How to grow good seedlings. We expose seedlings to the street When seedlings can be taken out to the balcony

Almost all FORUMHOUSE members live in places where the majority garden crops grown by seedlings. In such regions there are about 120 days with an average daily temperature of +10 - +15 degrees per year, and most vegetable crops need 120 -200 days to grow. Seedling method cultivation gives us a month or even two additional time to obtain a harvest in open ground, so it is used for growing most crops: tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, melons, watermelons, pumpkins, cucumbers, cabbage, etc.

• Why do you need to harden off seedlings?
• How to harden off seedlings
• How to lower the temperature to harden seedlings
• How to organize the right temperature regime for plants.
• How to harden seedlings before planting OG

Why harden off seedlings?

Hardening off seedlings is a rather complex set of measures that help plants ease the transition from comfortable greenhouse conditions to harsh open ground conditions and, importantly, increases their resistance to diseases.

ArmadRS FORUMHOUSE Member

This means not just taking it out onto the balcony the day before disembarkation, but a whole complex associated with temperature, light, air hardening, as well as dancing with the humidity regime.

Getting into open ground from greenhouses and boxes on window sills in apartments, the plant experiences stress due to sudden changes in temperature, degree of lighting and humidity. In addition, the transplant itself is stressful, root system suffers, the plant is sick for some time and during the adaptation period it will feel much better in its already familiar environment.

Seedlings that have gone through the hardening period get used to transplanting into open ground faster and more painlessly.

How to harden off seedlings

It is necessary to start hardening the seedlings as early as possible - the lack of light and excess heat in the rooms cause them to stretch out, and we must not allow this to happen. A decrease in air temperature stimulates the development of the root system and inhibits the growth of tops. Therefore, already on the third or fourth day after emergence, the first hardening is carried out for 4-7 days, reducing night and day temperatures from +18 - +25 degrees to +8...+16°C during the day and from +10...+15°C to +7…+12°С at night depending on the crop:

• tomatoes: during the day +13-+15, at night: + 7-+98;
• pepper: during the day +14-+17, at night +8-+10;
• eggplants: during the day +14-+17, at night +8-+10.

FORUMHOUSE even described such a quite successful experience: the container in which tomato seedlings were grown was closed with a lid and placed in the refrigerator overnight.

Pipasurinamese Member of FORUMHOUSE

Tomato seedlings should be placed in the refrigerator overnight while they are growing. Excellent hardening. And you don’t have to be afraid that you’ll freeze.

It is not recommended to lower or sharply increase the temperature in the future. Starting from the third week, it is recommended to keep the seedlings in this mode. If spring turns out to be hot and sunny, you can open the windows, first for a short time, for 15 minutes, gradually increasing this time to two hours. Drafts are not allowed. Make sure that the soil temperature also cools down, otherwise the plant's root system may not survive relocation to the cold exhaust gas.

To inhibit the growth of seedlings and cool the soil, some FORUMHOUSE gardeners use old method"covering with snow." At night, when the seedlings need a drop in temperature, they are covered with snow along the edge of the boxes and between the rows. It is important that the snow does not touch the stems! Instead of snow, you can use crushed ice.

Shade or add light?

Hardening of seedlings before planting in open ground

Unlike seedlings, there is no need to rush into hardening off adult seedlings.

Hardening of seedlings begins no earlier than two weeks before planting in the exhaust zone.

Otherwise, we will only achieve a slowdown in plant growth and a decrease in yield.

During active pre-planting hardening of plants, we must achieve a decrease in air temperature, also depending on the crop. For heat-loving tomatoes, peppers, melons, watermelons and eggplants, the recommended temperature is +12...+14° C, and for cabbage +6...+8° C.

Tanya Tankova Member of FORUMHOUSE

If it weren’t for the hardening, I would have brought pale elongated blades of grass to the dacha. True, I start hardening it in March, when the sun is shining, I leave it out for 2-3 hours.

When there are 3-4 days left before planting seedlings, you need to bring the air temperature as close as possible to the garden temperature. If the seedlings are grown in an apartment, they are taken out to a glassed-in loggia and the windows are opened (however, it is better to close them at night), if in a greenhouse or greenhouse, then the transoms are raised. At the very last days seedlings are kept in open greenhouse or on the open balcony. If there is a threat of frost, plants are covered with covering material at night.

DaOlya Member of FORUMHOUSE

Before planting, such seedlings must be placed in the garden for 7-10 days in partial shade or with a gradual increase in insolation. Such seedlings in beds are less sick when transplanted. I won’t say anything about greenhouses; I haven’t compared them.

It is at this time that we can make the mistake of hardening only aboveground part plants. The root system is hardened by changing the watering regime.

The volume of water remains the same, but we increase the time between waterings!

What happens? The soil remains moist near the roots of the plant, but in the upper part it dries out. The growth rate of seedlings slows down, but the root system continues to actively develop, the leaves become stronger, and the whole plant looks healthier. But you need to be extremely careful not to dry out the soil so that the buds do not fall off.

Tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers are among the most popular vegetable crops for growing in the garden, summer cottage. Every year, gardeners germinate seeds, plant them in individual pots, plant them, and take care of the bushes in every possible way. The correct temperature for seedlings is most important factor at all stages of plant development.

As practice shows, the vegetable harvest can be obtained at any time. climatic zone, however, the temperature indicator plays the most important role here. Before planting seedlings on permanent place residence, the soil must be heated sun rays up to approximately +12°C. Please note that the ground should also not be overheated; young bushes may suffer from this.

Each individual vegetable requires its own temperature regime. You will learn what temperature seedlings of tomatoes, peppers, and cucumbers can withstand from the information below. These vegetables are very demanding on conditions. environment, any temperature difference or deviation from the norm can ruin your work. To prevent this from happening, let's consider their characteristic features.

Temperature for tomato seedlings

Let's look at the temperature regime for tomatoes in more detail:

1. Seedlings germinate at a temperature of +12..+16 degrees Celsius, after which it should gradually increase.
2. At +25..+30°C the sprouts show active growth To prevent them from stretching out at this stage, the temperature should be reduced to the original value (+14..+16 degrees). At the same time, the roots of the seedlings begin to form even with a lack of lighting.
3. Which minimum temperature for tomato seedlings? You need to make sure that it does not reach +10°C, otherwise the growth of the bushes will stop. Since tomatoes are quite heat-loving, the minimum limit is +12 degrees at night and +23 during the day.
4. Maximum temperature indicators, at which flowering stops and the ovary falls off - above +28 and below +13°C. At high temperatures Pollen is sterilized, and at low temperatures it simply does not ripen.
5. At what temperature do tomato seedlings die? Upon reaching the lower mark of the thermometer scale - +5°C or the upper mark - +40°C, the plants first lose their appearance, but then they may even die. An indicator of minus 0.5°C is death for delicate bushes.

Thus, the acceptable temperature for growing tomatoes is +20..+23 during the day and +16..+18 at night. For soil optimal indicator during the day it is similar, but at night it should not fall below +16°C, as this impairs the adaptation (survival rate) of plants.

At what temperature should I place seedlings on the balcony? Before planting in the ground, it must be accustomed to outdoor conditions - hardened. These procedures should be started approximately two weeks before planting tomatoes for permanent residence. Open balcony for tomatoes - a great place where they adapt to sunlight and cold air.

When the day is warm (+12°C or higher), the seedlings can be opened and taken out into the fresh air - two to three hours in the first 2-3 days will be enough. After this period, it will be possible to leave it there all day. If you decide to leave it on the balcony overnight, it will be better if you cover it with film. The temperature at this stage should not be lower than +10°C; if the thermometer points downward, then do not hesitate, bring the seedlings into the house. An indicator that the bushes have hardened will be a slight purple tint to the foliage; do not forget to water them during the adaptation process.

For the first few days, do not expose the plants to the open sun, they may get burned - the leaves will turn white.

The shadow is the most the best place for them at first. Rooted strong seedlings It can even withstand frost; if it is weak, it dies immediately.

After 45-50 days from the moment the shoots emerge, the tomatoes are sent to the beds. Wait for a cloudy day to plant tomatoes in open ground - this is important condition. They will easily take root, but the soil temperature must be acceptable (not lower than +12°C).

Air and soil temperatures are also important if tomatoes are pre-planted in a greenhouse. The soil under the film warms up quickly, two days will be enough. Thus, the temperature of the upper layers of the soil must not be lower than +10°C, otherwise the root system of plants will stop developing and begin to rot. Ideally, the soil temperature in the greenhouse for planting seedlings will not be lower than +15ºС. This is an acceptable level for the harmonious adaptation of plants in a new place and the development of new roots.

Cucumber seedlings - growing temperature

Cucumbers are also a heat-loving crop; sprouts appear on the 4-6th day after planting. The higher the air temperature, the faster the seedlings will appear. This vegetable needs little time to please us with its harvest; approximately 50 or 60 days pass from the moment the first shoots peck until the fruiting period.

Acceptable indicators for the appearance of sprouts are +25..+30°C. After germination, the temperature for cucumber seedlings should vary from +20°C to +23°C. No more is needed, because excess heat and lack of light can cause the bushes to stretch. Plants need to be ventilated (open the window), and then taken out to the balcony to harden.

When 4 full leaves appear, the cucumbers are transplanted into open ground; the soil for them should be warmed up to +18°C. If, with the onset of night, the air temperature drops below +15, then it is strongly recommended to cover the beds with film.

Cucumbers do not tolerate even minimal cold snaps (and dampness); at +15°C their growth stops, and at +10°C and below they begin to get sick and subsequently die. Since cucumbers grow at night, the temperature at this time of day should be at least +18°C.

For cucumbers, the temperature difference between day and night is very important; if it is more than 7 degrees, then the seedlings become stressed. Therefore, again, do not forget about covering material for beds at night. In addition, provide the bushes with regular moderate watering.

Temperature for pepper seedlings

The daytime temperature for pepper seedlings should be +22..+25 degrees, the night temperature - +11..+14 (slightly higher than that of tomatoes). Moreover, until the sprouts appear, it should remain within the range of +25..+28°C. After the pepper sprouts, you need to lower it to +20°C for literally 2 or 3 days, then raise it to +22..+25°C and then maintain it constantly at this figure.

Growing seedlings indoors involves maintaining optimal conditions for the growth and development of culture. Caring vegetable growers set a certain temperature regime, eliminate wind loads and maintain optimal illumination of the sprouts. All this is necessary to create strong and healthy bushes, which in the future will produce a high-quality harvest of tomatoes or other vegetables. Before planting, seedlings undergo hardening procedures. Is this necessary? extra work for summer residents or can you do without it?

Parable about hardening

The summer resident cherished the tomato seedlings and cherished them like the apple of his eye. And now the time has come to transplant tomatoes into open ground. The happy owner planted strong plants, but after a while he discovered that the sprouts did not take root well and often got sick. By the time the harvest came, he was no longer happy with the vegetables he had grown.

Why did this happen? Yes, because greenhouse plants were not prepared for the harsh conditions of the real climate. They were protected from drafts, wrapped up at the slightest drop in temperature, and the amount of light was increased. And then the conditions suddenly changed: temperature fluctuations became more noticeable, precipitation and wind prevented the sprouts from straightening up and continuing to develop, and the bright sun burned the tender leaves. All the plant’s strength went into resisting the created conditions. The fruits also received a little nutrition, but this was not enough to form juicy and beautiful tomatoes.

Thus, the unsuspecting summer resident reduced the quantity and quality of the future harvest. To prevent this from happening, you just needed to harden off the tomato seedlings before planting them in a permanent place.

The effect of the procedure on seedlings

For some, hardening involves dousing them with ice water. But not in this case. Tomatoes, and other plants, love warm showers and watering, so you should not resort to this method to increase the resistance of plants. But it is still necessary to harden seedlings of any crops, including tomatoes.

The procedure is the following types impacts:

• temperature - preparing plants for possible decreases or increases in temperature;
• light - a method of adaptation to more bright lighting so that the plant does not die from sunburn;
• air - adaptation to wind loads, to a certain air humidity regime.

As a result of this influence, the sprouts will acquire such external characteristics, How:

• strong and stable stem;
• large leaves of rich green color;
• well developed root system.

If you ignore the hardening of the sprouts, you may end up with low-quality seedlings of a tomato or other crop: pale, elongated, weak, susceptible to various diseases. Not only will such plants take root for a long time, but they will also produce a symbolic harvest.

Hardening principle

Approximately 10–15 days before planting seedlings in the garden bed, they begin to harden them. It is important to establish certain temperature in the shade for different vegetables:

• cold-resistant plants can be transported outside at daytime temperatures from +8 degrees;
• To harden heat-loving vegetables, a minimum daytime temperature of +12 degrees is required.

By the time of hardening, seedlings should acquire several true leaves: cucumbers, as a rule, have 2–3 leaves by this time, and tomato sprouts have from 4 to 6.

Hardening place

Hardening procedures begin at home. Then they move to a balcony or loggia, to a greenhouse or greenhouse, and then accustom the sprouts to the open air.

• At home

Hardening begins when favorable temperatures are established. To do this, open the windows first for an hour, then increase the time.

• On the loggia or balcony

They continue to harden the plants, first taking them out for several hours during the day and gradually increasing the time the tomatoes and other plants stay on the balcony. At first, the sprouts must be shaded to avoid sunburn. Then the seedlings are left overnight for several days.

• In a greenhouse or greenhouse

They start with daytime ventilation, opening the existing transoms. Over time, remove all the film covering during the day so that the seedlings get used to the light conditions. At night, the greenhouse or greenhouse is closed until optimal night temperatures are established: from +3 degrees for cold-resistant crops (cabbage or onions), from +6 degrees for heat-loving plants(tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, cucumbers).

• On the street

The required time for seedlings to be in direct sunlight is 2–3 hours daily. This is how long the plants are outside in the shade for the first two to three days. In the following days, they begin to harden with the sun. To do this, the bushes are placed in direct sunlight, first for an hour, increasing this time every day, after which they are transferred to the shade. Every day, the time the seedlings spend outside is increased until they remain outside for the whole day. After this, the plants are left outside for several nights, and then they begin to replant.

Care during hardening procedures

Plants, especially tomatoes or eggplants, should not be allowed to wilt. Under such conditions, they may lose buds, which will have a very negative impact on the harvest.

You should not start hardening procedures too early. This can lead to a halt in crop development for the entire growing season. As a result, a decrease in yield and an increase in fruit development are possible.

To increase the durability of the sprouts, a couple of days before replanting, they need to be fed with the following solution:

• 10 liters of water;
• 10 g ammonium nitrate;
• 40 g superphosphate;
• 60-70 g of potassium salt.

Using this composition, you can increase the production of cell sap, which ultimately contributes to better survival of sprouts, especially tomatoes and cabbage, and also increases the percentage of yield. This does not mean that feeding allows you to ignore the hardening procedure itself. It is advisable to produce it in a complex, then the adaptation of the sprouts to new conditions will be much faster, and an early and high-quality harvest will not take long to arrive.

The tissues of young tomato plants contain 92-95% water. In adults, this figure is not much lower. It is water that serves as transport for delivery nutrients to each cell. Tomatoes respond to moisture deficiency by deteriorating photosynthesis, slowing down growth processes, and decreasing yield. In hot weather, the evaporation of water from the surface of plants prevents them from overheating. Proper watering of tomatoes requires compliance with some subtleties, which will be discussed.

To get a full harvest of tomatoes, you need to properly care for them: water, feed. But that's not all. Many experienced gardeners know how to properly prune tomatoes; it will be useful for beginners to know this. Tomatoes are a perennial crop that bears fruit abundantly in the first year. The bushes grow throughout the season. It is necessary to form a crown for all tall and medium-sized tomatoes. Only standard ones do not need pruning low-growing varieties. They grow a neat bush. All other tomatoes will turn into real trees without pruning. This will reduce the harvest. The bushes will choke each other and begin to hurt.

Proper feeding tomatoes are a guarantee good harvest The opinion that tomatoes are able to grow without additional fertilizers has a right to life. But the goal of every gardener is high yield tasty and sugary fruits, which can only be achieved by regular feeding of tomatoes. Read our article on how to feed tomatoes when they bear fruit.

When growing tomatoes in a greenhouse, the gardener must not only properly care for the plantings, but also regularly carefully inspect them for symptoms of various ailments. Thus, you can observe the curling of the leaves of a tomato in a greenhouse. Such a nuisance may be a symptom of a disease, the result of exposure to pests or violation of the rules of tomato cultivation. Below in the article we will discuss how to determine the specific cause of leaf curling and promptly and quickly eliminate it.

Which ones food waste Do not use as fertilizer for flowers! Leftover tea and coffee eggshells, banana peel. But the most popular and effective was and remains ash, which we will talk about in more detail today. Many gardeners use ash as fertilizer for indoor and outdoor flowers. It is applied both in dry form and in the form of infusion. Ash saturates home plants with micro- and macroelements and protects them from diseases and pests. It is also rich in minerals, does not contain impurities harmful to humans and pets, and is of natural origin. What is especially important is that the ash has no expiration date, it is quickly absorbed by plants and can be obtained independently.

Crop rotation rules advise against planting some vegetable crops one after another, and sometimes this is not even advice, but a prohibition: nothing good may come of it. But garlic is an almost problem-free vegetable, and after harvesting it, you can grow almost everything in the garden, and some can be planted this season. What can be planted after garlic in July.

When garlic can be harvested depends on the time it was planted, the weather and when the harvesting took place. Experienced gardeners Determine the timing of garlic harvesting purely intuitively. For those who have no experience, there is good advice: periodically, starting from the first days of July, once a week, dig up several heads in different places beds and carefully inspect them. The very appearance of the garlic will help determine whether it is time to harvest it. Good garlic has a formed, elastic head, the lower leaves should be slightly yellow. If you wait out this moment, then it will be problematic to remove the garlic, and it will also be very inconvenient to prepare it for the winter.

So, what can you plant in July in the garden bed freed up after harvesting? This allows you to get two harvests of different vegetables over the summer. For example, re-seeding radishes, spicy herbs, different types salad, Chinese cabbage and even some root vegetables. What flowers can be planted in July? And cucumbers or zucchini can also be planted in July, if you choose suitable variety. And many crops can be planted in a container and then grown in a greenhouse or even brought home. And of course, don’t forget about green manure. If there is free space in the garden bed, you can plant legumes, mustard or other plants to improve the soil and prevent the garden bed from being filled with weeds. Let's take a brief look at the main recommendations for what can be planted in July.

I remember my first experience of growing seedlings, it was both exciting and joyful at the same time: a new exciting hobby appeared - vegetable growing. In the first year I raised good seedlings tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, leeks.
In the article I collected my observations as a beginner; I hope it will be useful for beginning summer residents to read.

Preparing the land for seedlings

Preparing the land for seedlings begins in the fall. Don't be afraid to stock up on too much land, there's no such thing as too much. If you prepare 10 buckets for seedlings, you certainly won’t go wrong. It is convenient to prepare the mixture in buckets, and to transport it home, pour it into double tightly tied bags. You can store the soil on an unheated balcony or loggia; Siberian frosts below -40 will disinfect the soil in this way; I’m too lazy to warm up the soil in the oven.

Composition: well-ripened humus, 2 parts (determined visually - black, like black soil, without the remains of unrotted plants), simple garden soil 1 part (it is best to take it from the beds where legumes or green manure grew). For peppers you can take more humus, for eggplants even more, they are the most demanding of soil fertility. Add a glass to the bucket of mixture wood ash and about 1 kg of clean sand. Instead of half the dose of ash, you can add 25 g of superphosphate; if there is no ash at all, you can add 50 g of superphosphate instead. It is important to check if there are earthworms in the ground - they are useful only in the country, and in small containers they can spoil delicate roots. Ideally, you can sift the soil.

Grab some clean sand; it will be useful for sprinkling around drooping stems in case of overwatering of seedlings and the first signs of blackleg disease appearing.

If you haven’t had time to prepare the soil mixture yourself, then purchased soil and sand are also suitable. I tried both special formulations for each type of vegetable and universal soil - I liked everything.

The soil must be brought from the balcony 5-7 days before the start of work so that it thaws well. When weeds begin to sprout in the soil, it is considered ready for sowing. 4-5 days before the sowing date, you need to spread the soil in containers and pour hot water with potassium permanganate, proportion approximately 2 g per 10 liters of water.

Prepare containers of different sizes in advance. Many people buy peat pots, but I read that the soil in them often dries out. I use containers 8-10 cm high for leeks, and for peppers, eggplants and tomatoes before the first pick - disposable 200 ml cups and 250 g plastic sour cream containers. It is better to put transparent cups in an opaque box, since it is better for plant roots to be in the dark. I experimented with the sizes of containers and came to the conclusion that both large ones - 7-8 cm in height, width, length - and regular 200 ml cups are suitable for peppers and eggplants; for tomatoes from the first picking to the second, 200 ml cups are also suitable, but after the second picking, large containers are needed so that the roots have room to grow, for example, trimmed 1 liter milk tea bags.
It is very advisable to pierce the bottom of the containers: you can use an awl, 2-3 punctures. Regarding drainage: I tried growing both without it and with expanded clay drainage, I didn’t notice any difference.

What else can be useful for seedlings?

An opaque film for covering the drawers and a container for settling the water are required, or a watering can can be used. I specifically measured the hardness of our tap water - it turned out to be very hard, it leaves stains on the surface of the earth. A spray bottle with a regulator for two positions turned out to be convenient - one stream and spray. Old trays will come in handy so that you don’t have to carry cups one at a time to the loggia and back, and so that the cups drain onto pallets and not onto window sills. I also found a room thermometer useful - for a beginner it is difficult to determine by eye the air temperature on a windowsill or loggia, but for plants it is very important to observe the temperature regime.

If the windows do not face south, you will need a lamp daylight for illumination, or better yet several.

If you intend to feed and are not against mineral fertilizers, then you will need potassium permanganate, “Ideal”, superphosphate, urea, nitrophoska, boric acid. To prepare Bordeaux mixture for the prevention of late blight in tomatoes: copper sulfate, slaked lime or soda ash (100 g copper sulfate dissolve in 1 liter of water, bring the volume to 5 liters, in another container in 5 liters of water dilute 100 g of slaked lime or soda ash, mix slowly, pour the first solution into the second, not vice versa; Bordeaux mixture cannot be stored).

How can a beginner decide on seed varieties?

The most reliable thing is to consider vegetable plantings from experienced neighbors in the country, ask them about the characteristics of the varieties, and also read the advice of experienced summer residents in your region. The image on the seed packaging is always beautiful, but you need to know how the crop will behave in the conditions of its native land. Don’t forget to write down the names of varieties after excursions to neighboring plots.

To be on the safe side, it is better to choose not one or two, but several proven varieties - with good germination, uniform ripening, and resistance to many diseases. Read seed packages carefully.

Select mid-ripening and early-ripening varieties of peppers, eggplants and tomatoes to treat yourself to your first fruits at the end of July, and maybe earlier. If you have greenhouses, garden passion and time, buy late-ripening varieties of tomatoes. Late-ripening peppers and eggplants in Siberia do not have time to ripen, so if there is no heated greenhouse, then there is no need to risk it.

For myself, I wrote out the following most praised varieties, but for the sake of experiment, I also bought 1-2 varieties of each crop simply according to the label I liked.

Peppers: Red Knight (aka Red Knight), Belladonna (aka White Lady), Swallow, Atlant F1 (the prefix F1 means a hybrid, usually high-yielding, not requiring pre-sowing treatment, but subsequently seeds from hybrid fruits are not used to produce their own), Star East, Shanghai, Aristotle, California miracle (though the latter has low germination rate). These varieties are thick-walled.

Eggplant: Epic F1, King of the North F1, King of the Market F1, Mirabella, Black Beauty.

Tomatoes for salads and general purpose: Bull's Heart (similar to Ox Ears), Miracle of the Earth, Mazarin, Orange, Malachite Box, De Barao, Scarlet Candles, Golden King. These are all greenhouse varieties.

Tomatoes for pickling: Intuition, Cascade, Nocturne, Kostroma, Icicle, Parsley the Gardener, Black Moor, Red Giant, Labrador, F1 Jury (aka Bipop), F1 Intrigue. Most are greenhouse.

Tomato for long-term storage : Marfa - for open ground.

Tomatoes for open ground, early ripening: Wonder of the World, Early 83, Golden Heart, Red Banana, Russian Apple Tree, Snowdrop, Little Red Riding Hood, Zolotnik, Brawler (Fighter).

Leek: the most win-win variety is Tango.

Sowing dates, influence of the lunar calendar, folk signs

The very first, in mid-February, they sow peppers, since they rise up slowly. Then eggplant- they can be sown in mid-late February and in the first ten days of March. By the time fruiting begins, the height of the plants will still be approximately the same, I checked.

Peppers sown in mid-February are on the right, in mid-March - on the left.

Eggplants in early May, sown in mid-February (in the middle among the peppers).

Eggplants in early May, sown in mid-March.

All eggplants and peppers are in the greenhouse in July, growth is the same.

Seeds tomatoes divide into three piles: sow late-ripening interdeterminate ones (with unlimited growth) in early March, mid-ripening ones - in the first ten days of March or even in mid-March, i.e. 60-65 days before planting in the greenhouse, early-ripening determinate (their height is limited to 40-70 cm, they do not grow higher) for open ground - in early April, 45 days before planting in open ground, usually such tomatoes are planted after the last frost, those. in early June.

If you want to experiment with tomatoes and achieve a tall trunk, which can then be deepened into the ground when transplanted into a greenhouse and achieve many shoots from the trunk (there are such intensive methods), you can sow at the end of February, but be prepared for the seedlings to outgrow and difficulties when transporting tall plants to the dacha. I tried to grow the tomato varieties Bezdimensional and Golden Rain using intensive methods; only Golden Rain was successful, despite the fact that it is not large-fruited. But it took a lot of time for gartering and pinching in the greenhouse, as well as hassle with lighting and worries due to the paleness of the seedlings. Of course, if the top of a tomato breaks off, it can be easily revived by placing it in water for several days; the trunk of the tomato easily sprouts roots, but these are all unnecessary worries.

The broken off top of a tomato will quickly sprout roots in water.

Sow the leek at the end of February; anyway, it will not overgrow much and is not so demanding of light.

If you believe in moon calendar, then the basic rules are as follows: plants whose fruits ripen above the ground are sown on the waxing Moon, and those ripening underground - on the waning Moon; on the full moon and new moon, as well as 1-2 days after and before them, the earth and plants are given rest.
But our grandmothers followed one simple rule: plantings are done on Wednesday, Friday or Saturday. It was believed that plants planted on these days would bear fruit well, since the names of the days of the week are feminine nouns, such days of the week were called “women’s days.”

It is also useful to take a closer look at the weather outside the window: if it is still cold and cloudy, there is a snowstorm - it means nature is “not feeling well”, it is too early to sow, wait a couple of days.

Determining the number of seedlings

Plan in advance how many cups and boxes with seedlings you can place on the window sills; maybe you will need to make an additional “window sill”, under which you will need another lamp for illumination, and place the table near the window. Nowadays, shelving is popular, especially among gardeners who grow several hundred roots. beautiful flowers. For vegetables, greenhouses will also be needed in the country, especially in Siberian conditions, but an unlimited number of roots will not fit there, this must also be taken into account.

The seeds are soaked in fabric bags in a pale pink solution of potassium permanganate for 15-20 minutes, removed, and washed for 2-3 seconds in running water. You can soak it in the “Ideal” solution for a day, or in water obtained from melted clean snow, it is called “live”, but it is better to soak it in damp gauze so that the seeds “breathe”. Then it is useful to harden the seeds by putting them in the refrigerator at a temperature of +2+4 degrees for five nights, maybe less (you need to take them out during the day and keep them at room temperature). Don't forget to label the seed varieties. There are also methods for heating seeds - using a battery, in a thermos, etc. But I think this is a bit difficult for a novice summer resident, you can forget to check, overheat the seeds, “burn” them, the preparation methods described above are sufficient.

Sowing seeds

It is necessary to sow each type of seed in a separate container, since varieties germinate differently. The earth is compacted a little, shed, wait for the water to be absorbed, make holes with a pencil, put the seeds, cover with dry loose soil on top to a height of 0.5 to 1.5 cm, depending on the size of the seeds. The smaller the seeds, the lower the height of the backfill, Golden Rule planting - the depth should be three times the width of the seed.

Since I'm growing peppers and eggplants without picking (this is transplanting plants into a larger container with pinching the roots), as crops with delicate roots that are easily damaged when picking, I sow 2 seeds in one cup, then discard the least developed ones. And the germination rate of seeds is not 100%.

Tomatoes picking is needed, this gives impetus to the development of lateral roots; the more there are, the better the nutrition for the fruit. Also, picking (more precisely, two pickings) gives a little respite to tomato seedlings; they do not stretch as much as without picking. Therefore, tomatoes can first be planted in boxes - containers about 8-10 cm high.

Don’t forget to sign the names of the varieties on the containers with an indelible marker, you can use a code so as not to write the full name of the variety on each cup; mark the sowing date for subsequent monitoring of seedlings.

Labeled cups with pepper seedlings:

Next, the crops are covered with an opaque film and put in a warm place, where the temperature is about 23-25 ​​degrees for tomatoes, and for peppers and eggplants it can be higher - about 25-28 degrees. You can spray it once with a spray bottle if the soil is dry. The mode on the spray bottle is spray. Do not water with a stream, as this can inadvertently dislodge the seeds that have begun to germinate. After this, do not close the drawers immediately, let them ventilate better.

Leek can be spread out on compacted earth clean snow, put in a cold place, and when the snow melts, sprinkle with a layer of earth about 0.5 cm, cover with film.

Light for seedlings

Before seedlings emerge, you need to ventilate the plantings for several minutes once a day. Tomatoes sprout quickly, on days 3-5, as soon as you notice the first shoots, they look like a thick loop - place them on window sills, under lighting. You can use a temporary relay, turning on the lamp in the morning from 7 a.m. to 8-9 a.m., in the evening after sunset until 21-22 o’clock, and at cloudy weather and more. With increasing daylight hours, in the first ten days of March, the lamp may no longer be used. Also, to increase light, wash the window at least from the inside.

Tomatoes are especially demanding of light. I have only one fluorescent lamp, so at first the peppers and eggplants grow under it, then, closer to mid-March, I move them to the windowsill without lighting, they will no longer be drawn to the light much. And I put newly sprouted tomatoes on the windowsill with a lamp, because tomatoes are planted starting in early March.

Light for peppers and eggplants

Watering seedlings

Watering should be moderate as soon as upper layer the earth will become dry, only warm water, in order to avoid diseases, about once a week. Ideally, it would be good to water so that the water does not touch the stems of the plants. To do this, use a spray bottle, place the nozzle in the stream position, direct the stream away from the plant stem, for example, onto the walls of a glass.
When overwatering and drooping stems, carefully sprinkle sand around the stem, as if “salting”. Check that all cups have drainage holes.

If it is not possible to water the seedlings in a timely manner, use hydrogel; it is mixed with the soil during planting.

Temperature for seedlings

The temperature for peppers should be around +16-18 degrees during the day in the first week after germination, for eggplants +17-20 degrees. At night - up to +10 degrees. Further, the temperature can be increased: during the day - up to room temperature, and at night up to +15-18 degrees.

After the emergence of shoots in the form of a “loop”, tomatoes can be transferred to the windowsill, gradually removing the film, and as soon as you see the cotyledon leaves, we put them in the coldest and brightest place; at night temperatures are not scary even +5+10 degrees, during the day +13- 15 degrees. After 3-4 days, the temperature can be raised to +17-20 degrees during the day and up to +15 degrees at night.

Leeks can be grown in a cool place, like tomatoes, but you still need to make sure that the sprouts do not look depressed.

You can regulate the temperature by simply moving the boxes with cups towards and away from the window, or by opening the window briefly in calm weather. You can cover the trays with cups (loosely) with something, especially in the first couple of weeks after emergence. Don’t forget to fold back the cover after closing the window. You shouldn’t be particularly zealous about opening the windows; the seedlings are easy to freeze. Control the temperature.

If you don't like some plants appearance, don’t rush to throw them away, just mark them (I drew pluses and minuses on the cups with a marker). Sometimes seemingly weak hybrids grow better than beautiful, strong ones with increasing daylight hours. Observe them, write down the results of your observations, next year It will be interesting to check the results of the last sowing.

Feeding seedlings

You can start feeding peppers and eggplants a couple of weeks after two or three true leaves appear, at the first picking. The proportions are always written on fertilizer packages. For example, for the first feeding it is approximately 1.5-2 grams of superphosphate and 1-1.5 grams of potassium salt per bucket of water, 1.5-2 grams of urea. Feeding is done after regular watering with warm water. Two weeks after the dive, another feeding is needed. And a week before planting, you need to fertilize with potassium salt, as well as foliar (spraying on the leaves) fertilizing, one liter for about 100 plants: half a gram of potassium permanganate, 0.3 grams of copper sulfate, 0.3 grams boric acid for 1 liter of water.

Tomatoes are fed 7-10 days after picking, and also as soon as the first flower bud appears. Proportions for the first feeding: 1 teaspoon of urea, 40 grams of superphosphate, 15 g of potassium salt per 10 liters of water, this is enough for about 200 plants. Fertilizing is done on damp soil, after fertilizing you need to water it again, if the soil becomes waterlogged, spread the fertilizing for 2-3 days. Second feeding: potassium and phosphorus are doubled, nitrogen (urea) is added only if the leaves are pale green and the lower ones have not turned yellow.

A general rule for fertilizing: it is better to do it in warm weather outside the window, so as not to provoke plant diseases.

A day before planting, you can spray peppers and eggplants with Epin solution. If the tomatoes already have flowers 4-5 days before planting, the plants should be sprayed with a solution of boric acid - 1 gram of boric acid per 1 liter of water, and spraying is carried out only in cloudy weather, in the morning, since in the sun the leaves may appear sunny burns.

Also, for prevention, you need to treat the seedlings 1-2 times with 1% Bordeaux mixture, the preparation is described above, and immediately before planting, spray with skim milk, proportion 1:10 with water.

Leeks are fed with complex mineral fertilizer 2-3 times.

Stretching out seedlings turns them into thin-stemmed, pale green ones; subsequently, the fruits will not receive enough nutrition from the soil, so it is important to ensure that the seedlings do not stretch out.

Picking peppers and eggplants I don’t produce, I wrote the reasons above, but it is still necessary to ensure that the seedlings do not stretch. To prevent plants from stretching due to lack of light, you can pinch some of the seedlings of peppers and eggplants after the fifth or sixth true leaf (we don’t count cotyledons), the plant will stop growing for a couple of weeks and produce more fruit, albeit a couple of weeks later. Seedlings that are not pinched will produce, although less fruit, but earlier, so we do not pinch all the peppers, but some, if we want to try the harvest earlier. If we pinch the seedlings after planting them in the ground, there may not be enough time for the development of side shoots.

It is absolutely necessary to pick tomatoes. The first picking is carried out in the phase of two true leaves, watering is carried out two hours before the process.

A depression is made in the new cup with a finger or a pencil, the size is so that the spine does not bend. Bottom part The root is pinched off with nails or scissors by about a third. We hold the plant by the leaves, and not by the stem, as you can break the thin stem. We transfer it to the recess, deepen it almost to the cotyledon leaves, carefully fill it in, lightly tamp it around the stem.

For two days after this, we do not expose the plants to the sun, we maintain the temperature at +18-20 degrees during the day, at night +15-17, if it is hotter, the plants will outgrow. On the second day after picking, carefully loosen the soil - with a toothpick, fork, and lower the temperature again.

The second picking is done when the roots become crowded in the cup, we simply transfer the plants without clearing the roots from the soil, we do not touch the roots anymore.

On the left are 8 cups of tomatoes between the first and second picking, on the right are tomatoes immediately after the second picking.

I “trim” the leek by 3-4 centimeters a couple of times so that the bleached stem grows.

Trimmed leeks in mid-April:

Plants need to be tied up as soon as they begin to droop. I liked tying it with twine to wooden skewers for homemade shish kebab; the skewers are cheap. The twine is wrapped in a figure eight so that the barrel does not touch the skewer.

Garter for skewers.

A couple of weeks before planting, the seedlings must be hardened off, both in the sun and in the cold, as well as in the wind.

First, they simply open the windows not only during the day, but also at night. Then, in warm time, take it out onto the balcony for a period of 2-3 hours, and after a couple of days they leave it for the whole day. But for the first few days they cover it with film at night.

To adjust the temperature, use a thermometer; the door to the room can be left open if it is very cool on the balcony or loggia on any day.

Before hardening, the soil should be spilled with warm water, so the seedlings will be warmer, but under no circumstances should the plants be watered at night! Also, watering is not carried out in cloudy weather.

If the first signs of wilting of the top (black leg disease) appear, sprinkle sand around the stem, as if “salting” it.
Make sure that the plants are not broken by the wind and that the soil does not dry out - this happens faster in the wind and sun than in a warm apartment.

We temper it on the loggia, not forgetting to control the temperature with a thermometer.

Peppers and eggplants before planting, they should be no more than 20-25 cm high, with a thick stem (3-4 mm at the soil surface), there should be about 12-14 leaves, several buds.

Before planting, tomatoes should be no more than 30-35 cm, the smaller the better. Well-hardened seedlings have a slightly purple trunk. Buds are also welcome.

Peppers and eggplants before planting:

Leeks before planting:

1. Very shallow or, conversely, deep seeding.
2. Leave plants that have hatched with a “cap”; they will not produce great harvest. If it’s a pity to throw away such plants, then you need to remove the cap, after wetting it.
3. If the seeds are placed too often in the box, they should be placed so that they can be easily picked, that is, at a distance of 2.5-3.5 cm from each other.
4. Insufficient lighting, warm air - contributes to the stretching of seedlings. This also includes sowing too early, when all nature is still “sleeping” (January - the first half of February for peppers and eggplants, all February for tomatoes).

1. Excessive watering or, conversely, irregular watering.
2. Do not protect the plants from a strong draft, so the plants “get cold” from the hypothermia of the soil.
3. They often touch the plants and dig up those that have not sprouted to see if they have all sprouted. You can control the crops, but then sow taking into account the percentage of germination. This is approximately 50-90% for different varieties and cultures.
4. Watering unsettled tap water- there will be an accumulation of salts in the soil, a coating on the surface.
5. Excessive or insufficient hardening.
6. Closely spaced cups prevent the foliage from receiving enough sun. The crowns of plants should not be in close contact.

Plant marigolds in a beautiful pot at the beginning of March; 4-5 seeds will be enough. The flowers will grow quickly and will delight you while caring for the seedlings.

You can also play around with growing indoor tomatoes. The container after the second pick should be large, about 3-5 liters. Of course, there won’t be many fruits, but this is just to lift your spirits. Sowing can be done in early February or March, picking and everything else is done in the same way as for ordinary tomatoes. There are different varieties of indoor tomatoes, I found only “Florida Petit” on sale, I liked the results.

Florida Petite tomatoes in mid-May (planted in early February):

I also tried to grow a cucumber on a windowsill, but I didn’t get any fruit from those planted in December, the plant only produced flowers and 1-2 cm of fruit bud, then everything dried up. But from the “Libelle F1” planted in March, cucumbers grew, although they were very small, about the size of an adult’s little finger, and there were only 5-6 of them.

Libelle cucumbers in mid-May (planted in early March):