Tomato Lyubasha F1: description and characteristics of the variety, features of planting and growing, reviews of those who planted, photos, videos

Description of the Lyubasha variety

The hybrid tomato Lyubasha was received quite recently, in 2016, by Russian agro breeders. Since 2022, the variety has been included in the State Register and is recommended for cultivation in open ground and in greenhouses throughout Russia.

The hybrid belongs to early ripening tomatoes and is characterized by excellent taste. From the emergence of seedlings to harvest, only 70–85 days pass (taking into account possible changes in ripening times in different climatic conditions).

Tomato Lyubasha on video

Varietal characteristics

Lyubasha is an early determinate hybrid. It takes 70 days from germination to fruit appearance. Fruiting is uniform, 7-8 tomatoes are formed on simple inflorescences. The first brush is laid after the 5th sheet.

Lyubasha tomatoes are resistant to:

cracking,
late blight.

When growing a crop with 3 stems and placing 5 plants per 1 m², the yield is:

14-15 kg – in a film greenhouse;
10-11 kg – in open ground.

Compared to the characteristics and descriptions of other tomato varieties and early hybrids, Lyubasha has a number of advantages; it is easy to grow even for novice gardeners.

Appearance of plants

Lyubasha is a determinate tomato, that is, it is limited in growth. The maximum “growth” of the bushes is 1 m. The plants are compact and oval in shape. The stems are strong, which allows them to withstand the weight of the harvest well. The number of leaves on the bushes is average, the leaf sizes are small, the color is dark green. The inflorescences are simple; each bush usually produces 4–5 fruit clusters.

The fruits are medium in size (average weight 120–140 g), characterized by a round, slightly flattened shape and medium ribbing. The skin is smooth and glossy, quite dense, so the tomatoes do not crack even in rainy weather.

Lyubasha bushes do not grow too large

At the stage of technical ripeness, the skin has a soft green color, and when fully ripe, it is rich, bright red. The pink pulp is characterized by medium density and high juiciness. Each fruit has 3–4 fairly large (compared to other hybrid tomatoes) seed chambers, but the total number of seeds is not too large.

Tomato sizes reach 6–7 cm, and the number of large seed chambers is usually 3

The juice and pulp contain a large amount of vitamins B, C, PP, as well as potassium, phosphorus and other useful elements. The content of ascorbic acid is as high as in citrus fruits and black currants. Consumption of fresh tomatoes is recommended to improve metabolism and as a support for anemia, cardiovascular diseases, memory impairment and other diseases.

The taste of Lyubasha tomatoes receives high marks from experts. A bright aroma is also noted, especially when cutting the fruit.

Farmer reviews

Despite its short lifespan, the variety has managed to attract the attention of many vegetable growers. The new hybrid meets all the basic requirements and is quite capable of competing with crops that have proven themselves in the tomato world.

It is quite possible that in the near future the variety will begin to be widely used on an industrial scale, deriving decent profits from it. But for now, experiments with the young hybrid are taking place in summer cottages.

Let's get acquainted with the opinions of gardeners:

Tatyana, Orel: “The weather this year was not tomato-like at all, cold and rainy. Many varieties were destroyed by late blight, but the hybrid survived. The vegetables turned out delicious, and now I’ll be stocking up all winter. It’s very good that I planted this variety, otherwise I would have been left without tomatoes.”

Elena, Kursk: “A completely normal variety. I didn’t prune and didn’t water often. But there were tomatoes. The taste is quite satisfactory, typical for tomatoes, with sourness. The skin is dense, perfect for blanks. It’s a pity that you can’t prepare the seeds yourself. Will have to buy again. Thank God the price is affordable.”

Dinara, Krasnoyarsk: “The variety sprouted with difficulty, the bushes are modest, with 2-3 fruiting clusters. But we survived our cold summer. There were few vegetables. I don’t even know if I’ll plant it next year.”

Advantages and disadvantages, features, differences from other varieties

Despite its recent history, the Lyubasha tomato often receives praise from gardeners due to a number of advantages such as:

early germination and very early ripening;
high yield (2–2.5 kg per bush in open ground and up to 4 kg in a greenhouse or 8–10 kg/m2 and 15–20 kg/m2, respectively);
resistance to the vagaries of weather and lack of care;
no need to regulate growth;
good resistance to pests and diseases (in particular, late blight, tobacco mosaic and gray rot);
possibility of transportation and long-term storage due to the thick skin;
good taste (rare for early types of tomatoes);
versatility of use (good for both canned food and fresh consumption).

Flaws:

poor resistance to prolonged temperature drops;
uneven fruit size: the first tomatoes reach a weight of 200 g, and then become smaller;
the need for tying (despite limited growth) and pinching;
simultaneous ripening of the crop, which does not allow you to enjoy fresh fruits for a long time.

Unlike most other varieties, Lyubasha does not require fertilizing during the growth period.

There are a lot of early varieties and hybrids of tomatoes, so for comparison with the Lyubasha hybrid, we will consider only a few of them.

Table: comparative characteristics of the Lyubasha hybrid and some other early varieties of tomatoes

Index	Name of variety/hybrid
Index	Lyubasha	Alpha	Aphrodite F1	Benito F1	Greenhouse early ripening F1	golden brush	Legionnaire F1
Ripening time	70–75 days	87–96 days	75–80 days	95–113 days	80–90 days	95–98 days	90–95 days
Height	up to 100 cm	40–50 cm	50–70 cm	40–50 cm	Up to 70 cm	Up to 150 cm	45–60 cm
Fruit size	110–130 g	50–70 g	110–115 g	120 – 140 g	120–180 g	20–30 g	140–150 g
Productivity	Up to 15 kg/m2	Up to 6.5 kg/m2	Up to 17 kg/m2	Up to 25 kg/m2	Up to 15 kg/m2	Up to 6.5 kg/m2	Up to 17 kg/m2
Preferred growing method	greenhouse/open ground	greenhouse/open ground	greenhouse/open ground	greenhouse/open ground	greenhouse	greenhouse	greenhouse/open ground
The need to prepare seedlings	required	not required	required	required	required	required	required
Main advantages	Unpretentiousness to growing conditions, resistance to blossom end rot	Undemanding to heat and light, minimum requirements for agricultural technology	shelf life, transportability, increased resistance to fungal diseases	resistance to verticillium wilt and fusarium, shelf life	stable yield, resistant to verticillium and fusarium	great taste	no fruit cracking, increased resistance to tobacco mosaic virus
Purpose	universal	salad	universal	universal	universal	universal	salad

Lyubasha grows and develops well in open ground, in greenhouses and even on the balcony of a city apartment. It should be borne in mind that the greatest yield can be obtained in greenhouse conditions.

Advantages and disadvantages

pros	Minuses
High yield	Inability to collect your own seeds
Pleasant taste	Garter required
Uniform ripening
Smooth fruits of equal size
Universal use in cooking
Disease resistance
Long fruiting
Drought resistance
Cold resistance
Unpretentiousness
Marketability
Keeping quality
Transportability

Features of planting and growing tomato Lyubasha

Although Lyubasha is an early variety, it is usually grown as seedlings. Direct sowing into the ground is possible only in the southern regions.

The timing of sowing seeds for seedlings depends on the climatic conditions of the region and can range from mid-February to mid-March. The appropriate time for sowing is calculated based on the need to transplant the seedlings to a permanent place approximately 40–45 days after seed germination. It should be taken into account that planting in the ground can only be carried out after the end of the recurrent frost season.

Preparing seedlings

Before planting, Lyubasha tomato seeds need to be treated to prevent diseases. They are poured with a weak solution of potassium permanganate for 2–3 minutes, and then washed with warm water.

Step-by-step procedure for sowing seeds:

Preparing containers: pots, boxes, cassettes, cups, peat tablets and even plastic bags are suitable for growing seedlings. They are filled with turf soil, peat mixtures or soil with humus.
The soil is shed with warm water 1 day before planting.
Make 1–1.5 cm depressions in the soil and plant the seeds. When row sowing in long boxes, the distance between adjacent holes should be 3–4 cm. When planting in separate pots, 2 seeds are placed in each hole.
The seeded containers are covered with plastic film (it is convenient to use food stretch film) and placed in a warm (temperature +23...+25 °C), well-ventilated room.
The film is removed from the crops after germination. From the second week of life, the plants need to be moved to a cooler room with a temperature of 19–20 degrees.

When sowing, follow the following procedure: 1 - disinfect the seeds with potassium permanganate; 2 - select containers and fill them with moist nutrient soil; 3 - plant seeds to a depth of 1–1.5 cm; 4 - cover the crops with film

They care for hybrid seedlings in the same way as seedlings of other tomato varieties. One of the points is the duration of daylight hours: 10–12 hours (adjustable using additional lighting).

Phytolamps provide the light spectrum necessary for plants

You need to water young tomatoes once a week at first (the frequency of watering is controlled by the degree of drying of the soil), and after 3 weeks of growth you need to switch to moderate watering every 4-5 days. Tomatoes cannot tolerate extreme waterlogging, so you need to be careful not to overwater the plants.

When young plants have a second true leaf, you should pick (for Lyubasha it is best to do this without tearing off the main root) in a larger container, for example, in pots with a volume of 0.5–0.7 liters.

A distinctive feature of the Lyubasha hybrid is that it does not require fertilizing during the seedling growth stage. If there are doubts about the quality of the soil used, you can add a little phosphorus-potassium or complex fertilizers with irrigation water.

Planting in open ground

After about 1.5 months from the moment of germination, the seedling bushes usually grow to 20–25 cm in height, already have a fairly strong stem and 7–9 leaves. As a rule, by this time the first flower raceme has already formed. In this state, seedlings can be planted in open ground or in a greenhouse. Transplantation can be carried out only when the threat of night frosts has passed. This usually happens at the end of May.

For tomato beds, you need to choose the sunniest place on the site that is illuminated for the longest possible time. Almost any soil is suitable - Lyubasha is not too picky.

When planting, it is often recommended to place fertilizer in the holes. If you do this, the tomatoes will only grow greens. Therefore, adding organic matter and urea to the wells is not recommended. It is better to use potassium salts or ash.

The planting density of Lyubasha tomatoes should be 4–6 bushes per square meter (the interval between neighboring plants is 30–40 cm). To prevent the bushes from falling to the ground during fruiting, it is better to immediately tie them to stakes.

Plant care

Lyubasha is not capricious and does not require special care techniques. Still, to ensure a good harvest, it is necessary to carry out such standard operations as weeding, hilling, watering, forming bushes, fertilizing, and disease prevention.

Formation of bushes

Due to the fact that Lyubasha is limited in growth, it does not need to be pinched: a fruit cluster is formed at the top of the main shoot. Although the bushes are not very tall, they require staking and pinching (removal of side shoots).

Optimal yield indicators are achieved when Lyubasha bushes are formed into 2–3 stems (with dense planting 2 stems, with sparse planting - 3).

Forming tomatoes - video

It should be noted that in warm southern regions a larger number of stepchildren can be left.

As the bush grows, it needs to be tied up. Despite the strength and thickness of the stems, the bushes can break during fruit ripening, since a feature of the hybrid is the simultaneous ripening of tomatoes. For gartering, you can use rigid trellises, stakes, and twine.

Tying tomatoes - photo

Twines are most convenient to use in a greenhouse, but they can also be used for planting in open ground. Stable and durable structures will provide reliable support for bushes

Providing each plant with an individual support stake is a labor-intensive process

Top dressing

Lyubasha tomatoes do not need to be fed before planting in the ground (although, if desired, phosphorus, magnesium, and potassium compounds can be added already in the first week of growth).

Typically, manure is considered the best fertilizer for garden crops. For tomatoes, including Lyubasha, manure and bird droppings should not be used. Experienced gardeners prefer to use only mineral fertilizers when growing tomatoes: Fitosporin, Glyokladin, Kristalon, Lignohumate, Boroplus. Ash is an excellent folk remedy. Feeding is carried out several times per season.

The author’s personal experience in growing tomatoes shows that to prevent plants from fattening, it is very useful to give them “stress.” As soon as the bushes begin to grow vigorously, gently reduce watering or remove one or two lower leaves. Such measures force plants to direct their energies to laying flower clusters and forming fruits. In addition, care must be taken with fertilizing. After planting, you should not feed tomatoes with nitrogen (unless there is a clear deficiency). It is advisable to give the first root fertilizing (and potash) only at the time of flowering of the 5th–6th cluster. Foliar feeding with solutions of magnesium and other microelements works well on plants. Fruits ripen better and faster in soil poor in organic matter. Therefore, when preparing the soil, you should not get carried away with organic matter, and during planting, you should not put manure in the holes. In addition to fattening, excess organic matter provokes late blight diseases in tomatoes. In general, it is better to grow tomatoes under-fed than over-fed. Mullein solution should not be used more than 2-3 times per season.

If there is an excess of nutrients, tomatoes can very easily begin to fatten. To prevent this from happening, you can take the following steps:

The soil should not be too nutritious. Even in autumn, it is not recommended to add manure to the soil.
Tomatoes should not be watered for the first 2-3 weeks after planting (especially if planted early). Rooting of seedlings will be ensured by water poured into the holes. Further restriction of watering promotes active development of the root system. It is strictly forbidden to overdry the soil - the flowers may fall off, so care must be taken when limiting watering.
Do not feed tomatoes with nitrogen fertilizers during the entire growing season.

Watering plants

Tomatoes require regular soil moisture for full growth and fruit formation, especially in hot weather. Watering should be carried out strictly at the root in the evening or early morning. The best option is to use drip irrigation.

You can organize drip irrigation of tomatoes yourself

The recommended regime for Lyubasha tomatoes is watering every 5-7 days, and in extreme heat - every 3-4 days. The moisture supply rate is 4.5–5 liters per bush. More frequent and too abundant watering will only harm the plant.

Frequent, moderate watering of tomatoes provokes the growth of a superficial root system, which reduces the plant's resistance to adverse external factors.

Watering should be stopped 2–2.5 weeks before harvesting the fruits.

Protecting tomatoes from diseases and pests

Despite Lyubasha’s high resistance to diseases and pests, there is always a risk that the plants will get sick. The simplest means of prevention are:

compliance with crop rotation requirements;
timely elimination of weeds and plant debris from the site;
plant tomatoes away from beds with eggplants and potatoes;
maintaining distance between bushes.

Biological preparations Alirin or Gamair are well suited for the prevention and treatment of fungal and bacterial diseases.

To repel pests, it is recommended to plant marigolds around tomato beds.

How to care outdoors?

Caring for these tomatoes is no different from agricultural techniques for other varieties: watering, fertilizing, forming a bush.

How to water correctly?

Tomatoes are watered regularly and abundantly. The next watering is needed as the top layer of soil dries out. The procedure should be carried out in the evening, after sunset, or early in the morning.

How to fertilize?

Lyubasha tomatoes respond well to organic matter and mineral fertilizers. The first fertilizing after planting is applied three weeks later. To do this, manure is diluted with water in a ratio of 1:10. A glass of the life-giving mixture should be poured under each bush.

The second fertilizing is applied at the moment of fruit set. During this period, they are fed with complex mineral fertilizers. The third fertilizing is applied after 2 weeks.

Bush formation

There is an opinion that determinate varieties should not be formed and stepsons should not be removed. Removing stepchildren will allow the inflorescences and fruits to receive more micro- and macroelements.

Collection, storage and use of crops

Fruits can begin to be collected in the last ten days of June - early July. Thanks to their rapid ripening, they can be cut in whole bunches.

Tomatoes ripen in clusters, making harvesting easier

The collected tomatoes should be stored in a cool, dark room at a temperature of 10–12 °C and regularly ventilated. Under such conditions, unripe fruits can be stored for about 2–2.5 months. Fruits picked ripe retain their quality in the refrigerator for up to 1 month.

Thanks to their good taste, Lyubasha tomatoes can be used both in salads and for various preparations. The small size of the fruits makes pickling convenient. They also make very tasty juice, excellent adjika and other sauces. Lyubasha tomatoes can even be dried.

Thanks to their dense pulp, Lyubasha tomatoes dry well

Flaws

Despite numerous positive characteristics, the Lyubasha variety also has disadvantages:

low tolerance to prolonged exposure to low temperatures;
uneven fruit growth, tomatoes of the first harvest can reach a weight of 200 grams, and subsequently a decrease occurs;
during active growth, it is necessary to tie the stems to prevent damage to the trunk;
A negative property also includes the simultaneous ripening of tomatoes; as a result, they enjoy fresh fruits for a limited period of time.