You have probably seen cherry tomatoes more than once in stores. They usually sit in a small basket and look great. These vegetables can decorate many dishes and add a piquant touch to them. These tomatoes, which are rather small in size, have a very pleasant sweetish taste with a slight sourness. Having tried them once, you will certainly have a desire to grow such vegetables yourself, and it is quite possible to do it. Cherry tomatoes can be grown at home on your windowsill. But in order for the harvest to be good, you should know how to properly plant and grow cherry tomatoes.
Cherry tomatoes: growing and care at home
In order for your cherry tomatoes to grow without causing any particular problems, and also bring a good harvest, you need to follow certain rules:
- First you need to choose the right pot for this plant. They should be cylindrical for better root filling. It is not advisable to use pots, the shape of which resembles a rectangle or square. And after the containers are selected, it is necessary to fill in the nutrient soil in them.
- A southern or eastern window sill is perfect for placement, since the plant loves light very much.
- Tomatoes also need additional lighting, otherwise they begin to throw off the buds. For this, it is desirable to use a blue-red shortwave source.
- Seeds are sown in pallets, after which they are covered with a polyethylene film (glass). They are kept in a place where it is dark and rather warm, ranging from 25 to 30 degrees. When the first shoots appear, the film is removed, and after 2 real leaves grow, the plants must be dived into the pots, where they will grow.
- Once the tomatoes are planted in their permanent place, they must be properly cared for, which is very similar to that used for simple tomatoes grown outdoors. Plants need timely watering, pinching, prevention and treatment of diseases, fertilization, garter to the support.
- If you have the desire and experience, then these plants can be grown hydroponically.
Watering and humidity
Cherry tomatoes, of course, love moisture, but it should be borne in mind that an excess of it can lead to a rapid build-up of stepsons and green mass in the plant. When the weather is cloudy, these plants need to be watered 2 times less than usual. In tomatoes of this type, the pistils are spliced with the stamens (because of this, they are self-pollinated), however, if the soil moisture is very high and the air temperature is kept at 30 degrees, then the ovaries are extremely poorly formed. You can improve the situation with a brush. She just needs to walk over the flowers, which will significantly increase the number of ovaries.
Breeding cherry tomatoes
The stems and cuttings of this plant root very simply and easily.Therefore, it is not necessary to try to grow cherry tomatoes from seeds. You can easily move them out of your garden. You can also root shoots or stepchildren.
In order for the stepsons to take root as quickly as possible, a small amount of fertilizer for flowers must be added to the water poured into the glass. And if they are provided with good indoor conditions, then their rooting will occur after only 7 days. So, just an excellent seedling in the spring is obtained from plants that you rooted in the fall. And these seedlings can be obtained in just half a month. Plus, this type of seedling begins to bear fruit after just a month, and that's all, because they are part of an adult, well-developed plant.
Also, another advantage of this type of plant reproduction and planting them in open ground is that they have time to give a crop long before late blight begins to actively spread.
Hybrids and varieties for the windowsill, as well as the loggia
- Cherry Lisa F1
- F1 bead
- Baby
- Minibel
- Date F1
- Craiova
- Bonsai
- Thumbelina
- Pygmy
- Greenfinch F1
- Cherry Lycopa
The choice of soil and top dressing
Surely a large number of people who decide to grow cherry tomatoes on their windowsill find it very difficult to resist the bright packages of fertilizers that are available in literally every store. After all, it seems to them that without them the plant simply cannot grow normally and bring a good harvest. But here it is worth considering that abundant feeding of plants can do them very great harm.
And you should also know that the substances contained in fertilizers can accumulate in the fruits, as a result of which they become poisonous. And in order for cherry tomatoes to grow well, it will be enough to choose the right planting soil and feed them with any WMD once every 2 weeks, or use simple plant tinctures for these purposes.
Cherry tomato soil mixture is very simple to prepare. To do this, you need to mix sand, compost, peat, garden and turf soil. It is also recommended to add a little charcoal.
According to many experts, conventional mechanical mixing of the earth is less effective than that which is carried out with spraying of layers. Due to this, the soil is restructured, and as a result, when watering, the liquid will be more evenly distributed over the substrate.
Cherry growing tips
There are several subtleties in growing cherry tomatoes at home:
- For example, you can plant newly-rooted shoots for the second time in June, and they will actively bear fruit until mid-autumn.
- German gardeners know one trick that allows them to exclude the pulling out of seedlings if they do not have enough light. And this is very easy to do. You will need a soft brush that you need to gently brush over the leaves and tops of the shoots from time to time. As a result, the hairs are slightly damaged. located on their surface, due to which the seedlings begin to grow much slower and bush.
- Some gardeners also grow cherry tomatoes in buckets made from iron. Such plants are not planted in open ground. The fact is that thanks to such an unusual capacity, tomatoes are not infected with late blight. And this is because iron can significantly inhibit the growth and development of this fungus.
Using the above tips, you will certainly be able to grow strong and healthy cherry tomatoes at home, which will delight you with their bountiful harvest for a long time.
