Top dressing of tomato seedlings at home

Bright and radiant tomatoes, perhaps, grow in every summer cottage. And many people dream of growing as many ripe and large tomatoes as possible in a confined space. And in order to do this, young tomatoes need additional feeding, which, moreover, can be found in their home, namely, made from various “improvised” means available at the dacha. Therefore, further we will talk about: feeding tomato seedlings

Top dressing of tomato seedlings: what is it for

Top dressing is needed for tomatoes so that they develop correctly, and the seedlings are healthy and strong. It's no secret that good seedlings can only be grown in fertile soil, but other soil characteristics are often important, namely, the soil must have a good structure, crumble in the hands, absorb moisture perfectly, all this is necessary so that the roots of tomatoes are timely obtained as nutrients as well as air and water. Every day, young tomatoes need more and more nutrients, so you can hardly do without feeding. If the soil is poor, then they begin to feed after the first two leaves appear on the seedlings. If the land is richer, then the first top dressing can be done after the pick after 2 weeks. It is important to remember that seedlings need more and more nutrients every day. Moreover, the seedlings develop differently at each new stage, therefore, completely different nutrients must be given to the plant at different periods. But from a simple seed, the seedlings receive nutrition for a short time. Therefore, you need to supply the plant with new nutrients and trace elements.

Top dressing of tomato seedlings: determining what is missing

In order to determine the deficiency of various nutrients in young seedlings, it is enough to look at them and carefully study the plants. If the seedlings do not have enough iron, then usually the leaves of tomatoes begin to turn yellow, and the veins become brighter. This indicates the beginning of the development of chlorosis. In the case when the leaves of tomatoes turn bright purple, most likely, the seedlings lack phosphorus. If the leaves begin to fall off and turn very yellow, then, most likely, the seedlings lack nitrogen. But remember that with an excess of moisture, the leaves of tomatoes can also fall off. Therefore, before applying certain fertilizers, one should carefully analyze the conditions for keeping plants, and then draw conclusions. When there are changes in the development of seedlings, you need to think about what exactly your plants lack. Whether it's iron, phosphorus or nitrogen deficiency. You need to supply the land with these microelements on time, which means you need to feed the seedlings. Carefully study the structure of the plants, inspect the lower leaf plates and veins, and also analyze the growth pattern of the seedlings.

We feed at home

Before you feed your plants, you need to make sure they need it. The fact is that an overabundance of nutrients also badly affects the development of seedlings, so it's bad to either underfeed or not overfeed. For feeding tomatoes, you can use ready-made commercial formulations, such as Krepysh, Ideal, Solution and others. Strong and Ideal are considered universal top dressing, so they are suitable not only for tomatoes, but also for other crops, and you will not need to buy expensive fertilizers for each plant, which, moreover, will definitely remain with you. A good top dressing for tomatoes is superphosphate, it is usually diluted in ten liters of water, and then the plants are infused and planted using the foliar method. Give preference to liquid fertilizers, as they are very easy to use and do not need to fiddle with the cultivation of dry fertilizers.Remember that fertilizers are mainly used for adult plants, so the concentration of seedlings should be halved. In order to feed the seedlings with this solution, you first need to loosen the top layer of the soil, so the fertilizing will penetrate into the deep layers of the earth. This means that it will reach the root system of the tomato. However, the re-loosening of the soil should be done no earlier than two to three hours after watering, since otherwise you will simply trample the plants and "clog" the soil even more.

Folk remedies

Top dressing of tomato seedlings is quite possible with folk remedies, which are becoming more and more popular with summer residents every day. Often gardeners feed seedlings with yeast, which enriches the soil and improves its structure. In order to prepare a yeast feed, you need to take ten grams of yeast, a couple of tablespoons of sugar and dilute it all in ten liters of water. After that, the solution should stand and ferment, then you can take one part of the resulting mixture, dilute it with ten parts of water and feed the seedlings. Gardeners often feed tomatoes with concentrated iodine. Tomato leaves are sprayed with this substance for powdery mildew and late blight disease. In order to prepare this top dressing, you need to drip 10 drops of iodine into a bucket of water and water. Ash is excellent at reducing acidity. In addition, it is an environmentally friendly fertilizer. Usually, one spoonful of ash is diluted in 2 liters of water and left for 24 hours, after which the seedlings are watered with this solution. Many people use hydrogen peroxide to protect tomatoes from many diseases and pests. This substance stimulates plant growth and also enriches the earth with nutrients. Usually half a tablespoon of peroxide is diluted in a liter of water and watered the plant. The second feeding (if necessary) is carried out again after 10 or 14 days. The last time the seedlings can be fed a few days before transplanting to their permanent habitat. Yeast, iodine, hydrogen peroxide and ash structure the soil well, and also enrich the soil with nutrients and trace elements. Iodine, moreover, is considered an excellent remedy for fungal diseases in plants. It is also often used to treat powdery mildew and late blight. Moreover, pharmacy iodine is used for both root and foliar feeding of tomatoes. But ash contains more than three dozen useful minerals, so all plants need it very much. If you regularly feed seedlings with these folk remedies, your plants will revive, and they will also bloom and bear fruit better. This means that the harvest will be plentiful. Tomatoes are generally very fond of various baits, especially before hilling.

Top dressing of tomato seedlings: pale and thin

If the seedlings are very weak, thin and pale, then many gardeners are in no hurry to plant them in open ground, as they believe that nothing good will come of them. However, if you decrease watering, increase lighting, and lower temperatures, the seedlings will be healthy and robust again. Pulling seedlings is also prevented by the resounding name "Athlete". You can also use mineral fertilizers, which contain many trace elements, This will help the seedlings take root well after picking. Maybe you should also experiment with growing tomatoes. Sometimes they do not need bait, but an increase in daylight hours or watering - yes. Closely monitor the process of plant development, apply mineral and organic fertilizers on time, remove weeds and water the seedlings. And then your tomatoes will certainly be thick, strong and healthy. If the seedlings do not grow well after you have transplanted them to a permanent habitat, then you need to save them in time, otherwise they may bend and dry out altogether.If you properly looked after the seedlings, picketed, watered, protected from pests and diseases on time, but the seedlings continue to turn yellow and do not grow, then the soil is not quite rich in nutrients. If the leaves of the seedlings begin to curl and turn yellow, then this most likely indicates a lack of potassium. If the color of the leaves is uneven, then your plants clearly lack magnesium, but you should pay attention to signs of a lack of other minerals. Therefore, in time, add certain microelements to the soil, since this is very important at the initial stages of seedling development, especially after a pick. It is at this time that the plants need optimal care, and the future fate of the plant, and hence the harvest, depends on how the plant takes root in the open field.

No time to feed

Remember, too, that reusable top dressing can also harm your plants. They also need to adapt to the environment, endure some hardships to develop their own immunity. Otherwise, your seedlings will continue to grow only if there are numerous fertilizing in the soil, and this is a rather expensive undertaking. After all, you will not always be able to enrich the soil with certain nutrients with the help of folk remedies. And you often have to go to specialty stores for new portions of fertilizers. Another negative point, for example, with an excess of nitrogen in the soil, is the excessive formation of green mass. Your tomatoes may look absolutely healthy, strong with thick and long stalks and large flowers, but from an overabundance of this element, the seedlings will simply rage, but you will not wait for the fruits. How to determine the time when it is no longer necessary to feed the culture? It's simple. If the soil where you transplanted the seedlings has a good structure, the nutrients are contained in it in large quantities, then you should not feed the seedlings, and you should only change the conditions of its maintenance, namely, the order of watering, the level of illumination, care of the top layer of the soil , temperature regime. This is usually enough for the seedlings to become strong and healthy again. Feed your plants right and enjoy your harvest