How to grow tomatoes in a greenhouse step by step instructions

How to grow tomatoes in a greenhouse? Tomatoes are a favorite vegetable in our country. Their popularity can only be compared with potatoes or onions. And this is easy to explain: in addition to high taste, tomato fruits contain a lot of useful substances, among which lycopene is especially worth highlighting. This is a natural antioxidant that fights cell aging and accelerates the intensity of their renewal. This unique microelement reduces the number of mutated cells that can give rise to the growth of cancer.

It is not surprising that people actively grow tomatoes from southern to northern latitudes. But in open ground this healthy vegetable does not grow everywhere. Therefore, in colder climates, tomatoes are grown in greenhouses. How to grow tomatoes in a greenhouse, how to care for them, our article will help you answer these questions.

How to grow tomatoes: step-by-step instructions

Seed selection and preparation

There are a huge number of varieties and hybrids of tomato seeds on the market. The first thing you should pay attention to when selecting seeds for sowing in a greenhouse is the self-pollinating nature of the varieties. To avoid mistakes, give preference to F1 hybrids. As for other characteristics - ripening time, resistance to diseases and pests, color, size and taste - here everyone chooses what suits him best.

Seeds can be divided into two large groups granular (coated with a shell consisting of a starting set of nutrients) and regular, unprocessed. The first type does not require soaking and is suitable for spot sowing, but requires a regular level of soil moisture for germination. The second ones are smaller in size, germinate faster, they can be soaked before sowing, or treated with fungicides.

Sowing tomato seeds

How to grow tomatoes in a greenhouse. You should start by growing seedlings. tomatoes. Thus, the strongest seedlings are selected for cultivation in the greenhouse.

The soil should be loose, soft and light, with good drainage and aeration. Before sowing, it is necessary to prepare peculiar beds-furrows 1.5 cm deep, which are then thoroughly watered. Then, in increments of 0.8 - 1 cm, seeds are placed in them. After that, the crops are sprinkled with soil mixture and using a fine sprayer (so as not to knock the seeds out of the bed with a strong stream), the crops are moistened.
To make seedlings appear faster, it is recommended to cover the crops with film. It helps maintain constant temperature and humidity in the greenhouse with seedlings.
After the first shoots appear, it is important to carefully ensure that the soil does not dry out. At the same time, from time to time it is necessary to ventilate the greenhouse with seedlings in order to avoid the appearance of mold on the surface of the soil. It is best to do this after watering, so that the tomato leaves do not lose their tightness due to changes in humidity and temperature.
When the tomatoes reach a height of 20 - 25 cm, they should be planted - that is, transplanted with wider steps to a permanent habitat in the greenhouse. When pruning, you need to make sure that one bush does not interfere with the development of another. On average, the distance between them should be at least 40 cm. This will allow both the root system and the above-ground part to actively develop.
After transplanting the seedlings, it is watered; the next day after watering, the root areas need to be loosened, which will improve air exchange.

READ DETAILED INSTRUCTIONS - HOW TO GROW TOMATO SEEDLINGS AT HOME - HERE

What varieties of tomatoes to choose for growing in a greenhouse

Both determinate (low-growing) and indeterminate varieties of tomatoes are grown in the greenhouse. Which bear fruit until frost.

Among the first, it is worth highlighting Openwork, Bourgeois, Spring of the North.

Among the tall, powerful tomatoes we can distinguish Octopus, Major, and Happiness.

Such hybrids as DJ, Kirzhach, Drive, Super Red, PinkMagic, Tolstoy, Malvaria, Three Sisters, Blue Bunch are particularly resistant to diseases and have good fruiting.

How to grow tomato seedlings at home

At home, tomato seedlings should be sown in special seedling boxes. Expanded clay is placed at the bottom, serving as drainage and protecting the root system from excess liquid. Then the box is filled with soil, which needs to be watered with warm water. To make it easier to plant in rows, you need to mark grooves 1.5 cm deep. Seeds are placed in these grooves, then they are sprinkled with dry soil mixture and gently sprayed with water (you can use a spray bottle).

At the end of sowing, the boxes are covered with film and placed in a warm place, protected from drafts. After the emergence of seedlings, you can begin to gradually open the greenhouse slightly - hardening off the plants in order to gradually accustom them to their normal habitat.

After the appearance of two to three true leaves, the seedlings are picked, transplanted into individual pots or boxes, but with large steps.

Method for picking tomato seedlings into a snail

Another great way to pick: in snails. And it doesn’t matter whether it’s picking peppers, picking eggplants or picking tomatoes. This picking method is universal. This method is very space-saving and is especially suitable for those who have a lot of seedlings. The root system of the plants is not injured, and the seedlings grow strong and healthy.

Growing seedlings in a greenhouse

Tomato seedlings under the film rarely stretch out and become fatty, and are easy to harden. Such planting material will be purchased first on the market.

Sowing seeds

Algorithm for planting tomatoes in a greenhouse:

Markings are carried out on the dug up and fertilized bed.
The furrows are drawn at a distance of at least 10-11 cm from each other.
Spill hot water.
Allow the liquid to be absorbed.
Place the seeds at a distance of at least 1 cm.
Cover with substrate.
Water for better adhesion of grains to the soil.

You can additionally mulch the bed with dry sifted mullein.

Seedling care

The greenhouse is not opened until the shoots appear. As soon as the tomatoes hatch, they begin to lift the top or ends:

for ventilation;
to equalize the temperature outside and inside.

When it’s 15-20°C outside, it can be as high as 50 degrees in the greenhouse on a sunny day. If you leave the structure closed, the tomatoes may “cook”.

Ventilation is provided only in the morning. It’s too late to do this at 10-11 o’clock - the temperature inside will be so high that the seedlings will get a shock and may not survive. At the very least, the leaves of the tomatoes will curl.

Water the greenhouse in the morning or evening. An additional danger of lack of ventilation is that damp soil without access to fresh air can turn green, that is, become covered with moss or algae. They block the supply of oxygen to the roots and can themselves cause problems.

If you plant seeds in a greenhouse, tomatoes usually do without pinching. To prevent stretching and to grow additional roots, add bedding. First prepare the substrate:

sifted garden soil (not from nightshade crops) - 1 bucket;
sand – 3 l;
humus - 3 l;
ash - 0.5 cups.

The filling is done like this:

Water the tomatoes the day before.
Mulch the bed so as to completely hide the subcotyledonous knees under a layer of substrate. The lower leaves should remain on the surface.
Gently moisten the soil through a fine sprayer.

If the water jet is strong, the tomatoes will be washed to the ground. They are unlikely to be able to straighten themselves, but they will continue to grow, and as a result they will turn out crooked.

Raising seedlings with your hands or a stick is a long task, and for elderly people or with a bad back it is not easy. It’s better to carefully water it from a watering can by hand.

In the phase of 3-4 true leaves, they begin to feed with a mineral complex with a predominance of nitrogen. If the bed has not been filled with phosphorus fertilizers since the fall, the element is given in a form that is easily digestible by plants.

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Maria Nikolaevna

Experienced vegetable grower. 40 years of experience. Graduated from Michurinsk State Agrarian University (MICHGAU)

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We must not forget that tomatoes absorb most nutrients at temperatures of 15 ° C and above. If it is cold, fertilizing will not have an effect, but when it gets warm, the seedlings will “shoot” and begin to develop rapidly.

Weak and deformed seedlings are removed. Tomatoes are thinned out - brown spots often appear on closed leaves. In any case, preventive treatment must be included in the care package.

How to prepare a greenhouse in spring

Preparing a greenhouse before the spring-summer season consists of several stages:

Cleaning - everything that remains from the fall is removed, including old pegs, ropes, and remnants of vegetation. The greenhouse covering is washed with a soap solution to remove dust and dirt, which may contain pathogens.
Disinfection - to destroy sources of diseases and pests in the greenhouse, you can use a sulfur bomb, and treat the soil with a solution of fungicides, for example Fitosporin-M.

Caring for tomatoes in a greenhouse

After planting seedlings in a greenhouse, it is important to monitor soil moisture and provide the plants with all the nutrients necessary for active development. For this purpose, after 7 - 10 days, the first watering is carried out, and in the future, it should be carried out once every 5 - 6 days, adjusted for humidity and temperature in the greenhouse. Tomatoes are watered directly at the root, trying not to get on the green leaves.

After watering the next day, it is useful to loosen the root zone - this will promote better aeration and prevent stagnation of water.

Caring for tomatoes in a greenhouse (video)

How to grow tomatoes in a greenhouse. Growing tomatoes, watering tomatoes, mulching, tying and much more, everything related to caring for tomatoes in a greenhouse, you can learn all this from this video.

Soaking tomato seeds before planting

I usually soak the seeds in plain melt water. There are years when I sow completely dry. Germination is always excellent. It’s another matter when the seeds are expired or simply overdried - then the germination rate may be low and you need to resort to “dancing with tambourines.”

Before sowing, the seeds must be soaked until they swell, then they are pickled in a fairly strong solution of cherry potassium permanganate for about 10-20 minutes. To do this, the swollen seeds are laid out in containers (cups) and filled with a solution of potassium permanganate or a solution of a stimulant drug.

Experience shows that seeds (especially stale ones) that are not soaked in plain water before this procedure may lose their germination capacity after being treated with potassium permanganate.

While the seeds are in potassium permanganate, stir them several times with a stick, and then thoroughly wash them either twice in different containers or with running tap water. Afterwards, the tomato seeds are dried until they flow and are sent to the greenhouse for planting.

How to tie up tomatoes in a greenhouse

Timely staking of tomato seedlings will preserve the integrity of the bush, as well as the ovaries and fruits, which can become deformed or crumble under their own weight.

For gartering, you should prepare pegs 5–10 cm above the plant and cords or fabric ribbons with which the plant is secured to the support.

The peg is installed immediately upon planting in a permanent place, parallel to the trunk, but so as not to injure the root system. The trunk is tied to it. As the plant grows, the staking will continue. It will be necessary to tie the largest branches with fruits to a peg to prevent their deformation and shedding.

The most convenient way to garter tomatoes

Why do tomato seedlings stretch?

As soon as the air temperature rises a few degrees from the required value against the background of a lack of lighting, the sprouts immediately begin to stretch, become thin and frail, which can threaten them with death. And planting tomato seedlings in February threatens to turn into just such a disaster. Convincing results were shown by an experiment I conducted, in which seedlings of the same variety, planted in February, bloomed on the 70th day, and those planted in April - on the 40th!

For example, the planting season in the southern regions begins in early April. Seeds are often planted immediately in an unheated greenhouse. The heating is turned on only if there is a threat of frost and a sharp drop in air temperature for insurance.

Drip irrigation of tomatoes in a polycarbonate greenhouse

Using drip irrigation makes sense when growing tomatoes over large areas. The essence of drip irrigation is that moisture is delivered directly to the roots, while the above-ground part is not moistened.

The most important advantage of drip irrigation is that the fertile soil layer is not washed out and the migration of nutrients is reduced.

The drip irrigation system should be installed before planting. It consists of hoses with holes.

You can water tomatoes in a polycarbonate greenhouse using drip irrigation devices made by yourself or purchased from a specialized store. In this case, water is gradually, dosed, delivered directly to the roots of the tomatoes.

Secrets of growing large sweet tomatoes from A to Z

Early in an unheated room

To do this, you need to add compost to the soil in the fall. For early planting, you need to choose the place where cucumbers used to grow, since after them the soil will be saturated with manure. Before planting, you need to add a grain of wood ash and fertilizer for tomatoes, as well as 10 granules of superphosphate, into each hole before planting.

Indeterminate varieties

In the process of growing such crops, the most important thing is to tie up the bush in time, and also pinch it to stop upward growth.

Tomatoes are grown and pinched depending on the height of the bush . You also need to apply a lot of fertilizers, since the large size requires good nutrition.

In Kuban

The weather conditions of this region make it possible to harvest tomatoes almost all year round. The air temperature in the greenhouses there rarely drops below 3 degrees Celsius - many varieties can still withstand such indicators. Therefore, do not be afraid to plant tomatoes before winter; the main thing is to provide good lighting.

No watering

In order not to water your tomatoes throughout the season, it is enough to try once and provide them with the necessary conditions. To do this, before planting, you need to remove all the leaves from the lower half of the trunk. The hole must be deep. Half a bucket of compost, a handful of wood ash and a gram of potassium permanganate are placed in it - mix all this and add 5 liters of water.

After absorbing moisture, the seedlings are placed in the holes almost horizontally and sprinkled with a small layer of soil. Once again water each bush with a bucket of water. This will be enough for the whole season. As soon as the stem grows, its top must be tied vertically .

All year round

If we talk about large-scale production, then to produce tomatoes all year round, you need to properly equip the greenhouse: install electricity, make ventilation, install an irrigation system, install climate control.

Compatibility with other crops

A tomato will do well if you plant any kind of lettuce, onion, parsley and even watermelon next to it. However, do not place cucumbers, fennel and dill next to tomatoes .

Growing tomatoes in a greenhouse is troublesome. However, it is pleasant when you can treat someone to a fresh vegetable at any time, and profitable if this vegetable can be sold.

Active mulch for soil fertility

Mulching can be called a godsend for summer residents and amateur vegetable growers, because it allows you to improve the quality of the soil on your site in a simple and affordable way.

How to grow tomatoes in a greenhouse without depleting the soil? Active mulching will help cope with this. Fresh mown grass, straw or sawdust can be used as mulch. This material will maintain soil moisture, thereby reducing the frequency of watering. Also, active mulch will serve as an organic fertilizer. In the fall, after removing dried tomato plants, the beds are dug up along with mulch, enriching the soil with organic matter. Before wintering, lay out a new layer of organic mulch.

And in the spring, in order not to destroy the activity of the microcosm, which by that time has already begun to process the mulch into nutrients for the plant, the top layer of mulch is carefully pulled apart to plant new plants. By the way, the mulch itself should not come into contact with the tomato stems, so that putrefactive processes and fungal diseases do not appear.

Active mulching (video)

Important parameters

To ensure that greenhouse tomatoes are tasty and disease-free, you should constantly monitor the following important parameters:

Each time after weekly watering, the greenhouse must be ventilated for several hours. This is necessary to ensure that the humidity level does not rise too high. Tomatoes grown in too humid an environment turn out sour and watery.
Temperature. In the daytime, the temperature in a panic should fluctuate between 24-26 degrees, and at night should not fall below 18. The temperature can be reduced by ventilation, and raised by using biofuel.
Stepsonning. Tomato bushes need to be pinched and pinched regularly. Each bush should have from 1 to 3 stems. All other shoots must be removed. The same applies to excess or too small flowers and ovaries.
Lighting. A greenhouse is usually placed in an open area of the site, where the sun will constantly shine on it. If technical capabilities allow, additional fluorescent lighting can be installed in the greenhouse. This will significantly speed up plant growth.

Planting and growing tomatoes in a greenhouse allows you to grow a good harvest regardless of weather conditions. And building a structure and caring for plants inside a greenhouse is not at all difficult.

Tomato diseases

How to grow tomatoes in a greenhouse and not lose the harvest? Of course, an important part of caring for tomato plants is protective measures against pathogens and pests.

Late blight

This is a fungal disease that appears on tomatoes at high humidity. Sick plants become covered with brown and brown spots. To combat this disease, contact-systemic fungicides such as RidomilGold or Quadris are used. They should be applied three times once a week.

Septoria

This is one of the most dangerous diseases of tomatoes. It is also called “white spotting”. It is rare for greenhouse plants; it more often affects tomatoes grown in open ground.

The impetus for the active development of septoria pathogens is increased humidity and improper agricultural technology : untimely weeding, loosening the soil.

The first signs of this fungal disease are the appearance of white spots on the leaves. Over time, the spotting grows and the leaves acquire a brown edge.

A diseased plant should be removed immediately. Neighboring tomatoes should be treated with a systemic fungicide solution three times.

Apical rot

A very dangerous disease that can destroy most of the future harvest. The manifestation of this disease can be seen on unripe fruits. Greenish-brown wet spots form on them.

The development of the disease is associated with an insufficient amount of calcium in plant nutrition. Therefore, to treat plants, calcium nitrate is used, with which the plant is sprayed.

Prevention of the disease is the correct and timely application of fertilizing.

Root rot

The causative agent of this disease penetrates the tomato plant if the root collar is damaged. Therefore, as a preventative measure, you should carefully carry out mechanical tillage of the soil in the garden bed. The pathogen actively develops in conditions of low temperatures. It is especially dangerous to plant seedlings in unheated soil.

To combat this disease, affected plants should be removed. When preparing the beds, the soil must be treated with copper sulfate or trichodermine.

Fruit cracking

If tomato fruits are cracking, this is a sure indicator of improper watering and an excess of nitrogen in the nutrient mixtures that are used for fertilizing.

The control measure is simple - correct agricultural technology, changing the irrigation and fertilizing system.

Prevention and treatment of tomato diseases

It is important to remember that plants very quickly get used to any drugs and become more and more resistant to them each time. Therefore, you need to treat tomato bushes with different preparations. For example, 5 days before planting seedlings in the ground, they are usually treated with a systemic fungicide from a sprayer. Ridomil Gold, Quadris or Fitosporin are well suited for these purposes.

Stolbur or Tomato Phytoplasmosis , which has recently become very rampant. The causative agent of this scourge is not transmitted by seeds; it quickly dies in plant debris, however, it can persist on perennial weeds, especially field bindweed. It is spread by cicadas, whiteflies, moths or aphids.

Remember that we ourselves can become unwitting carriers of Stolbur pathogens through our tools, clothes, hands. Only attentiveness and timely measures will help you save the harvest and defeat Stolbur. To fight tomato diseases, you need to know some rules for their protection:

Planting tomatoes should be done as far as possible from outbuildings where livestock and pets are kept. Flying disease carriers always live in such places, which is why the incidence of diseases in tomatoes in such an unfortunate neighborhood reaches 100%.
Weeds, especially field bindweed, in the garden attract cicadas that carry Stolbur. Therefore, it is necessary to get rid of weeds in advance as much as possible.
8-12 days after transplanting seedlings into the ground and during the growing season, it is necessary to periodically combat cicadas and aphids. To do this, the land plot with planted tomatoes and the surrounding areas are sprayed with a non-toxic drug of the new generation of plant protection products “Aktofit”. It has proven to be very highly effective in controlling pests of agricultural crops and ornamental plants, while maintaining mild sanitary, hygienic and environmental characteristics. Such drugs as “Fas”, “Karbofot”, “Karbofos”, “Fufanon”, “Aktellik” will also become assistants with cicadas.

Diseased plants must be removed to prevent the spread of disease. Around the tomato plantings, it is advisable to plant plants with a strong aroma, which flying disease carriers do not like. The most common flower - Marigolds (Chernobrivtsy) - can become such a convenient and faithful protector of your tomato plantings.