The criticial stage of growing tomatoes yourself

In summer, the tomato is an edible and lucrative standard plant in many home gardens. Of the plants, tomato is not the easiest to get, but it can be grown well even at home as long as you know what a tomato requires to succeed. Successful tomato cultivation is an accurate but ultimately rewarding endeavor.

Hortonomist Elina Vuori from the Commercial Garden Association advises that you must be careful when growing tomatoes, especially with pollination and temperature.

- Tomato flowers growing at home should be teased and tapped daily to ensure that pollination takes place. So you can and should touch the plants anyway. The best time is in the mornings, before the toast of the day.

The tomato should be grabbed daily so that you notice the flower, or fruit, gently shaking properly. Elina Vuori explains that then the pollen inside the flower comes off and pollination takes place.

Photo: Juhani Niiranen

This is especially important on a glazed balcony or in a greenhouse where there may not be insects swirling. Outdoors, insects and wind help to ensure that the plant moves slightly and pollination occurs spontaneously. 

Temperature in place

As a heat-loving plant, tomato thrives best in a place where the sun shines almost all day. Good places to grow are, for example, a glazed balcony and a greenhouse, as the temperature in them stays higher than outdoors.

Elina Vuori urges to monitor the thermometer at the tomato growing site. The ideal temperature for growing tomatoes is 25 degrees. Although summer nights in Finland are sometimes cool, the tomato should not be exposed to temperatures below five degrees, even at night.

However, the temperature should not be too high.

- In a sunny greenhouse, the temperature can rise by more than 40 degrees if ventilation is not provided. In this case, the temperature is already too high. 

If you want to harvest the tomato as quickly as possible, you should prefer smaller micro-varieties.

If you start growing a tomato from seed, you should give it enough time, space and light. The easiest way to grow seedlings is to get the seedlings early in May.

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Micro varieties should be planted in liter pots. Larger varieties work best in pots of more than 10 liters, but in pots of 20-30 liters, care is easier. However, the tomato adapts to the conditions of its growing medium - in a smaller pot, any tomato will grow smaller fruits, while in a larger one it will grow bigger.

The sweetest end result comes from drought

It is advisable to fertilize the tomato regularly according to the instructions on the fertilizer package. In addition, the tomato may need daily watering, but with soil moisture must be careful. The soil must not be too wet or too dry. You should boldly push your finger into the soil - even if the surface is dry, there may still be moisture at the bottom of the pot.

If the tomato leaves are hanging loose, there is already a rush with watering.

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Elina Vuori tells an interesting tip related to drought, which can affect the sweetness of any tomato variety.

- Periodic suitable drought is even good for tomatoes. A little drought stress increases the sweetness of the tomatoes. The soil should be allowed to dry, especially in late summer, when the tomato can't stand the flowers so much. However, after drying, watering should be continued sparingly immediately.

The sweetness of tomatoes can be increased by allowing them to dry slightly in late summer.

Feel free to expand the variety range

The tomato can produce the whole summer's harvest, as long as it takes care of irrigation, fertilization and pollination.

It takes about two months from flowering to fruit ripening, depending on the variety. Smaller micro varieties are the fastest to produce a crop.

Elina Vuori encourages home gardeners to experiment with growing different tomato varieties. He reminds that there are hundreds of varieties available in Finland as well. Hortonomi's own favorites are the large steak tomatoes.

- They are reminiscent of exotic fruits.

- It is worth demanding new types and varieties from the sellers of garden stores. I myself grow a hundred different varieties. You can trust yourself - if you have succeeded with small varieties like Sungold or Black Cherry, for example, why not others? Elina Vuori encourages.

Source: isfi

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Source: Teller Report