Why tomato seedlings grow poorly: main problems and solutions

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Published: 09/14/2020

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Having sowed tomato seeds in boxes, gardeners eagerly await the first shoots. The baby seedlings are cared for and cared for, carefully creating comfortable conditions for them. And how upset they are when they see that tomato seedlings are not growing well, the bushes stop developing, the leaves turn pale.

The best thing is to prevent problems from arising by following the rules and techniques of agricultural technology. But if you see that the seedlings are weak and do not grow, then you need to immediately identify the reasons and act. In many cases, it is not difficult to correct the situation; it is enough to feed the plants correctly and change the growing conditions.

• 1 Why seedlings do not develop well on the windowsill
• 2 Poor quality soil
• 3 Eating disorders
• 4 Irrigation violations
• 5 Errors in picking
• 6 Diseases of seedlings
• 7 Pests

Why do seedlings grow poorly on a windowsill?

Slow development is caused by a variety of factors. Problems must be considered holistically, taking into account lighting, temperature, soil quality, and growing location.

Tomato seedlings do not grow for the following reasons:

• temperature violation;
• improper watering;
• lack of nutrition;
• poor-quality soil in boxes, containers, pots;
• violations when picking plants;
• cultural diseases;
• pest attack.

Tomatoes are not a picky crop. They respond well to fertilizing, develop quickly on sunny windowsills, and tolerate diving well. But only if everything is done correctly, with care for the seedlings. Any violations will lead to slower growth and development.

On a note! Experienced gardeners always talk to their plants (and not only during the seedling period). According to reviews, such “conversations” have a beneficial effect on the growth of seedlings and contribute to the successful development of culture.

One of the most common reasons for seedlings to stop growing is unsuitable temperature. Tomatoes love warmth, but when growing tomatoes in a window, it should be moderate. Otherwise, the bushes will be weak, stretched out, and if the indicators are too high, they will dry out.

After sowing, containers or boxes are kept at a temperature of +23ºC...+25ºC, then, after the first shoots appear, the indicators are reduced to +16ºC...+18ºC. This is done in order to ensure the correct formation of the plant and prevent the seedlings from stretching.

After 5-7 days, the tomatoes return to warmer conditions:

• daytime temperature +21ºC…+23ºC;
• night +16ºC…+19ºC.

Seedlings do not need excessive heat, nor do they need sudden drops in air. In rooms with heating systems, the air must be humidified and drafts must be avoided when ventilating.

It takes a long time for real leaves to appear

The main reason for poor seedling growth is considered to be non-compliance with plant growing conditions. In most cases, normalizing watering and temperature will help correct the situation. When the temperature is maintained at 22-25 degrees, the first shoots appear within a week, the tops of the leaves form 10-15 days after germination.

The slow growth of seedlings requires attention. Many gardeners are interested in what to do if tomato seedlings grow poorly and what to feed.

The main reasons for the cessation of leaf growth:

• Failure to comply with the temperature regime is considered the most common problem. The temperature should be maintained at 22 degrees with an error of 2 degrees. If necessary, it is recommended to install heating devices in the house.
• Deficiency of nutrients - the use of a special substrate enriched with essential nutrients will help to avoid problems when growing home seedlings. It is sold in stores and is inexpensive. If this is not possible, it should be fertilized with complex products containing nitrogen, phosphorus, and iron.
• Oxygen deficiency at the roots - this problem arises against the background of insufficient loosening of the soil and a constant excess of moisture. Loosening after each watering will help solve the problem.

Before you do anything, you should carefully understand why this is happening.

Blanching and shredding of leaves is observed with nitrogen deficiency; the process is accompanied by weakening and thinning of the stem. Purple coloration of the back of the leaf indicates a lack of phosphorus. Potassium deficiency is indicated by yellowing and curling of the leaves, after which the plant becomes frail.

Poor quality soil

The use of low-quality nutrient mixture in seedling boxes often leads to stunted growth. Beginning gardeners often fill containers with soil from the garden or greenhouse. This is incorrect and dangerous, since the soil may contain weed seeds, fungal spores, eggs, and pest larvae.

The soil for tomatoes should be loose, moisture-absorbing, with neutral acidity, with a sufficient amount of nutrients and microelements, while the proportions are strictly observed. Excess nitrogen is no less harmful than deficiency.

If tomatoes grow in poor soil, they will quickly react with slow growth and wilting leaves. Mold, root rot, and an unpleasant odor appear at the base. Seedlings are revived by changing the soil, first disinfecting it with a solution of potassium permanganate or by calcining it in an oven (stove).

A high-quality nutritional mixture consists of:

• humus;
• turf land;
• peat;
• calcined river sand.

Wood ash, dolomite flour, chalk, and leavening agents (vermiculite, perlite) are used as additives.

On a note! When purchasing ready-made mixtures, carefully read the composition. Peat soils must be mixed with other components, adding humus and sand.

How to feed tomatoes in the hole during and for the first time after planting in a greenhouse or open ground?

Immediately after planting tomatoes, compost should be added to the hole to strengthen the roots; urea is used to grow the bushes. It is necessary to water the plants with a solution containing urea a week after planting the seedlings; water the tomatoes a second time with this composition (10 liters of water - 25 g of urea) two weeks later.

If tomatoes receive an overdose of compost, they may not have fruits , but the stem and leaves will be strong and dark green. The flowers will fall off.

During the development of late blight, plants are treated with copper sulfate and other preparations.

How to fertilize tomato seedlings

Feeding scheme for tomato seedlings

Eating disorders

In fertile and high-quality soil, tomato seedlings grow quickly. The first sign that something is wrong with the diet is usually the leaves:

• change in color from deep green to pale green, yellow, blanching of the plates, thinning of the shoots - lack of nitrogen;
• the leaves turn blue, “marble” spots form on the plates in the middle - magnesium deficiency;
• redness on the underside – lack of phosphorus;

• the plates curl - the plant lacks potassium.

Also, tomatoes do not grow if there is a lack of iron (leaf chlorosis, stunted growth). Having noticed changes in the color of the seedlings, it is necessary to promptly feed the tomato seedlings.

How to feed frail tomato seedlings

For good growth, tomatoes can be fed several times during their stay indoors:

1. For the first time, it is worth applying complex fertilizers to the soil even before planting the seeds.
2. Following the appearance of the first true leaf, the growing seedling needs nitrogen and phosphorus.
3. After picking, you need to feed the root system of the tomato, helping it to take root.

Drugs

If the seedlings have stopped growing, you need to use the following means:

• Mortar;
• Kemira Suite;
• Uniform height.

You can use superphosphate for tomatoes, potassium chloride and urea, as well as preparations to accelerate the onset of flowering Zircon or Uniflor-bud.

Folk remedies

In addition to fertilizers and stimulants, you can use folk remedies to accelerate the growth of seedlings:

1. The shells of 3-4 eggs are crushed, filled with water and kept in a sealed container for 5 days.
2. Bird droppings are diluted with water and infused for several days. The resulting solution is used when there is a lack of nitrogen.
3. 5 g of fresh yeast dissolves in 1 liter of water. After a day, you can water the tomatoes with liquid to improve the quality of the soil.
4. Seedlings can be fertilized with banana peels, which will enrich the soil with potassium.

Errors in picking

Transplanting tomato seedlings from common boxes into separate pots with pinching off part of the root stem is picking, an important procedure when growing seedlings. It promotes the growth of green mass, hardening and strengthening of the root system. But if the tomatoes are not picked correctly, the plants will begin to wither, slow down in growth, or even die.

Why tomatoes grow poorly after picking:

• the procedure time is incorrectly chosen;
• the roots of the seedlings are seriously damaged;
• poor quality soil;
• The seedlings were in bright sun.

How to avoid the problem:

• tomatoes dive when the seedlings have 2-3 true leaves;
• pour high-quality soil mixture into new pots and cups;
• place the seedling in the soil up to the cotyledon leaves;
• control soil moisture after a dive and temperature indicators: +20ºC – during the day, +18ºC at night.

They dive, pinching the root, and also without pinching, simply transplanting the seedlings into spacious containers.

On a note! Pinching the tap root of a plant causes growth retardation for about 8-10 days.

After transplantation, the tomatoes are covered for 2-3 days from bright sunlight, giving time to adapt. Treating plantings with Epin solution helps.

Tomato seedlings grow poorly: causes and their elimination

Growth slowdown

Inspect the plants, pull out the weakest ones, inspect the roots. If the plants are healthy and there are no symptoms of root rot, most likely you did something wrong when caring for the seedlings. Carry out fertilizing as indicated above. Check that your pots have good drainage. Perhaps the seedlings are very close to heating devices. Eliminate any identified deficiencies. If problems arise after fertilizing, try replanting the plants in a different soil.

If tomato seedlings do not grow well after picking, then the procedure was carried out incorrectly. When planting, the roots in the pot should not hang in the air. We need to squeeze the ground. But if you overdo it and compact the soil very hard, it will also be bad. You need to try to remove one plant from the pot and try to determine the cause.

Tomato seedlings grow poorly: seedling diseases

If seedlings are affected by root rot, the plants' trunk becomes thinner and darker at the soil level, diseased plants must be urgently removed without regret. It is impossible to help such sick plants. Even if they survive, the adult plants will develop very poorly and will produce almost no harvest.

Carefully inspect the tomato seedlings

The cause of root rot can be an infection in the soil, excess moisture during watering, poor drainage, high air humidity and low temperatures. The seedlings need emergency help. Read above for information on the use of biofungicides and Previkur Energy fungicide. An alternative option may be disinfection with a solution of potassium permanganate or picking the remaining seedlings into other containers and replacing the soil.

Accelerated growth of seedlings (“pulling” seedlings)

The reasons for the “pulling” of seedlings can occur due to poor lighting, an excess of nitrogen fertilizers. If tomato seedlings are growing poorly, use a product produced by the largest domestic pesticide manufacturer: growth regulator Reggae. The price of the drug is no more than 20 rubles. Reggae is dissolved in water and watered at the roots of plants. One plant will require 30 milliliters of solution. The solution is prepared at the rate of 1 milliliter of the drug per 1 liter of water. Reggae is used when seedlings are 3-4 leaves old. After its use, the roots flutter noticeably better, the seedlings become stocky and the yield will increase in the future.

When planted in open ground or a greenhouse, high-quality seedlings should have a thick stem, branched root, powerful leaves and a low-lying flower raceme.

Good seedlings should have a thick, short stem and powerful leaves...

Seedling diseases

If the above problems of stopping the growth of tomatoes are easy to solve, then diseases are more difficult to fight. Infections are dangerous at any stage, and their appearance on seedlings often leads to plant death.

Most often, growth retardation is caused by:

• blackleg;
• root rot.

They appear when there is a violation of irrigation (excess moisture), too high (greenhouse effect) or low temperatures, or excessive nitrogen content in the soil. One of the causes of the disease is dense plantings and lack of normal ventilation.

Blackleg is a very insidious infection; without surgical treatment, it instantly “mows down” the seedlings. The disease affects tomatoes, peppers, seedlings of flower crops (asters).

What to do:

• in the presence of root rot, replace the soil in containers (pots, glasses), and pre-disinfect the soil. Treat tomatoes with Fitosporin;
• if a black leg is noticed (seedlings with constricted stems, wilting of plants), then change the soil, pour calcined river sand or sifted ash into the boxes, and temporarily stop watering. Spilling the soil with a pink solution of potassium permanganate gives a good effect.

Having noticed a stop in the growth of plants in common boxes due to the black leg, the seedlings are promptly planted, making sure to treat the soil with a solution of potassium permanganate. If the disease is noticed at a late stage, the affected seedlings are removed and burned.

When and how to plant seedlings in a greenhouse or open ground in the spring?

All plants are influenced by lunar phases. Because of this, experienced gardeners monitor them and read the recommendations of the lunar calendar . This process allows you to grow vegetables and fruits that will not later be affected by diseases and will give a good result when harvested.

If you are planting tomato seedlings in a heated greenhouse, then begin work at the end of March. Tomatoes should be planted in open areas when there are no longer frosts on the soil. The favorable time is different in different regions: somewhere in mid-April, somewhere at the end of May, the first part of June. There is no single-digit period, since the weather is different every year.

What size should seedlings be for planting in the ground?

It is better to plant in open ground:

It's great if you have a greenhouse. Thanks to it, you can get a large harvest of tomatoes at the beginning of summer. Especially when the greenhouse is heated. After all, vegetable seedlings are planted in it already in early April. And on ordinary days - in the second half of April.

When planting plants, pay attention to the temperature conditions of the ground and air. The earth should warm up to 13-16°C, and the air should not be less than 21°C.

It should be noted that climatic conditions are different in different regions, so there can be no talk of uniform dates. In some places you can safely plant tomatoes in open areas at the end of April, but in others only in June.

It is necessary that during picking the seedlings undergo culling and the strongest plants are presented for planting.

Preparing the greenhouse and soil for planting tomato seedlings

Preparing tomato seedlings for planting in the ground

• After 4-5 permanent leaves appear, water less often, avoiding waterlogging and wilting of the seedlings. Overmoistening and lack of light lead to stretching of seedlings.
• About 2 weeks before planting the seedlings in the ground, we harden the seedlings. If it is in a greenhouse, then we open the greenhouse windows during the day, or take the seedlings outside in the sun during the day. The air temperature should not be lower than 18 degrees.
• 5 days before transplanting tomato seedlings into the ground, it must be sprayed with a solution of boric acid.
• After hardening the seedlings, they take root well and will withstand adversity caused by the weather.

Pests

Not as often as in greenhouses or garden beds, seedlings are affected by pests. Among them:

• aphid;
• earwig;
• woodlice;
• spider mite.

It happens that pests move to tomatoes from indoor plants when using garden soil. Having noticed cobwebs between the seedlings, dark spots or holes on the leaves, as well as the pests themselves, immediately treat the seedlings with a solution of Actellik or Fitoverm. Treatment with soap solution and ash infusion helps.

Is it difficult to grow healthy and strong tomato seedlings? No, if you follow the basic rules, avoid mistakes and be ready to promptly correct violations. Good luck and great harvests!

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At what distance between bushes should I plant tall and short tomatoes?

It’s a pity when the owner has grown the seedlings to perfection, but due to incorrect technology for planting tomatoes, the yield is not what it could be. Here it is important to choose the right scheme for planting fruit trees and carefully observe the distances between tomato bushes.

It also doesn’t hurt to take into account all the above requirements for different varieties of tomatoes. Because there are tall crops that require greater distance between rows and neighboring plants. For tomato bushes, a gap of 25-30 centimeters from each other is enough. Tall ones will need about 40 centimeters of distance and it is advisable not to let them run on the ground, but to tie them up. Also make sure that they do not intertwine with each other.

With a combined planting scheme, place tall bushes in the middle and low-growing bushes at the edges of the bed. This way you will provide convenient access to all tomatoes, it will be easier for you to water them and process them in the future.

IMPORTANT : If you plant tomatoes too close to each other, they will suffer from various diseases and infect neighboring bushes. The air between plants must pass well so that moisture does not accumulate. Dense plantings can limit the plant's light.

Scheme for planting tomatoes in open ground

Reasons for lack of germination

Normally, a tomato seed placed in dry soil germinates in 4-5 days. Planting material pre-soaked in water germinates within 3 days. If the sprout loops have not appeared after a week, there may be several reasons.

Poor quality seeds

Fresh (no more than 3 years of storage), full-weight (drowning in a cup of water) and healthy seeds are allowed for sowing. The seeds do not germinate for a long time and have a low percentage of germination (less than 50%):

• stored for more than 6 years;
• collected from unripe tomatoes;
• carrying an infection.

Tomatoes whose seeds were stored incorrectly (high humidity, high temperature or cold, bright lighting) do not germinate well.

Unsuitable soil

In order for tomatoes to germinate, you need to immerse the seeds in loose and fertile soil. A high percentage of clay in the soil makes the substrate impermeable to air; it retains moisture, preventing the seed embryo from breathing.

Soil with excess sand dries out quickly and has little humus. Growing in such a substrate, the tomato dies from lack of nutrition in a matter of days.

Temperature

At the germination stage, the tomato requires a temperature of +23 to + 26 degrees. Bowls with crops are placed near the radiator or in another warm place. Placing seedling boxes directly on the windowsill delays the emergence of seedlings, since cold air comes from the windows, cooling the soil.

Deep planting of seeds

The recommended immersion depth for tomato seeds is 8-9 mm. Shallow burial leads to the appearance of a sprout with the seed cap not shed. Deep sowing threatens the complete absence of seedlings due to the inability of the sprout to break through the soil to reach the surface.

The seedlings got sick

Most often, the growth of tomatoes is stopped by the following diseases:

Rot.

Develops under overflow, low ambient and substrate temperatures. Diseased seedlings cannot be saved. It is necessary to quickly transplant healthy seedlings into new soil. Before transplanting, treat the roots with potassium permanganate.

Blackleg.

A fungal disease that affects weak seedlings. The development of blackleg is promoted by waterlogging of the soil, dense planting, lack of lighting, and heat. When the disease occurs, the base of the stem turns black, softens and becomes thinner. The seedlings die.

You can save the plant only at the very beginning of the disease - water it with potassium permanganate, dive more rarely, loosen the soil.

It is best to prevent seedling diseases.

1) Before sowing, calcine the soil mixture and spill it with a solution of potassium manganese.

2) Pour boiling water over the boxes or soak them in potassium permanganate.

3) Disinfect and dry the seeds.

4) Plant tomatoes sparingly so that they grow freely without crowding each other.

5) Water the seedlings abundantly, but rarely. The substrate inside must remain moist, and the surface layer must have time to dry.

6) To prevent rotting of the root collar, you can add a little sand to the box with seedlings.

7) Place seedlings on well-lit window sills and ventilate the room more often.

If you follow these simple recommendations, you can get strong seedlings. And subsequently - a good harvest.

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