Growing and caring for a tomato tree outdoors
Most vegetable growers dream of growing tomato trees. The most popular varieties of such plants are the Japanese tree Octopus f1 and the Italian cherry tree, the features of which include high yields. More than 10 kg of crop can be harvested from one bush. Before you start planting such tomatoes, you need to figure out how to grow a tomato tree.
Description
To understand what kind of miracle tomato tree is, you can use its description.
They belong to indeterminate plants, which differ from the rest in their resistance to diseases, high yields and constant growth. During the first months after planting, the bush should not bear fruit so that it has time to fully form. During growth, such a tree cannot be pinned. This can disrupt the growth of the plant and subsequently lead to its death.
A distinctive feature of tomato trees is that they form many shoots and branch well. Thanks to this, they can grow to an area of about 5-10 square meters.
Small clusters with several fruits are formed on the bushes every 3-4 leaves. The weight of each of them can reach 200 g. The fruits are colored bright red and have a rounded shape. Outside, they are covered with a thin skin, under which is a fleshy and dense pulp. The main advantages of fruits include the fact that they are not prone to cracking and are stored for a long time.
Advantages and disadvantages
The popularity of tomato trees is due to the fact that they have many advantages. These include:
- adaptability to any level of humidity;
- resistance to diseases such as late blight, tobacco mosaic virus and fusarium wilt;
- resistance to sudden changes in temperature;
- the presence of developed and branched roots;
- ease of growing;
- tall bushes that can grow up to 3-5 meters.
By cons tomato tree octopus F1 can be attributed to the fact that it takes up quite a lot of space. Also, the disadvantage is that it is recommended to grow it in heated greenhouses.
What you need to grow a tomato tree
Before planting a tomato tree in an open field or a greenhouse, you need to figure out what you need to have for this. For this you will need:
- Seeds. It is recommended to use the seed of tall varieties, as they produce the most ovaries and grow well.
- Preparations for the preparation of dressings, ugras and compost.For this you can use "Baikal EM 1". However, such drugs should be used only if EM technology was previously used on the site.
- Shelter film or greenhouse. In the Urals or Siberia, it is better to plant tomato trees in heated greenhouses. This will allow you to grow tall plants over one meter in height. Residents of the southern regions can do without a greenhouse. To grow the tomato variety, ordinary plastic wrap will be enough, which can protect the bushes from night frosts.
- A metal barrel without a bottom. Tomato trees should not be planted in holes, but in special containers with holes. The side holes are needed to saturate the soil with oxygen, and the bottom holes are needed for moisture. If there is no barrel, then wooden boxes can be used instead.
- Air pump with hose. It will be needed to improve ventilation of the plant root system. To do this, several holes are made in the hose, after which it sinks to the bottom of the container, where the tomato tree will grow. It is recommended to turn on the pump every 10-20 minutes.
Growing seedlings
It is necessary to plant seedlings early, so you can start as early as January or early February.
Seed preparation
Before growing tomatoes, you need to prepare planting material. To increase the germination capacity of F1 Octopus seeds, it is necessary to warm them up in advance. To do this, they are placed for several hours in an oven preheated to 50-60 degrees. Throughout this time, the oven temperature can be gradually increased to 70-75 degrees.
They can also be warmed up with water. For this, tomato seeds are poured into a small jar, which will need to be placed in a saucepan with hot water.
In addition, before planting, the planting seeds are disinfected. There are several solutions with which you can eliminate the infection:
- Aloe juice. It can be purchased at any pharmacy or squeezed out of the plant yourself. To prepare the solution, the juice must be diluted with water in equal proportions. It is necessary to keep the seed in the mixture for at least 15 hours.
- Fitosporin. A few drops of the drug must be mixed with 300 g of water, after which planting material can be added to the prepared solution. It should be soaked for no longer than two hours.
Soil preparation
It is necessary to plant seeds not in ordinary soil taken from the garden, but in pre-prepared soil. It is not so difficult to prepare the soil for planting seeds: in one part of the sod land, part of river sand and peat is added. The resulting mixture is thoroughly mixed and poured with a nutrient solution, the composition of which includes 10 grams of carbamide, 30 grams of superphosphate and 10 liters of water.
You should also disinfect the soil in advance. To do this, it is treated with a weak manganese solution and special antifungal agents.
There is another way to disinfect the soil. In this case, the earth will have to be placed in a cloth bag and put in the oven for 20-30 minutes. This will help clear the soil of all pathogenic microbes.
Planting seeds
You can plant the seed of a tomato tree in small boxes or pots. To begin with, the containers are filled with moistened soil, after which small holes are made in it, in which tomatoes will be planted. The distance between the grooves should be about 5 cm. After planting the seed in the soil, the containers are covered with glass or plastic wrap to ensure an optimal level of moisture.
It is recommended to grow seedlings in a warm and well-lit room. The moisture level of the soil should be checked every day. If it is very dry, then it should be sprayed with a spray bottle.
Planting seedlings
Growing a tomato tree outdoors or in a greenhouse begins with planting seedlings.Seedlings should be planted in mid-April or early May.
Site preparation
Before growing a tomato tree, you need to prepare a planting site. The barrels in which the seedlings will be planted must be placed in the most illuminated place of the greenhouse. It is also necessary to ensure that there is enough space around them, since one tomato tree can spread its branches several meters to the sides.
Soil preparation
Prepare the soil before pouring it into the seedling barrels. The bottom layer of the soil should be composed of urgas, and the top layer of EM compost.
It is better to harvest urgasa even in winter. To do this, put a garbage bag with several drainage holes in a plastic bucket. The bag contains small organic waste, which must be periodically sprayed with a solution of the EM preparation. A small weight can be installed on top, with which liquid will be squeezed out of the contents of the bag.
Planting
You need to plant only the most powerful and large grown seedlings. Wells are made in barrels, the depth of which should not be greater than the pots where the seedlings grew. A support must be installed near each hole so that in the future the bushes do not break under the load of the fruits. After planting, the seedlings are not recommended to be watered for two weeks.
Care features
To grow a large tomato tree Octopus F1, it must be properly cared for.
Working with soil
Caring for any plant includes loosening the soil. It is necessary to do this 1-3 times per season. This is done in order to get rid of the crust that could form on the surface after watering. The first loosening is carried out 10 days after planting the seedlings.
Top dressing and watering
Top dressing should be done at the beginning of summer, since it is by this time that the tomato tree consumes all the nutrients in the soil. It is recommended to periodically introduce boron into the ground. If the plant lacks this substance, then its stems will become very fragile and brown spots will appear on the fruits. In addition to boron, mullein, superphosphate and ammonium nitrate are added to the soil. It is necessary to apply fertilizers to the soil periodically every 2-3 weeks.
Plant bushes should be watered much more often. This is done 2-4 times a week, and at least a bucket of water is consumed per bush. It is best to use the sprinkler method when watering. Summer water the tomato trees are needed daily.
Stealing
Leaves on the bushes should be cut off a week after planting the seedlings in barrels. At first, only the lower leaves are cut off, and the upper several rows remain intact. After this, the shoot is covered with soil mixture made from earth and urgas. It will not only nourish the tree, but will also help to strengthen the root system. Re-pinching is carried out in a week.
All varieties of tomato trees can be grown up, except for Surgut F1.
Treatment
Sometimes fruit ripening on trees slows down. To speed up this process, the bushes must be periodically processed. To prepare a solution for spraying tomatoes, you need to grind young pine shoots and place them in the freezer for several weeks. After that, they are filled with water and boiled for about 30 minutes. Then the broth is filtered and diluted with cold water in a ratio of one to three. It is necessary to use the prepared mixture during the formation of buds.
Conclusion
Anyone can grow this plant. In order to grow it, you need to familiarize yourself with the technology of growing a tomato tree.
