are disinfected. One way to dress the seeds is to soak them in a 1% manganese solution for twenty minutes.
Seed treatment with nutrients
Tomato seeds, shortly before planting, are soaked for twenty-four hours in any solution that is saturated with nutrients. The drugs that our industry offers (for example, Epin), as well as time-tested folk remedies, are also suitable. A nutrient solution such as aloe juice or potato juice will serve well for future tomato harvests. After such treatment, it is not necessary to rinse the seeds. You can immediately start drying them.
Soaking
The number of seeds should be four or five times less than the amount of water for soaking. The seeds in a gauze bag are placed in water at room temperature for the whole day. It is advisable to change the water to another every four hours. To saturate the seeds with oxygen, it will be necessary to remove a bag of seeds from the water several times.
Germinating tomato seeds
This procedure significantly affects the germination rate of tomato seeds and early ripening of fruits. Seeds do not like excess moisture and drying out. Therefore, the germination process requires patience, attention and vigilance.In a shallow plate you need to spread a small gauze patch or a piece of a wide bandage and wet it. Then the seeds are spread on it. Each seed should be at a short distance from each other. The dishes should be in a room with a temperature of twenty to twenty-five degrees Celsius. Moderate seed moisture must be maintained until the first shoots appear.
Hardening
Tomatoes are a vegetable that is very fond of sunlight and warmth. These two indicators are very important for the future harvest. But during the summer season, the weather can change dramatically towards cold weather. In order for the plant to withstand such weather changes, and they do not affect its development and growth, it is necessary to harden. Hardened seeds will guarantee healthy seedlings, early flowering and a more bountiful harvest. Hardening occurs under the influence of temperature changes from zero degrees to twenty degrees Celsius.
First, the swollen seeds are left in the refrigerator overnight, and then kept in a warm room throughout the day. Such movements are repeated at least three times.
Seed bubbling
This procedure is carried out using a compressor that produces oxygen. You can use an aquarium compressor. In an ordinary glass jar, you need to pour water at room temperature, immerse the seeds there and fix the end of the hose from the compressor in the jar. This apparatus passes oxygen through the water. During the procedure, the seeds move under the influence of air and water movement. The duration of this event is twelve hours. After that, the seeds must be thoroughly dried to a state of flowability.
Each stage of seed preparation for planting is of great importance and requires endurance and perseverance. We wish you every success!
