Indoor nightshade - decorative tomatoes on your window

Growing and care at home.

Like any other indoor plant, nightshade needs proper care, and for this you need to decide on the appropriate temperature conditions, optimal watering and options for its propagation.

Nightshade, or as it is also called - winter cherry, has about 900 representatives of the nightshade species, including the well-known potato. It blooms in summer, and by autumn beautiful cherry-like berries appear, which, as they ripen, change color from green to bright orange-red and remain on the plant all winter, until early spring.

Lighting

Nightshade requires good sunlight; in the shade this plant will not bear fruit. Window sills on the south and east-south sides are ideal, but the north side is completely unsuitable for growing nightshade. To avoid burns, on southern windows it should be hidden from direct sunlight. In summer, the plant must be taken out into fresh air.

How to prevent the formation of double flowers and the appearance of deformed fruits

Based on the reasons that provoke the development of enlarged and lush flowers, you can properly organize the care of plantings to avoid this anomaly.

Do not plant tomato seedlings in open ground unless the threat of return frost . It is better to postpone the event for a week than to destroy the seedlings due to a cold snap at night or to urgently organize a cover over the beds from arcs with stretched film.

Ventilate greenhouses regularly , maintaining temperature and humidity at a certain level. Tomatoes develop well at a temperature of +22-28°C and a humidity of 75%. Make sure that it is not cold in the greenhouses at night; if necessary, heat the air.

Ventilation is necessary to organize the movement of air masses, with the help of which pollination occurs. And if in open areas this function is performed by gusts of wind, then in a greenhouse, pollination of bushes occurs only in the presence of drafts. And at temperatures above 30°C, pollen becomes sterile, so ventilation in hot weather and drought is a vital measure when cultivating tomatoes.

During the period of prolonged rainfall during the flowering phase of tomatoes, even if the weather is warm, it is worth putting a film cover over the open beds, which will protect the plantings from rain and partially reduce the humidity above the plantation. This will prevent the pollination process and the formation of new ovaries from stopping.

If you find abnormally large flowers on your plants, simply break them out. Their appearance is never widespread, and subsequent hands are already developing normally. If you didn’t notice the double peduncle and a fruit formed from it, then that’s okay too. You'll have to try a multi-chambered tomato of gigantic size, which will delight children and adults with its strange shapes. The remaining ovaries, as a rule, develop normally.

Temperature

Optimally, you should try to ensure that the average temperature in the spring and summer is a minimum of 18 degrees and a maximum of 26. In winter, the temperature should be reduced to 12-14, otherwise a side effect is possible - falling of fruits and leaves. This plant reacts very negatively to drafts; it is better to avoid them.

We determine what does not suit nightshade by appearance:

If your nightshade begins to get sick, turn yellow or drop leaves, the conditions are not suitable for emu. Examine the plant carefully, because by its appearance you can easily understand what the problem is. For example, if there is not enough light, then the nightshade will shed its leaves; if there is not enough heat, then the result is poor flowering and small fruits, but curling leaves indicate an excess of sunlight.

a brief description of

Let's look at the characteristic qualities of these cherry tomatoes from the hybrid group.

Table 1.1 – Characteristics of the variety

Tomato Stone Flower F1 is an early ripening variety. When cultivated in open beds, 80-85 days will pass from the moment the sprouts appear to the first tomatoes.

If you sow the seeds in a pot at home and carry out all the agricultural techniques correctly, it is easy to remove the tomatoes after 70-75 days.

What other characteristic properties does the dwarf tomato have?

1. Dense planting of seedlings in a greenhouse or on a street ridge will provide 10 kg of cherry tomatoes;
2. Cherries ripen gradually, the entire harvest is harvested 3 times;
3. Ripe tomatoes stay firmly in the hands for up to 20 days and do not fall off;
4. Good immunity to tobacco mosaic, root rot and verticillium. Since ripening is early, late blight does not have time to destroy the plants;
5. The keeping quality and transportability of the Stone Flower fruits are good.

The application option is universal. Both adults and children take great pleasure in simply feasting on sweet tomatoes from the bush. The thick skin can withstand heat treatment, so the vegetables are preserved whole.

Reproduction methods

There are two commonly used methods of propagating nightshade, the first is by seeds and the second is by cuttings.

Propagation by seeds

To plant seeds, you need to prepare a container and suitable sifted soil, and after that the seeds are laid out on the surface of the soil. Next, the surface is crushed with sand, slightly moistened and covered with film. The container with seeds and cover is hidden in a warm place (+22-+23). Within 2-3 weeks, shoots should appear, which, as they grow, will need to be pricked twice, and only after that the plant is ready for planting in the soil.

Propagation by cuttings

Another propagation option is stem cuttings. After spring pruning, the cut branches are not thrown away, but are planted in a mixture of soil and peat, and after rooting they can be transplanted into a separate pot. In the container for transplantation, the bottom layer must be drainage.

Reasons contributing to the appearance of “monster flowers”

Double flowers from suspiciously large buds most often appear during a sudden change in weather conditions . On open plantations this usually happens at the beginning of the growing season, when the difference between day and night temperatures is quite significant, because in May during the day it can reach +30 °C, and at night drop to +0 °C, if not lower. The same conditions provoke the formation of double flowers in August.

In greenhouses, temperature fluctuations can occur as a result of improperly organized care, for example, when the air is very overheated due to the lack of drafts. Or because of an open window on a cold spring night, when the air heated in sunny weather cools sharply as the temperature drops.

Another factor leading to the appearance of double flowers is high air humidity , which can be caused by cloudy weather, prolonged precipitation or improper organization of plant care in the greenhouse. With high humidity, self-pollination is difficult, and with insufficient (partial) pollination, the probability of the formation of double peduncles is high.

And if closed structures are heated with a wood-burning stove or various organic fertilizers are fermented in them (infusion of grass, bird droppings, etc.), then in the lower layer of air there is a high concentration of carbon dioxide, which, in combination with humidity and temperature changes, leads to worsening conditions the formation of clusters of seedlings and the appearance of fused flowers.

Transplanting a plant

The nightshade plant should be replanted every year; replanting is best combined with pruning. The optimal period for this is February; transplantation is performed into a substrate with high moisture-retaining and breathable properties. Transplanting nightshade promotes strong and healthy growth of this plant. At the end of winter, the stems are cut to half their height to form a beautiful crown.

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Pros and cons of a hybrid

In the description of the Stone Flower tomato from “Partner” we see only the advantages of the hybrid variety.

Home crops have become so popular because they can be grown year-round. This is one of the advantages of the Stone Flower.

Advantages

Cherry tomato varieties have high yields

The tomato has a sweet taste without any noticeable sourness, and an aftertaste with fruity notes. The fruits have a rich tomato aroma

Easy to care for, no need for pinching

Ultra-early ripening, because at home you can get ripe fruits 75 days after germination

The versatility of using the Stone Flower: fresh, for decorating dishes, pickling and canning

The ability to grow tomatoes at home, in a greenhouse, and in an outdoor garden bed

High immunity to fungi and viruses

Flaws

Seeds need to be purchased every year, because it is a hybrid

There is no data on disease resistance in the State Register yet

When a lot of tomatoes are stuck on the hands, a garter is needed

Prevention

To prevent inflorescences from appearing, you need to protect the plant from viral diseases that provoke their development. This:

To do this, gardening tools and all surfaces of the greenhouse are disinfected, before planting, the seeds are pickled in a solution of potassium permanganate or special preparations that can be bought in the store, and the soil in the garden and the substrate for seedlings are spilled with a hot solution of potassium permanganate. The plantings are not thickened and disease-carrying pests are combated in a timely manner.

To avoid fasciation caused by natural causes, follow the correct watering and fertilizing regime, protect the tomato from temperature fluctuations, ventilate the greenhouse, mulch and loosen the soil.

Source

Decorative types of solanum with photos and names

Nightshade Solanum crispum

Curly nightshade Solanum crispum photo

An evergreen or semi-deciduous plant with climbing shoots. Reaches a height of 4-5 m. The leaf blades are oval, dark green, arranged alternately. The flowers are star-shaped, lilac-blue in color, collected in corymbose inflorescences.

Jasmine nightshade Solanum jasminoides

Jasmine nightshade Solanum jasminoides photo

An evergreen plant with climbing shoots. The leaf blade consists of 3-5 oval-shaped leaves, the surface of the leaf is glossy. The flowers are white with a slight blue tint; they are collected in inflorescences-corymbs on the tops of the shoots.

Fighting methods

Do flowers need to be removed?
Some gardeners believe that no, or even deliberately remove normal inflorescences from a brush on which one terry one has formed. This is done in order to obtain a fasciated fruit, because such a “fused” tomato will also be a giant. This practice is especially common among amateur gardeners trying to grow record-breaking fruits.

It is worth removing inflorescences for the following reasons:

How to deal with terry on tomatoes? The easiest way is to trim the leaves with sharp scissors. Usually there are few of them, and the total amount of harvest will not decrease from this.

But you can leave them in order to grow giant fruits from several fused segments. To prevent them from taking away nutrients from the others and inhibiting ripening, they resort to the following measures:

Botanical description of false pepper nightshade

False pepper nightshade (lat. Solanum pseudocapsicum) is grown as an ornamental plant. It is a subshrub 30 cm-1.8 m high; when grown indoors, it is limited to a height of 60 cm. The long, twisting stems of the plant are densely covered with leaves. The leaf blades are ovoid in shape with pointed tips, dark green in color.

The flowers are like potatoes: regular in shape with a double perianth, five stamens and one pistil, narrow anthers, fused around the style into a cone-shaped tube. Most often the flowers are white, but may have a bluish tint. The fruits are ellipsoidal berries about 1 cm long, they are shiny, the green color changes to yellow, orange, and red as they ripen.

Solanum is incredibly hardy; even an inexperienced gardener can handle growing and caring for it. Create favorable conditions, water, periodically feed the plant and prune.

A decorative tomato will decorate a home, apartment, office, or any institution with dark green leaves and a scattering of bright berries. An unusual and bright bush fills the space with light, charges with positivity, and its fertility and unpretentiousness add advantages to it.

In its natural environment, false pepper nightshade is common in South America; it can be found in all corners of the globe with warm climates. Prefers places along the banks of water bodies, in damp meadows, and in thickets of bushes.

When does solanum bloom and bear fruit?

Solanum begins to bloom in spring or summer (May-August). Then the fruits are set; if there are few of them, pollination has not occurred (next time the plant needs to be helped by cross-pollination).

Solanum pseudocapsicum: can the fruits be eaten?

Are Solanum berries edible?

The external attractiveness of the fruits of false pepper solanum is deceptive. The berries are saturated with the toxic substance glycoalkaloid solanine. Eating solanum fruits leads to stomach upset. This is especially dangerous for children and pets, so their access to the plant should be limited. It should be noted that among the representatives of the genus there are plants with edible fruits - black nightshade, sunberry, pepino, naranjinya or Quito nightshade, cocona.

Solanum orange: are the leaves poisonous or not?

Other parts of false pepper solanum are also poisonous, so avoid getting the juice on the mucous membranes and skin. Wear gloves when working with the plant, and wash your hands thoroughly afterwards.

Beneficial properties of solanum pseudocaspicum

Ripe berries of nightshade are used in folk medicine to treat sore throat. Leaves and stems have an insecticidal effect. Their decoction (take 5-6 kg of fresh raw materials per 10 liters of water) is sprayed on plants against aphids and other pests.

Growing solanum from seeds

Solanum pseudocapsicum seeds photo

• Start sowing solanum seeds at the end of February.
• Prepare the substrate from 1 part humus or peat and 2 parts turf soil; you can take a universal soil mixture for growing tomato or eggplant seedlings.
• Fill a wide container with prepared soil and moisten it.
• The seed placement depth is 0.5 cm.
• To create a greenhouse effect, cover the top of the crops with glass or film.
• Raise the shelter daily for ventilation.
• Provide diffused lighting.
• Maintain the temperature within 22-25 °C, bottom heating is favorable.
• Moisten the soil as needed by spraying with a fine mist.
• Under these conditions, sprouts will appear in 3-4 weeks. Then the cover can be removed.
• When a pair of true leaves appear, plant the young plants in separate containers.

Options for Fasciation

There are 2 options for action in the case of the formation of double flowers:

The basis for the choice is the gardener’s goal: a familiar harvest or giant fruits.

Removing fasciated flowers

For a tomato bush, royal flowers are a negative factor for the following reasons:

Usually there are few fasciated flowers on a bush, so their removal has little effect on the overall yield.

Growing fasciated fruits

A double flower can produce a giant fruit

Abnormally large fruits are formed from fused flowers. The qualitative characteristics of such a tomato can vary from few seeds and juiciness to thickness and almost complete absence of pulp, so such fruits are grown in rare cases, mainly in order to obtain record-breakingly large tomatoes.

Growing fasciated tomatoes has specific requirements:

For adequate nutrition of the giant tomato, it is recommended to mulch the root zone of the bush with wood ash, especially before loosening. Gardeners recommend applying fertilizers every 2 weeks, alternating mineral and organic.

Additional roots can be another source of nutrients. To form them, it will be useful to plant bushes in special holes, which are gradually filled with soil.