We can easily and simply grow a “Thumbelina” tomato on a windowsill or summer cottage according to instructions from experienced farmers

Description of the variety

The Thumbelina variety is determinate and tall. The bushes reach a height of 1.5 meters, and sometimes 2. Therefore, it is worth pinching the top at a plant height of 1.5 m - this will have a beneficial effect on the development of the fruit.

Reference. In determinate varieties of tomatoes, it is necessary to remove growing points.

According to the speed of ripening, Thumbelina is classified as an early ripening plant. The first harvest is obtained 90 days after planting the seeds.

This variety is grown in greenhouses or at home, for example, on a balcony.

Distinctive features

The main feature of the variety is, of course, the size of the fruit. Miniature tomatoes look impressive. In addition, they ripen synchronously. They are collected with a whole brush.

Fruit characteristics, yield

Thumbelina tomatoes are round in shape, weighing 15-20 g. Ripe tomatoes have a beautiful red color. Pleasant to the touch, smooth and dense. This variety is considered dessert. They will delight you with their excellent sweet taste.

About 15 tomatoes are tied on each brush.

The variety produces maximum yield when grown in 2-3 stems. With proper care, you can collect up to 4.7 kg from one square meter.

Brief information about the variety

• Fruits and bush : the bush is indeterminate, requires formation into one stem and pinching of the top. The fruits are round, smooth, small, weighing up to 20 g. The taste is rich, sweet and sour.
• Productivity : up to 5 kg per m².
• Distribution : tomatoes prefer warm climates, so they are planted outside of greenhouses only in the southern regions. When grown on a balcony or in heated greenhouses, the region does not matter.
• Lighting : enhanced. For high yields, installation of a phytolamp is required.
• Soil : fertile, moderately moist.
• Planting : in seedlings according to the 60x70 pattern in early to mid-March.
• Care : requires gartering, pinching, regular fertilizing, watering and loosening the soil.
• Pests : aphids, thrips.
• Diseases : late blight, tobacco mosaic.
• Ripening period : the variety is early ripening, tomatoes ripen in 90-95 days.
• Application of fruits : fresh, for preservation. You can make soups, pastas and even freeze the fruits.

How to grow seedlings

Like many other nightshade varieties, Thumbelina is sown for seedlings in March, after preparing the seeds and soil.

Seed preparation

Planting material should be disinfected before sowing to get rid of diseases that live on the surface of the seeds. Prepare a weak solution of manganese and place the grains in it for 3 minutes. Then rinse them, wrap them in wet gauze and leave them in a warm place for 3 days.

Do not let the gauze dry; spray it with water at room temperature.

After the seeds hatch, transplant them into prepared soil.

Container and soil

To sow seeds, buy a special soil mixture or prepare it yourself. Mix garden soil, sand, peat or humus and add some mineral fertilizers and charcoal.

It is initially convenient to use boxes for seedlings, but it is better to plant plants in glasses with a volume of 200-250 g.

Sowing

Plant the sprouted seeds in grooves 1 cm deep at a distance of 2 cm from each other. Then sprinkle with earth.

Important. When planting, the soil should be moist.

To speed up seed germination, cover the boxes with film or thin glass. Place the boxes with seedlings in a warm place and maintain the temperature at +20-25 degrees. The first shoots will appear in 5-6 days.

Growing and care

After sprouts appear, remove the film or glass. Take care of the lighting. If the room where the seedlings are located is not bright enough, add additional light sources. It is better to use a special phytolamp, but in the absence of one, ordinary ones will do.
Regularly spray the soil with a spray bottle to maintain the desired level of humidity.

At night, ventilate the room with seedlings, but avoid drafts and low temperatures.

Start picking when 2-3 leaves appear on the plants. You should not wait longer, as the roots of the seedlings are actively growing and intertwining. Transplantation injures the root system - the plants will take longer to recover or even die.

If you still want to pick older plants with 5-6 leaves, then initially plant seedlings less frequently or thin out the sprouts after germination.

Transplant seedlings into 250 g glasses, no more. This variety does not have such a powerful root system. And in the ground, which is not occupied by roots, a flexible plant quickly appears, destructive for Thumbelina.

After picking, place the tomatoes in a shaded place for 1-2 days, and then again provide good lighting. After a week, start hardening off the sprouts. Take the seedlings outside every day. First for 20-30 minutes, then gradually increase the time to 3-4 hours a day.

1.5 weeks after picking, carry out the first feeding of the tomatoes. Use purchased complex fertilizers or prepare the mixture yourself. Feeding recipe: for 10 liters of water, take 12 g of potassium sulfate, 35 g of superphosphate and 4 g of urea. Mix all ingredients well and wait until they are completely dissolved in water. Combine fertilizer with watering.

Water the tomatoes as the soil dries out. Not abundantly, so that the ground is slightly damp and the water does not stagnate.

How to plant and care properly

Cultivation is the most important topic. First you need to prepare the seedlings. This is done in March, then the seeds are planted in specially prepared containers to a depth of about one centimeter. After ten days, the first shoots will begin to appear, then the plants should be planted in various containers, preferably their shape should be cylindrical.

When May comes, you need to start transplanting cherry tomatoes into the greenhouse, using a 60 by 70 scheme. Next, you should wait until the bushes gradually grow and reach thirty centimeters, then you can make supports, and as they grow, tie the tomatoes to them.

Tomato care includes:

• Removing stepchildren;
• Regular loosening;
• Watering.

Now we will separately consider sowing, because this is a very important topic. First, keep in mind that before sowing, you need to soak the seeds in warm water for 24 hours. You can add special growth stimulants to the liquid, and first soak the seeds of the variety in potassium permanganate for 3-4 minutes.

Regarding the soil for this variety, it is prepared from humus and peat. You can safely add a little charcoal to the soil as a mineral fertilizer. To make tomato seeds enter the ground faster, you need to water it with warm water, preferably at room temperature, before planting. The grains themselves should be planted shallowly in the soil for planting and covered with a thin film, which can then be removed after sunrise. It is very important that there is enough light, make sure that the tomatoes receive enough light and heat, because this is important.

How to grow tomatoes

Growing Thumbelina tomatoes is not difficult even for beginner gardeners. In this section of the article you will learn the basics of care for obtaining healthy and strong tomatoes and a high yield.

Landing

Transplant tomatoes into the greenhouse 45-50 days after seed germination.
This is approximately mid-May. If further cultivation is planned at home, transplant the tomatoes into a looser container, also in mid-May. We will describe the details of growing Thumbelina in a greenhouse, on a balcony and on a windowsill below.

As with many other varieties of tomatoes, prepare the soil for them in the fall.

Clear the ground of weeds and remove the top layer of soil in which various fungi and pests have accumulated. Then lay a layer of sawdust, straw, pine needles 5 cm thick. They are necessary to loosen the soil.

Add a little lime to normalize acidity. Level the manure with a layer of 10 cm and pour greenhouse soil on top. To enrich the soil with nitrogen, sow mustard, buckwheat or clover. In spring, dig up the soil along with the grass.

2 weeks before planting seedlings, loosen the soil, remove weeds, and apply fertilizer.

Moisten the soil before planting the bushes. Prepare the holes; place fertilizer with phosphorus at the bottom of the holes. Planting pattern: 60x70 cm. Install supports for future plant garter.

After planting, water the soil around the tomatoes, loosen the soil to allow oxygen to reach the roots.

Plant care

Form Thumbelina tomato bushes into 2-3 stems. With this formation, the best yield is achieved.

When the tomatoes grow to 30 cm, tie them to the supports. Next, tie the stems as they grow.

Further care consists of timely watering, weed removal, pinching, loosening and fertilizing.

Apply fertilizers during important periods of growth: flowering, ovary formation and fruit formation.

Use complex fertilizers, for example, “Solution”, “Magnesium Sulfate”, “Potassium Monophosphate”, “Kemira Universal-2”. Or use traditional feeding methods: bird droppings, ash, peat.

Features of cultivation and possible difficulties

The Thumbelina variety does not have any particular growing characteristics. The main thing is to adhere to basic care requirements. Avoid excess moisture (this leads to cracking of the fruit) and fertilize the tomatoes according to the described scheme.

Diseases and pests

The Thumbelina variety is quite resistant to the main types of nightshade diseases.

But there are diseases that can be destructive for these plants:

1. The tobacco mosaic virus appears when the greenhouse is poorly ventilated, as well as when there is high air humidity and excessive bush density. The disease manifests itself in the form of light green and yellow mosaic spots. Plants begin to break, fruits burst. The virus is spread by aphids and thrips. When symptoms appear, treat the damaged bush with a whey solution (10%) with the addition of microfertilizers.
2. Late blight is a common fungal disease. There is no absolute way to combat fungus, so take preventative measures in advance. Treat the plants with Fitosporin, Gamair, and Alirin. It is recommended to spray Thumbelina tomatoes when the first ovaries form. In autumn, carefully remove any remaining tomatoes. In the spring, wash the walls of the greenhouse.

Tomato care

Thumbelina tomato seedlings can be planted in a greenhouse 40-50 days after seed germination (usually in mid-May). The soil in the greenhouse must be prepared in advance.

Advice! Since tomatoes significantly deplete the soil, it is necessary to fertilize the soil in the fall.

When digging up the soil, add compost or humus at the rate of 4-6 kg per square meter of area. This is important if tomatoes have been growing in one place for several seasons.

The Thumbelina variety prefers fertile, loose, neutral mixtures. In the greenhouse, the bushes are planted at a distance of 60-70 cm from each other. Provide support for tomatoes in advance - as soon as the seedlings grow to 30 cm, it is necessary to tie up the stem.

Excellent yield is obtained when bushes are formed with 2-3 stems. Usually the bushes grow to a height of 1.5 m. The main care consists of regularly tying up Thumbelina tomatoes, removing the shoots and loosening the soil. To prevent the soil from drying out, it is advisable to mulch it.

Fertilizers must be applied during the periods of flowering, ovary formation and fruit formation. It is allowed to use both organic (peat, humus) and inorganic fertilizers (Kemira Universal 2, Magnesium Sulfate, Mortar).

The nuances of growing in open ground and in a greenhouse

Thumbelina is intended for growing in greenhouses or at home. But this variety is not very suitable for open ground, since the plants do not tolerate temperature changes well and can die from low temperatures.

We have already discussed growing in a greenhouse earlier, now let’s talk about how to get a good harvest of Thumbelina at home.

Growing at home on the windowsill and balcony

To successfully grow this variety at home, also start by preparing the soil.

Buy ready-made soil mixtures, such as Exo, or prepare the mixture yourself. Here are some simple recipes to choose from:

1. Mix turf, humus and peat in a 1:1:1 ratio.
2. Mix sand and peat in a 1:1 ratio, add 2 parts of leaf soil to the resulting mass.

In such soil, indoor tomatoes will receive all the necessary nutrients and will better thrive on the windowsill.

To transplant seedlings, use pots with a volume of at least 3 liters. Plant each bush in a separate container.

Tomatoes grown at home require special care. This is due to the fact that there is a limited amount of nutrients in a closed pot.

Water as the soil dries, approximately once every 8-10 days. The water should be at room temperature, settled.

When growing tomatoes on the balcony, it is very important to monitor the room temperature. During the day it should be from +18 to +22 degrees, at night - from +15 to +17 degrees. To avoid extreme heat, ventilate the room or balcony, but avoid drafts.

Feeding and tying up plants is similar to these procedures in a greenhouse.

Here, in general, are all the subtleties of caring for Thumbelina tomatoes on the windowsill and balcony.

Diseases and their prevention

“Thumbelina” is an amazing variety that does not suffer from the deplorable attacks of cruel rot, however, even this fabulous subspecies is faced with diseases, the consequences of which can be disastrous:

• Mosaic, in which the color of the leaves changes, making them wrinkled and spotted;
• Late blight, which affects most plants, produces a white coating under the leaves;
• Cracking of fruits, which appears when there is excess liquid.

If there is excess liquid, the variety suffers from cracking of the fruit.
To avoid such embarrassment, you should regularly loosen the soil and control the watering processes. Complex fertilizers are often used for prevention.

Harvesting and application

3 months after seed germination, the harvest ripens. The fruits ripen synchronously. Collect them with whole brushes, it’s much more convenient. On the windowsill, a bush with ripe bunches of tomatoes looks especially impressive.

Since Thumbelina tomatoes are considered dessert tomatoes and have a sweetish taste, they are perfect for salads and appetizers. They like to eat them fresh and use them as decorations on the holiday table. Thanks to their miniature size and thick skin, tomatoes are great for pickling and drying.

Rules for planting and care

To get strong tomato seedlings of the Thumbelina variety, you should properly prepare the seeds. To do this, they are soaked in warm water for a day to soften the hard seed skin and make it easier for the sprout to peck.

Sowing seeds for seedlings

After soaking, the seeds are immersed in a weak solution of potassium permanganate for several minutes before planting in the ground. They begin to sow the soil for seedlings in early March. Special plastic containers or long wooden boxes are suitable for sowing. They are filled with nutritious soil mixture: soil, humus, peat. All components are taken in equal quantities.

Then the seeds are placed at a depth of 1 cm. The distance between them should be at least 2 cm. Afterwards, the seedlings are sprinkled with fluffy soil and watered with warm, settled water. The container is covered with cling film and placed in a warm (temperature not lower than + 20 Cᵒ), well-lit place.

As soon as the sprouts appear above the surface of the earth, the film is removed. Picking is carried out on seedlings at least 6 cm in length. Weak, thin plants are removed. If there is no natural light, install lamps. The seeds will germinate 5-7 days after planting.

After this, the film is removed, the seedlings should grow stronger at a lower temperature of + 18 Cᵒ. Every day, young plants are sprayed with a spray bottle, and the soil is loosened every 3 days.

Important! Regular loosening promotes good development of the root system of seedlings and the flow of nutrients.

As soon as the seedlings have leaves (2-3 pieces), each plant is transplanted into separate cups. Before the seedlings are transferred to the greenhouse, they are fed every 10 days with fertilizer containing phosphorus and nitrogen.

It is prepared from the following ingredients:

• 1 tsp. urea;
• 1 tbsp. l. superphosphate;
• 2 tsp. potassium salt diluted in a bucket of water.

All ingredients are mixed. The seedlings are watered with the resulting mixture every 10 days.

Transplanting seedlings

The seedlings are transferred to the greenhouse in early May. You should count approximately 40 days after the first shoots appear. The soil before planting is prepared in advance, in the fall. They dig it up well and add humus (5 kg per 1 m2).

Seedlings are rooted in the following order:

1. Seedlings are planted in fertilized, thoroughly loosened soil at a distance of 60 cm between bushes and 70 cm between rows.
2. A hole is dug at least 20 cm deep.
3. Before planting the plant, the hole in the soil is filled 1/3 with a mixture of soil and humus (1:1). You can add 1 tbsp. l. superphosphate and a glass of wood ash.
4. Then water is poured into the hole, about 2 liters per plant.
5. The grown seedlings are removed from the cups, being careful not to damage the roots.
6. Lower the seedlings into the hole with the rhizome down, sprinkle with fluffy soil, and tamp down.

In advance, you should dig and strengthen the support, stretch the trellis in order to tie up plants that have grown up to half a meter. The root should not be deepened by more than 20 cm. Thumbelina tomatoes have a weak superficial root system.

Tomato care

Tomatoes are regularly watered, the soil is loosened, and mulched. The soil is moistened only after it has completely dried. You should not allow water to stagnate at the root. To get a good harvest, 2-3 shoots are left on the mother plant, and the stepsons are removed. To stimulate fruiting, tomatoes are fertilized with organic (humus, manure, peat) and phosphate fertilizers. They are applied 3 times per season in this order: during the flowering period, during the formation of ovaries, during the period of fruit ripening.

Advantages and disadvantages of the variety

Among the advantages of this variety we highlight:

1. The variety is easy to care for. All care comes down to regular watering and fertilizing.
2. It pollinates independently, which allows you to grow tomatoes on the balcony and on the windowsill.
3. The root system does not grow much and the plants grow well in pots and boxes.
4. Resistant to major nightshade diseases.
5. The variety is early ripening.

The main disadvantage of the Thumbelina variety is its intolerance to sudden changes in temperature and cold. That's why they are grown in a greenhouse or at home.

How to get seeds

The grains are extracted in several stages:

1. An already ripe “Thumbelina” tomato is divided into two parts.
2. Using a medical spatula, all seeds are removed.
3. They need to be placed in any plastic container and left for several days (from two to four).
4. This is necessary for them to ferment. Then they should be washed and all unnecessary grains removed.
5. The remaining ones need to be strained and squeezed out using thin gauze.

See also

Characteristics and description of the Palace tomato variety, yieldRead

Next, the grains are washed with water at room temperature and dried by placing them on a sheet of paper.

Farmer reviews

Thumbelina tomatoes have received many reviews on various gardening forums. Here are some of them:

Vera, St. Petersburg: “I grew it in a greenhouse. For the first time in 2015. In 1 stem. There were 16-18 tomatoes in the bunch. Well ripened, sweet and very tasty. I am pleased. We feasted on tomatoes until the end of September.”

Albina, Yaroslavl: “I grew it in a greenhouse. I liked the variety, I’ve been planting it for 3 years now. The yield is high, the fruits are not so small. Suitable for salads and canning. But they grow tall, more than two meters.”

Svetlana Naumova, Stary Oskol: “I heard a lot about the Thumbelina variety and decided to plant it on the site, but in open ground. The fruits were disappointing - the peel was a bit harsh, the tomatoes were more sour than sweet. There are too many stepchildren, so the bushes took up a lot of space.”

What is a Thumbelina tomato?

Characteristics and description of the variety:

1. The Thumbelina tomato variety is an early-ripening variety, created for growing indoors. The plant grows up to 1.5-1.6 m.
2. From the emergence of seedlings to the ripening of the harvest, 91-96 days pass.
3. Thumbelina tomatoes are small in size, weighing only 15-20 g.
4. One bunch grows up to 10-14 tomatoes.
5. The fruits are round in shape and have a shiny, dense skin.
6. Cherry tomatoes have excellent taste.
7. From a plot of 1 m² you can harvest 4.5 kg of tomatoes. You can use the fruits fresh, make salads from them, salt and pickle them.

The plant is self-pollinating, which is important if the tomato is grown on the balcony. Resistance to diseases such as powdery mildew, root rot. Simultaneous ripening of fruits.

The disadvantage is considered to be the lack of resistance to temperature changes. This variety is afraid of the cold, so it is grown only in a greenhouse. If the plant is grown on a balcony, you should not water it too much, as this will lead to the growth of stepsons. Reviews from those who planted these tomatoes are positive.

The neat fruits are not large in size, the weight of one fruit is 17 g, and up to 13 pieces of dense tomatoes are tied in one brush.

The average fruit weight is 17 grams. Careful care guarantees up to 5 kg of juicy harvest per square meter.