What is picking tomato seedlings and how to do it correctly

What is it for

Growing tomato seedlings without picking is practically not practiced in our country. The fact is that without this procedure, the fruiting period will come (if it comes) much later, and the root system of each seedling will not be able to fully develop, and, accordingly, it will be difficult for the plant to form good and high-quality fruits.

Tomato seedlings without picking can be grown only in those regions where there are certain problems with water supply: then the roots of the culture lie deeper, and they do not need frequent watering. But the stem of the plant will be slightly less developed, and the general condition of the tomatoes will be much less productive than those of those plants that were grown with a pick.

When?

Many novice summer residents often ask themselves the question: when to dive tomato seedlings, so as not to harm the plant, but, on the contrary, to help it grow stronger faster? We answer: it is correct to dive tomato seedlings not earlier than the first pair of true leaves is formed in the seedlings. This usually happens about a week after germination. In no case do not disturb the tomatoes ahead of time - they are still too weak to painlessly survive such stress.

How to correctly conduct

To make your tomato seedlings feel good after the picking procedure, you will need a special nursery: a special cassette with small pockets, where we will place the plants. Each container-pocket must be filled with the prepared substrate (leaving about 1 cm of free edge). Do not forget to make special drainage holes at the bottom of the containers, if they were not provided for by the design - then your tomatoes are not threatened with stagnant water or soil rotting. Another important point is that you need to water the seedlings abundantly about 10 hours before the pick.
Before removing the plants, the soil around them must be slightly loosened. Now we proceed to the process itself: answering the question of how to dive tomato seedlings correctly, it is important to note that it is better to remove the seedlings from the ground using the method of careful digging, so as to injure the root system as little as possible. When the sprout is removed, we make a small depression in a prepared container with earth, lower the seedling into it until the cotyledon leaves, add it with soil and squeeze it slightly.

Do not forget to water the tomato - this way it will take root faster. Do not deepen the plant unnecessarily - otherwise you risk provoking a slowdown in the development of the stem, because the bush will have to spend some time to build up an additional root system.

It is best to place the seedlings immediately in separate containers, then the next pick (or planting directly into the ground) will take place for the plant with minimal losses: you simply transfer the seedling along with the earthen clod. Another feature of self-grown and dived tomatoes: immediately after the procedure, the plants need to spend 24 hours in the shade. If you put them in a sunny place, the tomatoes most likely won't take root.

It will be better if you water immediately before immersing the plant in the soil - in this case, one hundred percent survival rate is guaranteed. The degree of immersion in cotyledonous leaves is due to the fact that when the vegetable takes root, an additional root system will appear on the stalk. However, do not overdo it, otherwise deep immersion inhibits growth, so it will take some time to adapt and grow new roots.

Transplanting tomatoes into boxes requires the following seedling arrangement: 8 × 8 or 10 × 10. This means that tall hybrids need to be planted according to the last scheme. We make two furrows on the soil of the container and immerse the best and strongest plants in it; it is better to leave diseased or small seedlings so that the seedlings develop evenly.

The distance between the tomatoes should be within 2 cm, and between the rows - in a checkerboard pattern, that is, the seedling of the next row should be between the hybrid of the previous row. This is done in order to better and evenly illuminate all rows with the sun.

After picking, you cannot immediately put the seedlings in a sunny place, but let them stand in the shade for a day. Tomatoes are thermophilic vegetables, so the daytime temperature of 22-24 degrees will be most comfortable for them, and up to 16 degrees Celsius at night.

What to do if growth stops after a pick

For beginner gardeners who are trying to grow tomato seedlings for the first time on their own, it sometimes happens that the seedlings stop growing for a while. This is because the procedure was not carried out in a timely manner, and the root processes need time to adapt.

Sometimes tomatoes do not want to develop, because they are planted in too cold soil, or there is too much soil, and the root system does not have time to master it. Try to solve the problem by adding a little superphosphate to the soil - this component will have the necessary stimulating effect on the plants.

Now you know what a picking of tomato seedlings is, and how to grow seedlings so that they eventually give a bountiful harvest. But even if you still have questions, a video with detailed instructions for the procedure will surely dispel them.

Video "How to dive tomatoes "

A video about how and when to dive tomato seedlings correctly.